RedX43
patreon
[Genshin Impact] Chapter 400: Aftermath (2-in-1 Chapter)
🕑 Added 2025-01-13 05:58:04 +0000 UTCInazuma City, Tenshukaku.
Nolan met Raiden Shogun once again at the same place where the "Duel Before the Throne" had taken place.
“Haha, good morning, General. I’m here,” Nolan greeted her with a wave.
Raiden Shogun glanced at him impassively and said, “You’re late.”
Nolan felt a tinge of helplessness. It was still early, wasn’t it? Why the rush? Truly exasperating.
Of course, he didn’t dare voice his thoughts and could only admit fault.
“My apologies, General. I’ll arrive earlier tomorrow.”
Cough, but just a little earlier! Nolan thought to himself.
It wasn’t like he wanted to leave the warm comfort of the bed so soon. Feeling the soft warmth of the girls beside him in the morning wasn’t such a bad way to start the day!
“Enter.”
Thanks to their growing affection, Raiden Shogun didn’t seem to mind his tardiness. She nonchalantly drew the “Musou Isshin” from her partially revealed, snow-white chest and allowed him to step into the Plane of Euthymia.
The Plane of Euthymia still carried that somber, overcast atmosphere.
Doesn’t Ei ever get bored staying here all day?
Raiden Ei, sitting in midair with her eyes closed in meditation, opened them when she sensed Nolan’s arrival and quietly looked at him.
“You’re here.”
“Good morning, Miss Ei,” Nolan greeted politely with a slight bow before continuing, “Shall we begin using the power of time now? What should I do?”
Yesterday, she was "Lady Ei," but today, he opted for "Miss Ei"—a title that felt a little more intimate.
“Come closer. Simply apply the power of time to me, and I’ll slowly work to understand it.”
Raiden Ei descended lightly from midair, standing upright. She didn’t seem to mind the shift in how he addressed her and gestured for him to approach.
Nolan smiled as he walked toward her, secretly sighing in relief. He explained as he went:
“Miss Ei, your strength is immense. If I try to apply the power of time to you, my own energy might only hold out for a few seconds.”
He wasn’t lying—this was the truth, not an attempt to deceive her.
Even if he had unlimited energy, it wouldn’t make a difference. His purple hourglass only held 171 grains of sand, meaning he could manipulate time for a maximum of 171 seconds.
Once the sand ran out, he’d need to wait a while before flipping the hourglass to use it again.
The cooldown was roughly half a day.
In other words, Raiden Ei could only study the power of time twice a day, with each session lasting less than three minutes.
Such a short duration—how long would it take her to achieve any results?
Standing in front of Raiden Ei, Nolan explained these limitations to her.
He didn’t want her to think he wasn’t putting in the effort, which might lead to a loss of favor.
“I understand. Given the circumstances, do you have any suggestions?” Raiden Ei asked. Though she was a deity, she was well aware that Nolan understood the power of time better than she did.
She was willing to listen to his opinion.
“Uh, you’re asking me?”
Nolan scratched his head awkwardly. He could use the power of time thanks to a affection skill, but he didn’t have any profound insights into its workings.
After a moment of thought, he said, “How about this, Miss Ei? I’ll summon my hourglass, and you can use your spiritual energy to sense it. Maybe you’ll notice something unusual.”
“That’s worth a try,” Raiden Ei nodded after considering it briefly.
Nolan immediately summoned the purple hourglass projection, which appeared above his head. Ei focused her spiritual energy on it, but to her surprise, her energy passed through it as if nothing was there.
It was as though there was no hourglass projection at all.
Yet, the hourglass was clearly visible—a formless, intangible energy construct or illusion.
Even with her divine-level spiritual energy, she couldn’t interact with it.
Raiden Ei frowned slightly and relayed her findings to Nolan.
Nolan pondered. The hourglass projection was something he could manipulate with his thoughts, but it seemed others couldn’t interfere with it.
It might function as a kind of mental projection, making it inaccessible to anyone else unless they could touch his inner consciousness.
Uh, nope, that’s not happening.
What if she discovered he had certain thoughts about her and started to dislike him?
It seemed they’d have to stick with the original plan: directly applying the power of time to Raiden Ei and letting her explore it slowly. But even with the "battery body" perk, how long could he sustain this?
Unless there was a constant, uninterrupted source of energy replenishment, any lapse could lead to his energy being depleted.
