After Silver Wolf, the second streamer to start Liyue's main storyline was the completely unexpected Stelle.
Only the viewers who had specially followed Stelle knew how this woman—who only knew how to mess around and didn't seem very smart—managed to keep her progress second only to the closed beta players.
She and Silver Wolf streamed at different times, but Silver Wolf never missed any of her own streams and even kept recordings on. Therefore, by the time Stelle went live, although she often made inexplicable moves—such as calculating how long it would take a Flaming Flower to burn a character to death, deliberately letting a Hilichurl Shooter trigger Overload to knock a character off a cliff, and interacting with every single investigation point she saw—the dedicated followers had already discovered that, once those chaotic segments were removed, Stelle was completely copying and pasting Silver Wolf's stream content.
She was following a guide to level up!
Thus, Stelle happily claimed the second-fastest spot in the Honkai: Star Rail girls' group. At this point, her progress had reached the moment just before following Jun Bai to Liyue Harbor.
"Huh? There's an investigation point?" Stelle, who had originally planned to head straight to Liyue Harbor, suddenly changed her mind and went to interact with the investigation point on the dining table.
[Teyvat locust — Stelle, online.]
[Among all the streamers I follow, Stelle is the only one who, while leveling up, chops every tree, loots every object, and interacts with every investigation point just like me.]
[And she's the second streamer to start the main storyline…]
[A player who is equally addicted to exploring the open world but is still under level 20 quietly shattered.]
Stelle controlled her character to interact with the dining table, triggering a hidden egg scene.
The scene changed so that Lisa's big-sister role was replaced by the protagonist. Paimon appeared beside her and began the dialogue: "This welcoming banquet is really too sumptuous. I can't eat another bite, but there's still so much delicious food left untouched on the table."
"Just thinking that I couldn't finish all these delicacies makes me certain I'll have nightmares tonight!"
Lumine: "But I can't eat any more either…"
Paimon suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said: "How about we go tell Jun Bai and ask him to pack up the leftovers for us?"
Lumine asked hesitantly: "Are you serious?"
"Of course I'm serious!"
So Paimon dragged Lumine over to discuss it with Jun Bai.
Jun Bai (with a strange look in his eyes): "If you and Paimon really want to eat it, I can actually have the boss make another batch."
Lumine: (explains that Paimon will have nightmares if she doesn't finish the food)
Jun Bai (thinking): "…Then I'll have the Sparrow puppets pack it up for you."
Then the screen went black and text appeared: "The Sparrow puppets that had previously lifted the lids flew out and, with somewhat clumsy movements, packed up the dishes on the table and handed them to you."
[This… although it's fine to take leftovers from a banquet, this scene somehow feels a bit off.]
[This was originally a welcoming banquet prepared for us, and now the emergency food is both eating and taking… it feels a bit…]
[But you can't really say Paimon is wrong either. If such a big table of food went to waste, wouldn't that be wasteful? 12+ probably doesn't encourage that kind of behavior.]
At this moment, Stelle stopped the barrage discussion and said: "Before you decide to condemn Paimon, please first look at the tangible benefits her suggestion brought."
The viewers saw that Stelle had already opened her inventory and tapped into the food section. Eight different kinds of 4-star dishes appeared.
[Paimon, you did great!]
[Sorry for saying harsh things to you earlier!]
[…Wait, wasn't the entire banquet and the packing all prepared by Jun Bai? Doesn't anyone want to thank the Marshal?]
[Anyone want to go remind the wolf pup that she missed out on something good?]
"Not right now. She's seriously going through the story." Stelle said, then imitated Katheryne: "Alright, next stop—Liyue Harbor and the sea, let's set off!"
— Teyvat
"This is Liyue Harbor, the important hub for Liyue's external trade." Jun Bai began acting as the guide, putting Paimon out of a job.
"Let me state one thing first. Although Liyue Harbor and Guili Assembly both belong to Liyue, in Liyue Harbor there is only one faith—that is the Geo Archon."
"Why?" Lumine asked curiously.
Guili Assembly coexisted with three gods, yet Liyue Harbor only worshipped the Geo Archon?
"Because their experiences are different." As Jun Bai spoke, he used his transformation art to alter his most distinctive features.
If he didn't disguise himself a little, being recognized as the Marshal of the Millelith would be far too conspicuous. Jun Bai wanted the players' attention, but the common people's attention was better avoided.
"Bonanus should have introduced the history of Guili Assembly. It can be said that Guili Assembly could not have continued to this day without any one of the three gods."
"Liyue Harbor is different. The people who migrated south from Guili Assembly to the seaside back then were able to establish the earliest version of Liyue Harbor in this coastal area thanks to the Geo Archon's guidance and blessings."
"Liyue Harbor's development to this day has nothing to do with me or Haagentus. It is the Geo Archon alone who has guided Liyue Harbor forward."
"This is also exactly why the Rite of Descension is held in Liyue Harbor. The people of Liyue Harbor need Rex Lapis to point out the direction for the next step."
Suddenly, Jun Bai laughed: "Of course, there is actually one most fundamental reason. Liyue Harbor focuses on commercial development, and the Geo Archon is the creator of Mora, known as the God of Wealth."
"If merchants don't worship the Geo Archon, what if the Geo Archon doesn't bless their business and they can't earn any Mora?"
It was the same logic as people in his previous life who claimed ghosts and gods were feudal superstitions, yet knelt faster than anyone else the moment they saw a statue of the God of Wealth.
Merchants would respect Haagentus and the Nirvana God, but most likely would not worship them. Toward Rex Lapis, however, those merchants would offer the purest faith.
"That's a very realistic reason." Paimon grumbled.
"For example, if there were a God of Food, what would you do, Paimon?" Lumine asked the soul-searching question.
"Then I definitely wouldn't say a single bad word…" Paimon answered subconsciously, then immediately felt embarrassed.
Turns out she was pretty realistic herself.
"This has nothing to do with being realistic. It's just that ordinary people care too much about the thing they value most in their hearts. They don't want to take any risks regarding that thing." Jun Bai said.
"The Rite of Descension will be held at Yujing Terrace. I'll take you to find a place to stay first. Tomorrow, I'll bring you to Yujing Terrace."
As Jun Bai spoke, he was about to walk forward when he suddenly caught two familiar figures out of the corner of his eye and paused.
"Jun Bai, what's wrong?" Seeing Jun Bai stop, Lumine also stopped and asked.
"I saw two friends. Sorry, could you wait here for a moment? I'll go catch up with them and be back soon."
The corners of Jun Bai's mouth lifted slightly as he walked toward the two people who were currently promoting their services to passersby.
"Dear sir, do you really not want to consider the latest buy-one-get-one-free service from Wangsheng Funeral Parlor? This special promotion is only available because the Rite of Descension is approaching…"
Before the young girl could finish, the "potential customer" had already taken a detour and left. The girl could only sigh in disappointment.
— Side Note
Asking all my dear supporters one thing: the current plot has already gone completely off the rails. Many characters who originally had a bad ending (BE) in the story are still alive, and I also plan to introduce some original characters in non-main-story content later.
Since the characters have already been written, do you think I should put them into the gacha pools?
Agree or disagree—leave a comment in the comment section.
If the majority agrees, I will immediately start drafting Guizhong's character skill design.