"Mr. Yu Jin, do you need me to carry you?" Crossing the stone gate, Yu Jin and Katheryne were walking on a forest path in Mondstadt.
Although Katheryne had been undergoing modifications inside Yu Jin for nearly a year, in reality, only a few days had passed. Now, Yu Jin was taking Katheryne back to Mondstadt.
However, this time Yu Jin wasn't bouncing and jumping like before. Instead, he had broken off a wooden stick to use as a crutch, walking slowly like an old man.
"No need, I'm just looking at the scenery, looking at the scenery…" Yu Jin stubbornly refused Katheryne's kind offer, pretending to be engrossed by the view.
Seeing Yu Jin's appearance, Katheryne shook her head helplessly, then deliberately slowed her pace and walked beside Yu Jin.
As for why Yu Jin was so weak, it could only be said that creating illusory things out of thin air was indeed deadly.
When he created Tina's body, he still had a tree branch to work with. But creating Katheryne truly involved conjuring her directly out of thin air.
And what's more, the parts inside Katheryne were numerous and precise, all of which he had to create one by one, almost killing him in the process.
If it were simply creating flesh and blood life, it would be much easier. Yu Jin would only need to have the concept of "what life should look like" in his mind, and the flesh and blood would automatically evolve into the form he envisioned.
But Katheryne was different, because Yu Jin had no idea what a machine with life would look like. So, he could only follow the blueprints Alex gave him, creating Katheryne bit by bit.
"Mr. Yu Jin, you said there's someone just like me at the Mondstadt Adventurers' Guild. What is he like?" Katheryne remembered what Yu Jin had told him earlier and couldn't help but wonder what this person, so similar to her, was truly like.
"Hehe." Yu Jin smiled mysteriously, then said to Katheryne, "You'll know when we get back to Mondstadt!"
Yu Jin patted his breastplate. He was very confident in Joseph's condition. As his creator, Yu Jin had told him he hoped he would look at the brighter side of things more often. Could he really turn dark?
Even if he turned dark, it would be useless. If he turned dark, he would have to eat Yu Jin's personality correction punch.
"Oh, by the way, can you use that shared network? Send a message to the one in Liyue; she was the one who asked me to save you," Yu Jin said to Katheryne, having thought of something.
Katheryne smiled and nodded, "I already did. She also said that if I really become an Adventurer, she'd let me come to Liyue for an Adventure!"
Yu Jin nodded. Alright, there were no more loose ends now. He could just stride towards Mondstadt without looking back.
But why was the wind in Mondstadt so strong lately? A gust of wind blew past, bending the large trees by the roadside.
Katheryne extended her hand, and a circular, light blue light shield enveloped Katheryne and Yu Jin, keeping out the flying sand and stones stirred up by the strong wind.
"It's very useful, Mr. Yu Jin." The light shield moved with Katheryne, which made Katheryne feel very surprised.
"As long as it's useful." Yu Jin didn't say much else. This usage was a bit wasteful, but as long as Katheryne was happy, it was fine.
The strong wind howled for a while and then stopped. Katheryne looked at the Sky, which had returned to clarity, and exclaimed in surprise: "Mondstadt… has a Wind Dragon?"
"Hmm?" Yu Jin heard Katheryne's words and also looked up, discovering a teal and blue Wind Dragon soaring in the distant Sky.
Why is it a Wind Dragon again? Yu Jin wondered if he was going to turn into a Wind Dragon recently? Otherwise, why would he see Wind Dragons every day?
There are very few Wind Dragons in Teyvat, alright!
"It's just one Wind Dragon, what's the big deal?" Yu Jin yawned. He had seen many Wind Dragons; small problem, small problem.
"Really?" Katheryne was half-convinced, putting her doubts aside.
Yu Jin glanced at the deserted surroundings, threw away the wooden stick in his hand, and said, "I've rested enough, let's hurry back to Mondstadt!"
With that, Yu Jin took the lead, transforming into a dark shadow and rushing towards Mondstadt.
Seeing this, Katheryne also crouched down, and her core began to operate.
"Tss—" White smoke began to gush from the exhaust ports on Katheryne's back. Then, with a "Boom!", Katheryne shot forward, and the huge air current made the surrounding trees sway again.
