"Bang bang bang!" Yu Jin's gauntlet struck the stone wall of the arena, and the wall immediately emitted a crisp sound.
"By the way, didn't you build this arena? Why can't you find the main entrance?" Paimon flew to Yu Jin's side, complaining as he knocked on the 'stone door' in front of him.
"Actually, I've never been to the arena; I built it entirely from memory." Yu Jin withdrew his hand. This spot felt very solid when knocked, so it wasn't the entrance.
As he said, Yu Jin had never actually been to The Lands Between's arena. Because when he arrived in The Lands Between, the once bustling arena had long been abandoned.
There were hardly any people left, so who would go to compete?
The arena he had reran now was built entirely from his own memory. As for whether anything was added or missing, Yu Jin couldn't guarantee it.
Lanssangx watched Yu Jin scratch his head, and a bad feeling suddenly arose in her heart. She asked as if confirming, "My King, you didn't… by any chance… forget to build a main entrance, did you?"
"How did you know?!" Yu Jin jumped in surprise, then forced himself to calm down and said, "Ahem… this is a tradition of The Lands Between. Only those who enter the arena with their own strength are worthy of fighting the strong!"
Yu Jin clenched his fists as he spoke, waving them with an enthusiastic look.
"Wow~~~, how amazing." Paimon, for once, didn't believe Yu Jin's words. She clapped her small hands perfunctorily, watching Yu Jin's performance with a blank expression.
The more Yu Jin listened, the more he felt Paimon was mocking him. His fists hardened; this little guy had actually learned to mock others. It seemed he needed to be disciplined!
"Miss Lanssangx, do you really have this tradition over there?" Lumine heard Yu Jin's words and, although she didn't believe him, she still asked Lanssangx.
Lanssangx shrugged, "Absolutely not before! But if the King wishes, it can be. However, then the stonemason and carpenter trades would surely flourish."
The Lands Between was known for its fierce populace, so the arena was crowded year-round. Various competitions followed one after another. If there really was such a tradition as Yu Jin described, the stonemasons and carpenters of The Lands Between would be worked to death.
"Lanssangx, are you on my side?" Yu Jin stopped kneading Paimon's little face after hearing Lanssangx's words.
He wondered why Lanssangx always seemed to undermine him.
"Certainly, I am on the King's side!" Lanssangx smiled and nodded, then looked up at the towering arena wall and asked:
"Then, my King, how shall we enter? Are we to fly in with me carrying everyone?"
"Let's see in a bit. Why don't you all test the strength of this arena first?" Yu Jin looked at everyone, pointing to the wall not far away.
This was his first time building a structure, so he wanted to see how strong it was. After all, this arena had to withstand an Ancient Dragon's attacks, so it was never wrong to test it first.
"How do we test it?" Diluc looked at the lifelike 'door' in front of him, already having a guess.
"Of course, by giving it a good, hard beating!" Yu Jin waved his hand, saying nonchalantly.
"Really? Don't feel bad if it breaks!" Paimon looked at Yu Jin suspiciously, asking with some doubt.
Although she wasn't very fond of The Lands Between's style, it was still a magnificent building. If it were truly broken, Paimon felt it would be a bit of a shame.
After all, in Teyvat, let alone shattering rocks, there were plenty of people who could cut through steel with their bare hands.
"Hiss, Paimon, are you that strong? Why didn't I notice before?" Yu Jin tugged at Paimon's small arms and legs, finding it quite novel.
Could it be that Paimon's strength was also like Lumine's? Rapidly increasing?
"Don't use so much force, you'll dislocate it!" Paimon was pulled by Yu Jin and almost lost her balance while flying. She broke free from Yu Jin's hand, flew to Lumine's side, and said proudly:
"Who said I was going to do it? The one who's really going to strike is Lumine! Hmph, just watch these big stones be shattered by Lumine!"
Paimon even waved her hand as she spoke, as if she possessed such strength herself.
