Cross through Teyvat, and you'll become stronger by taking the hits!

"Great, so Lu Li, you're still awake too."

It's late at night in winter.

When Lu Li sat up in bed, still bewildered, and drew back the curtains, the girl outside stopped singing and smiled.

"Lady Columbia, what brings you here so late at night...?"

Lu Li raised his hand to rub his eyes, and asked the girl standing in the courtyard outside the window with a somewhat resigned expression.

The girl had long hair that faded from black to purplish-red, and her eyes were covered by a thin white mesh blindfold. There were also three pairs of small wing-shaped head ornaments at the back of her head.

At this moment, she was wearing the coat of the Fools' Executor, standing quietly in the courtyard under the moonlight.

"No, I just wanted to sing you a song. It's so good that you're still awake."

The girl under the moonlight nodded slightly, looking somewhat happy.

"..."

Upon hearing this, Lu Li raised his hand and covered his forehead.

He understood; it was all because he had complimented her singing during the day!

Although Lu Li did think it sounded good, it was late at night, and he had just finished training and was exhausted and really needed to rest.

"Lady Columbia, I think Lady Sandone seems to enjoy listening to you sing. Why don't you go to her door and sing for her? She'll be very happy."

Left with no other choice, Lu Li decided to shift the blame elsewhere, suggesting this to the girl named Columbia outside the window.

"Really? I've been there before, but she didn't seem to like it very much."

"But since you put it that way, I'll try going to Sandoni again later."

Upon hearing Lu Li's suggestion, Columbia nodded seriously in agreement.

"Um, Lu Li, if you're still awake, could you do me a favor?"

After agreeing, Columbia did not leave. Instead, she went to the window and asked Lu Li, who was still sitting on the bed in his pajamas.

Lu Li loved the feeling of being woken up by sunlight after dawn, so his bed was placed next to the window in his bedroom.

"Of course, no problem, Lady Columbia, please speak..."

Unable to resist yawning, Lu Li had to force himself to stay awake.

"Little White is hungry, do you have anything to eat here?"

As she spoke, Columbia suddenly picked up a white thieving weasel from under the window.

This is a wild treasure-stealing weasel that Lu Li usually feeds, and he named it Xiaobai.

Columbia would occasionally come to see Lu Li, so she also got to know this treasure-stealing weasel.

"Ah...did I forget to feed it?"

"I have two more cookies here, let's see if Xiaobai wants them."

Seeing the treasure-stealing weasel being held up by its front legs in Columbia's arms, Lu Li remembered and reached out to take two cookies from the bedside table and handed them out the window.

"Um."

Colombia took the biscuit with one free hand.

She then opened the cookie packaging, handed one to the treasure-hunting weasel, and ate the other herself.

"That way it won't go hungry. Lu Li, you should get some rest. I'm going to find Sandoni now."

Having solved the problem of the Treasure-Stealing Weasel going hungry, Columbia placed it on the windowsill with one hand, then said goodbye to Lu Li while munching on a biscuit, before turning and leaving.

"Goodnight, Lady Columbia..."

Lu Li watched Columbia's figure disappear into the distance.

She disappeared as soon as she reached the gate of the courtyard, clearly indicating that she didn't need a key to enter Lu Li's courtyard.

"Little White, did you fail to beg for food again? You're so stupid."

After Columbia left, Lu Li poked the head of the Treasure-Stealing Weasel with his finger, sounding annoyed.

He only occasionally fed this treasure-stealing weasel; he didn't actually adopt it. This treasure-stealing weasel usually begged for food around the city but didn't have the cleverness of other treasure-stealing weasels and often went hungry.

The treasure-stealing weasel quickly dodged, ran to the other side of the windowsill, finished the biscuit in its hand, then raised its forelegs to bow to Lu Li, before turning around, jumping off the windowsill, and disappearing into the flowers and plants in the yard.

Seeing that the treasure-stealing weasel had also left, Lu Li closed the window and snuggled back into the warm blankets.

Not long after, Columbia's singing could be heard outside the window of one of the executives' residences in winter.

……

The next morning, despite being disturbed the night before, Lu Li woke up feeling refreshed and full of energy.

After a quick wash and getting dressed, Lu Li went out.

Since becoming the only long-term direct subordinate of the Executive Officer [Girl], Lu Li has become one of the two people with the most leisure time in the entire winter, the other being Columbia.

Because the Ice Queen never assigns any work to Columbia, the executive officer, Columbia doesn't have any other soldiers on standby, so Lu Li is basically left without any missions.

But Lu Li couldn't stay idle. After discovering that [Girl] Columbia and [Puppet] Sandone had a good relationship, and for another important reason, he would go over every now and then to help Sandone with equipment testing.

