While the Traveler was observing Mauvika, Mauvika also noticed the Traveler's gaze. She sheathed her greatsword and walked over.
"I presume you are the Traveler who has accomplished great feats in other nations?" Mauvika greeted her politely. "My name is Mauvika. It is a pleasure to meet you."
Seeing Mauvika being so approachable, Lumine and Paimon were naturally delighted to meet her as well.
"When we were participating in the Holy Night of the Return of Fire, we even saw you riding that motorcycle," Paimon said with a gentle smile.
"That vehicle is quite fast, isn't it?" Mauvika's lips curved slightly. "I had Xilonen fine tune it many times to reach that speed."
As newcomers, the Traveler and Paimon did not understand the relationship between Xilonen and Mauvika, and simply assumed Xilonen was an exceptional engineer.
However, Mualani and the others present were well aware of how many times Xilonen had complained behind Mauvika's back because of the extreme performance demands placed on that Flamestrider.
"Actually, during the Holy Night of the Return of Fire, I also observed your combat techniques from a distance," Mauvika said as she crossed her arms.
"Was it impressive?" Paimon asked expectantly.
"Of course," Mauvika replied with a smile. "It exceeded my expectations. You truly live up to your reputation as the hero who has saved multiple nations from crisis."
After a brief pause, her eyes, burning like blazing sunlight, settled on Lumine.
"Traveler, once the Holy Night of the Return of Fire concludes, I have something important to discuss with you. Would you be willing?"
"Can't you tell me now?" Lumine asked.
"What I need to discuss involves considerable information. There may not be enough time at the moment."
Mauvika explained calmly, "Moreover, the Individual Competition of the Holy Night of the Return of Fire will begin shortly. If you hear what I have to say now, it may cause you to overthink and affect your performance."
The Holy Night of the Return of Fire is divided into two stages: the Team Competition and the Individual Competition.
After the Team Competition concludes, the Ancient Name bearers from each squad enter the Individual Competition, ultimately competing for several qualification slots to participate in the Night Warden War.
Although the Night Warden War has already been suspended, the warriors who advanced from the Team Competition are still preparing seriously for the upcoming Individual Competition, anticipating an intense match.
In addition, since this Holy Night of the Return of Fire is unofficial, the Traveler, as an outsider, is still permitted to participate in the Individual Competition.
Seeing Mauvika's firm attitude, Lumine did not press further. She simply nodded, agreeing to wait until after the competition.
At that moment, the sound of an argument rose from nearby.
"What's going on?" Paimon blinked and looked over, noticing two competitors arguing heatedly with the event staff.
"It seems those two are dissatisfied with their elimination. They believe that if they had not been ambushed, they would have advanced from the Team Competition," Kinich explained.
"Their skills are lacking, yet they blame others for ambushing them. Do they expect Abyssal monsters to show them courtesy during real combat?"
The small yellow pixel dragon beside Kinich spoke disdainfully.
"Ajaw."
"W what? I did not say anything wrong."
Ajaw immediately grew nervous.
Ever since Kinich obtained his Pyro Vision, Ajaw's status had fallen even lower than before.
Previously he was only struck physically. Now he risked being scorched by flames. It was extremely painful.
"I was going to say that I agree with your opinion this time," Kinich said calmly.
Hearing this, Ajaw became furious. "Idiot Kinich, why did you phrase it like that? You nearly frightened this Holy Dragon to death!"
Despite his anger, Ajaw did not dare provoke Kinich further. If he pushed too far, he would only end up burned again.
"I will go resolve the situation," Mauvika said after understanding what had happened. She turned and walked toward the eliminated competitors.
After Mauvika left, Paimon noticed Lumine deep in thought.
"Traveler, what are you thinking about?"
Lumine looked up and said thoughtfully, "Don't you think Mauvika looks very familiar?"
"Familiar?" Paimon tilted her head and scratched her hair. "Now that you mention it, she does seem familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen her."
Lumine did not prolong the suspense. "Do you remember the Statue of The Seven we saw earlier in the Children of Echoes territory?"
"I remember!" With the reminder, Paimon suddenly realized. "Mauvika looks very similar to the figure on that Statue of The Seven."
Rather than merely similar, it would be more accurate to say they looked almost identical.
Because Natlan's Pyro Archon changes frequently, the figure depicted on the Statue of The Seven should not represent the current Pyro Archon.
So why did Mauvika resemble that statue so closely?
"Traveler Big Sister,"
While Lumine was still contemplating, Kachina stepped forward to explain.
"After we Natlan people pass away, our souls undergo reincarnation. Even the Pyro Archon is no exception."
"If you think Sister Mauvika resembles the Lord Pyro Archon depicted on the statue, then perhaps Sister Mauvika is the reincarnation of that Pyro Archon," Kachina suggested.
"Hehe, we thought the same at first," Mualani added with a smile, raising her index finger. "But we figured Sister Mauvika might not appreciate being called someone's reincarnation, so we never mentioned it to her directly. Please keep it a secret as well."
"Is it truly just reincarnation?" Lumine reflected quietly, feeling that the matter might not be so simple.
Even if it were reincarnation, with entirely different parents, could someone truly be born looking exactly the same?
Lumine remained unconvinced.
[Foreshadowing!]
[This is definitely foreshadowing!]
[Mauvika cannot simply be a reincarnation. She might actually be the Pyro Archon depicted on the Statue of The Seven herself.]
[Why do you say that? Do you have any evidence?]
[The evidence is that the Traveler is suspicious.]
[There is no way the Traveler questions it only for it to turn out exactly as Kachina said, just a simple reincarnation. HoYoverse would not treat players like fools.]
[I heard from a leaker that Natlan has two Pyro Archons, and the former Pyro Archon will wage war against the current one. It seems Mauvika is the former Pyro Archon.]
[Isn't that the same fake Fontaine script from before, just with the names swapped to Natlan?]
[Leakers can barely get character kits correct these days, let alone the story. It is better to look at Mihoyo Insider's plot analysis. At least some of his predictions are accurate.]
[But if Mauvika really is the Pyro Archon from 500 years ago, how has she survived until now? Natlan's Pyro Archons are human, so their lifespan should only be around a century.]
[Who knows? The story is in HoYoverse's hands. They can easily come up with a reasonable explanation.]
[Mauvika wants to speak privately with the Traveler. What could she want to discuss?]
[The current Pyro Archon recently took office and immediately halted both the Holy Night of the Return of Fire and the Night Warden War, which were originally established to combat the Abyss.]
[Could Mauvika suspect that the current Pyro Archon is colluding with the Abyss and wants to join forces with the Traveler to overthrow the current Pyro Archon?]
...
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