"That's good. With the power you gave her, she won't have to worry about the Fatui bothering her."
Although it was less than a minute, the power White Oriole displayed was no less impressive than those who possessed a Vision, and perhaps even stronger.
(Keqing: Hmm? Is someone talking bad about me?)
Her only drawback was the short time she had to master the power; she still needed time to train herself and develop this power to become stronger.
"But she was just an ordinary person before, right? Suddenly gaining elemental power, and without a Vision at that. If people find out, they'll definitely pester her, trying to find out how she got her power."
White Oriole's loyalty was beyond doubt. Lumine believed that no matter how generous the Reward others offered, White Oriole would not reveal Durandal's information to anyone else.
"It's fine, it's just a Vision. With a little money, someone can craft a fake Vision ornament. With that, there's no need to worry about people noticing anything amiss."
When not in use, a Vision is just an ornament. Since it can be used as an ornament, why not create one?
Not everyone can possess a Vision. Those without a Vision will pay others to help them create a fake Vision ornament to comfort themselves.
If she didn't have this much intelligence, White Oriole wouldn't have been able to rise to the position of a housekeeper at such a young age, and as a woman at that.
"Oh right! There's that trick, how did I not think of it?"
Paimon suddenly understood: "The busker's Vision is just a glass orb, isn't it? Miss Housekeeper can completely disguise herself this way, making it less easy to spot."
"It's just that her ability doesn't seem to last very long; she gets so tired in less than a minute. The Traveler back then could at least run for a few minutes; she can't even compare to the Traveler from that period."
When Paimon first met Lumine, Lumine's stamina was really poor. She would get out of breath after running for a bit, completely unlike now, where she can last until the end of a battle with energy to spare.
Hearing Paimon bring up her past embarrassing moment, Lumine's face flushed. She pinched Paimon's cheeks, pulling them left and right.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. My stamina was so bad back then, I must have hindered you."
"It hurts, it hurts so much. No hindrance, not at all. Traveler, let go quickly, it really hurts."
Only when Paimon's eyes teared up did Lumine release her grip and gently caress Paimon's slightly reddened cheeks.
Paimon puffed out her cheeks, glaring indignantly at Lumine, but remembering that she had just exposed Lumine's embarrassing past, she couldn't complain and could only turn her face away, avoiding Lumine's gaze.
"She doesn't have poor stamina. She stimulated her body with electricity just now, which is why she had such speed. But doing so consumes a lot of stamina. At her current level, she can only last for less than ten seconds, and will collapse from exhaustion in fifteen seconds at most."
As long as she doesn't use this move, White Oriole can last for a long time. This move can be used as a trump card.
"Stimulating her body with electricity? Won't she get hurt?"
"Under the transformation of the magic orb, her body has adapted to Electro. Hmm~ Simply put, it's somewhat similar to the situation of an Electro Slime."
Oh~ With Durandal's description, Lumine and Paimon understood White Oriole's situation.
In other words, White Oriole will no longer fear Electro Element attacks in the future. As long as an Electro Element attack touches her body, it will be [immune], [immune], [immune], the kind that would make those mages so angry their heads would smoke.
However, she can be immune to Electro Element attacks, but she cannot be immune to physical attacks. If someone enchants a weapon, even though the Electro Element on the weapon can be immune, the physical DMG caused by the weapon cannot be avoided.
"How amazing, how amazing, Durandal. How did you make that magic orb? It feels even more powerful than a Vision."
If a Vision is taken away, the wielder can no longer control elemental power, but the magic orb bestowed by Durandal, because it is integrated into the body, absolutely cannot be taken away.
In this regard, the magic orb is much stronger than a Vision, and White Oriole is lucky to be favored by Durandal.
"Hey, Durandal. How did you make that orb?"
Lumine was very curious about how Durandal managed it. Although she had only simply extended her hand, the steps involved must not have been that simple.
"By extracting life, you can refine a magic orb from it."
"...Extracting life?"
Paimon blinked, repeating.
"Yes, extracting life. It's something I extracted from life. Although my main ability is poison, my life still has some use."
This was also Durandal's greatest relief. She had resurrected Agalu by refining a life orb.
Although the Village of Doubt eventually disappeared under the Adventurers'Extermination, that was when she was happiest.
