I'm in the Teyvat running group

Suddenly, time seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second. A deafening force emanated from the epicenter, sending a mushroom cloud soaring into the sky. The combined explosion of dozens of explosive barrels, along with the numerous energy crystals already present in the ruins, created an unimaginable destructive power!

Even though Yunxiu had assumed the best position, she still suffered enormous damage. Even though the distance was more than 20 meters and after two periods of attenuation and protection, it still caused great damage!

"You have taken a total of 1968 damage!"

“你获得20×50+12×100+2×200经验，因你使用了他人制造的陷阱与道具，经验值获得效率降低为25%！”

"You have gained 650 experience points!"

"Holy crap, how can that be so powerful!" Yunxiu felt a sweet taste in his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood after his last shield was easily shattered and he lost another 895 points of health. However, with more than half of his health remaining, he was no longer as helpless as before and immediately got up: "Although this damage should not be a problem for a seventh-ring spell shield, Sugar won't be scared, will she?"

It was precisely because of his confidence in seventh and eighth-ring spells that Yunxiu dared to leave Sugar there. After all, even he himself could learn Regeneration or Mind Barrier, and with Projection, he could not only withstand explosions, but also fight using Projection in other spaces. If he felt it was not safe, he would add Mind Barrier.

The spell Abedo gave Sugar is clearly a product similar to Rainbow Wall, a ninth-circle protective spell. Few Teyvats could probably break it. Of course, Abedo isn't that powerful, and his execution wasn't complete; it's likely a modification he made to a ninth-circle spell. However, it's still undoubtedly one of the best eighth-circle spells. Even if the spell's effect on Sugar is reduced to seventh-circle because it can't be cast by the mage himself, it's impossible for a dynamite barrel to break it!

Despite the pain, Yunxiu quickly ran back to the ruins. The entire ruins had been completely destroyed, but a hemisphere glowing with the light of rock element still stood perfectly intact!

Sugar had her eyes tightly closed, ears covered, and mouth agape inside the shield. Despite the continuous high-energy explosions, the shield was almost completely unaffected!

The continuous explosions of light and sound were greatly impeded, and almost all the damage was neutralized. Sugar was only slightly startled and even had the mind to fumble for her clothes...

"Teacher Abedo, just how strong are you?!" Yunxiu complained as she pounded on the barrier. After pounding on the shield a few times, she saw Sugar release her ears and then said softly, "You can come out now. Let's run away quickly! Don't open your eyes yet!"

Sugar lowered her hand, her eyes still closed, and nodded obediently. She opened the barrier and reached out her hand to Yunxiu. Because her eyes were still closed, she touched Yunxiu's face a few times, making Yunxiu's heart itch. But now was not the time to think about that. Yunxiu took her hand and ran out of the ruins before letting go and saying, "You can open your eyes now."

The half-orc girl, who had been effectively imprisoned, finally escaped. She opened her eyes with joy, looked at the collapsed ruins behind her and the desolate scene outside, and couldn't help but feel a little scared. She whispered, "Mr. Yunxiu... now, where do we go now?"

“The most important thing for us to do now is to run away.” Yunxiu thought for a moment, then pointed in the direction of the pack beast and signaled Sugar to run over there together: “Let’s ride the pack beast and run to the nearest Thousand Rock Army camp. There’s a Thousand Rock Army camp about seventy miles ahead. You can stay there and wait for Master to come, or you can come with me to Wangshu Inn. It will take about a week to get there. It’s just a pity that you’ll have to sit for so long.”

Carrying the sugar, she arrived at the Tibetan pack animal's cave. Upon seeing the enormous beast, she actually ran up to it and started rubbing its massive head: "So big~ So soft~ Can I have some of its fur too? I want to take it back for my alchemical experiments..."

"Uh..." Seeing Sugar's desire for alchemy rising even before her body had fully recovered, Yunxiu couldn't help but feel a little helpless: "Miss Sugar, I think the most important thing for us right now is to escape."