At the very least, he’d be left feeling weak and miserable.
The Plane of Euthymia was an empty space. If anything could replenish his energy, it would have to be Raiden Ei herself.
As long as she replenished his energy while he used the power of time, maintaining a balance between consumption and recovery, the problem could be solved.
After thinking it over, Nolan explained his idea to her.
“Oh? You can absorb others’ elemental energy to restore your own?” Raiden Ei looked at him with surprise. No wonder he had enough energy to maintain time suspension and withstand the Shogun’s strike back then.
“... Stretch out your hand.”
After a moment’s thought, she placed one hand on her soft, snow-white chest while extending the other toward him.
“?”
Nolan was a little puzzled but obediently stretched out his right hand.
Raiden Ei took hold of his hand, immediately sensing the energy within him. Though far inferior to her own, it was still vast and potent.
She nodded slightly, her deep purple hair swaying gently with the motion:
"Not bad, let’s proceed like this. As long as I maintain physical contact with your body, I’ll be able to monitor your energy levels. If I notice any depletion, I’ll replenish it for you. You can now use the power of time on me."
“Oh… is that so? Haha, that works too,” Nolan replied.
Feeling the warmth and softness of her palm in his hand, he secretly marveled at how effective this solution was.
On the surface, he maintained a calm and serious demeanor as he flipped the purple hourglass, controlling the grains of sand to flow slowly while applying the power of time to Raiden Ei.
This time, Nolan didn’t use the power of time to manipulate temporal phenomena like freezing, reversing, or accelerating time. He simply let the power settle on Raiden Ei without activating any specific effects. Even so, he immediately felt a third of his energy rapidly drain away.
With his current capacity, Nolan could only maintain three seconds of time manipulation for Raiden Ei.
Thankfully, Raiden Ei quickly noticed the situation and, through their joined hands, began transferring her elemental energy to him.
She controlled the transfer perfectly—not too much to overwhelm him, nor too little to leave him drained.
Once the energy balance stabilized, Raiden Ei shifted her full attention to the time power acting on her.
The power of time wasn’t a tangible energy like elemental energy. Instead, it resembled a natural phenomenon omnipresent in the world—existing but imperceptible.
Nolan hadn’t "mastered time" in any sense. What he had was the ability to interfere with this natural phenomenon, allowing him to create effects like halting or reversing time in localized areas.
Even with this initial exposure, Raiden Ei gained a preliminary understanding of "time." She realized that time was not something anyone could control—not even the mysterious Archon of Time, if such a being existed.
Instead, what she needed to do wasn’t to "master" this phenomenon but to study its patterns and uncover ways to influence it.
Nolan had no idea that Raiden Ei had reached this realization in just a short amount of time. All he noticed was that her grip on his hand suddenly tightened slightly.
Then, a notification popped up on his character panel:
[Raiden Shogun (Raiden Ei) Has Developed Good Feelings Toward You. Obtained 370 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.4 (200/400).]
“Huh? Affection points?” Nolan was stunned. Did she really gain some kind of insight?
Seeing Raiden Ei with her eyes closed, immersed in the power of time, he refrained from interrupting her. But just standing there was boring, so he passed the time by appreciating the soft warmth of her hand while studying the intricate patterns on her clothing.
Hmm… her snow-white chest and thighs definitely deserved special attention.
Time ticked away, second by second. Soon, the grains in the purple hourglass were nearly depleted.
Nolan quickly averted his less-than-respectful gaze, worried she might catch him staring at her chest and thighs.
As the last grain of sand fell, the time power acting on Raiden Ei dissipated. She finally emerged from her deep focus, completely unaware of his earlier wandering eyes.
“How was it, Miss Ei? Did you gain anything from it?” Nolan asked curiously, looking at her calm, fair expression.
“I did, though not much,” Raiden Ei replied, her lips curving upward ever so slightly. She released his hand and added, “You can leave now. Make sure to return this afternoon after you’ve recovered.”
Though the power of time was no longer in effect, the insights she had gained needed quiet contemplation to fully digest.
Without engaging him further, she sent him out of the Plane of Euthymia.
“…Alright then.”
Nolan sighed as the surroundings returned to the real world. He felt a bit helpless. He had hoped to chat with her more, maybe even score a few more affection points.
It seemed that from arriving at Tenshukaku to leaving, barely half an hour had passed. This job was unexpectedly quite relaxed.
