Genshin Impact: I am the Great General of Liyue

During the search for the teardrop crystals, Diluc and Ying told each other a story, while Huiyuan eavesdropped nearby.

"This needle-in-a-haystack search reminds me of the competition I had with the Fools. Half a year ago, a thief dug up a treasure from the East Wind ruins in the Temple of the Four Winds."

Paimon, acting as the mouthpiece of Luminosity, activated his curious nature and began asking questions.

"Wow. What is it? The cup Barbatos used to drink water from?"

That's a great question. Huiyuan said that removing the word "drink water" would make it even better.

Diluc denied it, saying, "No. Although such a thing would be extremely precious if it existed, what was unearthed this time is the most difficult to obtain of all possible ancient artifacts. That treasure is a sealed vial containing a wisp of the aura of the wind god."

"I didn't know there were cultural relics in this form..."

After Paimon finished complaining, Huiyuan complained in her mind.

"Are you sure it's not Barbatos's body odor?"

"Such an artistically beautiful creation, of course I wanted to add it to my collection. But after the news spread, the Fools, coveting its divine power, began to compete with me. They manufactured a large number of counterfeits and released them into markets everywhere. My response was to buy them all, whether they were real or fake. And so the stalemate has continued to this day. I have seen at least two thousand bottles of counterfeit goods, while they still haven't been able to find the real thing."

"Wow...you two sound pretty crazy. But speaking of which...if we go to the black market now, is it still possible to buy that one and only genuine item? Then I'll sell it to you at a friendly price!"

"Sure, you can try it. I won't refuse even if it's fake. Come find me at the winery after you buy it. Collect twenty bottles and you can exchange them for a glass of beer."

Diluc is trying to get Paimon and Luminous to give up this idea. A young Paimon is underage and cannot drink alcohol, and Luminous, although he has been asleep for hundreds of years, does not like to drink.

The Fools, who desire the Heart of God, must find Barbatos. To find Barbatos, they need to locate him using the wind elemental power that originates from him.

To prevent others from obtaining the bottles that might contain the aura of the Wind God, the Fatui produced thousands of counterfeit bottles. Diluc's two thousand bottles are only those that have been discovered; the undiscovered ones probably number around five thousand.

Despite buying so many counterfeit goods, the owner of Diluc doesn't seem to care at all. No wonder he's the owner of the number one winery in all of Teyvat.

Paimon drifted around, using his hands as telescopes to search for teardrop crystals.

"There's a Ruins Guardian over there. Could it be protecting something?"

After Paimon finished speaking, everyone used their elemental vision to look and, sure enough, saw the aura of wind element on it, so they entered the battle.

Huiyuan analyzed its attribute panel.

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Name: Self-governing Organization / Relic Guardian

Strength: B

Speed: D

Endurance: C

Defense: S

Elemental force strength: B

Mental strength: None

An ancient humanoid combat machine.

Legend has it that these are war machines left behind by a fallen kingdom, which wander to ruins and cities around the world and attack reckless travelers.

Research indicates that the Ruins Guardians and these ruins are not of the same origin, suggesting a time difference of at least several thousand years. Why then would the Ruins Guardians remain there, protecting these crumbling walls with explosive firepower? Perhaps... the answer remains forever buried in the annals of time.

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The mechanical sounds emitted by the ruins guards' attacks seemed to be a warning to people, "Don't come near."

After a thousand years of wind and rain, even the system can't decipher what the ruins guardian is saying; the program is beyond chaotic.

The system then offered its opinion.

"Although we cannot decipher what it says, the fact that it possesses language and memory modules is enough to infer that it may have once had the ability to think, just like me."

The system didn't forget to boast a little about itself, claiming that as a mechanical life form, it even possessed a soul.

"Combat support activated."

The Ruin Guardian's weaknesses are even more apparent with the combat assistance. Its exposed core on its head and back is its biggest weakness. Besides these, the system analyzes many other weaknesses, much like Aloy's high-tech headgear in the game *Horizon Zero Dawn*, which can mark where attacks will explode and which elemental attacks are most effective.

Of course, Huiyuan knew all this even without the system's prompts. But the feeling of mindlessly attacking the glowing spots without thinking was simply fantastic.

Paimon exclaimed, "He's made entirely of iron! He's so difficult to deal with!"

After attacking a few times, Ying discovered that physical attacks couldn't break through her defenses at all.

Diluc went to provide support, wielding "Wolf's End" as if it were a one-handed sword with effortless ease. He imbued the longsword with fire element and directly severed one of the Ruin Guard's arms.

"Diluc is amazing!"

Before Paimon could finish praising, Ying and Qin rushed forward and used the wind element to create a spread, causing the fire element to burn fiercely on the Ruin Guard's body.

After the fire was spread by the wind, the surrounding temperature rose several degrees instantly.

Huiyuan followed up with an attack, firing a rock projectile that hit the core, and the relic guardian fell to the ground.

"That was a close call! Thank goodness Lord Diluc was here!"

After Paimon settled down, Jean discovered a crystal and called for everyone to come quickly.

Paimon said, "I never expected to find dragon tears in a place like this."

"As a knight, I am very confident in my search skills."

Paimon began to play the violin.

“So reliable!”

"The key to this technique is to find what you're looking for unexpectedly. For example, you might not be thinking about looking for anything at all, but just casually glance around and suddenly find it under the table."

Paimon let out a puzzled "...Huh?"

"You also need to be careful not to look too intently, because the harder you try to find it, the less likely you are to find it. Use the corner of your eye to catch a glimpse of it by chance."

Paimon started complaining.

"This doesn't seem like much of a technical skill!"

As they walked toward where the horses were tied up, Qin said, "It's very useful. I used to find my pet turtles this way whenever they went missing."

"Princess Qin, you've kept turtles before?!"

"What's wrong, Paimon?"

"Not really... it's just hard to imagine... what a shocking scene this is."

Qin responded with a puzzled "Hmm?"

"In short, it doesn't fit Jean's image at all... By the way, Lord Diluc should understand, right?"

"I don't understand. I raised pets when I was a kid, what's so strange about that?"

"you also...!"

Paimon stopped in shock, but seeing that no one seemed surprised and they were still walking forward, he followed them.

Having found the first teardrop crystal, pinpointing the next potential location is straightforward. Based on the wind direction and the elemental aura of Dvalin, the teardrop crystal is located on the opposite side of the sea. Cross the beach between Eagle Beach and Windrise to reach Dadaupa Valley.

After Paimon took out the map, the band leader, Jean, pointed to a location on the map.

"Based on the wind direction, the next crystallization point is likely somewhere between Dadaupa Valley and Oath Gorge. There's plenty of time; reaching it before sunset shouldn't be a problem."

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Name: Maria Hugh

Gender: Female

Age: 10 years old

Personality: Quiet, conflicted, self-blaming

Race: Cat-eared Beast

Weapons: None

Eye of God: None

Strength: E

Speed: E

Endurance: D

Defense: E (Talent Bonus)

Elemental force strength: G

Mental Strength: F

Character Story: One of the eight cat-eared beastmen rescued by Huiyuan. Her parents disliked her for having two ears, and after her younger brother was born, they showed favoritism, leaving her constantly filled with guilt and self-blame. She met Huiyuan after being sold to the Fatui. She hated her own name and was given a new one by Huiyuan.

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