“Well, if you want to say this world is like a dream to you, I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that.” After hearing Amber’s speculation, Ren pondered for a moment and felt that what she said wasn’t necessarily incorrect.
For these people from the real Teyvat, the setting of his world being a massive, stable dream didn’t seem to have any flaws.
After all, according to Amber, she had set out from Mondstadt as usual to scout the surrounding area, and had entered this world while camping and sleeping in the Whispering Woods that night.
With nearly twenty years of experience reading web novels, Ren made a bold guess: his Genshin Impact world might just be right next to the real Teyvat.
And the people in Teyvat might, through some coincidence, a miracle, or simply the mysterious mutual attraction between world counterparts, allow their consciousness to descend into their own models in another world while they sleep.
However, the fact that Amber calmed down so quickly and observed so much information still felt quite novel to Ren.
Setting aside the novelty of suddenly facing a vivid, living person after months of facing an unchanging world…
…even the difference between this Amber and the one-dimensional image he knew from playing the game before his transmigration made Ren realize that the real Amber was vastly different from the one in the game; they couldn’t be lumped together.
But since teasing her was no longer working, Ren dropped the idea he’d had on a whim.
With a snap of his fingers, Noelle, Jean, and Lisa vanished instantly, and Amber realized she could now move freely.
She immediately pulled away from Ren’s embrace, turned around, and stood before him, curiously sizing up the boy sitting in the Acting Grand Master’s office chair.
With black hair, a face, and skin tone no different from those in Liyue, he was quite handsome—the type that becomes more captivating the longer you look.
So, was he really some immortal from Liyue wandering the mortal world?
It’s just that this immortal seemed a bit improper.
However, Mondstadt still had its nobles and plenty of feudal dregs.
Growing up in such a complex social environment since childhood meant Amber didn’t have too much resistance to this aspect.
“Hello, I’m Amber, an Outrider of the Knights of Favonius—though I suspect you might already know that.” “Yes, I indeed know everything about you, inside and out.” Ren nodded.
After so much time, he had naturally explored everything.
Ren would even dare to say he understood Amber better than she understood herself.
Amber’s lips twitched and her face turned bright red, finally realizing what Ren meant.
“My name is Ren, and I am the master of this place.
As you can see, Amber, you’ve trespassed into my playground and interrupted my entertainment.
How do you plan to compensate me?” “Huh?” No, wait, shouldn’t it be the other way around?
I’ve already been explored by you inside and out, and now you’re asking me for compensation?
Even in Mondstadt, which superficially looks like it has a medieval flair, this is an absolutely explosive situation—it’s practically turning the world upside down.
“Um, I…
can I just say sorry?
Also, could you let me leave this place?
I have a week of field missions ahead of me, and I can’t afford to be delayed here.” Although she really wanted to fire back a sharp retort, considering the stories her grandfather told her about immortals who didn’t follow common sense and liked to play tricks—especially those who sealed people in Amber—and given her current responsibilities and work, Amber wanted to cut the Gordian knot and leave this world as soon as possible.
Amber’s reaction felt quite fresh to Ren.
But it made sense.
Teyvat, after all, was a world where elemental power, gods, and various supernatural forces existed.
The people of this world, especially Vision holders, had strong hearts and a great capacity to accept various sudden situations.
Take Charlotte, that little reporter; when she suddenly learned that the beautiful older sister in front of her was the fierce Electro Archon of Inazuma, she was only startled for a moment before going back to business as usual.
In a world where one walks with gods, the people here are very used to such wild developments; they are so good at accepting any supernatural occurrence in a short time that it’s almost painful.
Right now, it was just a relatively realistic dream.
Even if there were many of her acquaintances in this dream, and even if those acquaintances seemed to be someone else’s dolls, it was nothing to be shocked about—it wasn’t even as scary as a real ghost.
Tsk, why does the more I think about it, the angrier I feel.
Amber’s cheeks puffed out slightly.
