Chapter 36: Vision

Inazuma, Watatsumi Island, Sangonomiya Shrine.

Sensing Kokomi's arrival, Ye stopped lurking, and Bao'er also disappeared. After all, Fischl's current popularity was still within expectations.

What? You're asking why Ganyu is the one Ye admires the most?

Are you serious with that question?

After living as the Supreme Bishop of Fontaine for five hundred years, Ye finally understood one thing: what erosion truly is.

It's a mental illness!

Just imagine—working every day, overtime every day, without a single day off. This kind of life lasted for hundreds of years. No, even if it were just a hundred years, what would you become? Wouldn't you want to end it all?

What? You're still a student and haven't worked yet? Then think about it this way: going to school every day, attending classes every day, without a single holiday, not even a break between classes, with morning and evening self-study sessions added on top. After a hundred years of this, how would you feel? Wouldn't you just want to die and get it over with?

Even for a god, if they live among mortals, valuing emotions and cherishing all things, what kind of erosion would they experience over time?

The death of every close friend and family member is a pain, the loss of every cherished thing is a torment, and every day lived leaves an unforgettable memory in the heart... This is the essence of erosion.

Why do the gods of Teyvat suffer from such a curse as erosion?

Because they love humanity.

Only by not caring can the mind remain uneroded. But if you care, then you must inevitably suffer mental erosion.

It is precisely because the gods love humanity that their minds are subjected to continuous erosion.

And if a mind that was once eroded gradually becomes uneroded, it also means one thing—you have slowly stopped caring about the things you once couldn't forget, the pain, the torment.

And Ye... he couldn't stop caring.

He absolutely couldn't stop caring about the torment of working non-stop for five hundred years without a single day off.

It's like repeating the "Forest Book" quest 100,000 times in a row—who could endure that!?

—Someone could.

Miss Ganyu.

Goddess Ganyu.

My idol, Lady Ganyu.

This woman, who has done the "Forest Book" quest a million times, worked for thousands of years without a single complaint, and is even more like the Geo Archon than the Geo Archon himself.

The Geo Archon, who spends his days leisurely wandering the mortal world, secretly watching over and protecting Liyue's development, only has to work one day a year—yet even he couldn't take it anymore and staged his own death. But what about Ganyu?

Although others might not know, every time Ye sees Ganyu, he looks at her with admiration.

She worked for thousands of years without getting tired of it, even finding joy in it and treating it as a hobby. Later, even after leaving, she missed her work and returned to continue as a secretary—that woman, no, that goddess, is my eternal idol!

Because of this, Ganyu often appears in Ye's dreams, mainly because he wants to learn from her and absorb her experience.

Huh? You say dreaming about Ganyu is to learn from her, dreaming about Kokomi is because her model provokes men, but what about dreaming about Barbara?

Would I tell you that it was because of Barbara that I fully dove into Genshin Impact?

Controlling Barbara to climb mountains and fly was my first love for Genshin Impact!

White tights are just too good!!

Huh? What? You're asking about Nahida?

Shut up.

Stop talking.

No one will think you're mute if you don't speak.

It's just a dream, what's wrong with that? What's wrong with it!?

My dreams are mine to control!

"The supplies you brought have all been distributed, but I still have many questions."

Hearing Kokomi's voice, Ye snapped back to reality and calmly looked at her.

"You want to ask what I really intend to do, don't you?"

"Of course." Kokomi sat across from him, asking seriously, "You should know very well that simply increasing our military strength is meaningless. As long as we can't change the Raiden Shogun's will, we're just struggling in vain. So I want to know, do you really have a way to face the true Raiden Shogun? What is your purpose in coming to Inazuma?"

Even though they had a fleeting romantic encounter, Sangonomiya Kokomi didn't let that distract her from the important matters at hand. She had genuinely treated it as a dream and forced herself to forget it.

Because now, there were more important things.

What is the Supreme Bishop of Fontaine's true goal?

If his sole intention was to exacerbate Inazuma's internal strife and make the civil war more intense, Kokomi would never agree to it.

War was not what Kokomi wanted, nor was sacrificing more of her people. The reason she took the initiative to become the leader and symbol of the resistance was to minimize sacrifices.

Now, with the supplies sent by the Supreme Bishop of Fontaine, the morale of the resistance army had greatly increased. Everyone was expressing their desire to counterattack the Shogunate, which made Kokomi feel uneasy.

Although her initial plan was also to counterattack the Shogunate, at least to reach the Raiden Shogun's presence, she had since abandoned that idea. If they were to face the current Raiden Shogun, it would be nothing more than a suicide mission.

The key is whether they can meet the true Raiden Shogun.

Or rather, the key is whether this man's words are true.

"Do you know what a Vision is?"

The Supreme Bishop's seemingly evasive question made Kokomi frown, but she patiently nodded.

"When a person's wish is acknowledged by a god, they receive the god's gaze and are granted a Vision—or so it's said. I don't know if that's true, but one thing is certain: a Vision is indeed the crystallization of a person's wishes and beliefs. Once a Vision is taken away, it's as if their wishes and beliefs have been stripped away. With the implementation of the Vision Hunt Decree in Inazuma, many people have already lost their wishes."

The Supreme Bishop nodded and then calmly said, "A Vision, in simple terms, is a fragment of divine power, a portion of authority separated by one of the Seven Archons."

Kokomi tilted her head, feeling as though she had just heard a great secret but not understanding what the other party was trying to say.

The Supreme Bishop continued, "If the authority of the Seven Archons is likened to a brick, then a Vision is a shard scraped off that brick—a shard, but also a gem with infinite potential. That's why those who possess Visions are called Allogenes, all possessing the potential to become gods."

"...Why would the Seven Archons do this?"

After a moment of silence, Kokomi directly asked the key question.

The Supreme Bishop replied, "Because it is the order established by the Heavenly Principles—when a person's desire is strong enough to reach the heavens, the Seven Archons, who hold authority over the mortal world, must send them a gift."

"...Since the Vision Hunt Decree was enacted, as far as I know, no one has received an Electro Vision."

"Yes, the Electro Archon has defied this order."

The Supreme Bishop said softly:

"But... the Heavenly Principles have yet to issue any punishment. It seems they are indeed weak."

Kokomi: "??????"

Weren't we talking about the Raiden Shogun? Why are you suddenly bringing up the Heavenly Principles?

"Sorry, I got distracted and started thinking about something else."

Pulling his thoughts back from Fontaine to Inazuma, Ye continued:

"The Raiden Shogun has defied the order set by the Heavenly Principles and stopped granting Visions—that's not a big deal, as the Heavenly Principles can't enforce it now."

"More importantly, she has also forcibly taken back many Visions, stripping dozens of Vision holders of their wishes and divine power, and has concentrated them all in one place... Don't you think this is a very dangerous thing for the Raiden Shogun?"