"Tch—genius, huh! You've really got a way with people. A mere six hundred thousand Mora and you've bought off the Traveler!"
The moment Su Ran stepped back into the Northland Bank, Childe was there waiting, incredulous.
How was this possible?
He had worked hard to lure the Traveler, playing his cards carefully— and still she had eyed him with suspicion.
Yet when "the genius" waved a bit of gold, her face split into a grin so wide it nearly cracked.
Trust, admiration, maybe even… fondness.
All for a pile of coins.
Six hundred thousand.
And the Traveler had the gall to double the amount when asking!
What did she take the Northland Bank for, a charity?
An ATM?
Well… not like it was his money.
"Six hundred thousand Mora isn't much," Su Ran replied easily.
"Still less than what you've spent on that man Zhongli."
"…Huh? You know about that?"
Childe scratched his head, embarrassed under Su Ran's gaze.
"Shame though. Just the other day, Mr. Zhongli said he'd be leaving Liyue to visit old friends.
Otherwise, I'd have introduced you.
He's a remarkable man, you know."
Childe's sigh carried genuine regret.
In his eyes, no one matched Zhongli's breadth of knowledge.
To befriend him was no small fortune.
"…And how do you know I haven't already?"
Childe blinked.
What?
The genius knows Zhongli?
From the balcony above, "the Lady" leaned against the railing, listening.
At that name, her expression sharpened.
If Su Ran truly knew Zhongli… then her suspicions deepened all the more.
Zhongli was no mere man.
He was Rex Lapis himself— the true God of Geo.
And yet this so-called genius had never set foot in Liyue before.
So how had they met?
"Well, you must think he's extraordinary, then?"
"If anything," Su Ran smirked, "I think I'm more extraordinary."
"…You're even competing with him?!"
Childe almost choked.
The man's pride was suffocating.
Even if Su Ran possessed power on par with a god, how could he compare himself with Morax?
And yet… perhaps he wasn't entirely wrong.
"Still, pity he's not around. If he were, I'm sure he'd stage quite the spectacle for you."
Su Ran chuckled inwardly.
For all Zhongli's brilliance, even orchestrating his own funeral, Su Ran still considered himself the greater oddity.
"Tell me, Childe. Would you mind if I… strengthened you a little?"
The Harbinger stiffened.
"Strengthened? How?"
Surely not… human experiments?
The Doctor's foul reputation loomed over every Fatui "scholar."
Anything involving "research" made him wary.
Even the Marionette, while not dissecting humans, crafted weapons designed only to kill.
"Watch closely."
Su Ran raised his hand.
A surge of Imaginary energy bloomed in his palm, then wrapped itself in a shell of crystallized Geo.
Before long, a single amber stone emerged, within it a flicker of the Envoy's power.
Not much, perhaps— but enough to push Childe into the ranks of the strongest Archons.
With experience, he could even hope to surpass Morax himself.
"This…"
The sheer force radiating from the amber left Childe speechless.
A crushing presence, contained within a single stone.
"This has to be priceless."
Far beyond his Foul Legacy's might.
Could this man truly be even stronger than his master?
He had always dreamed of one day dueling his mentor barehanded— but compared to Su Ran, even that mentor seemed lesser.
"The incantation to activate it is: 'I can do nothing.'
To deactivate: 'I am willing to fall into darkness, so that you may return to the light.'"
Su Ran placed the amber into Childe's hands.
Strangely, Ei—who had done nothing but stand by— felt pierced by his words.
I can do nothing…
It echoed the day she lost Makoto.
Back then, she too had been powerless.
And if she could have, she would have died in her sister's place.
"…This chant. Why does it sound so twisted?"
Childe frowned.
There was a lurking malice in those words.
"Power always demands a price.
In this case, the price is your pride.
The shame of speaking the chant aloud— that is your offering."
"…Hah. I actually think it sounds pretty cool."
Childe accepted the amber, turning it over in his hands.
"No other drawbacks? Like draining my life, or something?"
After all, his Foul Legacy consumed him with every use.
He rarely resorted to it unless pressed.
Ordinary martial skill had long carried him through battles.
But this…
This amber's power dwarfed even that.
Surely there must be some hidden danger?
"You take me for a hack?
If my creation had side effects, it would be a failure."
This was no more than a conduit, a tool to borrow a fragment of the Envoy's might.
Imaginary energy was harmless if wielded carefully— a cleaner, stronger fuel than mere elemental energy.
"…Then I truly can't wait to test it."
Of course, he had no way to grasp the true scale of this gift.
His world was still too small.
But new weapons demanded trials.
Just as when he first gained his Foul Legacy, he had gone straight to challenge his master— and been crushed.
His eyes flickered toward Ei.
Then, realizing that was madness, he glanced upward instead— toward the Lady, watching silently from above.
~~--------------------------------------
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