The players were discussing matters regarding Mavuika, with most people believing that Mavuika should not be the reincarnation of the Pyro Archon, because the Traveler felt doubtful about it.
Then, Mavuika's identity was very likely to be the Pyro Archon from 500 years ago, or perhaps a relationship similar to that of the previous Hydro Archon and Furina, a contingency left behind by the Pyro Archon from 500 years ago.
However, what made people unable to keep a straight face was that someone thought the current Pyro Archon, Rios, had been discovered colluding with the Abyss, so Mavuika wanted to cooperate with the Traveler to defeat Rios.
"This bunch of players really dare to imagine things."
After seeing the players' comments, Rios felt somewhat amused and exasperated.
How about he simply put on a show and really make the Traveler and players misunderstand that he was colluding with the Abyss?
A god debuting in the image of a villain sounded quite intriguing.
"But it's probably too late for that now." Rios had just had this thought when he felt the chances of success were very low.
On the way to the Stadium of the Sacred Flame where the Traveler was heading, he had casually eliminated the Abyss monsters that attacked the Traveler.
During the Traveler's exploration of Natlan, they could often see defensive devices used to deal with Abyss monsters.
With these witnesses and material evidence, even if Rios said in front of the Traveler that he was an undercover agent sent by the Abyss, the Traveler and the players definitely wouldn't believe it.
"Then, what about colluding with the Fatui?" Rios pondered for a bit and felt it still wouldn't work.
After the Fontaine version, the Traveler had already dealt with the Servant and knew that not every Fatui Harbinger wanted to do bad things.
Even if Rios colluded with the Captain, the players probably wouldn't think Rios was a bad person.
"It seems I can't become the bad guy."
Unable to obtain emotional value from this aspect, Rios could only work hard in other places.
For example, the personal competition of the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame that was about to be held soon.
======
Player World.
After the NPC reminded that the personal competition was starting, Reya controlled her character to head toward the competition area of the arena.
The personal competition of the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame required fighting several matches, with the winner ultimately decided by the number of victories.
The message given by the game was that players needed to win 5 out of 8 matches to achieve victory.
"Why emphasize fighting 8 matches specifically?" Reya felt it was a bit strange.
Could it be that some opponents in this personal competition were very strong, and players who weren't practiced enough would get taken out?
If that was the case, then it meant there were at least 5 weak opponents, guaranteeing that players could definitely clear it.
Just as Reya was wondering if the first match would pit her against a weak opponent, what appeared before her eyes was a red-haired woman who was all too familiar.
"Traveler, I didn't expect us to meet again so soon." Mavuika drew her greatsword, "I'm looking forward to an exciting match with you."
"Ah, I'm fighting Mavuika?" Reya was stunned.
No way, this wasn't a weekly boss, so how did it turn into fighting these characters?
[My god, my opponent is actually Kachina!]
[Mine is Mualani]
[Why isn't the matched opponent Kinich? For girls, I can't bring myself to fight them]
[Didn't Kinich say earlier that he wasn't participating in the competition?]
[Because with only him alone, it wouldn't trigger Combustion reactions, so he didn't participate]
[The one I encountered is a big sister with very pointy ears, I just don't know her name]
[Mine is a white-haired little shorty...]
[Why is the one I encountered just an NPC?]
======
At the same time.
Other players were also competing in the personal matches.
However, the opponents they were matched against were not uniform.
Some encountered Mavuika, some encountered Mualani, and others only encountered NPCs that wouldn't enter the gacha pool.
"So, in the personal competition, you also fight against characters from Natlan's gacha pool."
Reya understood why it emphasized needing to win 5 matches; it turned out the game developers had included gacha pool characters.
There were a total of 8 matches for players participating, which meant randomly selecting 3 gacha pool characters to participate in the competition?
Just as Reya was thinking this, the Mavuika on the screen assumed a battle stance, and then her red hair turned golden-yellow, just like a burning sun.
"It's coming."
Reya hurriedly switched to Zhongli, wanting to turtle for a bit first with the shield.
But just after switching to the shield, she discovered that Mavuika's figure was already gone from the screen.
"Heed the Roar of the Sun!"
Accompanied by a sonorous and forceful voice, Reya only saw a figure descending from the sky, then slashing out a brilliant fiery blade on the spot.
"Even bedrock... will return to dust..."
The freshly switched Zhongli was chopped dead by Mavuika, shield and all.
"What kind of ridiculous damage is this?" Reya was dumbfounded.
Her Zhongli had over 50,000 HP, and a max-level shield.
Even for a BOSS with very high damage, it would take at least a few seconds to break the shield, and to take out the tanky Zhongli with over 50,000 HP would require even more time.
Yet Mavuika's one slash actually obliterated Zhongli along with his shield, even triggering Zhongli's defeat voice line.
Wait, Zhongli actually had a defeat voice line?
Ever since he drew Zhongli, he had never heard Zhongli say this line.
However, what surprised Reya even more was that after this slash, Mavuika surprisingly rode her motorcycle in circles on the spot, with each circle dealing exceptionally high damage.
Reya's remaining few characters had just entered the field and hadn't had time to dodge before they were spun to death by Mavuika's circling.
[What kind of ghostly output method is this? So abstract!]
[Herta: When it comes to spinning in circles, I dub thee the strongest]
[Has the Genshin planners gotten addicted to circling? Hydro Dragon circles, Kinich circles, even Mavuika is circling]
[Do you think after Mavuika enters the pool, she'll use this output method too?]
[Probably... not, right?]
[The Childe in weekly bosses and the Childe in the pool are completely different people; the Mavuika encountered in the main story plot should also be different from the one in the pool]
Reya was livestreaming her gameplay, and after her fans saw this scene, they first complained, then began analyzing whether this was Mavuika's mechanism after entering the pool.
[Looking at other Genshin UP mains, the output methods of the Kachina and Mualani they encountered are exactly the same as in the pool]
[Really? Fake?]
[Real, some streamers fighting Kachina used Bennett, applied self-inflicted Pyro to themselves, and then got bombed to death by Kachina's "Lava Crystallization"]
[Doesn't that mean Genshin leaked the mechanisms of so many characters in advance this time?]
[This is even more ruthless than leakers spoiling!]
[As expected of Uncle Mi!]
Upon realizing that the characters appearing in the personal competition were showcasing the mechanisms they would have after entering the pool, the players' emotions instantly became excited.
Even players who liked watching leaker spoilers had never seen so many character leaks revealed at once; it was simply explosively satisfying.
The players' emotional values continuously provided to Rios.
"Hey, colluding with the Abyss or leakers—still, leaking is the most useful." Rios couldn't help but laugh as he said.
He had originally just wanted to torment the players with pool characters, but in a flash of inspiration, he revealed all the future mechanisms.
Even if Genshin changed the mechanisms later, the ones getting flamed would be the planners, not him.
"Speaking of which, isn't what I'm doing colluding with leakers?"
A thought flashed through Rios's mind, but it was quickly dismissed.
Whatever.