500 years had passed.

500 years he had been trained by the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.

500 years she had kicked him around with no remorse or any visible emotion.

500 years he had to think...

Man, I wanna visit Teyvat.

Knowing that nothing would hold no challenge to him in a battle of strength, except the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, White was curious to learn about the inhabitants. Were they just lines of code from the game? Or were they truly functioning people?

What are the limits of Paimon's brain juice?

Can he shout out Noelle's name as an excuse just to mess with her?

None of these questions were able to be answered by the white cube (excluding the last one.) It gave him information on the entire world itself, but not programming logic.

Yes, he considered the limits of Paimon's brain juice as programming logic.

Stupid, right? It's what 500 years can do to a former human.

"White, what are you do-"

He interrupted the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles' sentence by shooting a stream of blinding white cubes in her direction. He could tell that he caught her off guard for a second, but she managed to compose herself and easily redirect the attack.

"You've improved," she said as an explosion echoed in the background, the result of White's attack.

"The arrogation of Miss Sustainer of Heavenly Principles ends now," he simply replied.

"White, shrink yourself, you're blocking the entire doorway."

She ignored his previous statement.

White, still wearing the same suit and tie from 500 years ago, stood inside the doorway with the upper half of his body bent down since he was too tall for it with his natural height.

Over the years of his training, the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles told him about how his true height could be a hindrance at times so she taught him an aspect of her power that allowed him to shrink himself whenever he wanted.

It took him years to learn the technique, and even longer to get used to his body with a much smaller height.

The usual desired height he went for when shrinking was 6'0.

Why was that?

He had no idea, it was just that in the back of his head, he never desired to shrink under 6'0.

Probably had something to do with his old world.

Not like he could remember it anyways.

Now that he was no longer his giant self, the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles was able to easily slide past him and into the library, which he had been blocking the entrance to.

"And put on some clothes."

Right, whenever he shrunk, his clothes didn't shrink with him.

"Can I have one of your-mmphmm."

Before he could even finish speaking, the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles threw a copy of her outfit towards him, which he caught with his face.

Quickly throwing on the outfit that was made to fit his size, White walked over to the table that the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles sat at with her nose already deep into a book.

Pulling out a chair from beside her, he sat down and stared at her with an intense gaze.

"Speak your mind," she commanded, turning a page of the book she was reading which was titled "Mondstadt, Prologue: Act I."

"I want to descend down to Teyvat," White said with conviction.

She gave him a quick sidelong glance before turning another page of the book, "Do as you please."

White sighed, "I knew you wouldn't care one bit..."

"So long as the Heavenly Principles aren't breached, it does not concern me."

"Well, I guess that's true," White muttered, scratching the back of his head as he took a look at the pages in the book she was reading.

When he began to read the words, images popped into his mind and started to play as if it were a film. He saw a familiar shoreside and a familiar blonde-haired boy with a fishing rod.

Minutes went on as Aether sat there before the line on his rod was yanked by something. Bolting up, he quickly began reeling in whatever he had caught. Thinking of what delicious fish he would catch, Aether began to salivate a bit.

And with just enough power, he yanked the rod back with enough force to launch whatever he caught up into the air.

That was the point in which the images stopped playing in his head.

Why did I just witness Aether catching Paimon?

"What is that book?" White questioned the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.

Closing her eyes, she snapped the book shut.

"It is of a time that is which to come here shortly."

His eyes widened.

I gotta get down there quick then! I can't miss out on the VIP seats!

"You seem to find large enjoyment in what I just said."

"How could I not? Whatever you hinted at is bound to be extremely amusing," White responded with an evil smile, standing up, "Anyways, I'll be off now."

The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles watched White's shrinking figure with an unreadable expression as he exited the library. When his figure became too small for her range of sight, she averted her eyes down to the chair that hadn't been pushed in, and then to his clothes on the floor.

"Looks like he needs to be retaught proper etiquettes."


After leaving the library, White was on his way to descend down to Teyvat.

He wasn't quite sure how he was going to get there so he decided on just jumping off and falling down thousands of miles. It was the only normal method he could think of, but it made him wonder if he thought differently when he was a human.

The first memories of this life was arriving here, the palace he had trained inside of for 500 years. Each of his memories were the same: Get beat up by the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, recover, rinse and repeat.

Throughout those 500 years, he had truly never learned anything personal about the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. She never showed any emotion and was always strict. But he believed it suited her 100%.

Imagining a docile Sustainer of Heavenly Principles sent shivers down his spine.

By now, he believed that they were on equal footing in terms of strength. However, she was definitely still hiding some wildcards from him.

Though he couldn't imagine them ever fighting each other seriously at all. The two of them were pretty much tied by the hip at this point.

