The real world.
After Guinaifen ended her stream,
she opened HoYoLAB,
wanting to see whether there was any other news about Mu Yang.
To her surprise,
the splash-screen ad was Mu Yang's character art.
"Huh? They released his character art?!"
For the first time, Guinaifen found a splash-screen ad so enjoyable.
After entering HoYoLAB,
she eagerly opened the official post.
Then, like many others, she was dumbfounded.
The official account had only posted one piece of character art.
It was the same one that had appeared in "Teyvat Chapter Storyline Preview: Travail."
The name was naturally Mu Yang.
The character description in the middle read:
"--------.
--Changheng"
The three lines of information in the lower-left corner read:
Oath of the Deep Sword
Vision: Cryo
Constellation: ???
Guinaifen typed a comment: Thanks to the official team for taking time out of their busy schedule to brush us off.
Still, it was different from posting nothing at all.
Sure enough, the comments immediately came alive!
Highly liked comments:
[PAW Patrol Makes a Big Contribution!: Image.JPG (Mu Yang's sword had been edited into a dog leash, with an adorable puppy on the other end)]
[Five Hundred at the Hospital Can Fix It: What decent person pulls for male characters? Are you decent? I'm not. I've already gone three times.]
[Mu Yang Yang Yang Yang's Baby: Oh my god, I can't take this anymore (feverish bean emoji). I keep staring at Mu Yang's character art, ahhhhhhhhh, how could there be a boy like this? I just want to hold him in my arms and inhale him like crazy, you know? MHY, hurry up and give me an outfit! Don't make me kneel and beg you!]
[Jar of Foot Lust: Gorgeous and tempting.]
[Inazuma's Number One Devotee 258: Sob, this handsome young swordsman practicing his swordsmanship... I want to squeeze into his arms and act cute! Sob, why is my husband so handsome? I can't take it anymore. He's hard but has no dick, ahhhhhhh](If you're wondering about the word Inazuma, go read the Travail introduction yourself. At launch, you could name yourself "Waiting for Natlan Iansan.")
Most of them were fairly positive comments about the character art.
A small number, however, said they had watched it for nothing.
They said that if the official account did not want to post anything, it could have simply posted nothing.
Mihoyo stated
that it would not state anything at all.
Ask it anything, and it played dead.
Teyvat Continent.
As the discussion on Blue Planet grew more heated,
Mu Yang saw that he had already accumulated quite a few Popularity Points.
However, they were not increasing very quickly.
After all, the game had not launched yet.
Its reach was limited.
Still, this was enough for him in Mondstadt.
Mu Yang said, "System, add a setting. Make me a Rich Guy."
These minor settings did not need to be simulated.
Mu Yang had just searched through the entire house.
He had not found a single Mora.
Setting aside his strength, his financial power was already rivaling the Geo and Anemo Archons.
It could not exactly be called great wealth and prosperity.
It could only be called bare walls and utter poverty.
A swordsman who lived atop a mountain—
where would he get Mora?
With the mindset that anyone could suffer except himself,
he decided to use Popularity Points to make himself a little richer first.
"Received!"
Then Mu Yang added another setting: "Animal Affinity."
Finally, he invested most of his Popularity Points into improving his strength.
He now had the combat ability of a standard four-star fighter.
Like those few youngsters from Liyue.
If he used all of it to improve his strength, he could become even stronger.
But he needed to leave himself a little backup plan.
Because Venti might not like what Mu Yang was about to do in Mondstadt.
For now, this was enough.
Mu Yang closed the system panel.
He walked out of his room and arrived at the blacksmith shop.
He called inside, "Uncle Li—"
A middle-aged man walked out.
"Got another job?"
"Yeah."
Uncle Li handed over a newly forged sword from behind him.
"Where to this time?"
"Mondstadt."
"Safe travels."
The world would fill in certain details according to the settings.
This so-called "job" was probably something produced by the newly added Rich Guy setting.
Judging from Blacksmith Li's expression,
this conversation could not possibly have been about the sort of business conducted by merchants.
The more he said, the more likely he was to make a mistake.
So he simply said nothing, which suited his cold and aloof persona.
Mu Yang paid the money.
He took a new Flying Sword,
used Lightness Skill, and headed toward Mondstadt City.
The settings on the panel were like skills carved directly into his DNA.
Whether it was Lightness Skill,
or the sword intent that had surged up the instant he held the sword earlier,
these things had already become Mu Yang's instincts.
Since there was no stamina limit like in the game,
Mu Yang did not take long to reach Mondstadt City's gates.
But it was already nearing evening.
A fiery red-haired girl suddenly darted out.
