"AAAAAAAH—!"
Paimon's eyes flew wide open.
She froze in mid-air, mouth hanging so wide it looked like she could swallow an entire portion of Sticky Honey Roast in one bite.
Staring at the colossal thing that had appeared out of nowhere, she darted back and forth above the pier like a frightened little bird.
Facing the starskiff in front of her, Paimon's face was full of disbelief, her voice trembling:
"Kairo! Y–You just summoned a whole big ship out of nowhere?!"
"W–What is this?!"
"How did you even do that?!"
"Is this… immortal arts?!"
As she babbled, Paimon circled the starskiff again and again, eyes brimming with shock.
She even stretched out a tiny hand, trying to touch the surface of the massive vessel.
But the instant her fingertips brushed the cold metal, she snatched her hand back like she'd been burned, as if afraid the thing might suddenly take off on its own.
Lumine's reaction wasn't as dramatic, but she was just as stunned.
Frowning slightly, she studied the starskiff from hull to energy core, her golden eyes full of confusion.
"Kairo… what is this?"
She had never seen anything like it.
Liyue's mechanisms were indeed advanced, but even the most sophisticated adepti creations only manifested as special flying devices or autonomous mechanical beasts.
There was no way they could build something like this—
a massive vessel hovering calmly in mid-air.
And more importantly: Lumine had traveled through many worlds…
and even so, she'd never seen something quite like this.
Kairo conjuring weapons out of thin air was one thing; she could chalk that up to a storage device.
But an entire ship?
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't picture a storage item that could hold something this big.
Faced with Lumine's shock and Paimon's panic, Kairo couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head.
"This isn't a ship."
"…Huh?"
Paimon's flight faltered for a moment.
She stared at Kairo, folded her arms across her chest, and gave him a highly suspicious look, the very picture of "Don't you dare lie to me":
"How is this not a ship?"
"It's got a bow, a stern, and a deck!"
"If it's not a ship, then what is it?"
Kairo smiled a little.
"Come up and see for yourselves."
Even he hadn't seen what the inside of a starskiff looked like.
With that, he bent his knees and lightly leapt up onto the deck.
Lumine and Paimon exchanged a glance, curiosity instantly overcoming their doubts, and hurried after him.
The moment their feet touched the deck, both of them froze.
"Th–This… what is this place?!"
Paimon's voice shook with astonishment as she looked around, completely overwhelmed.
The interior of the starskiff was nothing like its ancient, mysterious hull.
Inside was a completely different world—
a domain of technology and unknown power.
Instead of wooden planks and beams, the inner walls were formed from a smooth, dark metal.
Soft blue light strips were embedded along the walls, as though the entire starskiff was being sustained by some mysterious energy.
The hatch leading down from the deck wasn't a normal wooden door either,
but an alloy door glowing faintly.
As Kairo and the others approached, it sensed their presence and slid open with a soft hiss, revealing a wide corridor leading deeper within.
Strange sigil-marked buttons lined both sides of the corridor.
Each one glowed with a faint light, like they were waiting to be activated.
As they walked further in,
the main control console came into view.
Lumine's pupils shrank slightly.
This was the first time she had ever seen such a thing—
The console's metal surface was packed with all kinds of buttons and switches.
Instrument panels, floating display screens…
There were even several transparent cores slowly rotating within their housings, emitting a soft, steady glow.
Paimon was completely dumbfounded.
She floated above the console, blinking at the unfamiliar devices with her mouth slightly open, so stunned she even forgot to talk for a moment.
"Wh–What is all this?!"
"Why does everything look so weird?!"
"What do all these buttons even do?!"
She waved her hands as she spoke, trying to make sense of what she was seeing—
but all of this was so far beyond her understanding that her mind simply refused to keep up.
"This… really doesn't feel like a ship at all," Lumine muttered, equally confused as she extended a hand to gently tap one of the console buttons.
A low, humming sound responded, the button lighting up for a moment.
Lumine quickly withdrew her hand, not daring to press anything else at random.
Kairo stood to the side, watching the two of them take everything in.
"This isn't a ship," he said at last. "This is a starskiff."
"It isn't a seafaring vessel—
it's a flying craft."
"It can cross land and sky, and even travel through outer space."
"Its power core doesn't rely on wind, but on a far more advanced energy system. It can break free of gravity's pull and pierce the clouds."
"In other words, it can sail across Liyue's seas… and also rise straight into the sky to travel above the land."
Though Kairo's voice was calm,
his words exploded in Paimon and Lumine's minds like thunder.
Paimon was utterly stunned.
"W–Wait, what?!"
"It can fly?!"
Her eyes went as round as copper bells, her tiny wings giving a visible twitch.
This thing… could really fly?
"Is this… a spaceship?"
Lumine suddenly spoke up as a thought came to her, voice hesitant.
