Two Gifts

Tighnari sensed the sincere gratitude in the young man before him.

Though he did not feel he had provided the other with any indispensable help, he understood as well.

At a time like this, refusing would hurt the other more than happily accepting it.

Thus, Tighnari frankly accepted the gift.

The box was large, yet surprisingly light in his hands. With a hint of curiosity, Tighnari opened Lin Feng's gift.

—What met his eyes was an exquisite longbow. Its body was patterned in green and white, with faint golden veins appearing across its surface. The emerald bowstring blended seamlessly into the bow itself, as though it had grown naturally.

The longbow's design was simple, without any flashy or impractical adornments. It possessed a raw, pure beauty, yet when Tighnari reached out to grip it, he could sense the astonishing power hidden beneath its unassuming exterior.

The moment the box opened, a rich breath of life spilled forth, refreshing Tighnari, the first to touch the longbow.

Lin Feng, who had remained silent since earlier, quietly gave his own craftsmanship a thumbs-up when he saw how reluctant Tighnari was to put the bow down.

Though five-star weapons in the game came in all varieties, high-grade weapons were actually extremely rare in the real Teyvat.

Even three-star weapons from the game were fine items that most adventurers rarely encountered in real life.

During his early days as a Forest Ranger, Lin Feng had discovered that most of his colleagues used weapons equivalent to two-star fodder from the game. Only a few combat personnel, including Tighnari, had three-star Recurve Bows.

The reason was twofold: master smiths were rare, and materials were scarce.

Lin Feng reasonably suspected that, in this day and age, no one apart from gods could forge five-star weapons.

As for the gift he had given Tighnari, Lin Feng could not really say whether it counted as a weapon.

That was because this longbow was actually a "plant" he had cultivated by gathering a great deal of divine power. It was seamless and formed in one piece. If that still counted as forging a weapon, Lin Feng felt that was a little absurd.

He did not know its exact star rating. First, he had nothing to compare it against. Second, even weapons of the same rating varied in strength, sometimes quite drastically.

For example, even among five-star polearms, if Primordial Jade Winged-Spear and Skyward Spine clashed head-on, Primordial Jade Winged-Spear would most likely win. That was an objective difference caused by their creator and materials.

But even if it fell short of a five-star weapon, the "bow" Lin Feng had given Tighnari was by no means something ordinary objects could compare to.

"Well? Do you like it?"

"I noticed long ago that the bow in your hands was completely unworthy of your strength, so I specially 'grew' one for you this time. Does it suit you?"

Seeing Tighnari finally put down the longbow, Lin Feng knowingly asked.

"'Suitable' hardly begins to describe it. This bow even reminds me of the legendary weapons that the bowmakers of my clan once told me about."

"I almost have the illusion that this bow is actually a living being. And if it had consciousness, I might not be a match for it at all."

Though he was somewhat concerned by Lin Feng's use of the word "grew," Tighnari did not hold back in the slightest when praising the longbow.

Lin Feng: "..." He got that right. If this bow had consciousness, the kid really would not be able to beat it.

"Ahem. Since you said it's an illusion, don't dwell on it too much."

"There's no need for social pleasantries between us. If you like it, just accept it. There's another gift below."

Seeing that Tighnari had nearly guessed the true nature of the "bow," Lin Feng promptly shifted the topic to the next gift.

This time, however, what Lin Feng took out was merely a small box of unknown material.

Rather than handing the box to Tighnari, Lin Feng asked instead:

"Tighnari, do you have your Vision on you? Let me borrow it."

"I do, but what do you need it for? Here."

Though Tighnari was somewhat Doubts, he still readily removed the Vision from his waist.

Lin Feng took Tighnari's Vision and pressed the glass-orb-like object against the small box.

Following Lin Feng's actions, Tighnari's Vision emitted a faint emerald glow, but it soon returned to stillness.

Once everything had returned to normal, Lin Feng put away the little box and handed the glass bead, which seemed just a little greener than before, to the fox-eared youth opposite him, whose face was full of confusion.

"That's it? So what changes will there be to the Vision?"

Tighnari was rather surprised. Lin Feng, who usually loved putting on a grand spectacle, had been so plain and unadorned this time.

Taking the Vision, which appeared unchanged, from Lin Feng's hand, Tighnari tentatively activated his Elemental Power.

!!!

Who would have thought that with only a thought, the Dendro Element that usually treated him like ice and barely responded to him suddenly changed its attitude? It went from an aloof mentor to a junior eagerly going wherever he pointed.

In other words, Tighnari's position relative to the elements had undergone a complete reversal.

With just that one change, the difficulty of manipulating the elements instantly dropped severalfold. So long as Tighnari developed and trained accordingly afterward, both his output strength and the variety of his attack methods would undergo qualitative changes.

"Unbelievable! What exactly did you do to my Vision?!"

"Forgive my ignorance, but even within the Akademiya, there has never been a field of study concerning alterations and enhancements to Visions."

Feeling Tighnari's curiosity practically overflowing, Lin Feng naturally did not hide anything and said directly:

"I merely packaged a few extra fragments of my own authority into it."

"Although I don't know how this thing specifically works, that doesn't stop me from injecting power of the same origin into this Vision and improving its performance."

Lin Feng sincerely felt that the Heavenly Principles, which had developed this system, was truly talented.

If it were merely distributing authority and creating Adeptus dependents, any Adeptus could accomplish such a thing.

But to establish a system like Visions, with clearly defined responsibilities and a mature structure, was something ordinary Adeptus simply could not achieve.

—Celestia selected the candidates, The Seven Archons distributed the fragments, and outsourced workers handled the specific business.

Throughout this process, The Seven Archons did not even need to know who received the authority. Once mortals completed their missions, they could gain certain benefits. Even if a mortal who received power died unfortunately, the distributed authority could be automatically reclaimed.

Celestia achieved its goal, The Seven Archons gained benefits, and mortals obtained power.

Thus, a situation that appeared to perfectly achieve a three-way win was established.

Back to the present.

Just as he had expected, Lin Feng's two gifts gave Tighnari a powerful boost.

With Viridescent Hunt Plus in hand and the deluxe Vision in use, the current Tighnari could, conservatively speaking, defeat three of his former selves.