Mu Yang had just told the system, "Yes."
Then he felt his consciousness being peeled away.
Soon after, he lost control of his body.
He crashed heavily onto the bed.
When his consciousness gradually cleared,
he could feel himself falling.
The fall lasted a long time.
He had no idea how long had passed.
Only then did the fall finally stop.
Mu Yang seemed to be embedded inside something.
He could no longer move.
He wanted to open his eyes.
But he could not.
He wanted to open his mouth, but he could not speak either.
What the hell is this?
Why the hell can't I move?
...I don't think I wrote an origin story.
Is this Teyvat correcting it for me?
Being surrounded by darkness
while unable to do anything
made Mu Yang uncomfortable.
He liked little surprises and unexpected twists.
He did not like the feeling of things slipping out of his control.
"System, what state am I in right now?"
"System?"
This was even worse. Even the system was gone.
Still, since it was called a simulation,
there would eventually be a moment when it ended.
He would wait for now.
It seemed waiting was all he could do.
A long time passed.
Mu Yang discovered that he was slowly absorbing the energy around him.
Could it be that I'm going to pop out of a rock?
Then can you absorb faster? Full throttle!
Once Mu Yang had that thought,
he began imagining himself absorbing the surrounding energy.
As that thought arose,
the energy accumulation actually began accelerating.
He did not know how much more time passed.
The energy buildup had reached a critical point.
Mu Yang had considered transforming and emerging from the earth.
But it seemed something was still missing.
The energy was now increasing extremely slowly.
He had absorbed nearly everything nearby.
That day, he sensed two masses of energy approaching.
Mu Yang had never encountered such powerful energy in this place before.
Those two were most likely experts.
This is my opportunity.
Mu Yang thought so.
Once they got close, he would see if he could absorb their energy and make a breakthrough.
Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. Why are those two moving so slowly?
People don't even walk this slowly, okay?
Before long, Mu Yang finally waited for them.
He tried to absorb the two masses of energy.
It did not work...
What's going on? I got excited for nothing.
Then he heard two people talking.
One voice was lively and playful.
"Looks like this is the source of the disaster."
Mu Yang was dumbfounded.
What?
A disaster?
What did I do?
The other voice sounded somewhat like an icy beauty.
It had the air of a cold, regal older woman.
"Be careful. This thing is strange. It's very sharp."
That seemed to leave the playful one rather speechless.
"Uh... could something that turned this place into this not be strange?"
The regal woman sounded wronged.
"I was only reminding you to be careful."
Very sharp?
Mu Yang thought it over.
He was most likely a sword right now.
My Signature Weapon gained sentience!
That was probably the most likely explanation.
It was more plausible than popping out of a rock.
Since he was a sword, did he need someone to pull him out?
Could that be the final push needed for his transformation?
Mu Yang badly wanted to call out and ask these two kind people for help.
Unfortunately, he could not speak.
The lively girl seemed to circle around Mu Yang.
"This thing doesn't look like it grew out of the ground."
"It probably fell from the sky."
Of course, sis.
How could the ground possibly grow you a sword?
So that initial fall had been him falling from the sky.
The regal voice asked,
"You know more than I do. What do we do now?"
The lively girl said,
"How about trying to pull it out?"
"Of course, you'll have to do it. I definitely can't."
The regal voice said, "I can't either."
The lively voice rose in pitch.
"You can bite it with your mouth."
Mu Yang: Meow meow meow?
What are you two even doing?
Are you playing some kind of kinky game?
You need to use your mouth to pull out a sword? Don't you have hands?
Wait, no hands...
Holy shit!
Could you two be Fujin and Lingyuan?
It was all Mihoyo's fault.
Why had they not given the side quests voice acting?!
Otherwise, he would have recognized them long ago.
Mu Yang was delighted. He should be able to come out now.
Still, making his entrance by being bitten by Lingyuan
was honestly a little awkward.
Mu Yang sensed Lingyuan's aura drawing closer.
She seemed about to bite down...
She was sent flying back.
The lively girl asked with concern,
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Looks like we can only destroy it."
Uh, it seemed Lingyuan had quite the temper.
Mu Yang sensed Lingyuan launching an attack at him.
At the instant the sword body touched her claws,
Mu Yang focused every bit of energy he had gathered on transforming.
And he absolutely had to be wearing clothes!
He desperately imagined the appearance from that character illustration.
Finally, he felt his limbs and facial features again.
Mu Yang opened his eyes.
Before him stretched an icy, snow-covered landscape.
A huge blue lion-beast had seemingly been struck and sent flying backward.
Beside it stood a startled Little Koi.
Mu Yang hurriedly lowered his head to inspect his clothes.
He let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew... fully equipped, aside from the lack of a Vision and Jade Pendant at my waist."
"Thank goodness there wasn't some embarrassing scene."
In the distance, the lion-beast Lingyuan steadied herself.
She roared at Mu Yang.
Being knocked back twice had already enraged this mountain king.
Fortunately, Fujin rushed between the two of them.
Only then did Lingyuan refrain from charging forward.
But she was clearly displeased.
"Why are you helping him?"
Fujin was relatively calm.
She was not good at fighting, but she was quick-witted.
"We came to help you resolve the disaster, not to fight."
Mu Yang heard the word "disaster" again.
He looked around.
Everything around him was a vast expanse of white.
It was all snow.
Only the trail Lingyuan had left as she approached remained.
From the trail, he could tell that the snow came almost up to his knees.
Yet his current state was strange.
He stood lightly atop the snow.
He did not sink in at all.
He was like a spirit.
Mu Yang thought carefully.
Hiss, could it be that I absorbed all the energy nearby, causing this?
Fujin tried asking.
"Can you understand what I'm saying?"
Mu Yang nodded.
Fujin moved a little closer.
Lingyuan followed closely behind.
Afraid Fujin would be sent flying as well.
Fujin asked again.
"Where did you come from, and why did you destroy the environment here?"
Mu Yang shook his head.
He guessed that he had absorbed the energy nearby.
But he truly did not know where he had come from.
The sky? Sky Island? He did not know.
Fujin and Lingyuan exchanged a glance.
"Can you restore this place to how it was?"
Mu Yang turned around.
He looked toward his "true form."
Calling it a sword—
it looked more like a crystal-clear fragment.
It had only a blade, no hilt.
Mu Yang approached in his spirit form.
Then he reached out and grasped the sword.
The snow around him began gathering toward the blade.
It then condensed into a flawless, pure-white hilt.
Mu Yang gripped the hilt in his right hand.
He pulled the sword from the ground.
With a casual flick, he performed a sword flourish.
His floating spirit form ended with it.
Mu Yang's feet once again touched the ground.
Before you continue