Arky walked along a dirt path winding through the forest near Dawn Winery.
In his memory, this path should eventually lead toward Springvale. Somehow, even after five hundred years, he remembered every detail he knew from the game.
'I'm kinda amazing,' he thought, taking a lazy sip from the gourd as he strolled forward.
Unlike the game, the forest was massive. Towering trees formed a thick canopy overhead, blotting out the sky. With night settling in, the darkness gave the woods an eerie, suffocating feeling.
Thankfully, he had his own torch. His personal flying mascot hovered nearby, glowing with a soft neon-green light.
Sitri suddenly kicked the side of his head. "Hey! You were thinking something rude about me again!"
She puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms.
"Can you read my mind?" Arky asked, puzzled.
"Hmph, not really," Sitri said smugly. "But mortals are suuuper easy to read. Obviously, I'm just that amazing."
Her nose practically lifted into the air as if it were growing by the second.
Arky abruptly stopped, peering into the darkness ahead. He was a little tipsy from all the wine he had been drinking. "Is that what I think it is?"
Sitri followed his gaze and floated closer, her tone softening. "Yeah… a Seelie. Poor little thing."
A faint blue wisp drifted aimlessly between the trees, glowing weakly.
"Oh?" Arky grinned. "Maybe it'll lead me to a treasure."
He stepped toward it, hoping to coax it into motion.
He had already searched Dawn Winery and its surroundings, but there were no wooden chests lying around like in the game. If there ever had been, they were long gone.
The moment he got close, the Seelie jolted and fled as if it had seen a monster.
"What the fuck?!" Arky broke into a jog. "Why are you running?!"
The Seelie zigzagged wildly, clearly trying to escape rather than guide him anywhere.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop it already!" Sitri darted over and grabbed his hair, yanking his head back. "You're freaking it out!"
She floated in front of him, hands on her hips. "You know you're one of the few people who can permanently kill a Seelie, right? Whatever you're trying to do totally won't work."
"Tch… useless," Arky muttered.
He turned away, adjusting the gourd at his waist, and continued deeper into the forest.
If treasure would not come to him, then he would just find something else to kill.
After wandering through the forest for a while, he eventually found a small Hilichurl camp nestled in a clearing near a cliff.
There were six of them in total. Every single one was asleep. One Hilichurl lay sprawled atop a crude wooden watchtower twice Arky's height, snoring loudly.
From the crossbow resting beside it, that one was clearly a shooter.
Just as Arky was about to stroll straight into the camp, Sitri suddenly floated in front of his face.
"Hey, hey. Try staring at them properly," she whispered.
"Hm?" He didn't question it. He simply focused.
His silver eyes glowed faintly. A translucent panel formed before him.
[ Hilichurl Fighter: Level 3 ]
[ Danger Rating: D1 ]
"Danger rating?" Arky murmured, frowning.
"Yup," Sitri replied, puffing out her chest. "It shows how dangerous something is to Teyvat itself. Not to you. D1 is basically a civilian-level threat. Super boring."
"I see." Arky nodded.
He stepped forward, but halfway there, his pace slowed. He willed his energy outward.
A gray aura briefly washed over his body, then vanished.
As Arky continued walking, something strange happened. The faint crunch of dirt beneath his boots disappeared. The rustle of leaves, his breathing, even Sitri's floating hum.
All sound ceased the moment it traveled beyond a small spherical distance around him.
This was a technique he had created during the mental trial.
By injecting entropy into sound waves themselves, he introduced deliberate errors, severing their propagation entirely. The result was a spherical zone of absolute silence.
Back at his false peak, he could have easily smothered an entire city in silence.
He had named the skill.
[ Silent Domain ]
A runic panel flickered into existence.
[ You have created a Skill: Silent Domain. ]
"What's the point?" Arky muttered. "I still have to control it manually."
"Not anymore," Sitri said smugly, hands on her hips. "Now you just will it, and the Sigil handles the energy flow for you. Automatic activation. Super convenient, right?"
She looked way too proud of something she didn't make.
"That is useful," Arky admitted.
He reached the nearest Hilichurl, which slept soundly, completely unaware. Even with Arky and Sitri speaking right in front of it, the creature didn't stir.
Without ceremony, Arky raised his spear.
Just before the spear struck, he willed the skill.
A compact Silent Domain snapped into place around the Hilichurl's head.
The spear plunged cleanly into its neck.
"Ghhk—"
A wet sound escaped its throat, but only the Hilichurl could hear it.
Even Arky heard nothing. He only watched as life drained from its body.
Moments later, the Hilichurl collapsed into black mist. Before it could fully dissolve into the earth, faint white motes peeled away and flowed into Arky's body.
A panel appeared before his eyes.
[ You have slain a Hilichurl Fighter: Level 3. Gained 100 Essence. ]
Arky nodded calmly and moved on.
One by one, he repeated the process on the remaining Hilichurls on the ground, killing them swiftly, silently, and damn well efficiently.
Soon, only one remained.
The final Hilichurl slept soundly atop the wooden watchtower.
Arky released his focus, and the Silent Domain dissipated. Sound returned to the world around him.
There was no point in keeping it active. With only one enemy left, the skill was nothing but wasted effort. Even with solid control over his soul energy, recovery still took time and rest.
He climbed the tower using the rough ladder.
The Hilichurl stirred.
"Dala?"
It scratched its head, then froze when it saw the human standing atop the platform.
"Ya—"
Before it could even reach for its crossbow, Arky kicked it square in the head.
The Hilichurl was sent tumbling off the tower.
Before it could recover, Arky grabbed the loaded crossbow it had left behind, aimed calmly, and fired.
The bolt whistled through the air and struck the Hilichurl straight through its mask-like face.
It died instantly.
Black mist rose, followed by another stream of white essence flowing into Arky.
[ You have slain a Hilichurl Shooter: Level 4. Gained 120 Essence. ]
Arky sat on the edge of the tower, legs dangling freely, and took a slow sip from his gourd.
Sitri floated over and settled onto his shoulder.
"Sigh… it's a pretty good life we've got, brother," Arky murmured.
"Who are you calling brother, grandpa?" she shot back, a smug grin spreading across her face.
Arky side-eyed her. "Who are you trying to fool, little mascot? You're probably thousands of years older than me. If anything, you're the old hag."
"Old… hag?"
Her cheeks puffed up dangerously. Steam practically burst from her ears.
Then came the kicking.
"How dare you call a girl in her prime an old hag?!"
After a brief skirmish, the two silently agreed to stop calling each other old hags.
How long that truce would last was anyone's guess.
Arky shifted his focus back to the essence he had absorbed.
Six Hilichurls in total.
Three Level 3. Two Level 2. One Level 4.
The Level 3s gave him 100 Essence each. The Level 2s gave 80. The Level 4 gave 120.
It was clear now. Essence yields scales with both the target's strength and purity relative to his own level.
Hilichurls were weak creatures, so this was about the most he could expect from them.
Thankfully, Xai'reth had built limits into the absorption process. If Arky got greedy and took too much too fast, he would end up with a target on his back. And that was a headache he was not ready for.
All together, he gained roughly 580 Essence.
Arky checked his status, eyes lingering on one line.
[ Essence: 580 / 3000 ]
"Still not enough to hit Level 4," he muttered. "Tch… time to grind."
He took one last sip of wine, leapt down from the tower, and vanished into the forest in search of his next soulmates.