Everyone expected that when swapping spells bound to a Master-level staff, there would at least be some flashy effects or dramatic visuals.
But in reality… it was underwhelmingly simple. In less than a minute, to everyone's eyes:
Ryen just put the staff in and then took it out.
Then he smiled and said cheerfully:
"I'm done. You can swap yours now."
"…"
For a moment, no one really reacted.
After a pause, Lisa and the others felt an urge to comment, but didn't know where to start.
All they could do was sigh and mechanically line up, thinking carefully about which spells they wanted to swap.
After all, these were Advanced-level staves, so the choices were limited.
Apprentice-level spells weren't useful, and Advanced-level spells were only a few anyway.
For them, it was better to max out the staff's proficiency first, level it up to Master-level, and then carefully choose.
Seeing everyone speechless, Ryen pursed his lips and muttered:
"This is weird… Could it be that you all, like me, are chasing flashy effects?"
Saying that, he scooped up Paimon and sat at the table.
Looking at Lumine, he asked:
"Come on, tell me. What kind of chaos did you cause in Inazuma this time? Looks like quite a commotion!"
Hearing this, Lumine's face fell, tinged with frustration and helplessness:
"Honestly… I thought this trip to Inazuma would solve problems quickly."
"At worst, we could have just toured the place and returned at night using the teleport anchor or a dragon."
"But… as soon as we landed on the island, we almost ended up fighting Kujou Sara, the top general under Inazuma's Raiden Shogun."
"Then we went to talk to Miko, and afterwards went into the Shogun's consciousness space, where I actually fought the Raiden Shogun's mind."
"Finally, when we got out, we were chased out of Inazuma by Raiden Shogun's shadow."
"If it weren't for the Lich's Barrier and the Peacock Feather Fan, we would have been trapped.
"Seriously! This trip to Inazuma was nothing but fights or being chased! Even bigger than all the fights I've had in Liyue and Mondstadt combined!"
"By the way, Ryen, Sea Gazer said he's been exhausted from making floating stones every day and wants to take a break, come to this world, and change the scenery a bit."
Hearing Lumine's nonstop complaints, Ryen smiled knowingly.
As for Sea Gazer wanting a vacation…
Hmm… telling him doesn't help; this has to be coordinated with Zhongli and Ningguang.
He doesn't handle these matters himself.
Now, it's Ningguang and her team who need the floating stones in bulk.
Zhongli, concerned with gathering materials for the Resurrection Totem, relies on the Liyue Qixing to help.
So it makes sense to offer some rewards.
Even if he's the Geo Archon, the people of Liyue would feel that helping him is their duty.
But he is also the God of Contracts—everything he does must respect fairness.
Simply put, there's no reason to cheat his own children.
So if his "children" need floating stones, then just help them!
After all, he's not the one making them himself.
"Sea Gazer's request—you can talk to Ningguang and Zhongli later. Whether he rests or not doesn't really matter."
Ryen waved it off casually, then added teasingly:
"So, your trip really was earth-shaking."
"Almost fought in Inazuma, fought the Raiden Shogun, fought Ei, and in the end, even 'kidnapped' Miko's good friend here."
"Truly worthy of you, the esteemed Traveler."
Hearing this, Lumine indignantly protested:
"Kidnapped?! That's a terrible way to put it! Miko herself agreed to come with us!"
"Right, right! Miko?"
Seeing Lumine look at her expectantly, Miko's eyes shifted, and she suddenly put on a slightly aggrieved tone, almost like a scared little hamster:
"Y-yes… that's right."
"Lumine said, if I didn't want to miss Makoto's resurrection, if I didn't want Inazuma to go wrong, I should go with her. I… volunteered…"
Lumine froze, then scratched her head in frustration:
"Ugh! What's with that tone of yours!"
Miko immediately doubled down on her "scared little hamster" act, looking pitiful:
"Sorry! I shouldn't have said so much…"
If one didn't know Miko's true nature, they'd probably think Lumine really had kidnapped her.
Ganyu, having finished setting up her spells, walked over and glanced at Miko.
She'd caught most of the earlier conversation and clearly understood that Miko was just looking for fun again.
She gently patted Miko's head with a serious expression:
"Don't act like that, Miko. Be serious!"
"All right, all right!"
Miko immediately tilted her head, clearly disinterested, and muttered plaintively:
"I didn't expect married Ganyu to still be so rigid. No wonder the children won't like you."
"Married! Children… no… that's not true!"
Ganyu's face flushed bright red, and she shyly glanced at Ryen.
Miko couldn't help but snicker quietly in her heart.
~~----------------------
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