"Manager, you healed Dvalin so quickly? That's amazing!" Paimon looked at Chen Luo with admiration.
After all, to Paimon, Dvalin was such a massive, gigantic creature.
"What you saw was just over a minute, but actually, quite some time passed in the other space," Chen Luo said as he walked to where everyone was gathered.
Everyone tactfully avoided disturbing Venti and Dvalin, so they all came over to look at the Abyss Mage.
At this moment, the Abyss Mage was standing dazedly in front of the Herrscher of Sentience, completely unguarded before everyone.
Chen Luo even felt that Diluc seemed a bit eager to fight.
"This is the first time I've coexisted peacefully with an Abyss Mage at such close range without taking action." Jean stood there, holding her longsword in hand.
Talking about peaceful coexistence while gripping a sword against the other party—truly worthy of being Acting Grand Master Jean.
"If possible, I'd really like to study this Abyss Mage properly." Lisa also seemed quite intrigued.
After all, a completely non-resistant Abyss Mage was truly a rare sight.
"I did encounter an Abyss Mage a couple of days ago. Perhaps due to the storm disaster and the expedition drawing away too many elites, not only the Fatui but even the Abyss Order have become active in Mondstadt," Diluc said, stroking his chin.
"This Abyss Mage seems to be quite high-level—after all, it could corrupt Dvalin through special means. And its staff is of pretty high quality too." Lisa took the Abyss Mage's staff, examined it for a moment, and said.
"Sister Lisa, can I take a look?" Chen Luo reached out his hand to her.
Right now, the Herrscher of Sentience was gradually eroding the Abyss Mage's consciousness and didn't need Chen Luo to intervene yet. Chen Luo could simply take over the results later.
Of course, there was another reason—to put on a show for the others.
Naturally, Chen Luo could use the Thousand-Herrscher ability to control this Abyss Mage, and this Abyss Mage definitely qualified as a competent pawn, with strong power and high status.
But publicly displaying the ability to turn others into puppets was still rather inappropriate.
After all, Chen Luo still wanted to maintain good relations with these people and learn magic and other knowledge from them.
"Done." The Herrscher of Sentience, who had been pinching the Abyss Mage's head, released her hand and patted away some imaginary dust.
"This guy really is a relatively high-ranking Abyss Mage. And I think I saw Lumine's brother through his memories." The Herrscher of Sentience turned her head and spoke to everyone.
"Wait, Lumine's brother? Why is Lumine's brother involved?" Jean suddenly looked puzzled.
Jean had heard from Amber that Lumine's purpose in traveling was to find her brother, but she didn't expect to find traces of him here.
"Well, that's not something I can say." The Herrscher of Sentience shook her head directly.
Important matters like this required the person concerned to decide before revealing them. Moreover, given the current situation, even if Lumine herself agreed, it was better not to speak carelessly.
After all, matters concerning the Prince of the Abyss could easily lead to prejudice against Lumine.
Just like the citizens of Mondstadt's prejudice toward Eula.
What a great knight Eula is! Beautiful, elegant in dance, powerful in battle, and she's hunted so many Abyss monsters—yet she just isn't well received.
"My brother? Where is my brother?" Upon hearing her brother's name after so long, Lumine immediately stepped forward and pressed urgently.
"I don't know." The Herrscher of Sentience shook her head.
"You don't know?" Lumine's voice suddenly grew louder, even disturbing Venti and Dvalin, who were chatting nearby.
Are you kidding me?
"This is something I can't help. Although this Abyss Mage's strength isn't greater than mine, there's a strange power deep within his consciousness protecting the core of his mind. If we really wanted to break through, it wouldn't be impossible, but we don't know what the consequences might be," the Herrscher of Sentience said honestly.
The Abyss is naturally adept at manipulating minds, especially Abyss Mages. Since this one was sent to corrupt Dvalin, it meant he was an expert among them.
People like that generally set up mental defenses for themselves.
"The hunter eventually gets pecked by the goose"—such things aren't unheard of. "Walk by the river long enough, and your shoes will get wet."
Even the Herrscher of Sentience herself had set up a mental barrier within her mind.
