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The update was 3.9, the season was summer, and 4 people were standing in Liyue Harbor. Now, Liyue Harbor being crowded was never a new thing, but what made it different was the exact people standing there. Ganyu, the Liyue Qixing, wasn’t working for once, instead standing at a crafting bench arduously studying a Vayuda Turquoise jewel. Xingqiu, the heir to the Guhua style of swordplay, was busy looking at his Talents and Constellations. (He was at C1, which was good, but he wanted one more.) Beidou wasn’t on the Crux for once, instead choosing to gaze up at the Jade Chamber, wondering what her girlfriend Ningguang was doing.
And sticking out like a sore thumb was the owner of the Dawn Winery, Diluc, who was wondering why they couldn’t have done this in Mondstat.
(He had wanted to stand on the giant Venti statue as a wishing ritual, but had been outvoted by the others, who preferred the convenience of Liyue.)
Suddenly, Ganyu looked at the sun, blinked a few times, and then got off the Crafting Bench. “I…believe it’s time for us to start pulling,” she said. The party immediately gathered around her, checking and counting talent books, artifacts, and ascension materials.
“Do we have to do this?” Diluc complained, “He’s part of the Fatui, and you know I have…issues with them.” Wanderer, or “Derek” as the Traveler had named them, was having a rerun on the gacha. Now, the party could have pulled for Eula or Klee earlier, but Diluc was already at Level 80 as their Pyro DPS, and Physical DPS is a terrible playstyle. (Sorry, Eula, Razor, and Freminet mains.)
“He’s technically not Fatui anymore because of Irminsul shenanigans Diluc, and besides, it’s either we use him or Heizou.” Xingqiu said, "So…does everyone know the plan for wishing?”
“We pull for him with our 60 wishes and our guarantee from losing the 50/50 to Jean, and then we go for Kokomi if we have leftovers from getting him early so we can do Hyperbloom.” Beidou closed her eyes after saying that, then sighed. “But really, why are we doing this? Shouldn’t we wait for Fontaine characters, or that Yelan rerun?”
“He’s a very good Anemo DPS, and we need someone who can carry another team on Spiral Abyss,” Ganyu said, ”Also, you really shouldn’t be complaining about this, Beidou. You get to have a good Electro-Charged team along with Xingqiu once we get Wanderer. How do you think me and Diluc feel? We haven’t even built Xiangling and Bennett yet.”
Ganyu turned away from the party, studiously calculating every talent book and weapon material.
“How does she do all that math in her head? We don’t even have calculators in Liyue,” Xingqiu asked.
“Kid, she’s Ninguang’s secretary. It comes with the territory.” Beidou responded.
Ganyu turned back around. “We’ve got enough for level 60, talents all at 5, and a level 70 weapon. I also think that we can get to level 70 and talents at 6 if we spend some Resin, and…”
Diluc quietly pulled up the wishing screen to interrupt her, then politely stepped away from the gambling. “Alright,” he said, “let’s just get this over with.” Xingqiu pressed the 10x Wish button.
10 pulls…20…
“A Sacrificial Sword! I’ll take that,” Xingqiu said.
Ganyu shook her head. “Doesn’t look like C6 Faruzan is happening today, but at least we have a copy of her.” she said, looking over at the white haired Anemo girl.
30…
Diluc groaned. “This is why we don’t gamble.” The others looked at him incredulously, wondering if he forgot what game he was in.
40 pulls.
The star turned from blue into a bright gold. The party all gasped, yelled, and did whatever synonyms for screaming you can find in the dictionary.
“Holy…isn’t that early?!” Beidou said.
The star crashed down to earth, and Xingqiu quickly tapped through the wishes. The wind picked up, and the emo boy of the hour had arrived…and he looked like he just woke up.
“Oh Archons,” Derek said, while looking like he wanted to punch everyone in the face right about then, “Why couldn’t you guys just leave me with Nahida? We just got done with my Interlude.” In contrast to his sunny disposition, the rest of the party (except for Diluc, of course) looked excited. “That’s 70 pity!” Xingqiu said, “Maybe we can get Kokomi and C6 Faruzan with this luck!”
