"We're back~ What are you two doing?"
Albedo's observational research finally concluded. When Lumine and Paimon returned to the camp, they found Durandal and Shenhe standing together, eyes closed, doing something unknown.
Seeing that they ignored her, Paimon wanted to go forward and ask what was happening, but Lumine stopped her, signaling her not to approach yet and to observe the situation.
Soon, Cryo Element condensed within the camp, and Shenhe's Ice Puppet Escort appeared. A puppet resembling Shenhe flew around Shenhe and Durandal.
This puppet usually appeared, and Shenhe would summon it during combat. Lumine and Paimon were already accustomed to it.
Next, a black-purple aura surged from Durandal's body. This aura condensed on the puppet's surface, enveloping its body, gradually transforming into an outer garment, like armor.
The armored puppet began to change. Its original Cryo Element body, which was only a layer of silver-white, quickly became like a normal human over time. Under the shocked gazes of Lumine and Paimon, it became identical to Shenhe.
If the puppet weren't still wearing armor, they wouldn't be able to distinguish which was the Main Body. This... this was what they were researching?
The puppet carefully examined its hands. With a wave of its right hand, a long spear appeared. It went outside the camp and performed the spear techniques it had mastered, as well as the adeptal arts taught by the adepti.
Not only were its movements incredibly light, but it could also fly freely in the air as before, demonstrating even greater mobility.
"Oh, oh~ This... this is amazing."
Paimon clapped her hands repeatedly in praise. This ability was truly incredible. She even wondered if Shenhe's consciousness was linked to the puppet.
Lumine had the same thought. She tilted her head in thought and asked, "Shenhe, can you hear me?"
Lumine wasn't speaking to Shenhe's Main Body, but to the Shenhe dancing with the spear outside the camp.
The puppet, who was dancing with the spear, heard Lumine's question, stopped its movements, and nodded to her: "I can hear you. What's wrong? Is there something you need?"
"Eh? Shenhe... you, you can talk to us?"
Paimon looked incredulously at Shenhe inside the camp. What was going on? Wasn't this a puppet? Why could she speak?
"Is it because of Durandal? Does this layer of armor condensed on you allow your consciousness to link to this body?"
The puppet nodded. Shenhe, who was standing with Durandal, opened her eyes and looked at the two of them.
"I still can't do two things at once, so I can only focus my mind on either the Main Body or the puppet. With practice, I should be able to do better, but without Durandal's help, I can't achieve this."
Without Durandal's help, Shenhe's Ice Puppet Escort could only assist in its usual way, unable to link with Shenhe's consciousness like this, like a clone.
"How did you do that, Durandal?"
"I got the inspiration from his research. It was just an attempt, and I didn't expect it to actually succeed."
Durandal was also surprised. She was just bored and saw Shenhe experimenting while practicing adeptal arts, which yielded unexpected results.
Under her manipulation, Durin's Humus Power could not only strengthen monsters but also enhance elemental constructs like the Glacial Seal / Ice Puppet (Skill), and even achieve a consciousness link with the caster.
The regrettable thing was that the caster had to maintain contact with her, otherwise, the consciousness link would be interrupted.
Currently, the only way to maintain contact with her was physical contact. The simplest way was holding hands, but it could also be through other actions, as long as there was physical contact.
"I didn't expect you to be able to use that power so skillfully. It seems you obtained Humus Power a long time ago."
Albedo, who arrived a little later, heard Durandal's explanation and understood why she wanted to obtain information about Humus Power.
Even though that power didn't belong to her, Durandal could make it her own and even enhance it. What a terrifying ability.
"It's been a while, but I never knew how to use it. Your research materials greatly helped me understand this power, so I'll thank you a little."
"In that case, to better understand the utilization of this power, would you like to help me conduct some experiments?"
"...Do you want to die?"
She was very grateful for Albedo's materials, but that didn't mean she would cooperate with him on all sorts of strange research like Lumine.
Albedo shrugged. Durandal's meaning was already very clear. If he brought it up again, she would probably really make a move against him.
Having obtained what she wanted and also resolved the Fatui problem, there was no point in staying in Dragonspine. Durandal prepared to leave Dragonspine.
Lumine and Paimon wanted to stay and explore this unknown area. There were many treasure chests waiting for them to discover here.
Durandal agreed to their plan and asked Shenhe to stay and help them.
This was not the outside world; even with a thick coat, the environment here was no joke. With Shenhe's help, Lumine would face far fewer dangers.