When she loses consciousness or suffers a mental invasion she can't resist—just before her mental defenses are about to collapse—the Herrscher of Sentience will self-destruct.
Of course, that doesn't mean she'll die from it. She'll only self-destruct halfway, like a lizard severing its tail to survive. The pain from losing that piece of herself will awaken her consciousness again.
Although half of her mental body gets blown away, her unique constitution ensures her body isn't damaged; she just becomes slightly smaller.
Moreover, Heart Demons are notoriously difficult to eradicate. As long as a trace remains, they can easily return to their peak.
Thanks to that peculiar Heart-Demon constitution, the Herrscher of Sentience's vitality is extremely tenacious.
Of course, this Abyss Mage certainly isn't that powerful. The Herrscher of Sentience could forcibly break through, but due to her unfamiliarity with that strange power, she might accidentally turn the Abyss Mage into an idiot.
If she became familiar with that power, she would naturally be able to find a method to break it. But for the Herrscher of Sentience, studying a new power is simply too much of a hassle.
In short—she's lazy.
"Problems with mental consciousness? I really don't understand that field, so I can't help you, little cutie." After hearing the fundamental issue from the Herrscher of Sentience, Lisa shook her head.
To be honest, Lisa didn't even understand the principle behind how the Herrscher of Sentience could erode another's consciousness, let alone assist her.
There are indeed some records of mental magic in books, but that's not Lisa's area of expertise.
"Then what should I do?" Lumine suddenly felt lost and helpless.
Then, almost instinctively, Lumine looked at Chen Luo.
"Manager, didn't you say you would help me find my brother? And you also said you might find clues during this commission. You must know the solution, right?" Lumine placed all her hopes on Chen Luo.
Chen Luo was someone you could count on!
"In that case, it's not a big problem. Leave it to me." Chen Luo looked at the seemingly troublesome Abyss Mage before him and nodded solemnly.
He hadn't expected that although this world's Abyss and power systems lacked bug-level existences like Herrschers, they still had such strange and unpredictable elements.
In the Honkai world, to resist the Herrscher of Sentience's power, one either needed a resilient soul or had to be a Psychic MANTIS. There weren't many other effective ways to avoid her influence.
But in this world, there were actually things like mental defenses.
It seemed there really was a need to turn this Abyss Mage into a puppet. Chen Luo was quite interested in the Abyss Mage's magic and the resources of the Abyss Order.
Not to mention, Khaenri'ah—once the pride of humanity 500 years ago—possessed archives of knowledge said to be astonishing.
Moreover, Albedo, the alchemist of Mondstadt, is a genius in his field. His master, Rhinedottir, came from Khaenri'ah. The alchemy there has reached its absolute peak.
Chen Luo pondered for a moment. If he wanted to learn alchemy, why not turn to the Abyss Order? Or rather—why not look for the descendants of Khaenri'ah themselves?
Finding a teacher meant paying tuition. But learning from the Abyss Order? That was free access to knowledge.
Although the alchemy texts left behind by the Abyss Order might not be vast in number, Chen Luo didn't need complete mastery. He only needed one good alchemy manual to instantly grasp the fundamentals.
In truth, most special skills that require training work that way—once you reach mastery, the rest depends on your own effort. A good teacher can guide you faster, but in the end, you still have to walk the path yourself.
For Chen Luo, who already had "Furniture Mastery," he no longer needed anyone to handhold him.
Of course, it wasn't like Chen Luo was jealous.
Definitely not jealous that other people had masters who gave them money, treasures… and occasionally, beautiful women.
Thinking this, Chen Luo grabbed the Abyss Mage by the back of its collar and dragged it into the suddenly appearing bar.
"Don't follow me," he said, glancing at the curious Paimon who was hovering after him. "I'm about to do some... not-suitable-for-children things with this Abyss Mage."
"Eh? Not-suitable-for-children?" Paimon's eyes went wide, her tiny fists clenching in shock.
"Bloody and violent things. What did you think I meant?" Chen Luo replied dryly, flipping off the group one by one as they all gave him suspicious looks.
"..."
Amid the awkward silence, Chen Luo disappeared into the bar.
