Stepping onto Ritou, Reisen Riou felt his body hum with joy.
Every minute, his nerves extended, weaving deeper into his form.
His RAM ticked up +1KB every couple of minutes. No sudden clarity or lightning-fast thoughts, but his control over his body grew tangibly stronger.
No illusion—this was real, reflected on his panel.
The group reached the Ritou Shrine without issue. Its full name was the Ritou Branch of the Grand Narukami Shrine, but for simplicity, it was just Ritou Shrine. Beyond venerating the Electro Archon, it housed Reisen Riou's spirit tablet.
The shrine sat on a Ley Line node, etched with arcane arrays. The Ley Line energy here was noticeably livelier than elsewhere.
For Reisen Riou, the +1KB RAM gain sped up by about a tenth—a modest boost, but still a drop in the bucket.
The shrine's arrays amplified his Ley Line senses, letting him perceive the island's Ley Lines and vague surface details within a dozen kilometers.
With a miko's ritual, he could likely sense all of Ritou.
Ritou had one large and two smaller mountains, the largest at its center. The Ritou Shrine sat at its base—perfectly central to the island.
Good thing it wasn't higher up. No roads climbed the peak, making access a hassle.
Trailing the Miko of Martial Rice, Reisen Riou sensed Ley Line energy being siphoned. "Something's being born up there," he said.
"A mountain spirit," the Miko of Martial Rice replied. "But Lady Yae Miko says it's unlikely to succeed. Teyvat's mountain spirits only form in Liyue. Inazuma's Ley Lines are too weak for such high-tier elemental beings."
"Hm. Tour's done. Back to work," Reisen Riou said.
His job? Be a radar, scanning Ritou's Ley Lines. The shrine's arrays, miko rituals, and rare resources as fuel made it possible.
Thankfully, scans were once a decade—three times a month, not daily.
"Hope you can handle it," the Miko of Martial Rice said, a hint of pity in her tone.
Wait, what?
Before Reisen Riou could process, he was seated at the array's center. The Miko of Martial Rice led the other mikos in a ritual.
His senses exploded. Information fragments from the Ley Lines flooded his mind.
Trained for this, he stayed calm. His brain handled the data with surprising ease.
The thought was fleeting. He focused, tracking the Ley Lines' flow.
Ley Line flow came in three flavors: normal, stagnant, or anomalous.
Normal was fine. Stagnation and anomalies were trouble.
Elite Foot Soldiers could clear stagnation points. Anomalies? Trickier.
But the Grand Narukami Shrine's instructors said anomalies were rare. As expected, Reisen Riou found one heavily stagnant point and two nascent ones.
The Miko of Martial Rice, Anko Kanno, was a decathlon of miko skills.
Kagura dances, prayers, fortune-telling, exorcisms, rituals—her graduation scores ranked among the shrine's best.
She'd even studied naginatajutsu under Baalzebub, a master of Inazuma's martial schools, earning disciple status. No full mastery certificate, but her skill surpassed most schools' top graduates.
As a peak human without a Vision and a senior miko, Anko Kanno was livid about being sent to Ritou as a youkai guardian's deputy.
So, she'd "forgotten" to warn Reisen Riou about the data surge.
A twinge of guilt hit her. Even Yae Miko, a millennial youkai, summoned Tenko and Chiko to share the info flood during such rituals.
To Anko, Ritou's first youkai didn't seem bright. His strength was decent but full of holes. She doubted he was the sage from a century ago.
Her mind wandered, but her hands didn't falter. The ritual proceeded flawlessly.
Then she noticed something off. Reisen Riou looked… relaxed?
Before she could speak, he stroked his chin, conjured a golden Electro map, and stretched it into a 3D model.
Geo elements formed terrain—Ritou's landscape, sans forests or rivers, but spot-on in shape.
"Did he map the entire island that fast?" Anko thought.
Reisen Riou's voice snapped her out of it.
"Look here. This canyon has a long-stagnant point. I suspect a Mitachurl Thunderhelm might be there."
"These two forest spots are newer, just Slime-level monsters."
Anko hesitated. "Mitachurl Thunderhelms rarely appear on Ritou. But if that's your call, I'll scout to confirm."
"Need me along? My sword and spear skills are trash, but I'm decent with a bow," Reisen Riou offered.
Anko declined.
She didn't trust him to keep up.
Annoyed as she was, she knew his value. The Ritou Shrine revolved around him. Human mikos like her were rare but replaceable. A youkai tied to Ritou's Ley Lines? Irreplaceable. In Inazuma's millennia, he was Ritou's first successful youkai.
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