She glanced toward Kairo, shock evident in her gaze.
She had originally assumed this was some kind of special mechanism-powered ship.
But now she realized its technology far surpassed Liyue—
No, it surpassed the whole of Teyvat's understanding.
"You can think of it that way."
Kairo gave a small nod.
"But it's more like a compact spaceship."
"I know what a spaceship is," Lumine said, scratching her cheek. "But I've never seen one this small… and this close to a ship's shape before."
"What's a 'spaceship'?"
Paimon, hovering beside them, asked in utter bafflement.
Even Lumine knew the word.
"A ship that can travel through the void between worlds," Lumine answered without missing a beat. "Normally, a spaceship can leave an entire world behind."
"…Huh?"
At that, Paimon's eyes went wide again.
Leave a world?
Did that mean that if they piloted this starskiff, they could… leave Teyvat altogether?
"More or less," Kairo said with a nod, looking up at the starry sky outside the viewport.
"That's if Teyvat isn't sealed off, of course."
Even then, he thought to himself, there was no telling what lay beyond Teyvat.
Everything outside might be completely foreign and dangerous.
He wasn't about to just aim the starskiff upward and slam through the firmament on a whim.
For now, that wasn't even an option in his mind.
The next second, Kairo started examining the control panels and the walls around them.
There was no manual in sight, and this vessel didn't exactly come with step-by-step instructions.
If he wanted to know how to fly it, he would have to figure it out himself.
"Hm?"
Just as he thought that, Kairo's gaze caught on something in the corner.
There, tucked neatly into a recess, was a slim booklet.
His eyes lit up.
"…A user manual, huh."
So it did come with instructions.
He picked it up at once and began flipping through it.
While Kairo studied the manual—
far from Liyue Harbor, out on the open sea…
A lavish pleasure barge floated quietly atop the waves beneath the night sky.
The Pearl Galley—
Liyue's famed floating flower boat.
A place of banquets and revelry,
where merchants, scholars, and nobles gathered to feast and be entertained.
The opulent vessel swayed gently with the current.
Golden cloud patterns were carved along its sides, and rows of glazed lanterns hung from the rails.
Their light spilled across the sea like scattered gold, shimmering and flowing with every wave.
Inside, strings and flutes played in harmony, zithers and lutes weaving together in melodious layers.
Dancers in flowing silks spun and leapt, sleeves trailing like clouds and skirts fluttering like wings.
They moved like cranes amidst the sculpted lacquered railings, the entire scene a dreamlike vision.
Guests lounged around low tables, raising cups and exchanging toasts.
They drank and laughed, fanning themselves with paper fans, their conversations mingling with the scent of wine.
"Come now, drink! With fine wine and beautiful company, we don't go home sober tonight!"
A wealthy merchant chuckled as he clinked cups with the man beside him.
"With the Rite of Descension almost upon us, Liyue's livelier than ever."
Another man took a light sip of Osmanthus wine, eyes narrowing in contentment.
"I heard Liyue's welcomed some mysterious visitors from afar lately. Even Lady Keqing of the Qixing personally went out to receive them. Quite the rare occasion."
"You believe all that?"
A man nearby laughed, snapping his fan shut with a flick.
"When has Liyue not had its share of eccentric visitors? The Qixing are picky. Anyone who can make Lady Keqing herself appear can't be ordinary, that's certain."
They chatted and joked as music swirled and dancers spun.
The wine flowed freely. Laughter and song filled the vessel.
But then—
A man standing at the rail, gazing out at the sea, suddenly frowned and raised a hand, pointing into the distance.
"Hey… look over there. What is that?"
The others, cups still in hand, turned to follow his gaze.
Out on the water, a strange, massive black vessel hovered low above the sea.
Its silhouette was utterly unfamiliar compared to Liyue's usual merchant ships and pleasure barges.
The hull was long, its lines sleek and fluid, carrying a distinct, almost futuristic style.
"Hm?"
"When did Liyue get a ship like that?"
The people on deck frowned, studying the distant starskiff with puzzled eyes.
"Maybe some merchant's new model?" someone suggested. "The design's weird, but it is eye-catching."
"Hah, maybe it's an engineered ship built with mechanisms. With how advanced Liyue's mechanism arts are, building some giant mechanical vessel for the sea wouldn't be impossible."
"Tch. Even with our mechanisms, could Liyue really make that kind of bizarre ship?"
"Who knows?"
They murmured among themselves—some curious, some indifferent.
One man raised his cup and joked,
"Maybe it's an immortal's boat, here to buy some immortal tea from Liyue!"
"Hahahahaha!"
The deck erupted in laughter as everyone brushed the matter off.
But in the very next moment—
"Boom—!"
The mysterious black vessel began to rise.
The air itself seemed to be pulled by some invisible force.