"General, I've finished my morning tasks, so I'll take my leave now," Nolan said as he prepared to leave, giving Raiden Shogun a polite farewell.
The General replied with a calm "Hmm," her response as indifferent as ever.
Despite her detached demeanor, the Affection Level was already at Level 4, indicating that she now regarded Nolan as a trustworthy friend. This meant he no longer needed to be overly formal with her in the future.
Dropping the "General" honorific entirely wouldn’t be a problem, though a gradual transition over time would make things less abrupt.
Leaving Tenshukaku, Nolan leisurely strolled through the streets.
Soon, Lumine and Paimon appeared at his side. It seemed they had just woken up, so the three decided to head to Yoimiya’s house together.
Due to the distance, it took a bit of time to get there.
When they arrived, Yoimiya was thrilled and immediately rushed over to hug Lumine. Like many others in the city, she was overjoyed about the repeal of the Vision Hunt Decree.
Upon learning from Paimon that Nolan and his friends had played a crucial role in convincing the Shogun to abolish the decree, Yoimiya's affection for them grew significantly.
[Yoimiya Has Developed Good Feelings Toward You. Obtained 320 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.7 (60/700).]
Hearing that the group planned to rent a house in Inazuma City for a short stay, Yoimiya enthusiastically volunteered to help them find one.
By noon, they successfully rented a nice little house.
The house wasn’t very large, with only a living room and one bedroom, but it was clean, tidy, and almost felt brand new, leaving a good impression.
The rent was 60,000 Mora per month, which was relatively cheap for Inazuma City, the nation’s capital.
Not that it mattered much—nowadays, they could easily accept any commissions from the Adventurers’ Guild and earn Mora quickly.
Plus, the Sweet Flower Merchant Association, co-founded with Ningguang in Liyue, was about to start paying dividends. With that income, they’d likely never have to worry about Mora again!
After settling the housing arrangements, Nolan treated everyone to a lavish meal.
As Yoimiya prepared to return to her fireworks shop, Nolan decided it was a good time to deepen their bond. He pulled out a "Waymark" and gave it to her.
“Huh? Are you sure it’s okay to give me something so valuable?” Yoimiya was a little taken aback when she learned about the Beacon’s function and hesitated to accept it.
“It’s no big deal. You’re our friend, after all!” Nolan said with a smile, grabbing her hand and placing the golden energy orb into her palm.
Yoimiya’s cheeks flushed slightly as she tried to pull her hand back, but she couldn’t.
Left with no choice, she accepted the gift, gaining the ability of "Interstellar Travel."
She felt a surge of joy in her heart and, as a result, her affection for Nolan increased once again.
[Yoimiya Has Developed Good Feelings Toward You. Obtained 300 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.7 (360/700).]
Nearby, Lumine and Paimon gave Nolan a disdainful look, as if saying, There he goes again, getting what he wants.
After parting ways with Yoimiya, Nolan and his group headed to the Grand Narukami Shrine.
Yae Miko had already prepared the ritual to enhance her "Fortune Blessing," waiting only for Nolan and his friends to arrive.
The ritual was simple. Beneath the Sacred Sakura Tree, she placed symbolic items like flowers, holy water, and talismans, then performed a brief dance to invoke blessings.
Once her Fortune Blessing was enhanced, Nolan used the "Spiritual Core" he had recharged to its full capacity on Yae Miko. Perhaps the enhanced Fortune truly had an effect, as this time, she gained an excellent stat:
[Spiritual Core Attribute: White Dawn Celestial Fox – This attribute only appears for specific characters. The bearer awakens the innate ability "Celestial Fox Majesty," which grants absolute command over weaker yokai and partial influence over significantly weaker humans. It also doubles their yokai power and allows perfect control over it.]
“Oh my, little one, I quite like this ‘Spiritual Core Attribute,’” Yae Miko said with a sly smile. “As a thank-you, let me give you a little ‘blessing.’ Don’t be shy now~.”
Yae Miko leaned in slightly, quickly pressing her lips to Nolan’s forehead in a playful kiss.
Before Nolan could process what had just happened, she stepped back, her sly gaze meeting his.
[Yae Miko Has Developed Good Feelings Toward You. Obtained 330 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.6 (150/600).]
(End of Chapter/End of Volume 4: Land of Thunder)
