GI Chapter 12: Failures

Orion left Diluc on his own. The protector of Mondstadt had more important things to do than chatting idly.

Ludwig Goth, the owner of the previously sealed house, made his appearance. Mona brought her wallet into existence seemingly out of thin air and paid the full rent. The old man shuffled through streets, delighted to have another source of income besides his inns, hotels, and other houses.

Orion said goodbye to Diluc and went to explore the interior of the house with Mona. When Mona turned on the lights, Orion witnessed a messy sight that triggered the neat freak inside him. An Alchemy stone table was flipped on its head, rather than standing proudly. Numerous vials filled with colorful fluids were scattered across the wooden table. It seemed like a witch’s hidden lair.

“I could use some of these,” Mona said, contemplating the fee of renting the Alchemy table. “The furniture is in excellent shape. A blessing from the stars.”

Mona started cleaning the house with her Hydro element, showing Orion the importance of Visions once again.

“I’ll clean the first floor.”

Orion hurried to the stairs with Makoto trailing him. The first floor was no better than the ground floor. The previous residents had left quite a mark on the sealed, dilapidated house.

Orion picked a random vial and channeled his spiritual energy. The void marks gleamed with life as he did so. “Delete.”

The vial crumbed into fine grains of crystals. They were too small to even pierce his tough skin. It was different from what he had in mind regarding the concept.

“Let’s try a different chant. Devour.”

A blue, almost purple mist sprinkled from his hand and enveloped the glass grains. And the result was a success, the glass grains had vanished into nothingness.

‘Edgy chants always work.’

Orion gave a wry smile. With an epiphany, he decided to try another concept. “Inventory.”

The concept of Inventory materialized physically in the form of a tiny black hole. A perpetually spinning black hole without any gravitational pull. He pushed half of the vial into the black hole and pulled it back. The part of the vial that went into the black hole inside was immaculately trimmed.

He retired with different items, doing his best to create an inventory to hold his personal items. Mona had one for herself when she was merely a Vision user. A god should have some personal domain for storing things, right?

It could be due to his lack of knowledge regarding dimensions or his less-than-creative imagination, the results were only disappointing. Every different kind of dimensional portal gobbled up his items, but he couldn’t retrieve them.

All he got was a universal trash dumpster capable of shredding everything.

One saving grace was this miracle consumed even less spiritual energy than creating a vacuum.

‘Can I delete a person? If that’s the case... I’m scared of myself.’

The ability to delete every annoying person from the face of the earth. A useful one for sure.

By the time his experiment ended, all the cleaning was done. He borrowed a bucket of water from Mona and diligently wiped every nook and cranny of his new house. Living alone from a young age had its perks.

Makoto was sitting on the bed, licking her paw clean. She tilted her head and meowed as though saying a job well done.

“Lazy cat.”

“Meow.”

Orion once again examined the floor with bare minimum living necessities. A bed with a table lamp nearby, a creaking wooden chair, a window to enjoy the fresh air, and several colorful potions with traces of elemental energy sitting on a wooden table.

“Not bad for ten thousand Mora.”

The bill at Good Hunter was nine thousand Mora. Twenty thousand Mora for a house of this size was a steal deal. Even the easiest commission in the Guild had a five thousand Mora reward. Living in this world was going to be cheap, but the lack of electronics bothered him.

As Orion moved, Makoto sprang off the bed and followed him. Mona’s room looked bright with her Hydro element immensely helping her. She put her hands on her hips and proudly gazed at her handiwork.

“The miserly old lady cannot clean. I, on the other hand, am capable of many intricate tasks. In this regard, I have already far surpassed her.”

One of her goals was achieved.

Now, she had to surpass her master in other areas too.

“That’s so cool,” Orion said, his tone exaggerated. “I’m going to grab some commissions.”

“Mona Megistus, out for an adventure!”

***

Orion first borrowed a thousand Mora from Mona to buy a pair of fingerless gloves. He was incredibly ashamed to leech off the usually broke astrologist.

‘Aunt will laugh at me for getting a sugar mommy on day one.’

The fingerless gloves completely concealed the void marks. They weren’t organic, so the Whisper of Abyss talent wouldn’t decompose them.

A small talk with Katheryne earned Orion and Mona the urgent commission. Between investigating a meteor site and collecting berries and sweet flowers, Orion gladly chose the former. Their job was to aid the investigator assigned to the town of Springvale and investigate the meteorites afterwards. The town seemed fine in the morning, though he only saw it from a distance.

“Adventurer, try not to touch the meteorite shards,” Katheryne warned them for the third time.

Orion had no worries about the meteorites. On the contrary, he was a tad excited to learn new things. Running into unknown threats and solving the riddles was a refreshing change of pace from his previous dull life.

‘Aunt did tell me to enjoy my life.’

***

After scaring off Timmy’s pigeons from the bridge and making him furious, Orion and Mona strolled the roads in Springvale’s direction. With Ley Lines, and through the memories of the dead, he gained more understanding of the Visions. A Vision was a gift from the gods. A form of acknowledgment from the Archons themselves. Only those wearing a Vision were worthy of manipulating the elements. These were the common beliefs among the dead, former residents of Teyvat.

He turned to his all-the-wise astrologist companion. “What do you have to say about the Visions?”

“Visions?” Mona scoffed. “This thing only gets me wet!” Oblivious to her innuendo, Mona expressed her dislike for her Vision. “I must say having martial prowess isn’t all that bad.”

She had been skeptical the day her teacher brought her the Masterless Vision. Divine favor or not, Mona had only interest in unearthing the secret, the truth of the stars. What use could an elemental foci be in her search? Even so, the Vision resonated with her, becoming a part of her, a useful accessory. If only a slight misuse didn’t get her completely wet…

“You seem interested in the divine from what I can see,” Mona said, smiling smugly. “Is that why you came to Teyvat?”

“Something along those lines.”

He had to resist the urge to spill the beans. Seeing Mona freak out over his goal might just make his day better.

“Gods, Archons, and Celestia…” Mona looked up at the sky island revered by the masses. “I shall uncover their true nature one day.”

Mona’s eyes shone with a light of determination. She was very much like the woman who had raised him.

‘Both are stubborn and unrelenting in their goal.’

Orion put aside the topic of Vision until bedtime. His aunt would surely know something about the Visions.

“Why are you here in Teyvat?”

Mona's sudden question caught Orion off-guard. She had been curious about it ever since she saw him. If he could cross the boundaries between the worlds, he must be a powerful magician at the very least. Alice, the rival of her teacher, was a renowned world traveler, and a powerful witch belonging to Hexenzirkel, the circle of witches.

“I’m here for my aunt.”

It wasn’t technically a lie, so Mona couldn’t sense any falsity in his words.

Mona turned to him with a smile. “I’ll help you once I learn to infer the movements of stars around you.”

“I’m not in any hurry ‘cause she is safe for now.” Orion sighed and looked ahead, only to stop in his tracks.

Black fumes rose from the outskirts of Springvale. The people frantically escaped for their lives, not listening to a word from the blonde girl with an eyepatch or her raven familiar. The peaceful village of hunters was under siege by a giant purple dragon and its numerous flying minions. The only thing stopping the dragon’s rampage was a maid tanking the dragon’s attacks with a translucent golden shield around her.