Today happens to be the day for another test.

After grabbing some bread from a roadside stall to fill his stomach, Lu Li quickly arrived at [Puppet's] residence, an extremely large mechanical research institute.

Both being researchers within the Executive, compared to [Doctor], [Puppet] Sandonne has a particular fondness for mechanical creations.

"Columbia! This is your last warning! If you dare to sing outside my window again in the middle of the night, I'll snap your neck and smash your head off!"

Not long after Lu Li took out his pass and entered the puppet's research institute, he heard Sandone's voice.

"Okay, sorry Sandone, I thought you would like it."

Lu Li walked towards that direction and heard Columbia's regretful voice.

"hiss……"

"Lady Columbia didn't say it was my suggestion, did she...?"

As Lu Li approached the door, he paused, a hint of worry in his heart.

"Hmph, then hurry up and eat, and go back as soon as you're done. I don't have time to keep you company today."

"Thank you, Sandoni."

After listening to the conversation inside the door, Lu Li hesitated for a moment before raising his hand to knock on the door.

"Who is it!"

Sandoni was clearly in a bad mood, and responded irritably to the knock on the door.

"Yes, it's me, Lord Sandone. Today is test time..."

Lu Li cautiously opened the door a crack, poked his head in, and while answering, looked at Columbia, who was sitting at the table with her back to the door, and another girl opposite her.

The girl was petite, with long flaxen hair tied back, leaving only two strands hanging down her shoulders. She wore an executive coat similar to Columbia's, and her blue eyes were glancing towards the doorway.

"Oh, it's you. Perfect timing. I've finished what you mentioned last time. I'll use you to test it out today. Let's head straight to the testing ground."

Upon seeing Lu Li, the girl named Sandone immediately got up and walked outside.

"Ah, Sandonna, wait for me..."

Columbia looked back at Lu Li and Sandoni, then at the sumptuous breakfast on the table, even though she didn't open her eyes.

After hesitating for a moment, Columbia first picked up a small cake and put it in her mouth, then picked up a plate of pastries in each hand before getting up and following him.

After catching up with Lu Li and Sandone, Columbia handed them the snacks she was carrying in her hands.

"what?"

When Sandonne saw the plate of pastries she handed him, he crossed his arms and said somewhat irritably.

"Well……"

With a piece of cake in her mouth, Columbia could only look at Lu Li and raise the plate in her other hand to indicate her presence.

Lu Li immediately took the plate from her hand, freeing up one hand for Columbia to grab the cake in her mouth.

"Lu Li said that breakfast is a must. Sandone, you haven't eaten yet, so I brought some for you."

Columbia, after taking down the cake, then explained to Sandoni.

"Don't make a fuss. We can go back to eat after the test."

Sandoni turned his head away and continued walking on the test track, ignoring the snacks Columbia offered.

Seeing this, Columbia had no choice but to eat the cake herself first before she could free her hand to pick up a pastry and stuff it into Sandonne's mouth.

"Hey! Columbia, that's enough, I... um?"

Sandonne turned her head left and right to avoid it for a while, and when she was about to angrily open her mouth to scold Columbia, Columbia took the opportunity to stuff the pastry into her mouth.

Lu Li quietly ate another plate of snacks, adopting a spectator's mentality and not disturbing them.

Just as Sandone was about to jump up and down in anger, the three of them finally arrived at the testing site, where many soldiers were adjusting the equipment according to Sandone's instructions.

Seeing this, Sandone could only glare fiercely at the innocent-looking Columbia before looking at Lu Li.

"I installed the new device on Anti-Land III yesterday. You can go directly to the middle of the testing area and start right away."

"But don't blame me for not warning you, the Anti-Land III is much more powerful than the previous two models. If you don't want to suffer, be careful."

Sandonne pointed to the testing area and gave Lu Li a reminder.

"Yes, Lord Sandoni."

Lu Li had finished eating the snacks on his plate. He responded and casually placed the plate on the table next to him before walking towards the center of the testing area.

Was Sandoni just worried about him?

Columbia followed Sandonne to the platform with the best view at the top of the testing ground and asked her questions curiously.

"Clam?"

"I was just afraid that he would collapse too soon, and I wouldn't be able to get the data I wanted."

Upon hearing Colombia's words, Sandoni immediately denied them.

For Sandoni, Lu Li was a rare and valuable volunteer; no one else would dare to let her test the power of the new device.

On the other side, Lu Li walked to the edge of the testing area, took off his military overcoat and handed it to the Fools soldiers for safekeeping. At the same time, he was also fitted with various data detection devices.

These devices are relatively lightweight and will not significantly hinder Lu Li's movements.

