Time rolled back a little.
Flynn split off a portion of his origin and fed it to Teyvat's planetary will.
Since the entire planet was its body, and even the atmosphere counted as part of the planet, in theory, he could have simply scattered that origin into the air. But to be safe, he sent it into the earth instead.
The effect was immediate.
The planetary will, which was already in such a miserable state that one could only wonder how it was still alive, suddenly showed signs of vigor. From the world's perspective, some of its most vital regions began recovering at once.
The amount of origin was not large. After all, his world-incarnation had only just been born. It had no real reserves to speak of, and it still had to preserve its own health. Even if he had wanted to give more, he could not.
But for Teyvat, it was already enough to drag its condition back from the brink of death to something relatively safe.
More importantly, because of the immense gap in rank between them, the effect of absorbing that fragment of Flynn's origin was not a one-time boost. It was as if Teyvat had also gained a passive healing effect. It was not especially obvious in the short term, but it would matter greatly over time.
[Thank... you, newborn... great existence.]
After reviving, Teyvat's first response was to express its gratitude.
Like someone long bedridden, its condition was still far from good, and it had only just awakened. Even conveying a simple thanks came haltingly.
But it had to do so.
The moment it absorbed that fragment of origin, it had immediately understood both what had happened to itself and what Flynn's rank truly was.
[What can I... do for you?]
After expressing gratitude, it sent him a question, one with a very clear meaning.
It wanted to repay him.
Faced with such initiative, Flynn was briefly surprised. Then, in the next instant, he gained a clearer understanding of himself, and of how wills like these interacted with one another.
Was Teyvat being so proactive because it was kindhearted?
Not really.
It was trying to latch onto a greater power.
Flynn preferred to describe beings like this as straightforward, but from the perspective of an ordinary human, perhaps savage would be a more accurate word.
Whether it was a planetary will like Teyvat's, or a higher existence like a universe's will, these macro-level wills possessed no moral framework. The strong devouring the weak was the norm.
The reason Flynn dared reveal himself and seek investment without fearing he would simply be swallowed clean was that, in the face of the universe, his scale was still too small.
A person dying of thirst might fight desperately for a single drop of water, but they would not bother with one newborn water molecule by itself. There was no point.
In the face of Teyvat, however, what Flynn relied on was his rank.
Between worlds, only equals in rank needed to compare scale. The reason Teyvat could absorb that bit of his origin was not because it had the ability to do so by force.
It was because Flynn allowed it.
And so the situation became very simple.
Teyvat had realized that this newborn higher existence had not only refrained from trying to plunder it, regardless of whether newborn Flynn was even capable of that yet, but had actually shown it goodwill.
To put it bluntly, Teyvat wanted to board his ship early.
After all, the core logic of a world will was only twofold: survival first, growth second. By following a newborn higher existence like Flynn, it could secure both.
[Hmm...]
Flynn reorganized his thoughts before deciding what to say next.
The other side was being so proactive that all the elaborate lines he had prepared in advance suddenly became useless. He had even been ready with a whole string of dramatic persuasion, the sort of thing a perpetually online Inazuman might come up with, like: Teyvat, you wouldn't want to disappear from the universe completely, would you?
Now none of that was needed.
Which meant he could probably raise the scale of his demands a little.
Originally, what he had wanted to convey was something like: Help me grow, invest in me, and I'll bring you rich returns. Want to take the gamble?
But now...
[Become my subordinate. Hide my existence and keep the universe's instinctive operation from noticing me. Provide resources for my growth, and once I'm through my newborn stage, I'll take you with me.]
[I am willing to serve you.]
Teyvat answered without the slightest hesitation.
Judging by the smoothness of its response, its ability to communicate was recovering quickly.
Right after that, Flynn sensed the pure white radiance surrounding him, the one that had been continuously pressing inward, begin to fade.
Teyvat was helping him conceal his world-incarnation through the instincts of its planetary will.
It was like a disciple of the holy land using their own residence to hide someone from the detection of the great formation.
Relative to the universe, this was undoubtedly a form of betrayal.
But for Teyvat, it was simply the inevitable choice for survival.
At the same time, the strain of doing this was clearly not small. Flynn could see that the condition Teyvat had only just restored to a safe threshold worsened again by several degrees.
Under normal circumstances, that should have been the end of what it could do.
Then came a thunderous roar, not of sound, but of laws themselves trembling.
Teyvat made another move that left Flynn stunned, and this time, the shock far surpassed the last.
If he had possessed a face at that moment, he would have been staring slack-jawed as he watched Teyvat tear off a portion of its own remaining broken limb, transforming it into a crimson crystal.
That crystal melted into the outer membrane of his world-incarnation and formed a protective layer over it.
Along with it came one final message:
[I am sorry, my lord. The expenditure was greater than expected. I need to sleep for a while first. Please accept this portion of authority. It will help you mobilize part of my power, as well as part of a power that was never originally mine, reducing the chance that using your own strength will attract attention.]
[Also, it may be able to help you in other ways as well...]
Once he finished receiving that message, Flynn fully understood what that crimson crystal actually was.
It was the other half of the Pyro Authority, the half that remained after the Heavenly Principles seized the first half.
One could also call it the greater authority over the Pyro element.
This thing ought to have been in the hands of the Pyro Sovereign. But the first Pyro Sovereign had fallen. Although remnants of its body and fragments of its consciousness were suspected to have fused with the Abyss, Teyvat itself obviously would never acknowledge that. Whether the planetary will was asleep or awake made no difference. That half of the Pyro Authority would inevitably return and wait to be passed on to the next Pyro Sovereign.
But since no new Pyro Sovereign yet existed, the newly awakened planetary will had temporarily entrusted it to Flynn instead.