While the Traveler was looking at Mavuika, Mavuika also noticed the Traveler's gaze, so she sheathed her greatsword and walked over with measured steps.
"You must be the Traveler who's accomplished so many great feats in other nations, right?" Mavuika proactively greeted. "My name is Mavuika—nice to meet you."
Seeing Mavuika so friendly, Lumine and Paimon were naturally happy to meet her too.
"We saw you driving during the Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame Saint's Night," Paimon said with a soft smile.
"That Flamestrider's speed is pretty fast, huh," Mavuika's lips curved slightly. "I had Xilonen tune it up multiple times to get it this fast."
The newly arrived Traveler and others didn't know about Xilonen's relationship with Mavuika, assuming Xilonen was just an excellent craftsman.
But Mualani and the others present knew just how fast that Flamestrider was, and how many times Xilonen had cursed Mavuika behind her back.
"Actually, during the Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame Saint's Night, I also saw your combat style from afar," Mavuika said, arms crossed.
"Was it impressive?" Paimon asked expectantly.
"Of course," Mavuika said with a laugh. "It exceeded my expectations—you truly live up to the rumors of being the hero who saved several nations from peril."
After a pause, Mavuika's eyes, burning like the sun, looked over, and she continued: "Traveler, after the Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame Saint's Night ends, I have some words I'd like to say to you—would you be willing?"
"Can't you say it now?" Lumine asked.
"What I have to say involves a lot of information, and there might not be enough time right now."
Mavuika explained: "Moreover, the individual event of the Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame Saint's Night is about to start soon. If you hear my message now, it might cause you to overthink and affect your performance."
The Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame Saint's Night mainly consists of two parts: the team event and the individual event.
After the team event ends, each squad's Ancient Name holders will participate in the individual event, ultimately selecting a few to compete in the Night Warden Wars.
Though the Night Warden Wars have been suspended, the warriors who advanced through the team event are still gearing up for the upcoming individual event, looking forward to some exciting clashes.
Additionally, since this Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame Saint's Night isn't official, the Traveler as an outsider can still participate in the individual event.
Seeing Mavuika so insistent, Lumine didn't say more, just nodding slightly in agreement—whatever it was, they could talk after the match.
Just then, the sound of others arguing erupted not far away.
"What happened?" Paimon blinked her eyes and looked over in confusion, discovering that two people not far off were having a heated argument with the staff.
"It seems those two aren't content with being eliminated, feeling that if they hadn't been ambushed, they definitely could've advanced from the team event," Kinich said.
"If you're weak and blame others for ambushing, do you think the Abyss monsters will play fair with you in combat?"
The yellow pixelated little dragon beside Kinich said disdainfully.
"Ajaw."
"Wh-what? I didn't say anything wrong."
Ajaw tensed up.
Ever since Kinich got his Pyro Vision, its status had become even lower than usual.
Before, it was just getting smacked; now it was changed to getting burned with fire, which hurt like hell.
"I mean, this time, I agree with your view," Kinich said.
Hearing that, Ajaw immediately flared up: "Idiot Kinich, who told you to talk like that—you scared the hell out of this holy dragon!"
Though Ajaw was raging, he didn't dare lay a hand on Kinich—if he pissed him off, he'd get burned again.
"I'll go handle that situation over there." Learning what had happened not far away, Mavuika turned and walked toward the two eliminated ones.
After Mavuika left, Paimon noticed her good companion was lost in thought with her head down, so she asked: "Traveler, what are you thinking about?"
The pondering Lumine lifted her head and said: "Don't you feel like Mavuika looks familiar?"
"Familiar?" Paimon tilted her head, then scratched her hair. "Now that you mention it, Mavuika does look somewhat familiar, but I don't know where I've seen her."
Lumine didn't play riddle-master and directly said: "You should remember the Statue of The Seven Archons we saw in the 'Children of Echoes' before, right?"
"I remember now!" With the Traveler's reminder, Paimon instantly recalled. "Mavuika really looks like that statue on the Statue of The Seven Archons."
It would be more accurate to say identical rather than just similar.
Because Natlan's Pyro Archons change frequently, the statues on the Statue of The Seven Archons don't match the current Pyro Archon.
But how was it that she looked so much like Mavuika?
"Traveler sister."
While the Traveler was puzzled, Kachina stepped forward to explain: "After we Natlan people die, our souls reincarnate—even the Pyro Archon is no exception."
"If you think Mavuika sister looks a lot like the Lord Pyro Archon on the statue, then maybe Mavuika sister is the reincarnation of that Lord Pyro Archon," Kachina said.
"Hehe, we thought she looked similar too, but since Mavuika might not want to be called someone's reincarnation, we never said it to her face—you have to keep it secret too," Mualani said with a laugh, raising her index finger to tell the Traveler not to spread this.
"Just reincarnation?" Lumine thought back again, feeling the matter wasn't that simple.
Even if reincarnated, with parents' genes all changed, could it still produce someone completely identical?
Lumine was skeptical about this.
[Foreshadowing!]
[This is definitely foreshadowing!]
[Mavuika absolutely can't be some so-called reincarnation—maybe she's the actual Pyro Archon carved on the Statue of The Seven Archons.]
[Why say that—what's the basis?]
[The basis is the Traveler's doubt.]
[It can't be that the Traveler doubts it, and it turns out to really be just like Kachina said—a simple Pyro Archon reincarnation, right? miHoYo wouldn't actually treat players like idiots.]
[I heard from insiders before that Natlan has two Pyro Archons, and the former one will war with the current one—looks like Mavuika is the former Pyro Archon.]
[Isn't this the fake script from Fontaine before? Just swap names and slap it onto Natlan?]
[Insiders can't even accurately leak character mechanics now, let alone plot—better to look at Uncle Mi's plot speculations, at least you can guess some.]
[But if Mavuika is the Pyro Archon from 500 years ago, how did she live to now? Natlan's Pyro Archons are humans, with lifespans of just over 100 years.]
[Who knows—the pen's in miHoYo's hands; they can casually find a fitting reason for Mavuika.]
[What does Mavuika want to chat privately with the Traveler about?]
[The current Lord Pyro Archon suspended the Pilgrimage of the Returning Flame Saint's Night and Night Warden Wars right after taking office, and those two are for fighting the Abyss.]
[Mavuika probably thinks the current Lord Pyro Archon has colluded with the Abyss and wants to team up with the Traveler to take down the current Lord Pyro Archon.]