"Alone, alone, alone."
"Shades of the Past. Fragments of Eternity."
"We seek, forever lost. We reach none, forever forth."
"..."
"A descendent? A carrier? A dream of a dream?"
"..."
"A Storyteller? Our Story?"
"Yes, yes, yes. Share, share, share. Remember, remember, remember-"
I gasped as I pulled myself out of the ocean. I spent a moment gathering my breath, before shaking my head to shake away some of the water clinging to my hair.
That-, was a bit much. I suppose it didn't really come into mind what millions of Shades really meant until I experienced their feelings all at once.
Still, despite the experience, I'd say the experience was worth it.
[Gentle Remembrance: An Ode of Tomorrow 5★
Through the passing of Time, a man's life becomes a Story, a Story becomes Myth, and Myth becomes Legend. Their details shall change with time, and perhaps they will morph entirely, but will their Remembrance not be even sweeter because of it? To still cradle those Memories even through the infinite passing of time?
The Ice of Remembrance has melted into rivers that flow to the next universe.
The User can actively and passively gain strength from Shades of the Past. Actively, if Shades wish to, the User can wield their powers as their own. Passively, after the User gains enough understanding of a certain Shade's past, they can permanently draw strength from it.
Passive Understanding:
Shades of Enkanomiya (17%)]
I smiled as I saw how much the progress had risen.
It began almost a week ago. After I'd woken up, I didn't really have much to do, nor any people to converse with. Makoto had asked Guizhong to teach her how to better govern Inazuma, and since Lumine's prosthetic arm was technically still a prototype, Lumine also went along. Naturally, as Ei was Makoto's shadow, she joined them as well.
Morax occasionally visited from time to time, but he was still Liyue's Archon despite not having his Gnosis, and he needed to guard our homeland—especially after he fully cut ties with Celestia. Orobashi and Kitsune Saiguu were off…somewhere, and since Hanami was Saiguu's mentor, Hanami was often gone as well.
Really, the only person I occasionally interacted with was Kojirou, and even then, the boy was more often busy training under his father.
So, since I had nothing to do, I decided to see how I could better increase my understanding with the Shades of Enkanomiya. It was the least I could do for them, especially after they helped me defend Watatsumi from that Celestial Nail.
I began by borrowing as many books Orobashi had about Enkanomiya, but even after reading them all, my progress stagnated once I'd reached 10%.
Which was when I had a different idea. What my new Talent needed was Understanding, and what better way was there to understand others if not through the Resonance of [Windblume Festival]?
Suffice to say, it worked. The experience of diving deep into the ocean and 'singing' would probably never stop being weird, but it wasn't as if I could just pull these Shades out into open air.
Or maybe I could? I don't know—I wasn't an expert in ghosts. I'd have to ask Morax for that.
After I'd gotten most of my bearings, I looked back at the waters I was partially submerged in. My distorted reflection stared back, freely showing the deep bruise that still covered my neck, alongside the minute glowing cracks all across my neck. Unconsciously, I traced a finger across them, frowning slightly.
As it turned out, healing a wound created by an Agent of Celestia wasn't an easy thing to do. Even my [Sunlight Healing] failed against it, likely because it was still a 4★ Talent. Maybe it'd be strong enough once it became 5★, but that'd probably take a while. I'd either need to find another Crown or catch another Aeon's gaze.
For now, the most I could do was let it heal naturally, and I was fine with that. Lumine was missing an entire arm; it'd be wrong if my injuries just vanished immediately.
…Well, that was enough waiting, I supposed.
I took a deep breath, and activating [As Water Seeks Equilibrium], I dove back down into the ocean's waters.
…
With peace restored, time began to fly by.
As I promised to Hanami, I remained in Watatsumi. Not being able to explore the rest of Inazuma for treasure chests was somewhat painful, but I'd rather lose out on that than face a potentially disappointed Hanami. And besides, I was fairly sure Morax would appear from thin air and drag me back if I ever tried, especially since the bruise on my neck was healing at a snail's pace.
It still didn't change that everyone else was busy though, and so I spent most of my time playing music or resonating with the Shades. Of course, my routine would change whenever one of my friends came to Watatsumi, but that was a rare occasion at the moment. For now, my life was fairly routine.
So it didn't take much time before my understanding of Enkanomiya's Shades reached 100%. And when it did,
[Passive Understanding of -Shades of Enkanomiya- has reached 100%. [Gentle Remembrance: An Ode of Tomorrow] has activated!]