“At this very moment, do you think saying sorry will solve everything?” Ren rested his hands on the desk, cosplaying as Commander Gendo Ikari, with a pair of reflective glasses appearing on the bridge of his nose at some unknown point.
Shaken by this inexplicable aura—or rather, this inexplicable pose—Amber forgot to be angry and took a step back.
“There’s nothing I can do.
If, as you said, this body of mine belongs to you, then how else can I compensate you?
Besides, I really have a lot of work right now.
Recently, the Hilichurls in the wild have started becoming active, and rumors have come from the merchant caravans about a dragon flying in the sky.
It’s only my first day of scouting; I really don’t have time to waste.” Hilichurls becoming active?
Rumors of a dragon in the sky?
So the plot hasn’t started yet?
No, according to the setting, the Traveler should already be wandering the region between Liyue and Mondstadt with Paimon, while Collei has just been taken away by Cyno.
In other words, the plot has just begun?
From Amber’s words, Ren analyzed where the timeline had reached in the real Teyvat.
As for more—like whether he could leave this place for the real Teyvat in the future, or what kind of existence his Genshin Impact world was relative to Teyvat—Ren didn’t think too much about it for now, keeping it buried in his heart.
Those things could be thought about later, but for now— Looking at Amber, Ren gave a broad smile.
Compared to those mindless NPCs who couldn’t even move and required him to manually manipulate them—feeling like heavy, lifeless weights—this kind of real person who could move, laugh, and cry on her own was much more interesting.
At the very least, interacting with her was more fun, wasn’t it?
“Then as compensation, accompany me for a stroll around this Mondstadt.” “Eh?” Amber blinked.
“If I’m in a good mood, I might tell you about the crisis Mondstadt is about to face.” “Huh?!” Amber was even more bewildered.
“For example, why the Hilichurls are acting up, why a dragon is flying in the sky, and so on.
Oh, right, you might even get to admire the heroic bearing of your Anemo Archon, Barbatos.” “…I understand.” After a moment of silence, Amber, feeling like she had encountered a story just like the Liyue tales her grandfather told her—something like receiving guidance from an immortal in a dream—very obediently— …walked to a spot two meters away from Ren’s side.
Well, even though she knew the other party might be a good person (?), for a girl, she still had to be wary of a boy who claimed to have explored her inside and out—no matter how good-looking he was.
Unfortunately, Amber’s vigilance was useless.
She just felt a momentary daze, and when she opened her eyes again…
…she had arrived near that unknown ancient device by the Fountain Square in the front half of Mondstadt.
And as expected, her waist was held firmly by Ren.
His fingers were even tapping continuously as if playing a beautiful melody to some rhythm, making Amber feel a bit itchy and giving her an even stranger sensation.
Fine, since the clothes she was wearing were already so strange, having someone hold her waist wasn’t much of a big deal.
Anyway, she often suddenly hugged Eula from behind or gave Collei a lift; she’d just treat this as karma for her past behavior.
Moreover, compared to that hand resting honestly on her waist, Amber was now more interested in this distorted version of Mondstadt before her eyes.
The Acting Grand Master’s office from before didn’t count, as it was just a room.
But now they had come directly to another Mondstadt.
This made Amber, who had lived in Mondstadt since childhood, very curious about the similarities and differences between the Mondstadt in the dream and the one in reality.
“It’s too small, the layout has some issues, and there are so few people.
I remember that even on weekdays, there are many couples and foreign Travelers visiting the Fountain Square.” “And is the layout of Sara’s Good Hunter really this compact?” “The Alchemy Crafting Bench is just left outside like this?” “Albedo would definitely be angry if he saw this.” “Phew, these two Fatui, why do they keep repeating the same conversation?” She looked at Lyudmila and Mikhail, who were acting as if no one else was there, repeating lines like “Have you heard?
There’s someone strange in Wolvendom…” with the words ‘Fatui Envoy’ floating over their heads as if they were afraid people wouldn’t know who they were.