"Ah, I'm sorry, Mr. Yun..." Sugar apologized apologetically, then climbed onto the pack animal with Yunxiu's help, and whispered, "After we escape, can I have some of its fur..."

"Let's run outside and talk about it then!"

"Okay, okay..."

The beast was told that it would have another meal after it charged out. Its eyes lit up, its huge hooves pawed wildly, and it spewed out two long streams of hot air from its nostrils. It then took a big stride and charged forward!

"Ah, Mr. Yun... I... I just settled in..."

"Hurry up, it's about to accelerate!"

A gigantic figure sped away at breakneck speed, leaving behind only the cheers of the boys and girls.

Chapter 21 Let's Go to Mondstadt

Carrying sugar, Yunxiu rode her pack animal at breakneck speed, covering more than sixty miles in one go, until she saw the Thousand Rock Army's encampment ahead, at which point she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After dismounting and leading the pack animal to the entrance, Yunxiu presented her identification and credentials. A Thousand Rock Army captain helped her lead the animal to the military horses and tether it. Then, he led Yunxiu and Sugar inside. After expressing her wish to rest for the night and replenish her supplies, the Thousand Rock Army captain considered for a moment and then politely said, "Yunxiu, although we both serve Liyue, the main camp has regular duties and arrangements, so it's inconvenient to accommodate you. If you don't mind, there are a few spare rooms in the back that are still empty. These are usually used by military dependents and civilians who come to the army for a temporary rest. You only need to pay a small fee to the quartermaster. I can prepare two rooms for Miss Sugar."

“Of course.” Yunxiu counted the money and handed him a money bag containing about 2000 Mora. “This should be enough for two rooms and meals. I would like to borrow the camp’s water and cleaning supplies for the rest. May I ask what your name is?”

"I am Shi Ming." After taking the money bag and weighing it in his hand, Captain Shi smiled and said, "It should be enough. There's probably some left over. I'll have the quartermaster calculate it and return it to you."

"No need, no need. Just exchange the extra for military rations." Yunxiu thought for a moment and decided to inform her father about the strange research they had encountered with the Fools that day. These outposts usually had staff from the Sword Suspended Division. So, after arranging for Sugar, Yunxiu wrote a combat report, clearly stating that the Fools were suspected of joining forces with the Abyss Cult to carry out a joint mission on the east side of Guili Plain near Yunlai Sea. Then, she found the person in charge of the Sword Suspended Division at the outpost, sealed the report, and handed it to him before returning to her room to rest.

Lying in bed, Yunxiu pondered the situation again.

Judging from these battles, Teyvat itself provides a lot of experience due to the elements and the monsters themselves, and there are also many monsters. Furthermore, the extremely active elemental energy directly leads to a significant increase in the spellcaster's combat power!

While this will undoubtedly make the later research into the nature of the world more difficult, and most spellcasters will need to be careful not to be assimilated by the laws and elements during their advancement, which requires extremely strong willpower and the ability to study the laws, it is certainly not a bad thing for Yunxiu, who needs to quickly gain combat power in the early stages. We can deal with the later issues later...

This also means that he can level up faster, and even in the main storyline, he can actually participate. Even if he can't get involved in high-level battles like Dvalin and the Lady, he can still fight some small-scale skirmishes or provide some side assistance in large-scale battles!

"This is really a high-risk, high-reward group..." Yunxiu complained as she planned the next activities. She didn't fall asleep until almost midnight, still full of questions and answers.

The next morning, refreshed after a good night's rest, Yunxiu went out of her room to find her pack animal. She saw Sugar, petite and dressed in a Liyue outfit with her sleeves and trousers rolled up, holding a huge brush and a small bucket, brushing the fur of her pack animal after it had been unsaddled...

The pack animal enjoyed the sugar brush while slowly eating its hay, making "yak~ ooh~ moo~" sounds, looking completely content.

