In Teyvat, it all begins with rescuing the grass god.

The reason they were so certain that he did it himself, and that no outsider had done it.

It's because Rhodes always carries his sword with him, and even when he sleeps, he keeps it by his bedside where he can easily reach it.

Someone capable of tampering with this sword.

Those who are weak cannot escape Rhode's perception, and those who are strong, why bother with such an old sword, they can just attack him directly.

not to mention.

There were no signs of human intervention on the broken edge of the sword.

After inspecting the fracture surface.

The last glimmer of hope in Rhodes' heart was completely extinguished.

He broke the sword by accident.

"Hiss, could it be that I'm using too much strength right now, and the sword can't withstand it?"

After much thought, Rhodes could only come up with this one reason.

After obtaining the second Eye of God, his strength indeed increased day by day.

No one knew this better than him.

The Eye of God has a very strong amplifying effect on the human body.

Furthermore, the more elemental power a user acquires, the stronger this amplification effect becomes.

This is why people on the continent of Teyvat so eagerly anticipate the Eye of God.

Theoretically

Having honed martial arts to the extreme, one can indeed possess strength comparable to that of the holder of the Eye of God.

The most famous of them all.

Historically, he was Eren Delin of Mondstadt, one of the Seven Kingdoms of Watt, five hundred years ago.

A top-tier expert without the Eye of God.

With his superb martial arts skills, he became the Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius and led his men to save Mondstadt from disaster during the Dark Calamity that swept across the entire continent.

He is an absolute top-tier expert.

Excluding historical figures.

The current uncrowned dragon king of Liyue.

Don't be fooled by the fact that she already has the Divine Eye.

Back when she hadn't yet obtained the Eye of God, she had already slain the fearsome sea beast Haishan on the Cloud Sea, thus gaining fame and the reputation of the Uncrowned Dragon King.

However, this does not mean that all martial arts masters without the Eye of God can possess the ability to rival those who possess the Eye of God.

To be precise.

It should be that those who possess the Eye of God have a higher lower limit and a higher upper limit.

Before Rhodes learned martial arts from Desia, he was able to wander safely for more than a month in the perilous desert simply by relying on the enhancement of his body by the Eye of God and his rough application of elemental power.

He finally collapsed because he was constantly hungry and thirsty and had no strength left.

If an ordinary person without martial arts skills were to experience this, they probably wouldn't survive more than three days.

This is the lower limit for those who possess the Eye of God.

As for the upper limit, that goes without saying.

Among the known holders of the Eye of God, there are beings capable of going toe-to-toe with demon gods, something that mortals simply cannot do.

This is why everyone longs to obtain the Eye of God.

Rhodes possesses two divine eyes.

Although the Eye of God that Dolly took is temporarily unusable, its previous enhancement effect on the body is real and will not diminish just because the Eye of God is no longer there.

In the past few days, Rhodes has rapidly developed the Fire Elemental Eye to its bottleneck stage.

With the enhancement of fire elemental power, his physical attributes have surpassed those of before in every aspect.

Rod clenched his fist.

The creaking sound of his joints made him shake his head and smile wryly.

Careless.

These past few days, my sudden increase in strength has indeed caused quite a bit of trouble.

However, Rhodes didn't really take it to heart.

After all, he had experienced this once before in the desert, and he thought it would be the same as before, and he would get used to it.

The result was this huge undertaking.

After sighing and complaining for two days.

The Blazing Light Beast returned to Aru Village.

"Hey, Rod, we brought you what you wanted."

Overjoyed, Dixia led her people straight to Rhodes' house, and burst into laughter as soon as she opened the door.

The mercenaries of the Blazing Beast Hunters, each carrying a box, started shouting "Rhodes!" as soon as they entered, just like Desia.

They were hired by Rhodes to catch live quicksand eels in the desert. It was a low-paying job, and they were dealing with acquaintances, so it was easy and fun.

So as soon as he got back, he couldn't wait to come and boast about his achievements.

This time, however, it took them a long time to call out before Rod awkwardly came out.

"what?"

"Rhodes, what happened?"

Among those present, Dixia and Rhodes were the most familiar with each other, and she could tell at a glance that the smile on his face was somewhat unnatural.

"No, it's nothing."

With so many people in front of him, Rhodes couldn't bring himself to say that he had broken the sword that Desia had given him. He could only force a smile and say, "Everyone has worked hard. Let's eat here tonight. It's on me."

"Hey, that's great!"

"Give me ten of those roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) you made last time."

"I want that stir-fried pork."

"I want--!"

Upon hearing that Rhodes was treating everyone today, the mercenaries of the Blazing Beast Hunters immediately perked up and began excitedly ordering dishes.

With so many different kinds of food to choose from, it's natural to buy groceries in advance.

Not a moment.

The once lively courtyard was now empty except for Rod and Dixia; everyone else had taken their shopping lists and gone to Aru Village.

After everyone has left.

Desia crossed her arms and stared at Rhodes, saying, "Tell me, what happened?"

"."

"Ugh--"

After a long silence, Rhode reluctantly led Desia to see the broken longsword.

"Eh?"

"broken?"

Upon seeing the broken sword, Dixia smiled wryly.

She finally understood why Rod had made that expression earlier.

So that's why.

"I thought something had happened."

"If it's over, it's over."

"It was originally an old sword. Didn't I tell you before that this is a weapon I used when I was practicing swordsmanship? It wasn't anything special to begin with."

Contrary to Rhodes's expectations, Dixia was not upset. Instead, after comforting him, she picked up the broken sword and began to examine it.

"After all, this is a gift from you."

While Desia was examining the broken sword, Rhodes scratched his head awkwardly and muttered something.

"It wasn't anything valuable to begin with, so it's fine if it breaks."

"Let me see what's going on."

"Oh, it's broken."

Desia was far more experienced than Rhodes; she could roughly guess how the sword had been damaged with just a cursory glance.

She stroked her chin thoughtfully and said, "Come here, let's try an arm wrestling match."

"No need to try."

"I'm too strong right now, and I accidentally broke it while practicing swordsmanship."

Rhodes knew, of course, that Desia wanted to test his current strength, so he promptly brought it up.

"it is as expected."

Dixia pondered for a moment: "The reason for the two Eyes of God?"

"Ah."

"should be."

Rhodes nodded.

"Tsk, I knew it."

"However, I don't have any good weapons to give you right now."