No matter who you are, 500 years with one person is an extremely long time.

And you'd think it give you a perfect idea of how they would act.

But I still can't predict her damn actions!

He held the sides of his head out of frustration, lamenting that fact.

Forget it. Let's just focus on the task at hand.

Now standing outside, White stood on the edge of a cliff.

Straight below was nothing but a sea of clouds, and as they split apart, it slowly revealed the continent of Teyvat.

Inhale.

Exhale.

And then he stepped off.

Here I come, Teyvat!


"Noelleeeee!" a child cried out to the sky.

If it were anywhere but Mondstadt, the city of freedom, most people would think the child was lost, screaming for his guardian. But here in Mondstadt, when one screams "Noelle!", help would arrive in an instant.

Noelle, who performed this duty just as a dutiful maid should, enjoyed helping everyone in need.

The moment she heard the child scream her name, she had arrived and assessed the problem.

The child wanted to grab a plate from the cabinet during a banquet, but he had realized that opening it would cause all of the plates to fall down and break.

Smart kid.

Smiling after assessing the problem, Noelle picked up the cabinet with her superhuman strength, and placed it on its back.

Opening it, she took out a plate and handed it to the kid, but not without reminding him first.

"Remember not to have any cold drinks immediately after eating barbeque, okay?" she said in a gentle tone to the child.

Listening to her, the child nodded his head in understanding with a smile, "I won't! Thanks, Miss Noelle!"

"I'm happy that I could help!" she replied, her smile still present as she waved goodbye to the child, who had ran off to grab barbeque from the banquet.

Taking note of how her duty here was finished, Noelle turned around to begin patrolling the city. However, the moment she did so, a white shooting star in the sky caught her attention.

It shot across the sky faster than the speed of light as its sonic booms echoed across the darkening sky. The shooting star had caught the attention of many in the city, but the moment it disappeared over the horizon, everyone who had been mesmerized went back to what they were doing previously.

"What a beautiful shooting star that was..." Noelle muttered, until her eyes widened in realization, "Oh, no! I forgot to make a wish."

Indeed, she had missed out on her chance. But it wouldn't be the last time it'd happen. She always had many more future opportunities to grasp ahold of.


White's ears had popped the moment he stepped foot off the cliff.

As the wind continued slapping him across the face and the rest of his body, he felt anxious for the first time ever in this life. Thoughts began rushing through his head.

What if people recognize the design on his clothes? Would they be hostile if they knew? Do they even know of the existence of the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles?

And then that's when it hit him.

Right, I'm stronger than all of them. I'm no weak mortal who can be overwhelmed with numbers.

Reminding himself of that, he felt all of his anxieties wash away.

What a strange feeling that was. I wonder what humans call it?

He couldn't help but laugh at the absurd emotion. Maybe he still had some human qualities after all. Though it doesn't make him happy in the slightest.

It just made him... feel weird?

How strange.

He frowned as he started to glide across the sky, passing right over the city of Mondstadt in the blink of an eye.

Mondstadt, huh. My intended place of destination, but first, I wanna stalk Aether and Paimon. However, I can't join their journey. Doing so would interfere with the Heavenly Principles.

He folded his arms.

Not like I wanted to join them in the first place. All I want are VIP seats for watching their journey.

Now approaching land, White began to slow down so he could make a safe landing without damaging the terrain too much.

Crunch.

Landing, he crushed some dead leaves beneath his foot as he examined his surroundings. He was on an elevated terrain, but not as high as Starsnatch Cliff. Looking down, he saw Aether trudging along with a fishing rod propped up on his shoulder. Even from where he stood, he could hear the growling of Aether's stomach.

"So hungry!"

Then why don't you grab some Sunsettias, Apples, or whatever from the side?

"I'm tired of eating fruits and vegetables! I need meat!"

...

White could only sigh as he listened to Aether complain to himself in his native tongue. After all, a language barrier didn't exist for him.

Minutes passed by as White continued to trail behind Aether, who had given in to his hunger, and begun picking fruits and berries to munch on while looking for somewhere to fish. Occasionally, White swore he could hear Aether mutter his sister's name, but it was so quiet that even his enhanced senses couldn't pick up on it.

Eventually, Aether arrived at the spot that White saw in his head from the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles' book.

Finally, it's time. Everything is all in accordance to the Heavenly Principles.


As Aether sat down to begin fishing, he had the strange feeling that someone was watching him from afar. It didn't start just now or anything, in fact, he's been feeling it for a good couple of hours at most. But the last time he checked, this area was populated by nothing but wildlife.

Well, if there was someone watching him, they would've attacked him by now if they had any ill intentions.

So he didn't mind it too much.