Yunxiu stepped forward and casually slapped the pack beast twice. With a helpless expression, he took a bucket from the saddle, intending to fulfill his promise from the previous night. Just then, Sugar timidly said, "Mr...Mr. Yunxiu, may I collect some of the pack beast's fur and keratin scraps? I want to use them as alchemical materials...but Mondstadt doesn't have any. I already discussed it with him this morning when I brushed its fur..."

“No problem.” Yunxiu said nonchalantly, “Miss Sugar’s alchemical potions might be more expensive than this big thing, and I’ve already gotten what I wanted.”

Yesterday's series of battles, although the damage was reduced due to the explosives, still brought Yunxiu's XP to 3130/6000 after the two battles plus 80 points from exploring the map, along with some previous scattered experience. A few more battles and she will level up. The biggest improvement at level 4 is attribute points. Two points of Intelligence can easily boost Yunxiu's Intelligence to +7, at which point her Elemental Energy alone will reach 1228 points, allowing her to cast 50% more spells!

Furthermore, at level 5, one can learn third-level spells. Judging from my growth stats and the ability to learn any spell, my level 5 is comparable to a level 7 or even 8 character native to Teyvat. If I can reach level 7 before the Stormterror's Plague, I will have a real chance to get a share of the spoils in this disaster, rather than simply informing Mondstadt...

What does it mean to get a share of the pie?

This means that he might be able to preserve this scale to forge some top-tier equipment. Dragon scales are top-tier alchemical tools in any world, and this large dragon scale could easily be used to forge two or three top-tier magical equipment. However, without Wendy's consent and the help of that alchemy master in Mondstadt, it would be impossible to do so. And that depends on how much of a role he can play in the upcoming war.

Thinking of this, Yunxiu's hands moved faster. In addition to stuffing in dozens of kilograms of minced beast meat, he also added energy-rich glass bags and calming herbs, and mixed in thirty bird eggs. He then placed the mixture near the beast's mouth, and the beast snorted and began to eat heartily.

Then Yunxiu checked the pack animal's hooves again, carefully repairing the iron hooves. After confirming that there were no problems, she said to Sugar, "Miss Sugar, I should be setting off for Mondstadt today. Are you coming with me, or will you stay here and wait for your master to come find you?"

Sugar thought for a moment and said cautiously, "May I go with Mr. Yunxiu...? I originally planned to crush the sensing crystal that Teacher Abedo gave me yesterday if I couldn't hold on any longer, but now that we're safe, I'd like to collect some more alchemical materials outside before going back..."

"And also..." Sugar nervously twisted her two little hands in front of her skirt, "Mr. Yunxiu seems very powerful. I want to join your adventure team. I... I will try my best!"

After thinking for a moment, Yunxiu had no choice but to tell the truth: "Miss Sugar, I have a very important matter to attend to this time. I will definitely speed up my journey... and my destination is not Mondstadt, but Dawn Winery. I need to seek Mr. Diluc's help there."

To be honest, after arriving at Dawn Winery, I guess I'll be staying there for the rest of my trip for now...

Diluc must have a way to get to Mondstadt quickly. Whether it's fighting at Stormterror's Lair or blocking the Fatui in places like Stone Gate or Thornham Harbor, Dawn Winery is the best base. Moreover, Diluc is one of the heads of a huge intelligence organization, and it's also close to the snowy mountains, making it arguably the best base.

“Then… Mr. Yunxiu, could you take me to the Dawn Winery…” Sugar thought for a moment before answering, but she quickly realized something was off: “Could you tell me what it is? Perhaps I can help…”

Yunxiu thought for a moment and decided to tell her part of the truth. He lifted a little bit of the fur covering the huge scale of the East Wind Dragon and pointed to a corner of the huge scale that was exposed, telling Sugar: "This is the scale of the East Wind Dragon. I sensed an uneasy aura on it... I will go to seek Lord Diluc's help to contact the Mondstadt Knights and find a way to rescue the East Wind Dragon, Dvalin."

