Genshin Impact: I Am a Slime

After a brief moment of shock, Zhiyi took a deep breath, as if trying to compress all the air in the room into her lungs.

His gaze was fixed intently on the scattered Eyes of God on the table. Those crystals, which once symbolized power and glory, were now like extinguished embers, completely dull and lifeless, with only faint marks representing different elements remaining on their surfaces.

Zhiyi reached out, his fingertips pausing a few inches from the nearest Eye of God marked with purple lightning patterns, a subtle tremor clearly visible.

After a moment, as if he had made up his mind, he suddenly grabbed it in his palm.

The cold metal frame and lifeless crystals clung to his skin, feeling like a dead stone.

Zhiyi immediately closed his fingers, clenched them tightly, and focused all his attention on his palms, trying to capture even the slightest flow of energy or strange sensation in this deathly silence.

His heart pounded in his chest, making his eardrums buzz, but there was nothing in his palm except the coolness of metal and the icy hardness of crystal.

A complete void.

Disappointment stung him like a tiny needle, and Zhiyi immediately flung aside the Thunder Element God's Eye, grabbing without hesitation another God's Eye with a blue vortex mark next to it, repeating the same action.

Clenched fists, holding breath, focused intently, the concentration in his eyes bordering on madness, carrying a desperate, reckless obsession.

This chance to change his fate was something Zhiyi had longed for day and night, almost to the point of obsession. Now, it was laid out before him in this lifeless state, as if as long as he worked hard enough, he could awaken one of the dormant powers within it.

One after another.

Zhiyi was like a gambler placing bets at a gambling table, his movements becoming faster and faster. Fine beads of sweat from his forehead gathered into a line and slid down his temples. Each time he picked up a bet, he carried a faint hope, and each time he put it down, he was accompanied by deeper anxiety and a feeling of being mocked by cold stones.

The Eye of God on the ground made a dull thud as Zhiyi turned it over.

Famas crossed his arms over his chest, his body relaxed as if watching a drama that had nothing to do with him.

He calmly watched Zhiyi's almost clumsy attempt. When Famas saw Zhiyi almost crushing a God's Eye with a water ripple mark because it didn't react at all, the boy's smile finally deepened a little.

He has seen all sorts of people facing what is called divine favor.

Some prayed devoutly, some retreated in fear, and some were overjoyed and lost their composure, but Zhiyi's act of examining each of a pile of completely extinguished and lifeless stones one by one, trying to awaken resonance with brute force or willpower, was so novel that it was almost absurd.

FAMAS coughed lightly, his clear sound penetrating the noise Zhiyi made while searching:
"No rush, you can take it back and try it out at your leisure."

Famas raised his chin, gesturing to the dim, lifeless Eyes of God on the table.

What he didn't point out was that the resonance of the Eye of God was never like searching for a needle in a haystack, much less a futile prayer to an inanimate object.

It was a tremor and a call from the depths of the soul.

When a person's burning desire is intense enough to attract the favor of the rules, their divine eye, no matter how dim and dormant it had been before, will be ignited as if by the most intense flame, bursting forth with an uncontainable and dazzling brilliance.

That light is the burning of desire itself, and there is no need for futile groping like Zhiyi.

It will find its owner among thousands of grains of sand and light it up for them.

Upon hearing Famas's words, Zhiyi's movement to grab the next Eye of God marked with a blade of grass suddenly froze in mid-air.

He seemed frozen in place, maintaining that bent-over, outstretched posture, before slowly straightening up and looking up at Famas a few seconds later.

The obsession and anxiety in Zhiyi's eyes were replaced by an even stronger light, almost shattering the facade of calm he was trying to maintain. Then his lips moved, finally managing to squeeze out only one word, trembling slightly:

"……it is good."

Zhiyi stopped looking at the lifeless Eyes of God and quickly lowered his head to carefully collect them one by one. His fingertips brushed over the surface of the remaining elemental imprints on the Eyes of God. His careful demeanor was completely different from his previous rough search.

"Besides, these ruins guardians are also your helpers."

FAMAS snapped his fingers.