Though, he just hoped that if someone did come up to him, that they didn't try to communicate with him. He wasn't sure if this world spoke his native tongue or not.

"That would be quite the tough situation to get out of..." Aether muttered, tossing his fishing rod's line into the water.

Sitting there in a comfortable silence, Aether's eyes wandered away from time to time to take in the scenery around him. Just admiring his surroundings reminded him of the reason why he and his sister used to hop worlds together.

In order to see many new things.

Meet new people.

And to experience their culture.

However, the most important thing of all,

Was to find a new home together.

But when they tried to leave this world to get to the next one, they were stopped.

"She called herself the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles," he muttered, the memory of the Unknown God appearing in his mind, "Woah!"

As he was wondering about who that Unknown God truly was, something tugged on the line of his fishing rod. It wasn't no ordinary weak tug either, it was a strong one.

Standing to keep his ground, Aether began reeling whatever he had caught as fast as possible while salivating. He was praying to whatever god out there that the string on his rod wouldn't snap.

The life or death battle between the two continued on for a minute before Aether managed to win the fight and yank whatever he caught out of the water. And to his surprise, what he saw was...

A toddler?! Why the hell was she fighting back?!

The child landed on the ground right beside him with a wet splat as she started coughing.

"P-Paimon is gonna die, this is the end..."

Aether could only watch with a conflicted look on his face.

"P-Paimon will die... huh? Paimon is breathing!"

Sitting-no, more like, floating upwards, the now identified Paimon started to float instead of standing. And Aether witnessed it all with wide eyes.

Paimon, taking notice of him, floated towards him with a big smile.

"Are you the one who saved Paimon?"

Aether, not understanding a single word she just said, looked at her in confusion.

This in turn, caused Paimon to be confused as well.

"U-Uhmm, did you not hear what Paimon just said?"

He continued staring at her.

"D-Did Paimon just get saved by a creepy silent kid?!" she yelled while waving her hands in front of her face.

Even though the language barrier between them existed, Aether couldn't help but feel like she just insulted him.

"Hey! I have no idea what you just said, but I feel like you're insulting me," he spoke up.

Paimon's eyes widened, "He even speaks caveman! Paimon's sorry for insulting you, Mr. Caveman!"

Aether felt like she had just insulted him again.


Listening to their attempt of a conversation from a distance, White couldn't help but chuckle.

This is surely new for me. But it's not a bad thing.

Eventually, the two of them came to a mutual agreement that Paimon would teach Aether the language of Teyvat. She first started off with baby steps by pointing at objects and saying what they were.

This went on for a couple of hours until Paimon eventually started slumping midair.

"Ohh... Paimon's so hungryyy."

White could hear Paimon complain about her empty stomach.

Aether, having saved some fruits from earlier, handed them over to Paimon, who began drooling at the sight of something edible. She swiped the fruits out of Aether's hand and began munching down.

"Mhm! Thanks for giving Paimon something to chow on!" she gave Aether her thanks.

Aether, understanding that it was words of gratitude that she gave him, simply nodded his head.

When Aether took notice of how Paimon was absolutely devouring the fruits he gave her, he remembered what he was there for.

Sitting back down on the rock, he picked up the fishing rod to catch an actual fish this time. To which, Paimon supported wholeheartedly with her quiet chants of "Meat, meat!" since she wasn't all too familiar with him yet.

Noticing that nothing interesting would happen anytime soon, White started to feel a bit bored.

Now it's understandable why the game starts us off with telling Paimon our story. But their interaction here alone is enough to solidify the fact that they are indeed people.

Spending those 500 years underneath the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles felt like a simulation so seeing a true interaction take place made a feeling of nostalgia bubble inside of White.

This is the second time I've experienced such a strange feeling. The lower world truly is astonishing.

Curious more than ever, White decided to call it a day on observing the meeting of Aether and Paimon. He'd come back to observe them when the time for their journey is to come. But for now, he'll stay in Mondstadt.

It's time to head to Mondstadt, but the real question is: How should I identify myself?

Walking with his arms crossed behind his head, White contemplated on what he should do to get into Mondstadt.

Will they notice if I sneak in?

His entire trek to the City of Freedom was filled with nothing but ideas on how he should gain entry access.


A couple of days later, White reached Windrise. The place where Vennessa was said to have ascended to Celestia, and now watches over Mondstadt as the Falcon of the West.

Did I ever see her up there?

White gazed at the enormous oak tree, recalling his memories in Celestia.

Pretty sure I have, but not like it matters to me.

Looking away from the massive oak tree, White continued walking towards Mondstadt which was now within view. Recalling the memories he had from the game, this Mondstadt was most definitely multiple times bigger than the one he knew.

Although, it brought forth one question into mind.

