As Jiang Xiaofeng stood ready for battle, he heard the system notification he hadn't heard in so long.
"Cells collected. System awakening." "Searching for host requirements." "Distributing rewards." "Congratulations to the host on obtaining... obtaining..." "Warning: this world has been modified!" "Modifying rewards..." "Distributing rewards..." "Congratulations to the host. System has reached level six. System upgrading." "Congratulations to the host on obtaining: 'Teleportation Rune,' 'Explorer's Rune,' 'Vine Rune.'" "...Congratulations to the host on obtaining: 'Skill: Time Warp: Modified,' 'Skill: Time Warp: Modified,' 'Mutation: Brutality,' 'Magic Missiles,' 'Lightning Bolt,' 'Thunder Shield.'" "System will soon enter dormancy. Host, please kill enough monsters to obtain cells and reactivate the system..."
Jiang Xiaofeng stared at the rewards, dumbfounded.
Why were the rewards suddenly so generous?!
This was making me really nervous!
Wait...
Jiang Xiaofeng noticed the words "this world has been modified."
Could... something have happened that forced the system to speed up the distribution of rewards?
Jiang Xiaofeng speculated.
According to the system, the world had been modified, which meant the entire world would begin to change. In that case, the person who would change all of Teyvat as it currently existed...
"The Traveler is here..."
That was the only conclusion Jiang Xiaofeng could reach.
Not only that, but the monsters throughout the world would probably grow stronger as the Traveler did!
Jiang Xiaofeng smacked his fist into his palm. No wonder these monsters were all so weak!
While Jiang Xiaofeng was thinking, the Cryo Hypostasis had revived at some point and was roaring as it lunged at him!
"Human!"
Still thinking, Jiang Xiaofeng grew irritated at the sound, equipped the Hayabusa Gauntlets, and threw a punch... shattering the inert shell...
"..."
Both Jiang Xiaofeng and the Cryo Hypostasis fell silent.
Jiang Xiaofeng switched to Acceptance and finished off the Cryo Hypostasis. After collecting the final rewards of this outing, he spread his dragon wings and left.
Wait... did the system swallow a whole bunch of my cells???
Hundreds of kills should have earned at least two rounds of rewards, but it only chimed once. That was way too underhanded!
Sigh, forget it. Since these rewards even included an overpowered skill like Time Warp, I'd let it off this once.
But why did it give me two copies of Time Warp: Modified?
Jiang Xiaofeng flew toward Mondstadt, stuffing Crystalline Blooms into his head as he went.
The Traveler was coming. Would my actions clash with the Traveler's...?
And...
Jiang Xiaofeng remembered the fellow who had been spying on him.
It was most likely His Highness the Prince or Her Highness the Princess of the Abyss.
Thinking about his current strength, Jiang Xiaofeng suddenly felt powerless.
"No faction, no connections. All I have is this strength of mine..."
"Sigh."
"Oh, you're heading to Mondstadt too."
Jiang Xiaofeng greeted Stormterror, who was flying toward Mondstadt.
"..."
Wait, Stormterror?
Jiang Xiaofeng's eyes lit up.
Right! Here's someone I can try possessing!
With that thought, Jiang Xiaofeng activated the Wings of the Crow, flew onto Stormterror, grabbed the blood clot, and began attacking!
Stormterror hadn't seen Jiang Xiaofeng, but he could feel the pain in his neck and couldn't help roaring.
"Roooar-"
Stormterror roared, wheeling up and down through the air, but there was nothing he could do.
Because Jiang Xiaofeng had already pressed his head against the blood clot and begun devouring it!
The destruction of the blood clot drove Stormterror nearly mad, and he finally landed in the Whispering Woods, far from Mondstadt.
Jiang Xiaofeng had devoured Durin's poisonous blood and tasted something different within it.
"Abyss Curse. Tastes pretty good."
Just as Jiang Xiaofeng sent his flying head out along the wound to begin possessing him, the impact of Stormterror's landing suddenly shook him off.
"Shit!"
Jiang Xiaofeng retracted his flying head and looked at the weakened Stormterror.
"How are you already this weak?"
Stormterror looked at the fellow before him who had freed him from the Abyss Curse. He wanted to express his gratitude, but he couldn't move at all.
Only then did he remember that he seemed to have fallen straight out of the sky.
Only now did Stormterror feel the pain, and he couldn't help shedding tears.
"?"
"Why, why are you crying?"
Jiang Xiaofeng found this utterly absurd.
I'm about to steal your body, and instead of getting angry, you're crying in front of me?
Jiang Xiaofeng grew angry, feeling that this fellow needed a lesson.
"Stop crying! Get up!"
"What's with that look? Those tears!"
"Can you protect Mondstadt City with those alone?!"
"Get up and defeat the person attacking you!"
Jiang Xiaofeng was trying to anger Stormterror.
He kept feeling that all his recent ideas would fall through.
Sure enough, Stormterror stood up.
Just as Jiang Xiaofeng was feeling pleased, Stormterror nuzzled him.
Jiang Xiaofeng: "?"
Seriously, is something wrong with you?
I want to possess you. Not only do you sense no danger, you're actually getting close to the person who wants to possess you?
Jiang Xiaofeng felt awful.
Why did the people I wanted to attack always find all sorts of reasons to get close to me, leaving me helpless?
Jiang Xiaofeng had no particular aversion to killing people, but he couldn't deal with people or other creatures that showed him kindness.
There was no helping it. He wasn't entirely the Beheaded. His soul was still that boy from Blue Star.
The Beheaded's peculiar nature had merely made his mind a little strange.
But even if Jiang Xiaofeng truly was a gentle person at heart, the world wouldn't take pity on him for it.
The game only showed the beautiful side. The real Teyvat wasn't that wonderful. Just like Blue Star, it was full of darkness.
For example, if Jiang Xiaofeng had transmigrated in his own body instead of becoming the Beheaded and arriving here, his corpse would have been left out in the wilderness on his very first day in this world.
Gentleness... couldn't put food on the table!
Take Hilichurls, for example... they really would kill people!
Back to the present.
Jiang Xiaofeng looked at the big fellow nuzzling him docilely, at a loss for what to do.
Jiang Xiaofeng moved a little farther away and activated Evil Dragon Transformation.
Sure enough, after devouring some poisonous blood, Jiang Xiaofeng's Evil Dragon Transformation covered a larger area.
It covered practically his entire upper body.
Jiang Xiaofeng looked at the wide-eyed Stormterror.
"Do you still have poisonous blood in your body that hasn't been cleared out?"
Stormterror looked at the "Durin-transformed" Jiang Xiaofeng. Although he felt that Jiang Xiaofeng's aura wasn't quite right, seeing that Jiang Xiaofeng showed no signs of losing his reason, he decided to wait and see.
"Don't move. Let me look at the poisonous blood in your body. I'll try to devour... pfft, deal with it..."
As he spoke, Jiang Xiaofeng flew toward Stormterror's tail.
Watching Jiang Xiaofeng, Stormterror suddenly thought of something. He had only just shouted, "Watch out!" when he saw Jiang Xiaofeng come up beside his eye, a shielded Cryo Abyss Mage skewered on the spear in his hand, and look at him in confusion.
Stormterror: "..."