Elric subconsciously crossed his arms over his chest, striking an extremely punchable pose.
At the same time, he cast a smug glance at Faruzan, looking rather pleased with himself.
He hadn't expected his reputation to have spread this far already.
Did he really have legends circulating even in Port Ormos now?
"Even if you're impressive, you're still just my student," Faruzan muttered unhappily, curiosity filling her heart.
At the same time, she was eager to see exactly what her so-called student had done to gain such notoriety in Port Ormos.
"Your face… is written full of stories."
Haniyyah wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and forced a strained smile as she answered.
Damn it… this guy is on our mercenary guild's blacklist. How did I end up running into him?
Running into him is bad enough — and I didn't even pretend not to recognize him. Huge mistake.
How do I send this walking disaster away now? Someone please give me instructions. I'm waiting online. Urgently!
"Your inventions developed at the Akademiya are extremely popular among our mercenary group."
Haniyyah was usually cold and composed, but the moment she faced Elric, she looked just like Albert talking to Barbara — visibly tense and awkward.
"Huh? I don't remember researching anything related to combat equipment."
Elric frowned slightly, murmuring inwardly.
Even though he carried the title of scholar, he still had actual responsibilities.
Because he'd often worked on practical civilian technology back in Fontaine, he naturally continued the same research direction in Sumeru.
This was exactly why Kaveh from the Kshahrewar Darshan kept trying to recruit him.
But honestly, having a well-behaved, cute junior like Layla around was way better than being surrounded by a bunch of sweaty guys.
So Elric never went over.
Still, to make it up to Kaveh, he'd helped promote the Kshahrewar Darshan a bit.
Apparently, the promotion worked very well — there were even more men joining now.
He had absolutely no idea why.
At this moment, Layla suddenly realized something and quickly lowered her head.
She struggled hard to suppress her laughter, afraid she might lose composure in front of everyone.
But no one noticed her reaction. All eyes were fixed on Haniyyah.
Everyone was curious what exactly Elric had invented.
"Uh… anyway, it's very famous. Everyone really likes using it…"
Haniyyah's expression stiffened. She almost wanted to slap herself.
"Okay, I get it. You don't need to say anymore. Let's just—"
Elric wasn't stupid. One look at Haniyyah's awkward expression told him this was absolutely not good news.
"Ah, it's fine. Just say it."
Faruzan cut him off cheerfully, smiling at Haniyyah.
"Let me hear what kind of great invention Elric made."
"I don't think this is something worth bragging about. Remaining humble and hiding one's achievements is what scholars should do."
Elric straightened up solemnly, speaking with righteous conviction — as if he truly meant it.
"Go on. Say it."
Faruzan ignored him completely and urged on.
"Yeah, yeah, we want to know too."
Lumine and Paimon nodded eagerly, eyes sparkling.
"Ahem… I'll explain."
Layla felt this was getting too awkward for Haniyyah, so she stepped in.
"Well… even though my senior is part of the Rtawahist Darshan, he keeps submitting all sorts of bizarre inventions to the Akademiya."
"Things like bombs that explode but deal zero damage, firearms that can't be aimed properly, fake breast padding designed to block elemental detection and hide poison needles — and there are even separate male and female versions."
"And for some reason, the Akademiya actually approved some of these ridiculous designs."
As Layla spoke, she struggled not to laugh, but she continued for everyone's curiosity.
"After several members of the Corps of Thirty ended up hospitalized because they wore the device incorrectly and stabbed themselves with poison needles, the Akademiya blacklisted my senior."
"But somehow, rumors about him kept getting more and more exaggerated, eventually turning into what you're seeing now."
After Layla finished, everyone stared at Elric with very strange expressions.
They never imagined Elric could be… this unhinged.
"Defamation! This is absolutely defamation!"
Elric flushed red and shouted indignantly.
"They wore it backward themselves! How is that my fault?!"
"But the fact you even designed something like that is already a problem!"
Paimon said with a look of disgust.
"The Corps of Thirty not kicking you out of the Akademiya already shows mercy," Lumine said, hands on her hips, glaring at him.
"Can't you research something normal for once?"
Faruzan grabbed Elric's ear and scolded him fiercely.
With such creativity, wouldn't it be better to use it for something legitimate instead of these crooked ideas?!
"Ow ow ow—Faruzan, stop, stop! I'm going to die!"
Elric still didn't think there was anything wrong with his inventions.
He firmly believed that one day, these creations would prove their worth.
When that day came, all of Sumeru would thank him.
"You're old, your hearing's bad. Call me senpai!"
Real World
A Yue was completely overwhelmed.
It was just an event storyline — why did another new character suddenly appear?!
What exactly was HoYoverse trying to do? Were they testing the players?!
Had this event already been completely rewritten beyond recognition?
Barrage:
"Holy crap, Hatsune Miku!""Aggressively inhaling Faruzan foot sweat.""Get lost, freak!""This is Genshin's own Hatsune Miku — does Arknights have one?"
"Wait—what?!"
A Yue rubbed his eyes when he saw the amount of Primogems tied to the quest, disbelief written all over his face.
"Th-this many Primogems?!"
When Elric issued a quest to Lumine, the game also generated a corresponding mission.
All it required was following the story and stopping Faruzan — essentially free Primogems.
The insane part was how generous it was.
A full 180 Primogems.
Just following the story gave you more than a pull.
Chat:
"From Fontaine and gives Primogems — this is Liben's new skin for sure.""So this is actually a Liben rerun event?""I love watching women fight.""Oops, slipped out.""???"
"Mods, do something about that."
A Yue twitched slightly.
These chat messages were truly cursed.
He could already imagine how much impact Elric would have on the community after this event.
And that fight scene was really well made too.
This was the first time Lumine used three different elements interchangeably in a cutscene — unbelievably cool.
Seriously, what was HoYoverse cooking?
They never wrote the main story like this, but suddenly the event story goes wild?
Was this a test run for something bigger in Fontaine's main plot?
He quickly dismissed the thought.
Main story development was locked far in advance — only event writing could afford this kind of experimentation.
Still…
"Looks like Elric isn't that strong in-story after all."
Watching Elric get taken down so quickly by Lumine and Faruzan, A Yue felt a bit disappointed.
Compared to monsters like the legendary "Anemo Archon-tier protagonists," this was tame.
Well… expecting too much from an event character was probably his own fault.
Better wait and see how Elric performs in the main story later.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
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