Stopping in his tracks, he glanced over to his left. Seeing a familiar Knights of Favonius man wandering around, White couldn't help but sigh and shake his head.

Even here, you still got lost, Godwin.

Deciding to ignore Godwin, White continued making his way to Mondstadt.

He had decided on a way to identify himself, and that was to pose as a wandering adventurer who was looking to join the Adventurers' Guild. However, he was visionless. He'd need a weapon to use to "defend" himself.

That was his excuse just to use a weapon.

He really wanted to use one.

His powers weren't necessary to use on regular mortals and monsters (even though he'll end up using it anyways out of habit). Maybe when push comes to shove, he'd need to use it to apprehend a certain archon in Snezhnaya or some vision wielders.

Especially those troublesome Delusions.

White clicked his tongue in annoyance as he approached the gates of Mondstadt.

One of the Knights of Favonius guarding the entry gates held up his hand, signaling for him to stop.

"Halt! What business do you have here in Mondstadt?"

"I'm here to register with the Adventurers' Guild," White responded without missing a beat.

The Knight observed him for a bit before nodding his head.

"You don't seem to be lying," the Knight started with a hum, "You're good to go. Just don't cause any trouble."

They're quite lenient.

Is what White thought as he strode past the guards, made his way to the Adventurers' Guild, and requested a sign-up form.

Luckily for him, he wasn't in the same situation Aether was currently in.

He knew how to read and write the language.


After he turned in his sign-up form, White received help from Katheryne.

As usual, Katheryne was a nice robot who did her job perfectly. She guided White through the procedures of what a adventurer did, and the benefits he could receive as he got more recognition.

Everything was similar to what was in the game albeit with some changes.

Learning everything that he needed to, White bid Katheryne farewell before making his way to Wagner so he could buy a weapon off of him.

As he was making his way to Wagner's, it was then that White realized something.

Wait, I don't have any mora.

Feeling like a certain Geo Archon, White stroked his chin in thought.

I can always steal something.

"Your weapon lost its edge again?"

Wagner's voice full of despair swept White away from his thoughts.

Glancing over towards Wagner's smithery, he saw the buff bearded man interacting with a petite knight who also looked like a maid. The look on her face was one full of nervousness as she laughed sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, I did it again..."

It was Noelle.

Noelle has had over ten swords forged for her by Wagner, but with her superhuman strength, none of them could withstand more than just a few hits. The surprising fact was that she was a pacifist at heart, so for her to dull that many blades meant she's had no choice but to hit something- or some people, quite frequently.

She was also extremely kind, too kind, in fact.

If White were to walk up to purchase a weapon and then say in a surprised tone that he had no mora, Noelle would most definitely try to help him in some way.

He smirked.

It was the perfect plan to obtain a free weapon.

Let's put it into action.

Moving his feet towards Wagner's smithery, the two's attention moved away from each other and onto him.

"Can I help you?" Wagner inquired as his eyes looked up to meet White's.

"Ah, yes. I'm here to purchase a weapon," White replied.

Wagner nodded, "You've made the right choice coming here. Take a look at the displayed weapons and tell me which one you'd like."

"Understood," White replied, his gaze shifting from Wagner to the weapons on display.

White examined the weapons on display, and what caught his attention the most was the sword. He imagined himself wielding it, and it looked elegant. It reminded him of the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, who always did everything with such refined elegance that even he had to admire it.

"See anything you like?" Wagner asked.

The sword, compared to every other weapon on display, was most definitely his top pick.

"Yes, I'll take the sword."

Nodding, Wagner turned around, grabbed the sword from his display of weapons, and placed it gently in front of the two of them.

Noelle, who had been watching the entire time, had a curious glint in her eyes.

"How much will it be?" White asked.

"It'll cost you 600 mora," Wagner answered.

"Mhm, alright," White said loud enough for the two of them to hear. He then shoved his hand into his pocket, making it look like he was digging for his wallet.

After doing that for a bit, he let out an exaggerated sigh, "I forgot my wallet..."

"Are you serious?" he heard Wagner mutter.

Letting out another sigh, White locked eyes with Noelle.

"Could you be so kind as to-"

Ba-dump.

His eyes widened the moment he saw Noelle's beautiful features up close.

My heart?

Ba-dump.

Why is my heart racing? And my face... it feels so hot.

"Um, if I could be of help, I could pay for you?" Noelle's voice rang in his ears.

Dear, Sustainer, what have I gotten myself into?

"Heh, look at how red his face is."

Shut up, mortal.


A/N: And that's a wrap for the second chapter. I hope whoever reads this is enjoying it so far! I know for sure that I enjoy writing this, and that's saying something since I haven't felt much joy in writing in forever. I've been pumping out words like the days of when I first started writing.