They didn’t. They just got C3 Faruzan.
Wanderer/Derek just looked like he wanted to sleep, but it didn’t look like he was getting that wish today. “Can…can I just go and wait for you fools to get your own things? Go build Bennett or someone else, please.” It didn’t look like he’d ever get that wish, as a collection of samurai sword hilts, blue mushrooms, and Ruin Drake parts were unceremoniously shoved into his hands.
Ganyu and Diluc seemed to have disappeared, replaced by Beidou, an underleveled Faruzan and a very pushy Xingqiu. Xingqiu, for his part, was calmly and reasonably explaining how Derek needed to Ascend his level cap.
“Eat these mushrooms,” said Xingqiu, perfectly normally.
Derek’s eyes bugged out, as much as a puppet’s eyes could do that, and he pushed Xingqiu away. “What!? No! Who starts a conversation like that, what the fuck!”
“Hey, no swearing,” Beidou lightly chastised, “This game is rated 12+.”
“YOU ARE LITERALLY A SAILOR!” yelled Derek, flying away. Unfortunately, he was still attached to the rest of the Party, so the only thing he accomplished was falling face first into the nearby fountain. Derek climbed out of the fountain, looking a lot more embarrassed than he was before. Xingqiu handed Derek his artifacts. Derek looked at the artifacts, confused.
“This is Viridescent Veneer. Can’t you idiots have gotten me my correct relic set?”
Xingqiu equipped the artifacts onto Derek. “It was on the Strongbox, and we already leveled it. Now come on, today’s your talent leveling day.”
Derek, Xingqiu, Beidou, and Faruzan stood at the entrance of the Sumeru Talent Domain. Faruzan tapped her foot, impatiently. “So…” she said, “When are we going to farm my talents?”
“Tomorrow,” Xingqiu replied, “Today’s Wednesday.” Derek still didn’t look happy with this. His thoughts said the same thing. Why couldn’t we have done this with the other team? Aren’t Ganyu and Diluc more built? Why me?
The team popped into the Domain, and Derek immediately flew up to the key and started the challenge. Two Ruin Drakes appeared, and both Faruzan and Derek had a look that basically said I wish I didn’t sign up for this. Beidou, Xingqiu, and Faruzan immediately started up their Elemental Bursts, creating a deadly Electro-Charged reaction on the two Drakes.
“Rain outlines your fate!”
“Power that ended Haishan!”
“Truth repeats its course!”
They then all stepped off the field, leaving Derek in the center, right in front of two very much not dead, very angry Ruin Drakes. Derek turned back to the rest of the team. “Why me!?! I’m at level 70 with dogshit artifacts!”
“Well, you’re the only onfield DPS we have, so unless you don’t want those books, you better start casting some spells.” Beidou pointed out.
Derek started flying around the Drakes, casting wind blades that barely got over 2,000 damage… and got slapped in the face by a tail slap that almost killed him. Beidou and the others stepped onto the field, got hit a lot, and after a grueling 3 minutes, and 12 different pieces of food, the Ruin Drakes finally went down. The party practically dragged themselves upward, reaching the Domain’s reward spot. Xingqiu put in a Condensed Resin, and then stared at the rewards.
Derek looked at Xingqiu, concerned. “Xingqiu, what did we get?”
Xingqiu stayed silent.
“Waterboy, please tell me we can get out of this domain.” Derek pleaded.
Xingqiu looked up, a bit of remorse in his eyes. “We didn’t get any gold books. Looks like we’ll have to do two more runs.”
Derek stared at Xingqiu for a second…
And immediately threw himself off the domain platform the second they all loaded in. Xingqiu looked at Beidou and Faruzan. “Looks like we’ll have to be grinding for two more weeks.” The two girls stared at each other, then at the clearly desperate Xingqiu, then at Derek, who had respawned with no energy on the floor. Then they both silently started the domain for Derek, resigned to the hell of grinding.
To be continued in the next installment… (Because the grinding will continue until morale improves or Hoyoverse goes broke.)