[Acquired: +5 Energy, +10 Element, [As Water Seeks Equilibrium 3★ → 4★]]
To say that I was surprised would be an understatement. Because I spent about two weeks getting my understanding up to 100%, and that was what I got? If I got just two more Rewards similar to this, I could unleash my [Freedom Song]'s Stage 3 without crippling myself in the process!
Of course, that was assuming I even found a Shade I could call for. Not an easy task as it turned out; spirits of the past don't tend to remain as Shades. Apparently those Shades remained somewhat coherent because of the powers of someone known as Istaroth. Orobashi's book didn't really go into detail on what was actually done though, so who knew if something like this could be replicated.
Once I was done with that however, I was left with little else to do. My injuries weren't healing fast enough, I had barely anything to do, and even if there was something I could do I wasn't allowed to. I was no better than a bird trapped on an island after a storm, forced to wait as their wings healed.
Thankfully, that was when Guizhong finally declared Lumine's prosthetic safe enough for continuous use, and I was saved from going insane due to having nothing to do.
"You sound like a drug addict." Lumine commented after having heard my woes, a sly grin on her lips.
I huffed. "Are we Adventurers not all addicted to the thrill the unknown brings?"
She chuckled. "Well, can't argue with that."
I smiled slightly as I glanced at her arm. Her prosthetic had changed substantially since I last saw her. Before it was clear that her arm was a piece of machinery, powered by Guizhong's authority and kept sturdy by Morax's amber. But now, with a sleeker design and a coat of paint to mimic Lumine's skin stone, it was hard to distinguish it from her other hand unless you actively looked at it.
She noticed my gaze and smiled, using her prosthetic arm to pat my head. The hand felt warm, if a little too sturdy to be human. "Looks good, right? Guizhong really went all out. She wasn't willing to settle on anything low quality." She grinned lazily. "Kinda wonder what'd happen if she went to Night City. She'd probably become a prodigy or something."
"That is good." I smiled, though somewhat embarrassed as she continued to pat my head. "And how goes Makoto's 'lessons'?"
She snickered. "Oh, girlie's having the time of her life. I mean, not everyone can keep up with the tornado that is Guizhong, and Makoto's a bit slow."
I smiled slightly. Of course, Lumine wasn't saying that Makoto was dim by any means. If anything, the young goddess was incredibly smart. It's just that Guizhong stood far beyond many, her wisdom and intelligence eclipsing even gods who lived thousands of years before her. She apparently reverse-engineered gunpowder from a stray comment I made once and then used it to craft a god-slaying weapon, and now she'd created a prosthetic that could contain Lumine's immense powers.
To call her a generational genius would be an understatement.
As Lumine liked to joke from time to time, Guizhong could probably rule over all of Teyvat if she wanted to, but she was thankfully more interested in creating new inventions than world domination.
"How about you?" Lumine then asked, a knowing look in her eyes. "I can tell that you've grown stronger, again."
My smile twitched. Ah, nothing truly escapes her sight, does it? "I have, yes." I held up my hand, and a bubble of Hydro appeared, hovering above my palm. "I have convened with the Spirits of the past in my spare time, and they have gifted me knowledge on how to better control this new Element of mine."
She sighed in amusement. "Honestly, you're such a cheat, you know?" She narrowed her eyes playfully. "Wait, don't tell me you're an isekai protagonist or something?" She tilted her head. "Or maybe reincarnation? You're too pretty for that."
I raised an eyebrow. What did that even mean?
But I suppose she wasn't wrong—I wouldn't have gotten this far had I not been granted this Genshin System. And I certainly would not be here had I not been lucky enough for Guizhong to carry me back to Guili Assembly.
"Who knows. My memories of my past are not present, remember?" I winked. "But I thank you for your compliment! You're quite lovely yourself~"
She scoffed, smiling. "Yeah, yeah. No need for the compliments."
We spent some time just chatting after that, talking of mundane topics and catching up as we enjoyed a basket of sliced watermelons beneath the midsummer sun.
Then, Lumine brought up something interesting.
"A cooking contest, you say?"
"A cross-nation cooking contest." She corrected, grinning. "I mean, we can be the tasters, and since Guizhong can make another giant teapot to link Watatsumi to Liyue, we'll be able to-"
I held up my hand. "No worries, friend." I grinned back. "You had me from the very start."
Her eyes lit up, and she began enthusiastically explaining how her cooking contest would go.