After finishing these tasks, Lu Li walked to the middle of the testing area and glanced back at Columbia and Sandoni above the platform.

This should be the last test...

Lu Li muttered to himself.

"What are you looking at us for? Anti-Land III has already entered the area."

Upon noticing Lu Li looking in their direction, Sandone pressed a button on the table on the platform, using the megaphone to remind him.

Lu Li immediately turned around and saw a giant machine, nearly three meters tall, slowly driving into the test site.

The giant machine moves along tracks like a tank from the bottom, and four flexible mechanical arms are mounted on its thick armored top, each arm carrying a variety of weapons intended for use against ground targets.

Anti-Land III, an assault machine created by Sandone based on Lu Li's data, is a mobile fortress with extremely terrifying defensive and offensive capabilities.

Back when it was still Anti-Land II, it was already capable of clearing out ten Relic Guards or two Relic Heavy Machines on its own.

"Test begins."

With Sandonne's command, the core at the top of Anti-Land III instantly lit up red, locking onto Lu Li as its target.

However, it did not choose to attack with long-range firepower because the first test was close combat data, so it increased its power and charged towards Lu Li with the huge drill that was spinning at high speed in its left hand.

"A drill, are you trying to use it to break through my defenses...?"

Lu Li muttered to himself, gathering the power of the Evil Eye into his right hand.

"Stand behind Brown!"

As Lu Li's voice fell, he conjured a huge and thick ice shield in his hand and held it directly in front of him, intending to confront Anti-Land III head-on.

[Stand behind Brûlé! (Unbreakable): LV1]

Raise an ice shield to block ranged attacks from the front. The first time you use the ice shield to face a frontal attack in the same battle, you will trigger absolute defense and receive a 35% damage reduction from the front thereafter.

Upgrade condition: There is a chance after the shield is broken.

"...I thought this trick would work."

Seeing Lu Li's actions, Sandone's lips curled into a smug smile.

The instant Lu Li raised his shield, the drill of Anti-Lu III had already struck Lu Li's ice shield.

However, the terrifying force was instantly neutralized, and Lu Li stood still without moving. The huge, rapidly spinning drill couldn't even scrape ice shards off the surface of the ice shield.

Just when Lu Li thought he could easily block the first wave of attacks as usual, the other three arms of Anti-Land III rose above the ice shield and aimed their weapons at Lu Li.

"...Wasn't it agreed that we'd collect combat data?"

"Weaklings, begone!"

Upon seeing this, Lu Li paused for a moment before immediately unleashing his next skill, raising his left hand and swinging it forward.

[Weaklings, begone: LV2]

It can create a dark shockwave that knocks back enemies in a fan-shaped area in front of it, and can knock back enemies with weaker physical stats even more. At this time, the enemy will cause a brief stun effect on all enemies along the way that are hit. The range increases with the skill level.

Upgrade condition: There is a chance to push away weak enemies and stun powerful enemies along the way.

As Lu Li's voice fell, the dark shockwave instantly bypassed the ice shield and was released in a fan-shaped area in front of it, colliding with Anti-Land III.

bang——

The massive impact instantly sent the Anti-Land III, a heavy assault machine, flying into the air. Although the distance wasn't very far, it allowed Lu Li to temporarily return to a safe distance.

However, upon seeing this scene, Sandonne stood calmly with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Um……?"

Just then, Lu Li noticed the problem. Although Anti-Land III had been repelled, its drill bit remained on Lu Li's shield.

It turns out that the mechanical arm with the drill bit also has a clamp-like device. Although the drill bit cannot destroy the shield, the clamp directly holds the sides of the shield in place.

Furthermore, there is an iron chain connecting the drill bit to the mechanical arm of the Anti-Land III.

As soon as Lu Li noticed the problem, the Anti-Land III, which had landed, immediately began to retract its chains. Lu Li suddenly felt a tremendous force trying to pull the ice shield in his hand away.

Lu Li quickly steadied himself and grabbed the ice shield, but Anti-Lu III used this to accelerate rapidly toward Lu Li.

"Hmph, I not only input all your data into Anti-Land III, but the new device I added this time is a specially made voice recognition system."

"And your biggest weakness is... you always have the habit of shouting out the corresponding phrase every time you use a move."

On the platform, Sandone triumphantly tossed his hair, as if he had already foreseen the victory of Anti-Land III.

bang——

The Anti-Land III, which had once again approached Lu Li, crashed heavily into the ice shield.

Having lost the absolute defense he had during the first attack, this attack caused Lu Li to slide backward a distance, leaving dents on the supposedly sturdy floor of the testing area with his feet.

"Voice...recognition?"

Lu Li was somewhat taken aback to hear Sandone's voice on the platform.

……