"Mr. Yu Jin! Why so fast——"
"You go ask Alex!"
...Katheryne had now adapted to her incredible speed. She no longer had to stop every now and then like before.
Now she could even chat with Yu Jin, who was also speeding alongside her.
"Mondstadt is almost here, let's stop for a moment." Yu Jin saw the city walls of Mondstadt in the distance and stopped.
"Boom!" Katheryne's movement was louder than Yu Jin's. She extended her hands, and huge flames shot out from her palm thrusters, rapidly slowing her down.
"Phew… what a peculiar experience." Katheryne patted her chest, still somewhat surprised.
"You'll get used to it." Yu Jin looked at Mondstadt in the distance, a bit surprised.
Why are there so few people again? Hadn't he cleared out the monsters around Mondstadt before he left? Are these monsters really that prolific?
A series of questions surfaced in Yu Jin's mind, but he quickly shook his head and dismissed them.
No matter what, get into the city first.
After greeting Swan and Lawrence, who had been guarding the gate for years, Yu Jin and Katheryne entered Mondstadt City.
First step upon entering the city: find Katheryne!
Yu Jin led Katheryne to the Adventurers' Guild. He thought it would be very interesting to see the two Katherynes meet this time.
"Ad astra…???" Mondstadt Katheryne saw another version of herself following behind Yu Jin, unable to even finish her classic line.
It seemed Katheryne had only informed Liyue Katheryne of her news.
"Hehe, Miss Katheryne, how is it? Aren't you happy to see another you?" Yu Jin pulled the Katheryne behind him in front of Mondstadt Katheryne, allowing the two who shouldn't have met to get a good look at each other.
"You… how did you get here?" Mondstadt Katheryne asked, looking at herself in front of her.
Katherynes do not leave their posts; the Katheryne in front of her must have undergone some major change.
"My serial number is ksl015, it should be deactivated by now, right?" Katheryne asked her Mondstadt counterpart.
Several days had passed since she received that order. If nothing unexpected happened, her serial number should have been deactivated.
Mondstadt Katheryne nodded. She had just checked, and indeed, there was no Katheryne with that serial number anymore.
"Haha, exactly. So I no longer have duties; I've officially left Snezhnaya." Katheryne smiled faintly, not bothered by the news of her deactivation by Snezhnaya.
"Then you all…" Mondstadt Katheryne looked at the other Katheryne and Yu Jin, a guess forming in her mind.
"Of course, we're registering as Adventurers! Then we'll post our Adventure experiences on the shared network so everyone can see them." Katheryne said her plan with a smile.
Mondstadt Katheryne was silent for a moment, then solemnly bowed to Yu Jin and said:
"Thank you!"
"You're welcome. If you ever want to quit, you can tell me too." Yu Jin waved his hand, then asked, "How about it? When can we test?"
Mondstadt Katheryne sighed upon hearing this, then said, "No need for testing for now. Just write down my name. We'll test together once the Dragon Scourge is over."
"Dragon Scourge? What happened?" Yu Jin remembered the Wind Dragon he had seen. It seemed highly likely to be related to it.
"Recently, Stormterror has been stirring up storms around Mondstadt. Everyone can't leave the city, and the number of commissions has plummeted."
Mondstadt Katheryne explained that the Dragon Scourge was making all of Mondstadt suffer. The impact this time was even greater than the previous monster tide.
"Is that so?" Yu Jin nodded, rubbing his palms. His Sunlight Spear was already itching for action.
"Alas~ Stormterror was originally one of the Four Winds. I never thought he would one day become an enemy of Mondstadt." Mondstadt Katheryne shook her head, letting out a sigh.
Yu Jin's hand-rubbing motion stopped. It seemed there was a hidden story?
"So what are you going to do next?" Mondstadt Katheryne looked at Yu Jin and the other Katheryne, asking.
"What to do?" Yu Jin stroked his chin, then pulled Katheryne away, shouting loudly:
"Of course, we're going to meet our future colleagues!"
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Thank you for following the story this far.
If you want to read the later chapters in advance, I've uploaded more chapters to Patreon.
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