Just as Durandal left the snowy mountains, bird she had assigned to deal with the Fatui there flew over, landing on Durandal's shoulder and chirping softly.
Durandal gently stroked its head: "Well done. Keep an eye on the Fatui's movements. If you find any Fatui camping in the wilderness, you can use the usual method to mess with their cooking pots, understand?"
That method of soaking feet in their cooking pots really worked every time. So far, not a single operation had failed, and almost all the Fatui members had fallen victim.
bird nodded, indicating understanding, and was about to leave when Durandal stopped it and injected Humus Power into its body.
Because it had been strengthened by Durandal before, the pain caused by the Humus Power was not deep, but the demonization process still made it let out painful wails.
Soon, the wailing stopped. It stood up from the ground, observing its body in a humanoid form, its eyes bright and agile, like a human's, revealing a look of surprise.
"This is your reward. If you perform even better, I can grant you greater favors in the future."
Currently, she was not deeply skilled in using Humus Power. Once she researched it further, she might be able to make it grow to the point of transforming into a human form, like Diona, the cat-eared Damselette.
It excitedly flapped its wings. Having the most basic intellect, it clearly understood what this meant, so how could it not be excited?
"Now... I'll give you a name. Since you're female, I'll call you Agalu."
Durandal recalled the human she had once resurrected. Her village was destroyed because of Durandal's appearance. Although with Durandal's help, she rebuilt the village, the village, having been discovered by outsiders as abnormal, was eventually destroyed again.
She would use this name to inherit that human who once showed a strong desire for life, hoping it would not disappoint her.
Agalu happily flew in the air. From today on, she would be Durandal's subordinate—Agalu.
Agalu left to carry out her mission, and Durandal walked alone on the road to Mondstadt City.
It had been a while since she had acted alone like this. She felt a strange nostalgia for those quiet days of the past.
"Oh my, oh my, isn't this Durandal? Why are you here alone? Where are the others?"
Sure enough, every time it was quiet for only a few minutes, she would be disturbed. In Mondstadt City, only that guy could appear near her so stealthily.
"They have something to do in the snowy mountains. I'm the only one who came back. What about you? Aren't you supposed to be diligently earning Mora in Mondstadt City? What are you doing here with me?"
"Hehe~ Mora can be earned anytime, and I've already saved enough to drink. I'm going to Angel's Share for a drink later. Since you're alone today, do you want to come with me for a drink later?"
Venti intimately put his arm around Durandal's shoulder, inviting her.
"Hmph~ I'm afraid you want me to pay for you, right? How many times have you asked me to drink with you and paid yourself? When was it not me who paid for you?"
Ever since Durandal started treating people, she had accumulated a lot of Mora. Once, when drinking with Venti, she kindly offered to pay.
It was that kind gesture that Venti remembered. Knowing that Durandal was not short on Mora, Venti often found excuses to invite her for drinks, always getting drunk and leaving Durandal to pay.
"Don't say that. Anyway, Mora is useless to you. We are good friends, aren't we? Friends should help each other."
"That's true, but have you ever helped me? How come I feel like I've been helping you all along?"
"No... no such thing. I... I certainly helped you, you just forgot."
Huh? Thinking about it carefully, he really didn't seem to have helped Durandal. Could he, the mighty Anemo Archon, not be able to help with anything?
No! This was a great opportunity. If he didn't beg Durandal, the chance to drink happily would be gone. Even losing the Anemo Archon's dignity didn't matter; he was going all out.
Like a Children, Venti held Durandal's wrist, continuously pleading for Durandal to agree to his request.
Durandal suppressed the urge to swallow Venti whole, lamenting how unreliable Mondstadt's Archon was. While Zhongli, the Geo Archon, also had his eccentricities, his usual words and actions were still very dignified, at least giving the faithful masses something beautiful to aspire to.
However... if she had Zhongli's personality, perhaps they wouldn't have been able to become friends.
Zhongli gave her a good impression, but strictly speaking, they couldn't be called friends; it was merely a mutually beneficial relationship.
"Forget it, let her stay as she is. Although she has no dignity, this is who she is."
If Venti wasn't slacking off, would he still be Venti? It was precisely because of this lazy personality that she had relaxed her guard and chosen to accept him back then.
Such a friend was actually not bad.
"Where are your hands going? Don't think I don't know your previous idea was a lie! You slacking-off Archon!"
"Ouch!"
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