I Became A Hilichurl

Lisa paused in thought, then gave her answer.

She raised her hands to her full, rounded chest, closed her eyes, and spoke softly, "Close your eyes, raise your hands upward and slightly outward in front of your chest, and silently say 'artifact' in your heart—then you'll be able to see your artifacts."

Victor Wang recognized the gesture—he'd seen characters in the game do the same on the artifact interface.

Following her instructions, he tried it himself—and sure enough, he felt five artifacts slowly rotating around him. But… something about them was off.

A pitch-black crown, a cup like a goblet but black as night, a dark hourglass, a jet-black feather, and a shadowy flower…

Artifacts in the game don't look like this when none are equipped… Is this the mark of a cursed gacha draw?

He examined them closely. These black artifacts weren't physical—they were silhouettes—but they occupied his artifact slots.

When he tried to interact with them mentally, a forceful pushback repelled his consciousness.

"What's usually in an artifact slot if you don't equip one?" he asked.

"If nothing's equipped, it's simply empty—blank," Lisa replied casually.

I've never equipped any artifacts, so where did these come from? Could they be leftovers from this body's previous owner? No—that didn't make sense.

After purifying the Anemo element, Victor Wang was sure this was his body. That ruled out any "previous owner" theory.

He couldn't make sense of it.

"How do I equip or unequip artifacts?"

"That's something that needs a bit of explaining," Lisa said. "There are five ranks of artifacts in Teyvat. The ones you can buy with Mora are only ranks one and two. Do you know why?"

Before Victor Wang could respond, she smiled knowingly and continued, "Artifacts of rank three and above will dissipate when taken out of a domain—unless equipped. Likewise, if you unequip a rank three or higher artifact outside a domain, it vanishes.

"To equip or unequip artifacts, all you need is a thought—but always be mindful of your surroundings."

Victor Wang had been about to try removing one of the black artifacts but thought better of it after hearing that. "There's really such a rule?"

"Even three-year-olds in Teyvat know that." Lisa gave him a teasing smile.

"R-Really? Hahaha…"

After thanking Lisa, Victor Wang left the library and wandered the streets of the expanded city, looking for the Liyue merchant Shiliu, known for selling artifacts.

These independent vendors were harder to find without a fixed stall, but he eventually tracked her down.

"How much are the artifacts?"

"Two thousand Mora each. It's rare to see someone actually buying artifacts these days."

After paying ten thousand Mora, Shiliu opened her oversized backpack. Inside was a chaotic jumble of colorful artifacts—all from adventurer sets.

"Take your pick."

Not bothering to carefully select, Victor Wang grabbed five random pieces. They were all low-rank anyway—bound to be replaced in the future.

In his hands, the artifacts felt completely weightless. If not for seeing them, he'd have thought his hands were empty.

He silently said "equip," and the adventurer's bandana vanished from his hand.

After equipping all five artifacts, he closed his eyes and made the same gesture Lisa taught him. Five glowing green artifacts now floated in front of the shadowy black ones, making the dark silhouettes appear as mere backdrops.

But then the black artifacts seemed provoked—they emitted dark energy, pressing the green glow back into the ordinary artifacts, making them appear as if they themselves were shining black.

There was no visible stat screen, but Victor Wang did feel a slight increase in his perception.

Stronger mental focus? But the gain is so minor. Is it because of those black artifacts?

He asked Shiliu, "These aren't fake, are they? Why are the effects so weak?"

Shiliu panicked, thinking he was about to cause trouble. "Two-star artifacts are just like that! That's why they're cheap and no one buys them…"

Victor Wang unequipped one artifact, and the black one behind it stopped radiating energy.

He bought another artifact and tested whether he could stack them. As expected, the newly equipped artifact simply replaced the previous one.

So only the black artifacts are special.

The good news was: while they occupied slots, they didn't block new equipment.

Satisfied for now, Victor Wang used the remaining daylight to head to Whispering Woods, recalling the section on Elemental Control from Understanding Elemental Energy.

*"Using raw elemental energy directly as an attack is irrational and wasteful, as pure elemental energy isn't particularly destructive.

Now, focus on imagining elemental power in your hand, and then visualize it becoming a form that matches your element's nature. For Cryo, imagine ice. For Pyro, imagine fire."*

"What about wind?"

Victor Wang gathered a cyan swirl of energy in his hand and began pondering wind's form. But wind… has no form.

He remembered the cyan cocoon Venti had wrapped around him. No, that was Anemo energy.

Then he thought of the wind barrier Venti had created—he couldn't recreate that either. Is this too hard?

Then he recalled the breeze Venti had conjured to carry the Tail of Boreas—finally, the energy in his palm became wind.

Since it was transformed from elemental energy, it wasn't completely invisible—it shimmered faintly in cyan. As soon as it formed, it drifted into the air and vanished.

"Hey—don't run!"

Victor Wang kept trying, forming wind over and over, but it would always escape his grasp.

"Is there such a thing as still wind? Of course not. I was trying to make motionless wind. How dumb."

It took him half an hour to realize this simple truth. Refocusing, he imagined the wind like an ouroboros—a snake biting its own tail—and successfully formed a loop of wind spinning in his palm.

If he stopped feeding it elemental energy, it would dissipate. But as long as he maintained it, the wind would keep turning.

"I did it."

Victor Wang pointed his palm at his face—a gentle breeze blew across it. "I've invented a wind-powered hair dryer! Hahahaha!"

He changed its direction, blowing it toward the leaves nearby, making them rustle loudly.

Ideas surged in his mind. He tried shaping the wind into a blade—but failed.

This is harder than I thought…

Sighing, he took out his pocket watch—it was already 8 p.m. Knowing better than to rush mastery, he returned to Mondstadt and had a hearty meal.

Back at the inn, he unexpectedly ran into Lumine and Paimon.

They entered the Goth Grand Hotel together and stopped at adjacent doors.

Paimon flitted between the two room doors. "Wow! Victor Wang, you're staying right across from us?"

Victor Wang remembered a morning he thought he'd heard their voices—guess he hadn't imagined it.

"I just found out myself."

"Looks like we'll be neighbors for a while. Let's look out for each other!"

Paimon, always deciding things for Lumine… Gotcha this time.

"I heard Lumine can use Anemo. I just acquired Anemo power recently and still don't really know how to use it. Could you teach me?"

"Uh…" Paimon froze, not expecting Victor Wang to be so blunt.

"Well, I've got free time lately, so… sure." Lumine, always the kind one, didn't refuse. "Are you free tomorrow?"

Victor Wang patted his chest. "Anytime, anywhere!"

"Then see you tomorrow."