"Ah!" Whether shocked by the situation of Dongfeng Zhilong or by what Yunxiu was about to do, Sugar thought for a moment and asked, "Should I crush the crystal and call Professor Abedo over..."

"How many days will it take Abedo to come?"

"Professor Abedo is usually on the snow mountain. He was the one who brought me here before. If we use the analogy of flying and resting at the same time, it would take about three days."

Yunxiu glanced at the map and was startled. The Dragonspine Snow Mountain camp was about two thousand kilometers away. Even if Abedo flew while searching for materials, this speed was already quite fast. And this was even considering that Abedo wasn't good at flying. You have to understand that in the normal D&D universe, even top-tier archmages don't move much faster than mortals without teleportation skills. Although even pack animals on Teyvat can run fifty kilometers per hour when they're in a hurry, even a creature like a Winged Dragon probably couldn't fly that fast...

If Sugar crushes the crystal now, it will take Abedo three days to fly over, and it will take about five days to get to Dawn Winery from here, which is eight days in total. If I travel quickly and take fewer breaks along the way, I should be able to reach Dawn Winery in about fifteen days. To be honest, it's not worth wasting Sugar's life-saving item for just a few days.

"No need. That wouldn't be much faster, and it would also consume your precious life-saving items. If you're willing, we can set off today."

"Okay...okay!" Sugar clenched her little fist and then began to brush the pack beast's fur even more diligently: "Then I'll brush Mr. Yunxiu's pack beast clean as soon as possible!"

"Let's do it together!" Yunxiu also brought a bucket and a brush and began cleaning the other side of the beast's body. Looking at Sugar's clean little face and her hardworking expression after washing, Yunxiu suddenly felt that fighting alongside Sugar might be quite a wonderful thing...

Thinking of this, Yunxiu opened the team panel and looked at Sugar's stats:

"Damn, are four-star characters in the game this powerful?"

Chapter 22: The Team's Initial Strength

[Sugar: Level 4 Alchemist / Level 2 Mechanic]

属性：力量8、敏捷14、体质14、智力23、感知12、气运8

World correction factor: 89.44

Health: 2862 (4D8+4)

Elemental Mastery: 808

Elemental Energy: 808/808

Eye of God: Wind

skill:

【风灵作成·陆叁零捌】（1环/50能量）：射出一股剧烈的风灵能量。对目标造成1D8+6风元素伤害，目标必须进行一次力量豁免检定。若失败，则被向后推离5米

【禁·风灵作成·柒伍同构贰型】（2环/75能量）：创造一个直径10米大型风灵涡流，持续1分钟（需专注）。范围内的所有生物其速度减半并每2秒进行一次DC16难度的力量鉴定，若在进行力量豁免检定中失败，则被拉向涡流中心2米。区域内轻度遮蔽。敌对生物每10秒受到 1D6+6风元素伤害。

【元素能爆】（2环/75能量）：将不同元素能量结晶/核心/药品投向涡流中心，造成一次对应元素2D8+6伤害，并可使技能转化为对应元素伤害

Talents/Traits:

[Serious Common Bottle]: Reduces the crafting time of all alchemical crops by 25% and reduces crafting costs by 25%.

[The Theory of Primordial Entropy Increase]: The number of uses per day equals your Intelligence modifier (currently 6). You can use a bonus action to temporarily increase the rank of a prepared spell by 1 level, halving its base damage, increasing its difficulty DC by 3, and extending its duration by 50%.

equipment:

【Yanghua Barrier】: A protective artifact that solidifies a 7th-level spell, seemingly the deepest protection an alchemist could offer his apprentice...

效果：创造一层16D10+8的护盾，任意低于8D6+8均强制视为1点，低于10D6+8强制减半，任何一次攻击到护盾时，在护盾未被打破前，均受到1D4岩元素伤害反击。（使用次数2/3）

【The Wisdom of Chalk】: A casual creation of an alchemy master

Effect: Intelligence +2

【Wisdom of Chalk】: The alchemist and his beloved apprentice have collaborated to create this product, and it seems the apprentice has already qualified to graduate...

