Standing atop the cliff, they took in the expansive view.
"That's the Statue of The Seven."
"The statues of the gods are scattered across the land, symbolizing the Seven Archons who protect the world. Among the elemental gods, this one presides over wind.
Though I'm not sure if the god you're looking for is the Anemo Archon, I have my reasons for bringing you to the land of the wind first."
"As everyone knows, words and poetry drift on the breeze... Surely, there will be news of your sister carried within them! That's what I believe.
Of course, whether or not the gods respond is something we'll only know if we try. Let's pick up the pace."
Hearing these familiar lines, Zephyr sighed with nostalgia. "Now this feels like the proper beginning!"
Suddenly, a squirrel darted past.
On instinct, Zephyr clicked the mouse.
"Ha!" With a single sound, the poor squirrel was reduced to two pieces of raw meat.
The fact that this squirrel dropped as much meat as a boar... could you believe it?
"Traveler, what are you doing all of a sudden?!" Paimon exclaimed in confusion.
"I don't know either..."
"???"
Just then, Zephyr noticed something unusual: there was an interactive button on Paimon.
Curious, he clicked it. A menu of brand-new options popped up. Without thinking, he flicked Paimon on the forehead.
"Traveler! What are you doing?!"
Lumine quickly defended herself. "It wasn't me! Really, it wasn't me!"
"Really?" Paimon glared at Lumine suspiciously. "You keep saying you're controlled by a player, but Paimon always feel like you use that as an excuse to do bad things to Paimon!"
Lumine sighed helplessly. "You're seriously overthinking this."
"Oh~~"
Paimon floated around, her expression dazed and innocent. Suddenly, she turned her head—and the Traveler was gone!
"Hey, Traveler! Where are you going? Over here!"
"Don't stray too far from me!"
Zephyr could hear Paimon calling out, but he just couldn't resist the temptation.
After all, who could walk away from three raspberries and three Sweet Flowers just sitting right in front of them?
Paimon sighed as she watched the Traveler run around. "Fine, running around is one thing, but must you hop like that while you're at it? This is so embarrassing..."
Paimon watched as the Traveler climbed a tall tree, retrieved a few bird eggs, and then leapt down with a loud "thud," losing a whole 10 HP in the process.
Completely at a loss, Paimon asked, "Did the player make you do that too?"
Looking slightly wronged, Lumine nodded. "Yes."
Zephyr chimed in, "Yeah, that was me. So what? Wait, why do you look so upset?"
Lumine complained, "Of course I'm upset! You made me climb the tree in such an embarrassing way! And why did you have me jump down? My feet hurt so much—couldn't we have climbed down like normal people?"
"…"
"Alright, alright. My bad. I'll try to be more careful next time."
Paimon stared blankly at Lumine as she muttered to herself, then suddenly patted her on the shoulder. "Traveler... you've got a talent for stand-up comedy."
"...Paimon, I'm not forgetting this! If I ever run out of food, you're next on the menu!"
"Waaah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please don't eat me!"
Suddenly, Paimon darted into the air and stuck out her tongue. "Bleh! Fooled you! Try me next time if you dare!"
"You little... Paimon!"
As they bickered, a statue radiating a strange, guiding light came into view in the distance.
"Look, that's the Statue of The Seven," Paimon announced.
Lumine looked on in awe. "Seeing such a statue in the middle of the wilderness... it's like a miracle."
Zephyr raised an eyebrow. "You've never encountered a Statue of The Seven before?"
"No. The world is vast. Though Paimon has mentioned them to me before, this is my first time seeing one in person."
"The world is vast?" Zephyr opened the map interface, but all he saw was pitch black.
"Looks like we'll need to interact with the statue to unlock the map."
Lumine hesitated. "But... there's a lake here. How am I supposed to cross it?"
Paimon replied, "Obviously, you swim!"
"That'll soak all my clothes!"
"It's fine! There's no one else around."
"Who said that?! Zephyr is still here!"
"I don't mind."
"I DO mind!"
Paimon sighed, rubbing her temples. "Hmm... so what do we do then?"
She suddenly flew ahead and shouted back, "Hey, Traveler! There are a few stones here—you can hop across them to get to the other side."
"Really?" Lumine brightened. "Alright, let's go!"
"Yeah," Zephyr agreed, promptly steering Lumine into the lake with a big leap.
Minutes later, she reached the central island, thoroughly drenched.
Paimon spread her hands and sighed. "Traveler, didn't I tell you there were stones you could step on? Why did you swim across anyway?"
"Do you think I wanted to swim?" Lumine puffed her cheeks angrily. "You already found the stones, so why did you make me swim over?"
Zephyr replied matter-of-factly, "Do you even need to ask? Swimming was obviously faster."
The reason was that simple.
"..."
Lumine took a deep breath and said, "Fine. I'll remember this."
"Please don't fall for me; I'm just a legend," Zephyr quipped.
"Ugh."
Paimon rubbed her cheeks. "Even though I've seen you argue with yourself so many times, it still cracks me up every time."
Zephyr wasn't lying. It wasn't because the game was so realistic that he wanted to see Lumine swimming drenched in water—it was purely because swimming was faster.
It was the same logic as when a player climbs a tree in a game: instead of climbing back down carefully, most would simply jump off or use a glider.
Why? Because it's faster and more convenient.
"Speaking of gliders… Amber, where are you?!" Zephyr suddenly lamented. He desperately missed Amber at this point—without a wind glider, he couldn't even fly.
After a while, Paimon said, "Traveler, place your hand on the Statue of The Seven."
"Huh?"
Zephyr snapped out of his thoughts as Lumine walked to the statue and placed her hand on it.
Suddenly, the statue glowed with a radiant light. A green orb of light emerged from the statue and floated into Lumine's chest.
At the same time, the map function activated with a bright flash.
"Finally unlocked," Zephyr muttered.
The map that appeared, however, only revealed about a quarter of Mondstadt.
Zephyr didn't think much of it at first, but as he zoomed in and out of the map, his jaw dropped.
"Why is it this huge?!"
He kept zooming in and out. The map was absolutely massive. This world seemed hundreds, if not thousands, of times larger than any previous game he'd played.
"Holy crap!" Zephyr exclaimed, completely dumbfounded.
Having a larger map had its pros and cons. The pro was that it offered immense replayability. The con? He had no idea how long it would take to reach Mondstadt now!
And what about Liyue? Would he even make it there in this lifetime?
Then there was the game itself. Despite the massive world and stunning visuals, Zephyr's computer was somehow handling it smoothly.
"Is this because version 10.0 has god-tier optimization, or is this game just so magical that it doesn't even require high-end specs?" he muttered to himself.
He couldn't decide.
...