Do I really have to fight Diluc?
Lu Heng glanced at Tartaglia, his eyes filled with a hint of pity.
Silly child, your spending power is nowhere near Diluc's!
Lu Heng could already picture Tartaglia getting beaten up later.
With Diluc's set of skills… if you really fought him, you could only say it'd be extremely troublesome.
Approaching noon.
Diluc's equipment tier had been upgraded to Tier 5!
Tier 5 – Platinum!
The platinum-crafted equipment was exquisitely refined. Just a glance was enough to make anyone feel its nobility.
The sheer amount of money spent was terrifying.
This was the power of whaling!
After upgrading his equipment to Tier 5, Diluc still had plenty of cards left.
He continued upgrading.
Pile after pile of cards were dismantled, converted into energy.
The experience bar for his equipment tier slowly inched forward.
"Feeling the pressure?"
Venti grinned and patted Tartaglia's shoulder.
If Tartaglia said he wasn't feeling pressured, he'd be lying.
With a serious expression, he nodded, then added, "But don't think you can scare me off!"
Ten minutes later.
Diluc's equipment tier reached Tier 5 – 47%!
If described in terms of cultivation realms, it'd be something like: Tier 5 – Fourth Heaven – Seventh Layer!
If this were a xianxia novel, such a classification would definitely get roasted.
But using percentages made it much easier to understand—just 47%.
Every 10% was a minor stage.
Seeing this, Tartaglia couldn't help but rub his forehead.
Diluc's equipment was now two minor stages ahead of his!
No joke, each minor stage was incredibly hard to improve!
This meant Diluc's "realm" had already surpassed his!
But Tartaglia wasn't actually scared.
If raw numbers alone could intimidate him, then wouldn't he cower at the sight of any strong opponent?
Challenging the strong was the path Tartaglia pursued to grow stronger.
Diluc didn't have many cards left to upgrade his equipment further.
He only kept a portion of Tier 4 and Tier 3 cards. As for Tier 1 and Tier 2, he only retained those with particularly useful effects that could be applied in specific situations.
After a quick tally, Diluc had fewer than 1,000 cards left, most of which were reserved for the maids, like Adelinde, to protect the Dawn Winery.
If Diluc's stats were quantified, they'd look like this:
[Diluc]
Equipment Tier: Tier 5 – Platinum (47%)Card Slots: 5 Gold, 7 PurpleResonance Effects:Tier 5 Resonance – Level 2 (20% resonance boost)Tier 4 Resonance – Level 3 (30% resonance boost)Extras: Pyro Vision
Meanwhile, Tartaglia's stats were as follows:
[Tartaglia]
Equipment Tier: Tier 5 – Platinum (21%)Card Slots: 4 Gold, 8 Purple (The Crimson Frog's card is a summon and doesn't require a slot to activate.)Resonance Effects:Tier 5 Resonance – Level 1 (10%)Tier 4 Resonance – Level 3 (30%)Extras: Hydro Vision, Electro Delusion
On paper, Tartaglia stood no chance against Diluc.
It all came down to whether [Against All Odds] could truly turn the tide.
"Shall we go?" Tartaglia gestured.
"Let's." Diluc nodded.
"Time for some fun!" Venti laughed.
"Boss Lu, coming?" Zhongli asked.
Lu Heng shook his head. "I'll pass. You can livestream it for me."
"Livestream?"
Zhongli pondered for a moment.
With his abilities, he could indeed provide a close-up livestream. He'd just need to shield himself and the phone with a Jade Shield.
"Very well." Zhongli agreed.
"Alright, go fight. I'm heading to Fontaine."
Lu Heng was interested in the spar between Diluc and Tartaglia, but he was even more interested in watching it with his two wives.
"Then let's set off!" Venti was eager to watch too.
Though he didn't involve himself in governance, he still protected Mondstadt.
And now that such a powerhouse had emerged in Mondstadt, he couldn't help but feel pleased.
(Read exciting novels on Faloo!)
Fontaine.
As soon as Lu Heng arrived, he saw that last night's loser had already recovered quite well.
She stood there, arms crossed, her chin slightly raised as she gave him a challenging smirk.
Clearly, she wasn't convinced.
But it didn't matter.
Let her act tough for now. By nightfall, she'd be on her knees again.
"There's a fight happening. Wanna watch?" Lu Heng asked.
Furina blinked in confusion.
"What kind of fight?" Focalors inquired.
"Huh?"
Lu Heng explained.
Focalors immediately grew intrigued.
The person who had benefited the most from the cards was undoubtedly Furina.
She had gone from an ordinary human to a god-level existence!
Now, two people who had heavily invested in cards were about to fight—how could she not be interested?
Furina was also curious.
She had never actually tested the limits of her power.
After all… she had no opponents!
Tartaglia didn't dare fight her, Neuvillette was swamped with work, and Focalors… wasn't much of a fighter and had no interest in it.
That left only Lu Heng.
But [The Will of the King] had no effect on him. She couldn't gauge her limits against him—she could only be measured by him.
"Alright, let's get ready to watch."
Lu Heng had a direct line to Zhongli, so he simply started a video call.
The products from the Civilization Core were incredibly advanced—the signal was rock-solid, with near-zero latency!
Watching via video call wasn't as thrilling as being there in person, but it was more than enough. They were all experts—any missing details could be filled in mentally.
Furina might not be able to, but Lu Heng would narrate for her.
Tartaglia chose the usual spot.
This time, Zhongli took action.
The Jade Shield wasn't limited to protecting just one person. When fully expanded, it could cover an entire city.
Zhongli simply drew a circle around their battlefield.
A shield covering such a large area would naturally have reduced defensive capabilities, but it was more than enough to prevent collateral damage.
This way, everyone could rest easy!
The moment Zhongli made his move, Diluc instantly realized his identity.
He was stunned.
He never expected to meet such a legendary figure here!
"Surprised?"
Venti grinned, wiggling his eyebrows dramatically. "Actually, I'm Barbatos! Shocking, right?"
Diluc: "…"
Honestly, it was unexpected and hard to believe.
But!
Diluc wasn't shocked by his carefree demeanor—he was just surprised to see him here and that Venti was the Anemo Archon, Barbatos.
For those who knew the truth, this was what the real Anemo Archon looked like!
But could this be publicized?
Absolutely not!
No matter what, he was still Mondstadt's ruler, the great Lord Barbatos!
At the very least, compared to the neighboring Geo Archon, this kind of image would drag down the dignity of the Seven.
Thus, the Church had compiled countless books about the Anemo Archon, crafting an image of freedom without sacrificing divinity.
As a result, Venti's public image was completely different from Barbatos.
No one could deny that Barbatos, when handling serious matters, was indeed a magnificent and noble god.
But his personality in private… don't even mention it. If you dared say a word—
Knock knock!
"Open up! Knights of Favonius! Copy the Scriptures 10,000 times!"
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T/N:
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