"Thank you for lending a hand, Master Diluc. May the God of Wind protect you." Venti said with a smile.
Jun Bai: "Pfft~"
Paimon looked at Jun Bai in confusion and asked, "Jun Bai, did you also remember something happy?"
"That's right. Liyue's annual Rite of Descension is about to begin. As a citizen of the Geo Archon, just thinking that I can pay my respects again makes me happy." Jun Bai replied with a completely straight face.
Lying with a poker face was still quite simple.
"So, although I've already agreed to help, I still don't know what I should do right now." Lumine said.
"Same here." Diluc asked as well.
Jun Bai looked toward Venti. "Lumine possesses the power to purify Abyss curses, so our top priority right now is to find Dvalin's whereabouts. Venti, you should have an idea, right?"
Venti nodded. "Correct, I have a way to summon Dvalin."
[At this point, "however" needs to be added afterward.]
[You can summon him, but there are prerequisites, right?]
"However, I need the help of the Holy Lyre der Himmel. That is the God of Wind's most treasured possession and can help me summon Dvalin."
Diluc crossed his arms over his chest. "As far as I know, after the God of Wind Barbatos stabilized Mondstadt and departed that year, the Holy Lyre der Himmel was enshrined in the basement of the Cathedral of Favonius."
"If we want to borrow it, we'll need to obtain the Church's permission. Otherwise, we can only steal it."
"Then there's no time to lose. Let's go to the Church right now to borrow the Holy Lyre der Himmel." Paimon said, already preparing to set off.
However, Jun Bai reached out and stopped her.
Jun Bai knew clearly that they would not be able to borrow the Holy Lyre der Himmel this way. In that case, Lumine and Paimon would have no choice but to follow the original plot and sneak into the Church basement at night to steal it. Not only would they fail, they would also be wanted by the Knights of Favonius.
"Leave the matter of the Holy Lyre der Himmel to me. You all continue discussing the next plan here." With that, Jun Bai walked out of the tavern and headed in the direction of the Knights of Favonius.
On the way, Jun Bai summoned the system.
[Popularity Value: 63000, 63100, 63200...]
These sixty thousand popularity points included at least forty thousand from the fire phoenix he had summoned this morning using one thousand popularity points. Once he completed the quest and delivered that one million Mora, he estimated his popularity value would rise even further.
Characters who are friendly to players and provide benefits are basically loved by players, and their tolerance is also very high.
Just like Dr. Ratio in Honkai: Star Rail.
Back in the day, Jun Bai had also praised Dr. Ratio and even regarded him as his godfather.
Dr. Ratio's popularity had even surpassed most female characters at one point. In a gacha game that panders to waifu collectors, a male character surpassing female characters in popularity was enough to show Dr. Ratio's value.
Jun Bai wanted to become the most popular character of his own creation. Learning from Dr. Ratio would be an excellent method.
This one million Mora was the first step toward becoming Genshin Impact's "Dr. Ratio."
"System, leave twenty thousand for background completion. Invest the rest into restoring my strength."
Jun Bai planned to artificially intervene in the plot to accelerate it. Next, he would personally take care of everything regarding the Holy Lyre der Himmel and collecting the teardrop crystals.
Back when he was still a player, because it was his first time experiencing an open-world game, he felt everything in the game was fresh and novel, so he hadn't paid much attention to the task of collecting crystals from three different locations.
But when Jun Bai looked back from version 4.8, he felt this was actually a flaw.
Therefore, Jun Bai planned to fix this flaw. Anyway, he could fly, and his flying speed wasn't slow. Collecting three teardrop crystals wouldn't take too long.
So, barring any accidents, tonight Jun Bai would lead the protagonist team straight to Starsnatch Cliff.
Although in the original plot they only confronted Dvalin and the Abyss Mages, since Jun Bai himself could rewrite the plot, it was understandable for changes to occur.
Thus, Jun Bai had to prepare for the possibility that Venti would slack off, leaving him to face Dvalin alone.
Oh, come to think of it, in the original plot Venti was indeed slacking off, leaving Lumine, Diluc, and Jean to face Dvalin. So there was no need to wonder whether Venti would take action tonight. The outcome was already set.
Since he was going to confront Dvalin head-on, he needed to raise his strength first.
Forty thousand popularity points were cleared. Jun Bai only felt his strength increase dramatically, yet he was somewhat unable to gauge his current level.
[Below Archon level. Still far from the peak strength you set for yourself.]
"How much popularity value is still needed for full recovery?"
[Conservative estimate is about 200,000.]
"Alright. Looks like I'll have to keep performing in Liyue." Jun Bai estimated that from Mondstadt's plot he could only gain 50,000 popularity points at most; the remaining 150,000 would have to come from other sources.
Jun Bai arrived at the Knights of Favonius Headquarters. After asking for the location of Jean's office, he took out a token and walked in.
Hearing the door open, Jean looked up from her busy official duties. Seeing an unfamiliar man enter her office, she was about to ask who he was when she saw the token in Jun Bai's hand.
Jean's expression changed.
"Looks like Varka has mentioned me to you." Jun Bai put away the token. "Nice to meet you, Acting Grand Master Jean."
Jean stood up and saluted. "May the God of Wind protect you, Marshal Jun Bai of the Millelith from Liyue. Jean, the Dandelion Knight of Mondstadt, representing the Knights of Favonius, pays her respects to you."
Jun Bai nodded. "I'm very sorry to disturb you. I came to Mondstadt this time only to catch up with old friends and originally did not want to cause any trouble. However, I now have a matter and hope to ask Acting Grand Master Jean for help."
Jean said seriously, "Please speak freely. Mondstadt owes the Marshal a favor; Grand Master Varka also once instructed me that if the Marshal needs anything, we should provide full assistance."
"So please do not be polite, Marshal. Both Mondstadt and I will do our utmost to help."
"Thank you." Jun Bai nodded. "To keep it short, my old friend, the Dragon of the East Wind Dvalin, was awakened from slumber after being attacked by the Abyss. Under the Abyss's control, he has become the Stormterror that is ravaging Mondstadt."
"I know this is not his true intention, so I want to save him from his suffering."
"I have already found a way, but I need to borrow the Church's Holy Lyre der Himmel."
"Therefore, I hope the Knights of Favonius can act as a third party to provide a guarantee so that I can successfully borrow the Holy Lyre der Himmel."
"This is no problem." Jean agreed. "There is no need for the Marshal to go in person. I will immediately borrow the Holy Lyre der Himmel from the Church in the name of the Knights of Favonius."
With that, Jean hurriedly ran out of the office. Before long, she returned with Barbara, who was holding the Holy Lyre der Himmel.
After obtaining the Holy Lyre der Himmel, Jun Bai immediately set off and returned to Angel's Share.
By now, the guests in the tavern had already been "politely asked to leave" by Diluc. Only the four people discussing the plan remained.
Afterward, the conversation unfolded just like in the original plot. The power of the Holy Lyre der Himmel had been completely drained and could only be replenished with the purest Anemo energy.
During this time, Jun Bai frequently glanced at Venti.
A wind spirit in human form, or rather the God of Wind, telling me he needs to go somewhere else to find the purest Anemo energy.
I know you want to hide your identity, but you could at least say you are a wind spirit incarnation. That would also explain why you know so many secrets.