A ring of dim blue energy rippled across the surface of the sea.
The starskiff's hull slowly left the water… and started to lift into the sky.
"Wh–What…?!"
The first man who'd noticed it gaped so hard his cup nearly slipped from his grasp.
"It's… it's flying?! The ship is flying?!"
His voice trembled with fear and wonder, his shout drawing everyone's attention.
"What nonsense is that? What ship can fly?"
"Don't talk rubbish. Have you had too much to drink?"
The others scoffed, lifting their cups in amusement.
"You must be drunk. Seeing illusions already?"
"I'm not! It really flew! Just now!"
The man spun back toward the sea, face still pale with shock, pointing frantically toward where the starskiff had risen.
"That big ship—just now, it really flew up into the air!"
Hearing that, everyone looked where he was pointing.
All they saw was empty sea and a star-filled sky.
The ocean was dark and calm, dotted with starlight.
The strange vessel had vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed at all.
"Pfft—!"
"Haha! Definitely drunk!"
"Liyue's ships can fly now? You should take that story to a storyteller's stall!"
They burst into laughter, shaking their heads and returning to their drinks, ignoring the panicked man completely.
But the witness just stood there, dazed, staring into the distance.
His heart still hadn't calmed.
He knew what he'd seen.
That ship… had really flown.
The sea breeze brushed gently over the Pearl Galley.
Inside, the music, dancing, and merriment continued as if nothing had happened.
High above, unseen by them all, a starskiff had already slipped across Liyue's night sky.
At that moment—
The starskiff's hull glowed with a soft blue light in the darkness, like a streak of meteor fire quietly hanging in the air.
Energy rings turned slowly around it, streams of blue light flowing along the engraved metal, tracing mysterious sigils in the air.
On the deck, Paimon was practically glued to the railing.
She hugged the guardrail so tightly her knuckles went white, her eyes huge as she stared down at the world below.
"Uwaaa—!"
"It really flew!"
Liyue Harbor, the city streets, the mountain ranges—
and the vast ocean—
all were shrinking beneath them, distant yet grand.
From this height, the whole of Liyue looked like a luminous landscape painting.
Towns and villages dotted the land, lantern-lit streets forming rivers of gold, like a galaxy poured across the earth.
Down at the docks, countless merchant ships lay moored.
The sea mirrored the city's myriad lights, waves glittering like liquid gold in the night.
Farther away, a winding river snaked into the distance, tiny fishing boats rocking gently upon its surface.
The quiet waters formed a sharp contrast with Liyue's bustling harbor.
Beyond that, the mountain ranges rose in layered silhouettes.
The peak of Mt. Tianheng towered above the rest, where Yujing Terrace was perched.
Paimon's little hands clutched the rail as she practically bounced in place, her legs kicking in the air like a bird about to take off.
"This is incredible! We're really flying up in the sky! Liyue Harbor looks so tiny! And the sea is so far away!"
Her voice was full of unrestrained delight, as if this were the most astonishing experience of her life.
At her side, Lumine listened to her shouting and couldn't help rolling her eyes.
"…Don't you already know how to fly?"
Paimon stalled mid-squeal.
Then she waved both hands frantically.
"That's different! Totally different!"
"Normally I only float a few meters off the ground, okay? I just hover next to you at most!"
"But this—"
"This is real high-altitude flying!"
The more she talked, the more excited she became.
She flitted over to Lumine's shoulder, spinning in happy circles in mid-air.
"Hahaha! This feels amazing! I have to remember this! I need to write this down!"
Watching Paimon's joy, Lumine couldn't hold back a smile.
Then she lifted her gaze, looking down at Liyue from above with a faint sigh.
From this height, the city's beauty was breathtaking.
Standing at the edge of the deck, she narrowed her eyes slightly, taking in the ancient, prosperous land below.
Only now, suspended in the vast night sky and looking down on all of Liyue…
did she truly grasp just how bright and magnificent this land was.
"…Liyue really is beautiful," she whispered, her voice soft and full of emotion.
"It is," Kairo replied with a smile.
Thanks to the starskiff's user manual, he'd already familiarized himself with some of the controls and systems.
He'd successfully brought the starskiff into the air—
though he'd deliberately kept the speed low.
Right now, they were cruising at the slowest setting.
"Hehe…"
Paimon suddenly seemed to remember something, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.
"Hey, hey… isn't Liyue going to hold the Rite of Descension soon?"
"What do you think—when the time comes, we take this starskiff up above the ceremony and watch from the sky?"
"As long as we fly high enough, nobody will notice! We could watch the whole Rite of Descension from start to finish!"
Lumine: "???"
Kairo: "…"
At Paimon's suggestion, Kairo's expression turned… complicated.
Using a starskiff… to watch the Rite of Descension?
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