Arky sighed as he looked up at the sky and the harsh winds sweeping across the fields.
From what he remembered from the game, this was probably Stormterror's doing. It was only in its early stages for now.
If he had awakened at the same time as the Traveler, then he still had about two or three months before Dvalin's full attack on Mondstadt.
After all, after waking up, the Traveler wandered the wilds for nearly two months before finally heading toward the city.
Arky shook his head.
"That's for later," he muttered. "First, I need to know what kind of weird crap Xai'reth did to me."
His gaze drifted to the strange tattoo etched onto the back of his left hand. The spiral symbol flickered faintly, glitching at the edges.
He turned to the small mascot lazily floating in the air.
"What are you?" he asked. "And what is this tattoo?"
The little mascot glanced at him sideways, looking completely unbothered.
"Huh? That?" she said in a childish, lazy voice. "That's not some fancy tattoo, you know. It's called the Entropy Sigil."
She floated closer and plopped herself right on top of Arky's head, sitting cross-legged.
"It's the last gift Xai'reth left for his successor," she continued proudly. "After he peeked into your memories and found out Teyvat was just a game in your world, he went like, 'Huh? That's ridiculous.' So he figured it had to be either Phanes or that annoying Second Who Came messing around."
Arky twitched his lips. "Can you get off my head?"
"Shhh, don't interrupt," she said, waving him off dismissively.
"Now where was I? Oh right. He made the sigil kinda like those game systems you humans are obsessed with. Abilities, stats, quests, all that weird stuff."
She leaned back in the air, looking unbearably smug.
"Oh, and the Entropy Sigil automatically translates languages before they even hit your brain. What you say gets translated too, so everyone understands you. Super convenient, right?"
She raised a finger, as if delivering a final boss tip.
"And lastly, it's linked to a completely isolated pocket space that grows along with you. Even Asmoday can't mess with it. Only you can access it, and only through the sigil."
She finally stood up on his head, hands on her tiny waist, chin lifted high.
"So yeah," she declared proudly. "You should be grateful. Praise me, pleb."
Arky stared at the sigil in silence. Moments later, a runic panel of glowing golden letters formed before his eyes.
He read it carefully, starting from the beginning.
— ◈ —
[ — STATUS — ]
Name: Arkys D. Ryla
Age: 518
"Pause. Why the hell is my age showing as 518?!" Arky stared at the panel like it had personally betrayed him. "I just turned eighteen back home. I literally just got my license, sat down to play a damn game, and then got kidnapped."
"Hehehe," the little mascot giggled, drumming on his head like he was a bongo. "You were snoozing inside Asmoday's space cube for five hundred whole years. Even if you weren't actually aging, time still went whoosh. So yep, it's been 518 years since you were born."
She clapped her tiny hands together, eyes sparkling with evil delight. "Welcome back, old man."
Arky's eyes twitched.
She suddenly froze mid-clap, tilting her head. "Wait a sec… five hundred years means you're not just an old man. You're like, super, super, super old—"
Before she could finish, Arky grabbed her by the head and hurled her straight out the open window.
"KYAAAH—!"
Rain poured in as her tiny form vanished outside.
Arky took a deep breath, rubbed his temple, and calmly turned his attention back to the status panel.
He continued reading.
Titles: [ Ruler of Entropy ] [ Descender ]
Tier: 0 [ Mortal ]
Level: 3 / 10
Essence: 0 / 3000
Authority: Entropy [ 1% Synced. ]
Absolute Form: [ Entropic Genesis (Locked) ]
[ Entropy Fragments: 0 ]
Soulbound: [ Sitri – Die of Probability ]
[ Created Skills ]
◆ N/A
[ QUESTS (Expand) ]
[ Note from Xai'reth: Try not to die to a Hilichurl. It would be embarrassing for both of us.]
— ◈ —
'That last line wasn't necessary,' Arky complained in his mind.
But he knew Xai'reth was right. Even if he had experience fighting Shades, all of that had happened inside a mental trial.
His current situation was closer to the Traveler's. Someone who had lost his power and was now trying to regain it.
The difference was that Arky was not recovering real strength. He was trying to reach the fake strength he once held in those trials.
While he was deep in thought, something wet suddenly flew at his face.
The mascot shot through the air and started kicking his head like an angry fly.
After she was finally satisfied, she flopped down on top of his head, completely soaking his hair.
Arky sighed.
There were far too many things he did not understand yet, so he decided to ask the one creature who probably had the answers.
"Little mascot," he said naturally, as if ordering was second nature to him. "Explain my status. All of it."
"I AM NOT A LITTLE MASCOT." She puffed up angrily, cheeks bulging. "Huff."
She straightened herself atop his head and crossed her tiny arms.
"My name is Sitri, the Die of Probability. A divine artifact given life. Since our souls are bound now, you may call me Sitri." She clicked her tongue. "Tch. I can't believe I'm stuck with a cranky old grandpa with temper issues."
Arky twitched, clearly tempted to throw her out the window again, but forced himself to stay calm.
"…If you're done," he said flatly, "can you explain now?"
"What is there to explain?!" she pouted, then started explaining anyway. "Name and age are super obvious. And Titles? You just stare at them really hard and whoosh, the explanations pop up. Easy."
She hovered down from his head and bonked his forehead with her tiny fist.
"Tiers are like… how strong you are in general, okay? Tier 0 means normal people. Super normal. Like trip-on-a-rock-and-die normal." She leaned closer, eyes sparkling mischievously. "Levels are how strong you are inside that tier."
Then she grinned, clearly enjoying herself.
"And since you're only Level 3 right now, you're actually weaker than those maids you were flirting with earlier. Yup. Way weak."
She burst into laughter, watching his expression grow uglier by the second.
"But but but," she continued quickly, "once you hit Level 10, that's it for mortals. Boom…. Max level. That's the strongest a regular human can ever get, no matter how hard they try."
She floated back onto his head and crossed her arms proudly.
"But you're not regular at all! You've got a Shade's authority, a squishy human body, and you're a Descender too." She poked his temple. "You exist completely outside Celestia's rules."