Effect: When you perform alchemy-related damage calculations, you gain double the bonus.

"Wouldn't it be ridiculously strong if this guy teamed up with me to fight monsters...?"

What exactly is the concept of the skill "Sugar"?

The most powerful aspect is the ring upgrade! Especially with the 75 Isomorphic Type II, the difficulty of judgment reaches as high as 19 when the ring is upgraded! This means that even most Hilichurl Thugs and Abyss Mages (without shields) will be constantly controlled and affected by this spell. Although Sugar's own damage ability is extremely limited, considering the double bonus, it only deals about 1D6+6 (×2)+2D8+6 (×2) damage every 10 seconds. Even after the ring upgrade, calculated according to the coefficient, the average damage per second is only about 600 points. Even some monsters corresponding to the 2nd ring, such as Hilichurl Thugs, may last for seven or eight seconds.

Once a successful escape is detected, it could pose a significant threat to Sugar. Sugar's greatest strengths lie in her ability to control the battlefield and create alchemical items. Without sufficient resources, it is virtually impossible for her to level up on her own.

Of course, the advantage of this skill set is that the control time is as long as 90 seconds! If it is a small monster, it can control it until it dies. However, when fighting a large boss, it can only provide a control effect, and it is not stable. Even if Sugar's ring-up skill is successfully cast with its strong intelligence, it is difficult to have a good enough effect.

The Ruin Defenders and Ruin Guards, which correspond to monsters in the third and fourth rings, are classic examples. Ruin Guards correspond to monsters in the fourth ring, with a health of 13D10, often more than 30,000 to 40,000. Moreover, their strength bonus can often reach +6 or even +7. This directly leads to most Ruin Guards having a slightly better chance of breaking free after three to four rolls. At that time, they will only lose 4,000 to 5,000 health points at most. But after they break free, they can kill Sugar with two punches at most!

Furthermore, due to the Ruins Guardian's missile ability, even if Sugar is given time to escape, it's actually not enough. This is why she might have difficulty escaping when facing a large boss alone.

However, I am a mage! I happen to be the type that doesn't lack damage, but because of the Protection school, I am extremely lacking in control skills. Even Web of the Spider has a control range of less than one-tenth that of Sugar.

As for the enchanting and illusion schools of magic, which specialize in control, as mentioned before, they are completely ineffective against constructs, elements, psionic beings, and mechanical lifeforms in the peculiar world of Teyvat! Could hypnosis and mind control possibly be used against a trillion-year-old dragon? Even in my own "Secret Record of All Laws," there aren't many spells with such strong crowd control and long duration as those in Genshin Impact…

Therefore, Sugar is truly a perfect complement. As long as Sugar buys you 8 to 10 seconds, you are confident that you can directly challenge the monsters corresponding to the fourth ring!

Thinking about this, Yunxiu was even somewhat glad that Sugar had gone to Mondstadt with her.

Both of them are quite decisive. Even though Sugar looks gentle and weak, if you think about it carefully, how could a girl who can improve hundreds of alchemical spells and frequently collect materials be weak? At most, she might be a little helpless when facing a large number of enemies, but she still came up with the most suitable solution. Even without Yunxiu coming to rescue her, it's highly likely that after Sugar crushes the item, Abedo can easily kill all the Fatui and rescue Sugar...

So the two of them brushed the pack animals' fur, packed their luggage, and put on the saddle. Then they found Captain Shi and got the remaining 30 packs of compressed rations that Mora had bought the day before. After packing their luggage, the two of them prepared to set off.

Before setting off, the pack animal rubbed its big head against Sugar, indicating that she could collect her reward. Sugar carefully used various small tools that appeared out of nowhere to scrape off some keratin and collect some fur.