Inside, threads unfurled—wrapping, cocooning, eroding, reshaping…
As Chen Luo became more practiced with the Herrscher of Domination's power, the process grew smoother. It didn't take long before he had completely brought the Abyss Mage under his control.
His modification of this Abyss Mage was complete puppetization, but under normal circumstances, he wouldn't interfere with its daily actions.
Because the Abyss Mage's purpose wasn't to betray secrets or destroy the Abyss Order—Chen Luo wasn't from Teyvat, so why would he meddle in that?
Besides, who knew whether some members of the Abyss Order might one day stand as allies against the Heavenly Principles?
The Abyss Mage's true role was to serve as a transmitter of knowledge to Chen Luo.
So, during the modification process, Chen Luo specifically enhanced its ability to communicate mentally. Everything else, he left untouched—better to avoid raising suspicion.
The full puppeteering modification wasn't difficult. In fact, it took even less time than modifying Welt-one.
And for some reason, the process felt… unusually smooth this time.
Still, to make it seem more believable, Chen Luo stayed in the bar long enough to eat two chocolate bars before walking back out.
"So? Did you find out where my brother is?" Lumine was the first to rush over as soon as he emerged.
"Don't rush. Hey, Number Three, recognize her?" Chen Luo patted the Abyss Mage beside him on the head and pointed at Lumine.
He didn't know the Abyss Mage's name, nor did he care to. Since this was the third puppet under his control, he simply called it Number Three.
"I do. The blood kin of that lord," the Abyss Mage answered obediently.
"That lord?" Jean immediately grew alert.
"..." Lisa frowned slightly, lost in thought.
She vaguely recalled recent intelligence reports suggesting that the Abyss Order had produced a figure of tremendous power.
A so-called Prince of the Abyss.
Could that really be Lumine's brother?
...No, surely not. The odds of that coincidence were too high.
"Then take her to see her brother," Chen Luo said. "But the most important condition is: don't expose yourself. Got it?"
In Chen Luo's view, this Abyss Mage was extremely valuable. With its status, getting access to some alchemical materials shouldn't be difficult, right?
Actually, that was one thing about non-human races like the Abyss Order—they were diligent and surprisingly cooperative.
As persecuted outcasts rebelling against the Heavenly Principles, they were exceptionally united and shared resources freely among themselves.
Honestly, sometimes the so-called villains seemed more righteous than the "heroes."
That's because the upper ranks of the "righteous" side were full of obstructive fools whose only purpose seemed to be holding others back.
And the worst part was—you couldn't even get rid of them.
"Everyone," Chen Luo said to the group, "this Abyss Mage has been temporarily brought under my control through a special method. It took considerable effort and time. But the control won't last forever. I hope you can all keep this confidential and not expose its identity as an informant."
"That's not a problem. Actually, even if we wanted to leak it, we couldn't—Abyss Mages all look the same anyway," Lisa replied lightly.
She wasn't wrong. To most outsiders, every Abyss Mage looked nearly identical aside from their elemental color.
"Good," Chen Luo nodded.
"So now," Lumine said, "you can take me to find my brother, right?"
"Finally, we can help Lumine find her brother! Let's go, let's go!" Paimon cheered excitedly.
"Of course," said the Abyss Mage. "However, that mascot beside you cannot come."
"Eh?! Why not?!" Paimon's eyes widened in outrage.
"First, I can only teleport one person," the Abyss Mage replied patiently. "Second, the noise you make while flying could draw attention from certain powerful individuals. Meeting that lord is not something done casually."
"If we're discovered, I can excuse it by claiming this young lady was tracking me—my lord might understand and spare me. But if I say you were tracking me..." The Abyss Mage paused, then added with dignified disdain, "Forgive me, but my self-respect cannot tolerate that."
Under Chen Luo's control, it was impossible for the Abyss Mage to lie.
"... Lumine, don't hold me back! I'm gonna beat him up!" After a stunned moment, Paimon flailed her arms furiously and charged at the Abyss Mage.
How dare he insult her like that!
But Lumine quickly caught her by the collar and held her back.
After all, Paimon's combat power wasn't even enough to scratch one of the mage's fingers.
"I—I'll give you a super mean nickname then! Like… like... stupid ice-block guy!" Paimon huffed, puffing her cheeks out in rage.