Turbulent Arrival

Sibley woke up before Aether and Paimon and realized she asked to fall asleep for five hours instead of seven, "Ah damnit... Maybe I can ask for one more hour-" Sibley was thinking as she brought the matrix to her face so she could whisper her request to it, but she saw that it looked way different, "Did it shrink?" She thought, seeing that it's wires are much more orderly and the screen circular, "Freedom Matrix, what in the world happened?" She asked quietly, but the Matrix threw quiet out of the window "The Freedom Matrix's design has been updated to the Novice model, for more information check Rank Details in your profile." It said loudly as fuck, waking up aether and Paimon.

Since they are all awake now, they just decided to start talking, "Did you set up the thing wrong or something?" Paimon asked wanting to know why Sibley is already awake, "I asked for five instead of seven, then since I wanted to sleep some more I went to ask, but noticed that it looked different" Sibley explained, "And when you asked what happened, it didn't whisper, got it." Aether finished for her. Now they weren't going back the bed so Sibley decided to check what the Matrix was talking about and checked the Ranks in the profile, "There is something about the Novice model here." Sibley realized as she kept reading, "The new model is more compact, with a more slippery screen for easier scrolling and a quick selection function."

The three of them looked at the screen as Sibley began scrolling through it and it flew by really quickly, "It feels so smooth and frictionless..." Sibley commented in awe, "Frictionless?" Paimon asked confused, "Okay uh... You know when you that when you drag your fingers on let's say... Metal, it feels like it's pulling on you?" Sibley simplified, "Oh... Paimon gets it now!" The pixie nodded in understanding, "What about the Quick Selection thing?" Aether asked, "Open Quick Selection menu." Sibley tried and a new menu opened.

"This is the quick selection menu! Here you can assign six functions to the Quick Dial, just choose them and you're golden!" The Matrix instructed and Sibley carefully chose the functions she wanted, map, storage, spirit index, profile, scanner and effect radius, "Done, now what?" Sibley wondered outloud and the Matrix spoke again "Pull the screen upwards to access the Quick Dial, then spin it to choose one of the six functions you've assigned!" it explained before going quiet again, "If the newer models all come with these quality of life improvements, I think you should try to rank up quicker." Aether suggested, "Let me check what the next rank does." Sibley requested the Freedom Matrix.

The Freedom Matrix started projecting a description of the Intermediate Rank, "With the Intermeadiate Rank you gain the privilege to use the... Mutilation system?" Paimon read confused, "I guess I will figure it out when I get there." Sibley relented before looking at what the Freedom Matrix will look next, "Ohh! Fancy!" Sibley exclaimed seeing how pretty it becomes, "You pretty much gave up on it not being part of your body did you?" Aether Questioned seeing that from her forearm down, the Matrix basically replaced it.

Paimon read more about what the Mutilation System is, "The Mutilation System will add a new counter to the profile indicating how many times the user died when using it, when active the Mutilation System will make each normally limited construct last for as long as the system is active." Paimon read outloud, "...That's so fucking useful! What the hell!?" Sibley exclaimed in surprise while Aether just whistled at that.

Now there wasn't really anything they could talk about, so Sibley decided to check the map and try the Quick Dial, so she pulled the screen out and began spinning it, cycling throught the six options until she reached the map, then she pressed the screen back down and the map projected from it, "It's handy, but not all that honestly." Sibley critiqued the dial, "Yeah, you'd have the same result by just opening the map from the icon, but if it's instant projection then it does save some time." Aether pointed out, "We've almost arrived!" Paimon exclaimed looking at the map, "We are?" Sibley said curiously as she looked carefully and saw that only ten minutes were left, "Oh yeah! Do you think we can see it from here?" She asked as she looked around.

They looked around until Aether spotted the Harbor from a distance, "There it is!" He exclaimed pointing in the general direction, "Uhhh... Yeah, yeah I see it!" Sibley confirmed looking at where Aether pointed, "I said it before, I'll say it again, this world is absolutely stunning." Sibley stated as she looked at the place, "I hear Inazuma looks great this time of the year, but it seems like something is up there cause people never stay for long..." Paimon brought up, "Inazuma? Is that another regin?" Aether asked curiously, "Yeah! It's the home of the Electro Archon! While Liuye here is the home of the Geo Archon!" Paimon explained cheerfully.

A moment after having said Geo Archon, paimon got a face as if she just remembered something, "Oh yeah! Before we stop I should warn you that the people of Liuye find it insulting to refer to the Geo Archon with that title, or as Morax, I suggest you use Rex Lapis to avoid any trouble." Paimon informed, "So conservative..." Sibley commented before the Freedom Matrix started beeping much quicker than it ever did before, "There's danger nearby! There's danger nearby!" It repeated for a while before it projected an arrow that pointed in a direction, looking in that direction, they saw something rapidly approaching, "Is that... An Abyss Mage?" Paimon asked as she squinted to see more clearly, "...Yes, yes it is..." Aether confirmed after a careful look, "I'm guessing it's related to the Abyss Order... Think it hold a grudge?" Sibley suggested making the other two get quite worried.

The moment it got close enough, it twirled it's staff around, causing a large amount of fire to appear around itself and then it move it towards the cart the three were on, making the fire come crashing down on them, destroying the cart and launching them all over the place, "Oh damnit!" Sibley exclaimed in annoyance, "Got water in your storage!?" Aether asked Sibley who shook her head in response, "Hard way it is!" Aether relented as he dashed at the Mage, "Look out!" Paimon exclaimed having noticed that the Mage prepared a fireball and launched it from the side which Aether had no time to avoid it, "Oh no you don't!" Sibley negated as she got in front of the attack and formed a massive shield with support legs to block it completely, "What!?" The Mage lamented as Aether took a swing at it's barrier, shattering it.

Having it's barrier broken made the Abyss Mage both mad and a bit intimidated, "I was planning to get rid of you insignificant creatures for what you did in Mondstat! But it seems that I'll need some backup for taht! Remember this cause I will be back!" It threatened before teleporting away, "Did we just meet a coward?" Sibley asked the other two, "So far the Abyss Mages are the only creatures we met that directly came from the Abyss, they might be the weakest creatures there." Aether explained, "So there might be something MORE annoying coming?" Sibley questioned further, "When you put it like that, it does sound annoying." Aether agreed, "Anyhow, we're almost there, we should be able to arrive on foot without any more trouble." Paimon suggested, looking at the entrance to the Harbor just a mile away from their location.

Twenty Minutes Later.

"Sibley, are you feeling alright? You're sweating a lot." Aether pointed out, now just a few steps away from the entrance, "Yeah, I don't even feel hot, just othered by something..." She reassured, "If you say so... Maybe we should go to an inn or something to rest properly." Aether suggested as they finally entered the Harbor, "It's much bigger than Mondstat..." Sibley said with a slight quiver in her voice which didn't go unnoticed, and then she froze, "Sibley?" Aether said now really worried, "Let's go to an inn now." Sibley begged at this point, "What?" Aether and Paimon asked at the same time, to which Sibley got closer to their ears and whispered "Let's go to an inn right now before I strip either of you right here and now and then do my thing." Sibley warned angrily, "Alrighty! Better in the inn!" Aether exclaimed as he dragged Sibley along to find somewhere to stay for the moment.