At that time, a flame ignited in her lonely heart. She, who was called the [black plague], could actually extend or even create life, adding color to this world. This was something she never dared to imagine in her dreams.
Thinking of this, Durandal couldn't help but smile, a smile for that rather happy past, but to Lumine and Paimon, this smile seemed so fragile.
"Hmm? Why are you looking at me like that? The past is over. My life is beyond your imagination. Just a slight consumption from an almost infinite life is nothing at all."
Saying that, Durandal extended her right hand and asked, "Do you want it, Lumine? If you want it, I can make you magic orbs of other elements. With your physique, you must be able to hold several magic orbs at once. With these magic orbs, you can..."
"Enough! Don't do this, Durandal."
Lumine suddenly grabbed Durandal's hand with some agitation, forcibly interrupting Durandal's action of extracting life.
Durandal looked at Lumine in confusion. Why was she so agitated? She should need... no, she definitely needed power.
Although she didn't know yet that her brother had become the leader of the Abyss, she would definitely face various powerful enemies in the future. If she didn't become stronger, she wouldn't be able to deal with those enemies.
"Don't be like this, okay? I don't need power obtained at the cost of consuming your life, so you don't have to give me those magic orbs."
"Are you worried about me? Actually, you don't need to worry at all. The life consumed to extract a magic orb is negligible to me. It's like scooping a bowl of water from the ocean; do you think this bowl of water will affect the ocean?"
Extracting magic orbs this way might consume a lot of life, which for an ordinary person might mean instant death, but for Durandal, it was nothing.
"That's not what I mean! Why don't you understand? I'm not unhappy about your act of consuming life, but rather your action of not valuing your own life at all."
Life is precious, and Durandal surely knows this, otherwise she wouldn't have planted so many beautiful flowers at Cape Oath, or adopted so many small animals there.
But she understood the preciousness of life, yet she alone didn't value her own life, and this was what angered Lumine the most.
Yes, Durandal's life is long, and the life consumed to create a magic orb is nothing to her, but is that her reason for not cherishing herself?
"My own... life?"
"Exactly. You care about the lives of flowers, the lives of animals, the lives of humans. But why don't you care about your own life? Why don't you value yourself?"
"But... it really doesn't matter to me. Besides, just consuming something so insignificant to me can help you, and I'm already very satisfied."
Lumine clenched her fists after hearing that. She was very angry, she was truly very angry. This was the first time she had been angry with Durandal, and at the same time, she felt great pity for Durandal.
What… what exactly has she been through? Generally speaking, even a God shouldn't look down on their own life so much. What kind of experience made her this way?
She couldn't be angry with Durandal. She wanted to correct Durandal's mindset, but she knew it would be very difficult, extremely difficult.
Durandal's mindset had been maintained for who knows how many years; it was not something she could change overnight.
This made Lumine a little sad, feeling like she couldn't do anything.
"But... this is the first time anyone has said such words to me. Cherish my own life? Haha~ Is this what it feels like to be cherished? It's really nice."
This feeling of being cherished was wonderful, especially Lumine's angry gaze. Although she was angry at her, Durandal felt no displeasure at all; on the contrary, she felt very good, even better than when Lumine said she needed her.
"Then... then can you..."
"No, this is the only way to cultivate my own faction. In the future, when I go to other nations, I will still need to use this ability to cultivate talented individuals and have them help deal with the Fatui."
Durandal hugged Lumine first this time, gently patting her back, and said softly, "I understand your feelings, but this truly means nothing to me. I'm very grateful that you are angry with me about this. Thank you so much, Lumine."
"Durandal... you idiot."
Lumine hugged Durandal back. She really couldn't persuade Durandal, but this could also be considered a good ending.
Watching the two embracing, Paimon felt isolated. She puffed out her cheeks, flew over, and hugged both their heads.
"Don't forget Paimon, you two! Paimon is a very important companion too!"
Paimon's actions made the atmosphere joyful again. On the surface, nothing seemed to have changed, but in reality, some things had already shifted in the background.
Sorry, everyone, for this chapter being released so late.
It was supposed to be published at noon with the first chapter, but no matter how I wrote this chapter, I wasn't satisfied.
The final version came out after deleting several thousand words consecutively, so I had no choice but to drag it out until now. I'm truly sorry.
Ah~ This kind of storyline is indeed the hardest to write. It's really difficult to capture that feeling. When will The Indestructible master it?