Fatui camp.
Watching the arrows streaking across the sky, the Fatui Harbinger "The Captain" fell into deep thought.
"Sir, the Traveler has arrived in Natlan."
The Intelligence Officer walked over to report, breaking the silence.
"...Has her sibling arrived?"
Hearing news about the Traveler, The Captain's gaze no longer watched the flames streaking through the sky, but turned toward the Intelligence Officer who came to report.
"According to the information we've obtained, the Traveler's first stop in Natlan is the Children of Echoes," the Intelligence Officer continued to report. "She is currently heading to the Sacred Flame Arena with the warriors from there, likely hoping to meet the Pyro Archon there."
The Traveler's story was no longer unfamiliar to the people of Teyvat; everyone knew she was looking for her sibling, even going so far as to ask the gods for their whereabouts.
"Continue to monitor the Traveler's situation," The Captain ordered.
He paid attention to the Traveler not only because she was the sibling of the Prince of Khaenri'ah, but also because the plan to protect Natlan might very well require the Traveler's power.
He prepared to seize the Pyro Archon's Gnosis after the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame ended.
Originally, he had planned to compete for it after the Night-Warden War ended.
After all, if there were casualties, they would still need the Pyro Archon to bring them back from the Night Kingdom.
But according to Fatui intelligence, the newly held Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame would not follow tradition and lead into the Night-Warden War.
Thus, there was no need to wait any longer; the seizure could take place right after the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame ended.
In The Captain's plan, once he seized the Gnosis from the Pyro Archon, he would use its power to weave the souls and memories of the Night Kingdom into a web to hinder the erosion of the Abyss.
This way, Natlan would not be destroyed due to the Abyss's corrosion of the Night Kingdom.
But doing so would be equivalent to making the Natlan people who had already died die once more.
Every generation of the Pyro Archon knew about this plan, but almost no one was willing to commit such a cruel act.
The Captain also knew the cost, but having witnessed the destruction of his homeland, he hoped more than anything that the people of Natlan could survive.
If the Pyro Archons were unwilling to do it, then he would bear everything himself.
"Caelus is indeed different from the Pyro Archons of past generations; he doesn't pin his hopes on Mavuika's plan."
"However, his choice to lead Natlan into a direct confrontation with the Abyss might similarly lead to Natlan's destruction."
The Captain had experienced the horror of the Abyss; it was a battlefield where even gods could not preserve their lives.
In his view, even if Caelus had strengthened Natlan's power, it was still far from enough to face the invasion of the Abyss.
As for whether Caelus would choose to activate the plan to weave souls and memories into a web after a failure in resistance... The Captain believed the other party would absolutely not do so.
Recently, Caelus had used a special method to allow the people of Natlan to communicate with the souls or memories of their deceased loved ones in the Night Kingdom.
Many had fulfilled their inner regrets because of this and were even more willing to follow Caelus.
In The Captain's view, this was Caelus's means of uniting the people of Natlan, and also a way of telling them that these souls and memories in the Night Kingdom were of paramount importance and not something to be discarded.
How could someone like that ever commit the act of sacrificing souls?
The only one who could do such a thing, who could harden their heart to do such a thing, could only be The Captain from Khaenri'ah.
"Continue the work of excavating the Secret Source Mechanism. The rest of you, follow me to the Sacred Flame Arena."
"Yes!"
---
On the other side.
Affairs Office.
Caelus saw the netizens' complaints and thought he could indeed do one thing: "When players encounter monsters while exploring Natlan, I can help shoot them down."
Of course, not all monster encounters would trigger this.
Just as Genshin Impact is not only about the Abyss, and the open world is not only about exploration, the experience of fighting monsters is also very important.
If players saw a monster resolved with a single arrow as soon as they encountered it, it would feel novel at first, but over time, they would feel the game experience was ruined.
He had to be selective about which monsters to eliminate.
For example, when a character controlled by a player was defeated, Caelus would send a large flaming arrow to the enemy monster.
Or for example, if a player encountered a very powerful enemy and hadn't resolved the opponent after a minute and a half, Caelus would also send an arrow.
Furthermore, he wouldn't intervene for all enemies; if the players encountered Natlan warriors, Caelus would not take action.
Simply put, Caelus's intervention strategy was... if it's not a Natlan warrior, take it out directly.
Just as Caelus finalized his next move, the door to the Affairs Office was knocked on with vigorous force.
"Come in."
As Caelus's words fell, the door to the Affairs Office was pushed open, and a red-haired woman walked in with a heroic air.
"Mavuika, weren't you going to test the new weapons?" Seeing that the newcomer was Mavuika, Caelus lightly raised an eyebrow.
"They're all tested. Your Pyro machine guns and Pyro cannons are quite interesting; they greatly enhance our long-range attack capabilities."
One of Mavuika's talents was learning quickly.
Although she used to wield a greatsword and had never used guns or cannons before, after a period of contact, she was already skilled enough to teach others.
Besides giving the "mass-produced Visions" to the Natlan warriors, Caelus also insisted on searching the system shop for weapons that Natlan's current technology could replicate.
Firearms powered by Pyro were among them.
Anyway, someone in Natlan had long ago used cannon barrels to launch Hydro as projectiles; Caelus just creating some machine guns didn't cause too much shock.
After all, Snezhnaya and Fontaine could already mass-produce firearms, so it was actually quite normal for Natlan to be able to manufacture them too.
However, for players, when fighting alongside Natlan warriors, seeing their own characters still using cold weapons while the Natlan people were using rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, and rocket launchers, they would probably find it hard to keep a straight face.
"Besides that, you should have something else to tell me, right?" Caelus asked.
"Oh?" Mavuika raised an eyebrow, one hand on her hip. "How so?"
"You were very happy when you came in; that's not the expression one should have after finishing work," Caelus said with a smile.
"You're right."
Mavuika smiled slightly. "On my way back, I noticed a Damage Testing Device had been added to the Sacred Flame Arena. Many warriors who have already arrived at the arena are testing their strength there."
"I joined in too, and I even got the highest score," Mavuika said with a smile.
"Oh, that one." At the red-haired woman's mention, Caelus remembered the Damage Testing Device he had completed not long ago.
On the surface, it was for the Natlan warriors to test their strength.
In reality, it was left for players to test their damage and team rotations.
The world has long suffered under The Arbitrator.
That guy with high damage, the ability to block, and the ability to dodge wasn't very suitable to be used as a training dummy.
So Caelus specifically made a Damage Testing Device that couldn't dodge, helping players practice their rotations properly.
...
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