As soon as the sound fell, the solid ground beneath their feet began to shake without warning.

At first, the vibrations were subtle, like distant rumbling thunder, causing a slight tingling in the soles of the feet. But in an instant, the vibrations intensified, and the entire stone hall seemed to be gripped and shaken by an invisible giant hand. Gravel fell from the dome with a rustling sound, and choking dust filled the air.

Something heavy, enormous, and numerous was rapidly approaching from the depths of the earth or the end of the passage. Zhiyi instinctively took a half step back, one hand gripping tightly the pocket containing the dim Eye of God.

The heavy footsteps, like muffled drumbeats, approached from afar and finally stopped abruptly at the entrance of the stone hall.

Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, the outlines of several rows of figures gradually became clear, standing in formation, silent as mountains.

It was FAMAS who awakened the guardian of the ruins deep within the factory of "Doctor" Dottore.

The towering steel body cast a deep shadow, its cold metal shell gleaming with a dark luster in the dim light, exuding the majesty unique to ancient weapons.

But the passage of time has left indelible marks on them; thick rust marks are like scars on armor, and vines and moss stubbornly cling to the joints and crevices, as if trying to drag them back to the earth.

Only the one at the very front of the queue looked particularly different.

It stands there, nearly six meters tall, like a small, mobile fortress.

The metal that makes up its body is not ordinary steel; it has a deep luster that has remained understated despite the passage of time, and is etched with intricate and ancient runes, each line deep and flowing.

This machine is not subject to the Anti-Intelligence Continuation Order and even has its own name.

Noah.

As the first model born from the wisdom of the two ancient kingdoms of Kanria and Munata, Noah's creation followed the most intuitive understanding of power in that era.

That is, bigger is better.

The factory designed for Noah involved melting, forging, and riveting countless alloys, powered by elemental forces other than Athos energy, ultimately constructing this steel body that surpasses conventional sizes.

Famas's gaze fell on Noah, who was at the very front of the line.

"The first one, the Ruins Guardian, is codenamed Noah and possesses a considerable degree of intelligence."

The boy paused for a moment, as if observing Zhiyi's reaction.

The only sounds in the stone hall were the faint metallic scraping of the joints of the ruins guards and the occasional faint glow of ancient star-like runes on Noah's enormous head, proving that it was not an inanimate object.

"It will obey your commands temporarily."

“You are going to Inazuma alone, you will need some help, and Noah can solve this problem.”

Famas pointed to Noah's enormous body, then glanced at the ancient guardians behind him, their faces bearing the marks of time.

"As long as you can provide enough steel and core materials, Noah can replicate himself and his subordinate machines without limit."

"Even if resources are insufficient, Noah has the authority to manufacture all small smart machines prior to the Hu-501 prototype of the joint forces."

FAMAS spoke calmly, as if stating something perfectly ordinary, but this understated statement touched upon one of the core aspects of Munata's anti-mechanical research: giving machines the ability to self-reproduce.

Zhiyi's breath paused almost imperceptibly for a moment when Famas uttered the word "copy." His hand, which had been resting on his waist pocket, tightened its grip on the cold, hard Eyes of God through the fabric.

These rusty, vine-covered steel behemoths before him instantly shed their old shells upon hearing FAMAS's words, transforming in Zhiyi's mind into an endless, cold, and loyal torrent of steel.

Given enough resources, they can spread like weeds and proliferate like a plague.

As far as we know, even the Doctors of the Fools' research on the Ruins Guardians is limited to commanding and manipulating them. To achieve the intelligence and replication of Famas is still a long way off.

Zhiyi seemed to see himself standing on a steel legion composed of countless Noahs, with the land of Inazuma beneath his feet.

Starting a war might be too mild a word.

Although Zhiyi can no longer become the Celestial Star of Liyue, if he can make the three Inazuma officials and those families entrenched at the top of power obedient, it can be considered that he has achieved his ideal to a certain extent.

Once this thought took root, it frantically entwined Zhiyi's heart, bringing a chilling ecstasy.

If we disregard the gods... Zhiyi could even use this to bring about a change of dynasty in Inazuma. (End of Chapter)