"Thank you for your assistance, Master Diluc. May the Anemo Archon protect you," Venti smiled.
Jun Bai: "Pfft~"
Paimon looked at Jun Bai, puzzled. "Jun Bai, did you also remember something happy?"
"That's right. Liyue's annual Rite of Descension is about to begin. As a subject of Rex Lapis, thinking about being able to witness it again makes me happy," Jun Bai said, expression unchanged.
It was quite easy to lie with a poker face.
"So, even though I've agreed to help, I still don't know what I'm supposed to do now," Lumine said.
"Same here," Diluc echoed.
Jun Bai looked at Venti. "Lumine has the power to purify the Abyssal curse, so our primary task now is to find Dvalin's whereabouts. You must have an idea, right, Venti?"
Venti nodded. "Correct, I have a method to call Dvalin."
[There should be a "but" coming next.]
[You can call him, but there's a prerequisite, right?]
"However, I need the help of the Holy Lyre der Himmel. It is the Anemo Archon's treasure and can help me call Dvalin."
Diluc crossed his arms. "As far as I know, after the Anemo Archon Barbatos stabilized Mondstadt and left, the Holy Lyre was enshrined in the basement of the Favonius Cathedral."
"If you want to borrow it, you need the Church's permission. Otherwise, you can only steal it."
"Then let's not delay. Let's go to the Church to borrow the Holy Lyre now," Paimon said, ready to set off.
But Jun Bai reached out to stop her.
Jun Bai knew they wouldn't succeed in borrowing the Holy Lyre at this point in time. Eventually, Lumine and Paimon would have to follow the original plot and sneak into the Church basement at night to steal it.
Not only would they fail, but they would also be wanted by the Knights of Favonius.
"Leave the Holy Lyre matter to me. You all continue discussing the next steps here." With that, Jun Bai walked out of the tavern and headed toward the Knights of Favonius headquarters.
On the way, Jun Bai called out to the system.
[Popularity Points: , , …]
Of these sixty thousand Popularity Points, at least forty thousand came from the fire phoenix attack this morning, which cost one thousand points. Once he completed the task and handed over that one million Mora, he estimated his Popularity Points would rise again.
Characters who are friendly to players and provide benefits are generally loved by players, and the tolerance for them is quite high.
Just like Dr. Ratio in Honkai: Star Rail.
Thinking back, Jun Bai also had times when he praised Dr. Ratio and hailed him as his sworn father.
Dr. Ratio's popularity even surpassed that of most female characters at one point. In a gacha game leaning toward appealing to certain demographics, for a male character to surpass female characters is enough to show Dr. Ratio's worth.
If Jun Bai wanted to become the #1 popular character himself, learning from Dr. Ratio would be a good method.
This one million Mora was the first step to becoming Genshin Impact's "Dr. Ratio."
"System, set aside twenty thousand for background completion. Invest the rest into recovering my strength."
Jun Bai planned to manually intervene in the plot to accelerate it. He would take care of everything related to the Holy Lyre and collecting the Tear Crystals himself.
Back when he was a player and first experienced an open-world game, he found everything fresh and exciting, so he didn't mind the task of collecting crystals from three different locations.
But looking back from Version 4.8's perspective, he felt it was actually a flaw.
So Jun Bai intended to fix this flaw. Since he could fly, and his flight speed wasn't slow, collecting three Tear Crystals wouldn't take too long.
Therefore, barring any accidents, Jun Bai would lead the main team straight to Starsnatch Cliff tonight.
Although in the original plot, they only confronted Dvalin and the Abyss Mage, since Jun Bai could rewrite the plot himself, it wasn't unreasonable for the plot to change.
So Jun Bai had to be prepared for Venti slacking off, leaving him to face Dvalin alone.
Oh, wait—Venti was actually slacking off in the original plot too, leaving Lumine, Diluc, and Jean to face Dvalin. So there was no need to wonder if Venti would intervene tonight. The outcome was already decided.
Since he had to face Dvalin head-on, he needed to boost his strength.
The forty thousand Popularity Points were cleared. Jun Bai immediately felt his strength increase significantly, but he was still unsure of his current level.
[Below Archon level. Still far from the prime strength in your settings.]
"How many more Popularity Points are needed for full recovery?"
[Conservative estimate: around 200,000.]
"Alright, it seems I'll have to keep up the act in Liyue." Jun Bai estimated that from the Mondstadt storyline, he could only get about fifty thousand Popularity Points. The remaining 150,000 would have to come from other activities.
Jun Bai arrived at the Knights of Favonius headquarters, asked for the location of Jean's office, then took out a token and walked in.
Hearing the door open, Jean looked up from her busy paperwork. Seeing a stranger enter her office, she was about to question him—until she saw the token in Jun Bai's hand.
Jean's expression changed.
"It seems Varka has told you about me." Jun Bai put away the token. "Nice to meet you for the first time, Acting Grand Master Jean."
Jean stood up and saluted. "May the Anemo Archon bless you, Jun Bai, Marshal of the Liyue Millelith. Jean, the Dandelion Knight of Mondstadt, pays her respects to you on behalf of the Knights of Favonius."
Jun Bai nodded. "I apologize for the disturbance. I came to Mondstadt this time only to catch up with old friends. I didn't wish to trouble you, but now there's a matter in which I hope to ask for your help, Acting Grand Master."
Jean said seriously, "Please, speak freely. Mondstadt once owed the Marshal a great favor; Grand Master Varka also instructed me that if the Marshal requires anything, we are to provide our full assistance."
"So please don't stand on ceremony, Marshal. Mondstadt and I will assist you with all our strength."
"Thank you." Jun Bai nodded. "To make a long story short, my old friend, Dvalin the Dragon of the East, was awakened from his slumber due to an Abyss attack and, under their control, became the Stormterror ravaging Mondstadt."
"I know this is not his true intention, so I wish to save him from his suffering."
"Now I have found a method, but I need to borrow the Church's Holy Lyre."
"So I hope the Knights can act as a third-party guarantor so that I can successfully borrow the Holy Lyre."
"That won't be a problem." Jean agreed. "There's no need for the Marshal to intervene personally. I will go now to borrow the Holy Lyre from the Church in the name of the Knights."
With that, Jean hurried out of the office and soon returned with Barbara, who was holding the Holy Lyre.
After borrowing the Holy Lyre, Jun Bai immediately set off to return to the Angel's Share.
The tavern's customers had already been "politely asked to leave" by Diluc. Only the four people discussing the plan remained.
Afterward, dialogue similar to the original plot unfolded. The Holy Lyre's power had been completely depleted; only the purest Anemo energy could replenish it.
During this, Jun Bai frequently glanced at Venti.
A wind spirit in human form, and the Anemo Archon no less, telling me you need to go elsewhere to find the purest Anemo energy.
Even though I know you want to hide your identity, you could just say you're a wind spirit in human form to explain why you know so many secrets.
Note: I'm new to translating so please be kind and tell me any mistakes you all find, I will try to release a chapter a day but don't expect much
Please support the original author: 失渝光
Raw:宝可梦:我的冠军老婆沙奈朵