She blocked Mu Yang's path.
"May the Anemo Archon protect you, stranger!"
"I'm Amber, Scout Knight of the Knights of Favonius."
"You're not a citizen of Mondstadt, are you? Then please state your identity."
Mu Yang recalled what Collei had said in the game.
For most people arriving in Mondstadt,
Amber was the first person they were most likely to meet.
It seemed that was indeed true.
"Chenyu Vale. Mu Yang."
Amber nodded. "Mm-hmm, someone from Liyue."
Mu Yang continued, "I want to discuss a business deal with the acting grand master of your Knights of Favonius."
"A business deal?"
This strange statement made Amber wary.
Mu Yang did not dress like a merchant.
Moreover, merchants had sharp instincts.
It was impossible for them not to know that Mondstadt was suffering from a dragon disaster.
The Anemo Dragon was currently causing trouble across the Mondstadt region.
Not only did it attack passing travelers,
it also destroyed merchant caravans transporting goods.
Daily necessities such as food and vegetables had all been affected.
Yet this person had come to do business at a time like this.
There were far too many suspicious points.
Amber quietly hid her hand behind her back.
If anything went wrong, she would strike.
She asked suspiciously, "What kind of business do you do?"
Mu Yang raised his sword-bearing right hand.
He let the Flying Sword slide slightly from its sheath.
Then he activated his Cryo Vision.
Bone-piercing cold mixed with a violent sword cry surged toward Amber.
It immediately froze her in place.
She was so frightened that her eyes went wide.
Mu Yang slowly spoke.
"Take payment, solve disasters. Dragon slaying."
Mu Yang naturally did not possess the strength to challenge Stormterror alone right now.
But he knew
that Jean would not truly send him to fight Stormterror.
So he could say whatever he wanted.
He would make it sound as grand as possible—the bigger the boast, the better.
That move just now had only been meant to intimidate her.
And Amber really had been intimidated.
It was not until a gentle breeze passed by that her emotions were soothed.
It seemed Venti already knew as well.
However, he had not appeared, so Mu Yang had no idea what he was thinking.
It took Amber quite a while to recover.
She cried out in shock, "Dragon slaying?!"
Mu Yang nodded.
Amber thought for a moment.
She could not see through Mu Yang's strength.
She did not know whether what he said was true or false.
But what she did know
was that she could not let Mu Yang wander around near Mondstadt City unchecked.
"How about this, Mr. Mu Yang? It's getting late."
"If you want to see Acting Grand Master Jean, you'll have to wait until tomorrow."
"Why don't you enter the city first, find a small inn, and stay there until tomorrow?"
Mu Yang accepted Amber's suggestion.
Led by the Scout Knight, he entered Mondstadt City.
With Amber guiding him,
the knights at the city gate did not question him further.
Mu Yang found a small inn and settled in.
It seemed that aside from Travelers with a succubus-like constitution,
ordinary people would still be met with the characters' wariness.
System: "You acted like such a badass right in front of them. It'd be strange if they weren't wary of you!"
Mu Yang: "Even if I bear ninety-nine percent of the responsibility, doesn't Amber have that remaining one percent?"
System: "You know the relationship between the God of Wind and the Anemo Dragon, right? You dared say that on his turf?"
Mu Yang: "If I'm going to be this scared, then why the hell am I even playing?"
"Besides, don't I still have you, System?"
System: "Beware of workplace PUA."
Mu Yang knew the consequences of playing with fire.
Venti's rare moments of anger
were when the Traveler had interrupted him and Stormterror.
But Mu Yang carried the aura of a Liyue adeptus.
The system was also helping him conceal his strength.
Before Venti made a move, he would have to weigh things carefully.
"What a pity Venti didn't show himself."
"I even came up with so many stories."
"Still, seeing Amber's expression made it worthwhile."
Since it was still a little early,
Mu Yang lay down for a while
before deciding to head to Degel's Tavern for something to eat.
While Mu Yang was having dinner at Degel's Tavern,
he clearly felt a gaze fixed on him.
"I wonder whether it's Rosaria or Kaeya?"
Mu Yang muttered to himself.
"Probably Kaeya. Amber must have told him what happened."
The system said it was Kaeya.
Mu Yang deliberately ordered the most expensive bottle of wine.
He raised his glass toward the direction the gaze was coming from
and slowly savored it.
Since you liked watching so much, it wasn't too much to make you jealous, was it?
After dinner, Mu Yang wandered around the city for a while.
The dragon crisis was ongoing now.
There were not many people out at night.
Mu Yang lost interest.
He returned to the inn to sleep.
He waited for Genshin Impact's servers to open tomorrow.
Before you continue