The biggest trait of something like a world will was its blunt simplicity—
There was no helping it. A normal macro-scale will that oversaw the operation of a world did not understand twists and turns like that.
So if Lynn wanted to communicate with it, the wording also had to be easy to understand, plain and direct, straight to the point:
I'm here to seek investment.
And after you invest in me, you can't exactly keep rejecting me, can you?
As for whether it would work, Lynn was not too worried. The reason this plan ranked first on his list was not just because the benefits were great, but also because, in theory, its success rate was fairly high.
To use an analogy, he was currently like a newborn peerless prodigy in a fantasy world. The moment he appeared, he landed in the territory of a supreme sacred land and was being threatened and hunted by the power of its grand protective formation.
It looked dangerous, but as long as he could alarm the upper echelons of that sacred land and make them come take a look, they would discover:
Ho! An ancient supreme body, and not even the version with its future path severed. Boundless prospects ahead!
In that case, so long as he showed the proper attitude, who would refuse to invest in him?
Not to mention that his "supreme body" was especially unique. He only needed to survive the newborn period, and then he would be able to condense a Transmigration Gate. By then, even if this universe received no material energy at all, merely accepting some foreign laws and information would already be an enormous profit.
A loss?
That simply did not exist.
But...
Where was the reply?
'Something's wrong.'
After quietly waiting a while for a response, Lynn realized there was a problem.
No matter how large the gap in scale might be, at least in terms of status, he and this universe were equals. It was like basic courtesy between people: even if one had no desire to engage, there would still definitely be some kind of response, even if it was nothing more than a single "Get lost."
Yet now, there was no answer for a long, long time.
'...Don't tell me something really has gone wrong?'
Lynn found it a little hard to believe.
He knew this world was a mess—as long as one paid a bit of attention to the text and lore while playing the game, it was not hard to learn some of the universe-level background setting.
Things like the ultimate law that "all who live must one day perish," and also that pitch-black fate, that devouring radiance swallowing the universe whole.
Going by certain hints, the universe had probably only recently passed its golden age and begun a rapid decline.
But he had never taken it too seriously.
Possessing a world of the same level, even if it was only a seed, gave him a rather clear understanding of just how thick the HP bar of something on this level should be. No matter how "rapid" the decline was, if it was happening to a mature great universe, it still had to be measured on an enormous time scale.
In other words, those calamities would still need some time to grow before they could harm the very foundation of the universe. By then, he would have long since developed, repaid what he owed, and left. What did it matter?
But right now, the will of the universe was not replying.
Then there were only three possibilities:
Either those calamities were far more terrifying than imagined, and the will of the universe was too busy dealing with them to respond.
Or Teyvat just happened to be in a "lost zone," and the will of the universe could not receive the signal.
The final possibility was that this universe was already terminally ill, its macro will blurred and fallen into slumber...
In short, none of it was good news.
'Now this is troublesome...'
Still unwilling to give up, Lynn sent out several more messages, but just like the first one, they vanished without a trace. At that point, there was no other choice.
'Then I can only settle for the next best option.'
Using the same analogy again: if the "upper echelons of the sacred land" had collectively run into problems and could not be contacted, how was the "newborn supreme body" supposed to deal with the hostility of the "grand protective formation" and obtain resources to survive its infancy?
Simple. If the "upper echelons of the sacred land" could not be reached, could he not find the "disciples of the sacred land" instead?
And right now, by his side and beneath his feet, there just happened to be one—the planet on which the continent of Teyvat was located.
'Might as well call it "Teyvat" too.'
This was practically a common trait among transcendent worlds: life-bearing planetary worlds also had planetary wills, similar in nature to a universe will, only of a lower order.
Having made up his mind, Lynn withdrew the "gaze" he had cast toward the starry sky and turned it downward, observing Teyvat from the perspective of a world.
The instant he looked, if he had still been in a human body, he would already have bared his teeth and sucked in a sharp breath. Teyvat's planetary will was in far too miserable a state.
If compared to a human body, then its surface was covered in external wounds, its internal organs were likewise failing, basic systems like its internal circulation and immune mechanisms were almost entirely ruined, its limbs were crippled, and on top of all that, it was poisoned and unconscious.
But then, considering everything It had gone through over the past several thousand years, it was not strange at all—
The dragon race It had nurtured itself had been all but driven to extinction. The elemental authorities that had been entrusted to the Dragon Sovereigns had half been seized away, then turned into the cornerstone of a new order and used in reverse to suppress the order that It had originally established.
And that still was not the end of it. Nibelung had brought the Abyss back from the universe beyond, then fought the Heavenly Principles until one side died and the other was left gravely maimed. In the process, the planet itself had suffered no small amount of collateral damage.
After that, the foreign humans completely replaced the dragons as the native inhabitants, and the gods born from fragments of the Heavenly Principles began stirring up chaos. Every time one died, it left behind a vast stretch of near-permanent pollution, while the Abyss was also actively trying to move in...
'Tch... What a disaster.'
A thousand words merged into a single sigh. Lynn made a snap decision and carved off a piece of himself with his backhand—or rather, as a world, he split off a portion of his own origin.
The will of the universe was far too vast compared to him. No matter what situation it was in now, he was powerless to help. But Teyvat's planetary will was different.
Seriously wounded? Dying? Asleep?
It did not matter. Even if his current scale was just as tiny before Teyvat, his origin was nothing less than a miracle cure to lower-order beings of the same kind!
'Here you go!'
Ignoring the sensation of himself weakening a little in an instant, Lynn shoved that split-off portion of origin straight into Teyvat, the planetary will.
(End of Chapter)
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