"That's enough, Paimon! I'm not as amazing as you say!" Lumine, embarrassed by the words, pulled Paimon down and covered her mouth.
This Paimon, her little mouth just blurted out everything! Lumine was actually quite confident in her own strength, but which one of their "Dvalin Rescue Squad" wasn't a renowned figure?
Even without mentioning Lanssangx and Yu Jin, Jean and Diluc alone were powerful enough.
"Come on, Lumine! Let me see how much your strength has improved!" Yu Jin heard Paimon's words and immediately enthusiastically urged Lumine to attack the stone wall not far away.
Jean and Diluc, hearing this, also looked at Lumine with curiosity. They were very interested in Lumine's strength.
To some extent, Lumine's mysteriousness was no less than Yu Jin's. She could use element power without a Vision, and she had Paimon, this magical fellow, with her.
However, under some subtle influence, everyone would deliberately overlook these peculiar aspects. Now that Yu Jin brought it up, their curiosity was ignited.
The enemies they had previously dealt with were mostly low to mid-tier monsters such as Hilichurls and Abyss Mages. They couldn't truly showcase Lumine's real strength.
How strong was the Traveler from beyond this world? Jean and Diluc's gazes were involuntarily drawn to Lumine, who was warming up.
"Hoo—" Lumine took a deep breath. To be honest, it was her first time demonstrating her strength in front of everyone, and she was a bit unaccustomed to it.
A streak of light appeared, and the simple dull sword materialized in Lumine's hand. Compared to weapons with various effects, Lumine still preferred using the dull sword, which had nothing special about it.
Because this way, she could fully display her martial arts without any influence! In this regard, Lumine and Yu Jin were quite similar.
"Hah!" Lumine shouted, unleashing her accumulated momentum, charging forward like an arrow released from a bowstring.
Conspicuous white air currents appeared around her, solidified from the strong wind she cut through.
If not for the floor beneath Lumine being reinforced by Yu Jin, that single burst would probably have kicked up a large amount of dirt.
The 'door' in front of her grew closer, its patterns becoming clearer. Door frames, lintels, and other components were all present, just like a real door.
It made one wonder why a fake door would be carved so realistically. Yu Jin himself didn't know; he was just a ruthless rerun machine.
"Clang, hum, hum—" A harsh and prolonged sound of grinding steel rang out, sending goosebumps all over one's body.
Affected by this, Jean and Paimon both instinctively covered their ears. Diluc, however, twitched his face and stared intently at the gash Lumine had created.
"Clang!" The dull sword in Lumine's hand fell to the ground. Lumine herself continuously rubbed the shoulder of her sword-wielding arm.
Lumine swore she never wanted to cut anything so hard again. Just that one strike, the powerful recoil had made her arm ache, and a ringing lingered in Lumine's ears even now, refusing to fade.
Lumine shook her head, clearing her mind. She looked at the gash in front of her, which could barely be called 'grotesque,' and couldn't help but sigh.
A gash a meter long and a dozen centimeters deep was certainly grotesque. But compared to the arena's outer wall, which was dozens of meters high and of unknown thickness, it seemed quite insignificant.
Diluc and Jean, seeing the wound on the stone wall, also secretly felt alarmed. On one hand, it was because Lumine's displayed strength was quite similar to theirs; on the other hand, they were surprised by the strength of the arena's stone wall.
That last strike was an attack Lumine had prepared for a long time, yet it only left such a small gash. The strength of this arena was truly terrifying!
"Does anyone else want to try?" Yu Jin shouted, but naturally, no one responded.
Jean and Diluc had long since ascertained their own strength in countless battles and knew that they wouldn't fare much better than Lumine if they went up.
As for Lanssangx? She had no such intention from the start; things produced by Yu Jin might be more enduring than an Ancient Dragon.
"Fine, watch me!" Seeing no one respond, Yu Jin volunteered and stepped forward.
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