A question mark appeared over Amber’s head.
Come to think of it, are these blocky characters Liyue script?
Why can I read them as soon as I see them?
And I can even understand their meaning?
“They are no different from Jean and the others in the office earlier; they are all NPCs with preset dialogue.
Uh, in terms you can understand, they are puppets that can only repeat a few actions and lines.” Amber nodded in realization.
Doubt resolved; Liyue immortals can make mechanical puppets, no problem there.
A qualified Teyvatian can quickly use their familiar way of thinking to accept these settings.
It’s just that these mechanical puppets are a bit too lifelike, making one wonder about your true purpose in creating them.
Well, no need to wonder.
Amber thought of her current situation and felt an impulse to sigh at the heavens.
Wasn’t the other party’s purpose laid out plainly from the start?
It’s truly ridiculous; would a being of an immortal’s level actually be addicted to this kind of hobby?
Especially since she was also one of the objects of his obsession.
This made Amber feel strange—a mix of a girl’s instinctive resistance and annoyance, along with a sense of honor at being favored by an immortal.
It felt very odd.
Thinking about the obsessed people her grandfather mentioned who spent decades in the deep mountains and old forests of Liyue searching for immortal encounters despite the dangers, and then thinking about her own situation of being mysteriously “favored” by an immortal…
Amber really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry for a moment.
If those mountain-seeking visitors looking for immortals knew about her situation, would they bite their handkerchiefs in envy?
“So this is also the Mondstadt you replicated in the dream?
No, is it the whole of Mondstadt?” Gazing at the scenery outside from the city gate, which had suddenly become much closer, Amber guessed that the other party hadn’t just replicated Mondstadt City, but perhaps the entire region.
“It’s an open world, after all.
It wouldn’t be much fun if it were too small, and players wouldn’t find it satisfying.” Players, open world.
Although she didn’t quite understand, Amber forced herself to remember every word and phrase Ren said.
She wasn’t as smart as Lisa or Kaeya, so the best way was to replicate these words exactly and let those smart people analyze them.
This was also Amber’s code of conduct as an Outrider.
She had always done this: solve what she understood on the spot, and for what she didn’t understand, bring the information back—the Knights of Favonius naturally had specialized personnel to handle it.
However, as the GM and ‘permission dog’ of this entire world, Ren had nothing to worry about.
He didn’t deliberately hide anything like the protagonists in similar novels he read before transmigrating; he told Amber everything quite openly.
“This is a game world I own called ‘Genshin Impact.’ The stage of the game, well, is the whole of Teyvat—uh, Snezhnaya is temporarily excluded for now.
I don’t know if that place can be updated later.” Actually, Mondstadt and Liyue were both missing a bit of territory, but there was no need to mention such small details.
“The whole of Teyvat?” Hearing Ren’s words, Amber was somewhat surprised.
After all, no matter how small the Teyvat continent was, it was still an entire continent—one that could encompass seven nations and various Domains and forbidden lands.
It was roughly comparable to Eurasia from before Ren’s transmigration.
If this dream had replicated the whole of Teyvat, even if everything was scaled down countless times like the Mondstadt City before her, it would still be astonishing.
“Yes, that’s right.
With Teyvat as the stage, a story of adventure and travel is played out upon it.” “A story.” Amber pondered the word.
Since it was a game, it should have a plot.
Then the question followed.
Just what time period did this story take place in?
“For you, it should be considered a story of the near future.” So that was it.
No wonder this boy named Ren had said those things earlier.
He knew what crisis Mondstadt was about to encounter.
That’s why he was confident he could tell her about the future situation.
Was it something akin to a prophecy?
Well, that made sense.
She had heard that immortals could divine the future.
Amber’s impression of Ren as an immortal deepened yet again.
Having accepted this setting, Amber found that everything before her eyes became perfectly logical.
The immortal had divined the future and then manifested the events that would happen in the form of a game story within this dream.
Oh, right, since it’s a game, there should also be a player.