Reisen Riou hummed a tune while tinkering in his lab, riding high on Inazuma's recent boom.
After his assessment, ley line corruption had dropped to manageable levels, so the One System, Ten Thousand Minds Machine and Revival were back online.
The response was electric.
In just days, Reisen scored three new sword techniques, all LV7, and an LV7 archery technique.
He also got Yae Saiguu and the Grand Narukami Shrine maidens' LV8 curse studies and curse defense research.
Inazuma's curse studies were previously LV7. Learning from the Abyss's curses—though not matching their level—pushed Inazuma's research forward massively.
Now, Reisen was working on a world boundary experiment.
Beast Realm Hounds, when defeated by samurai, didn't die but were repelled by Teyvat's forces back to their realm.
Reisen had fitted recently repelled hounds with data collectors to capture their world-crossing data.
The collection window was short, but he'd used tons of devices, gathering over 10,000 unique datasets, with even more similar or near-identical ones.
He'd nearly cracked the Beast Realm's nature, but it bored him.
Unlike Teyvat, the Beast Realm was a small, barren world with few sapient beings and rampant magical beasts. Hounds were a dominant species there.
The only thing worth studying was their ability to dissolve world boundaries.
And lately, the Beast Realm's bad luck had drawn the Abyss's attention, likely because of the hounds.
Reisen could only say: rough break. He could guess how the Abyss would invade.
The Beast Realm, thanks to its dissolving boundaries, was already being infiltrated by Teyvat.
How did Reisen know? Easy—Hilichurls, Teyvat's specialty, had shown up there.
He was ready to wrap up, planning to have samurai recover the data collectors. He'd mostly decoded the hounds' boundary-crossing power.
Using Thunder Elixirs, he'd mimicked that dissolving force.
Naturally, he'd also mastered its counter through elixirs. Now, hounds would struggle to breach his barriers.
"Hmm, Revival, screen recent guidance requests and show me any new, interesting projects," Reisen said.
"You'll like this one, host," Revival replied. "Check this guy out."
"Human enhancement research," Reisen raised an eyebrow. "Another overconfident fool?"
Inazuma's obsession with strength meant someone pitched this every few years.
Backed by big nobles, Reisen usually let them try, watching them flounder for laughs, cleaning up their messes and collecting useful—or useless—formulas and data.
Then he'd watch their noble backers go bankrupt.
Think science is easy?
"This guy's theory seems feasible," Revival said.
That piqued Reisen's interest. Revival's praise wasn't given lightly.
"Who's the applicant?"
"A scholar, here three months, already wowed the Shogunate's physiology research group. Deep medical knowledge, ethically questionable ideas, but mostly viable," Revival said. "Amurta grad, expelled from the Akademiya—Dottore."
"Giving him a full intro, huh? You getting paid, Revival?" Reisen teased.
Cough "He's just that good," Revival said, nearly glitching from Reisen's jab.
"Did he request help?" Reisen asked.
"Half a month ago and three days ago," Revival showed the logs.
"Let's check it out. Might be a surprise," Reisen said, gearing up with protective equipment.
Dottore, huh? Rings a bell. Future Fatui Harbinger, second seat, codename Doctor, evil eye inventor, supposedly god-tier.
And now he's scraping by under me?
…
Dottore was thrilled with his lab work. Not just because he had a whole team of grunts, but because the One System, Ten Thousand Minds Machine was a game-changer.
Back in the Akademiya, those mediocrities couldn't keep up, forcing him to pause for their sorry hides.
With the Machine, even Inazuma's lesser scholars matched his pace. He could pinpoint their mistakes, guide them, and—miraculously—they'd improve.
Best part? One correction, and they'd rarely mess up again.
Impossible in Sumeru, but common here, thanks to the Machine.
A sudden beep from the Machine startled Dottore.
"Notice: The Distant Wisdom will arrive at your lab in thirty minutes for guidance," it announced, repeating thrice before stopping.
The Inazuman scholars scrambled to fix their appearance, apprentices tidied the lab.
Dottore, eyeing their surface-level prep, sighed. Typical mediocrities.
He patted his pristine coat. True talent stays sharp.