The Light Demon God merely entertained the thought; after all, the Demon God War had long since passed.
Guchen had no intention of acting like some madman and reenacting any corner of the Demon God War—there was no point to it.
What mattered now was the present.
Seeing that his light trick had amused Paimon and successfully diverted the little creature's attention, Guchen gradually withdrew the radiance.
Watching the light in Guchen's palm slowly fade, Paimon felt a lingering sense of reluctance:
"Guchen, what on earth was that?"
Guchen clenched his hand:
"Pure Light Energy."
"Pure Light Energy? Guchen, is this what makes you special? It seems you're quite extraordinary yourself!"
"Haha, there are plenty of things that make me extraordinary, you'll discover them slowly in time."
After the two of them chatted happily for a bit, they began discussing their next course of action.
Actually, there wasn't much to discuss—they were simply starting their journey for real.
The two of them were currently within the borders of Mondstadt. If they followed the nearby path deeper into Mondstadt territory, they wondered if they would reach Mondstadt today.
Along the way, hearing Guchen's thought, Paimon couldn't help shaking her head:
"Guchen, what are you thinking? Mondstadt is so huge, how could we possibly reach Mondstadt today?"
Walking unhurriedly forward and taking in the scenery along the cliffs, Guchen said to Paimon, who was floating beside him:
"Does that mean we won't make it today?"
Paimon shook her head again:
"We won't make it! At the speed we're traveling right now, there's absolutely no way!"
"Tch, and yet in the game, it only takes a few steps to get there."
"What game?! This is a real, existing world now! The genuine Teyvat!"
After uttering this retort, Paimon couldn't help muttering in speechlessness:
"Speaking of which, how on earth did the projection of this place in your world—that game—manage it? How did they condense such a vast area into a range that can be crossed in just a few steps?"
Guchen shrugged:
"It's a game, what can you do? There's no way it could achieve a one-to-one realistic recreation; there always has to be omission and compression. Still, even so, when that game first came out, it caused quite a sensation. After all, it was a truly open world with freedom of exploration, and the explorable world was indeed quite large..."
Paimon, beside him, shook her head once more:
"Ngh... I don't understand what you're saying."
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand, I'm going to speed up now."
"Huh? Speed up?"
Without giving Paimon any time to react, Guchen reached out, scooped her up, and tucked her under his armpit.
Then, wind stirred beneath his feet, and with a burst of speed, he sprinted forward swiftly. He swept past numerous terrain features and quickly bolted out of that cliffside valley!
Emerging onto the plains, he pressed on across the open terrain.
Ahead lay a small lake, and in the middle of the lake stood a Statue of the Seven.
Seeing this, Guchen knew they had reached Starfall Lake.
With a leap, he cleared the sizable expanse of water, landed on the island in the center of the lake, and stood before the Statue of the Seven.
By this time, Paimon, who had been clamped under Guchen's armpit, was seeing stars.
Releasing her, Paimon wobbled as she barely managed to float up, taking quite a while to recover.
Once she finally recovered, Paimon couldn't help stamping her feet in the air and lodging a complaint:
"Hey! Guchen! You ran way too fast just now! I couldn't handle it at all! Besides, that posture just now was terrible!"
Guchen spread his hands innocently:
"If I didn't tuck you under my armpit, with your flying speed, there's no way you could have kept up with me, right?"
Paimon was left speechless:
"I-Indeed I couldn't keep up. But there was no need to go that fast, was there? Did we really have to rush to Mondstadt today?"
"If you'd rather sleep out in the wild, we can go slower."
That left Paimon with nothing more to say:
"W-Well... I suppose staying in the city is better."
After being speechless for a moment, Paimon began observing her surroundings:
"Oh! This is... why, it's the Statue of the Seven in Mondstadt! Guchen, let me tell you, the Statue of the Seven..."
Guchen reached out to interrupt her:
"Stop right there, I feel I'm already quite familiar with this basic information."
Paimon once again felt a sense of grievance and helplessness:
"Oh... Th-That's right, you've played that game, so m-my role as a guide really is dispensable! Huh? Guchen, what are you doing touching the Statue of the Seven?"
After touching the Statue of the Seven and finding that it showed no reaction whatsoever, Guchen shook his head helplessly:
"As expected, I am neither she nor he; I can't awaken the Anemo element."
Paimon floated over:
"Does Guchen want to use the elemental energy of this world? If so, you'll need a Vision."
Guchen shook his head:
"No, I have a much more advanced form of light energy to use; I don't need elemental energy, and I certainly don't want something like a Vision. I was just testing a hypothesis."
With that, he looked toward the forest to the south:
"Next, we should head over there. Passing through this forest should put us not far from Mondstadt."
Paimon nodded:
"That should be right."
"Alright, Paimon, don't be startled in a moment."
"Huh? What shouldn't I be—Whoa!"
Before Paimon could even brace herself, Guchen tucked her under his armpit once more, wind swirling beneath his feet as he sprinted at top speed, charging straight into Whispering Woods!
Trapped beneath his arm, Paimon wore an expression of utter despair.
Watching the scenery rushing backward at extreme speed, she felt like she was starting to get used to it.
Just as Paimon was thinking that Guchen's warning not to be startled was simply referring to this mode of travel, a terrifying dragon roar echoed from the sky!
Paimon jumped in fright, poking her head out from beneath Guchen's armpit to observe:
"What is that? Th-That's a dragon?!"
Guchen didn't even raise his head:
"I already told you not to be startled."
Abruptly, he halted at the outer edge of Whispering Woods, released Paimon from beneath his arm, and let her hover in front of him:
"Paimon, stay right here and don't go anywhere. I'm going to buy you a few—bah! I'm going to knock a dragon down for you!"
Paimon was dumbfounded:
"Kn-Knock a dragon down?! The... the one in the sky?"
Guchen flashed a brilliant smile:
"Of course, who else besides the one in the sky? There's no way I'm going to follow the plot step by step. In your words, I refuse to walk down a predestined fate! So..."
As he spoke, Guchen raised his head, watching Stormterror Dvalin as it was about to fly into the airspace above Whispering Woods:
"So... let's turn this place upside down!"
The moment his voice fell, under Paimon's shock-filled gaze, Guchen leaped upward, springing exceptionally high—higher even than the altitude at which Stormterror was flying!
At that moment, he was positioned directly above Stormterror!
"Leo Kick!"
Leveraging the terrifying downward momentum, flames of light energy suddenly blazed fiercely around the right foot Guchen extended!
Plummeting from the sky, he delivered a dazzling, brilliant flying kick straight at Stormterror Dvalin!
Paimon down below was dumbstruck!
A certain bard hiding nearby was scared out of his wits!