Genshin Impact: A Mortal's Ascension to Godhood

Li Tao sat quietly on the chair in the Qun Yu Pavilion - he could feel that there was a soft cushion under his butt, which made it very comfortable to sit on.

In order to prevent himself from saying the wrong thing, Li Tao kept his mouth shut and pretended to be an expert, letting Ningguang or Yanfei speak first.

After all, he studied computer science in college, so he couldn’t teach Ningguang any programming code, right? Moreover, he was too bad at college, playing Genshin Impact every day and barely managed to pass the course - he didn’t think he could outsmart an experienced person like Ningguang.

"I'm sure you two have already learned from the letter I sent you. I have something to discuss with you two."

Ningguang sat behind the desk, her chest straightened, her delicate face full of seriousness: "This matter is related to the Seven Stars Selection Meeting at the end of the year."

Yan Fei also sat upright, with her hands folded on her thighs, looking like a quiet lady. Hearing Ningguang's words, Yan Fei asked, "Lord Ningguang, what are your specific plans for this Seven Stars Selection Meeting? You should be choosing to be re-elected, right?"

This was only natural. After all, although Ningguang had white hair, she was still in her prime, so it wouldn't matter if she was re-elected as a Seven-Star for another four or five terms.

As for the hair color, hey, isn't it the unique color of hair in the two-dimensional world? If all the characters in the original god had the same hair color, it would definitely become a hot spot for criticism.

"Well, of course I will choose to run for re-election." Ningguang admitted this without hesitation, "Even if you are the former Seven Stars, you have to follow the procedures during the Seven Stars Selection Meeting."

“Originally I was supposed to form a team, write a team selection plan, and carry out related activities according to the plan, but the situation this year is a little different…”

At this point, Ningguang paused for a rare moment, with a solemn look on her face: "This year, Liyue has been infiltrated and invaded by the Kingdom of Winter many times, and there have been many secret clashes between the two countries. As a result, two factions have split within Liyue—"

"One group was very angry about what Zhidong had done, and demanded that Liyue expel all Zhidong merchants and ban the caravans, ships, and goods from Zhidong. At the same time, they also wanted to thoroughly investigate all Zhidong spies in the country to show Liyue's determination.

Another group of people think that there is no need to go so far, because Zhidong has already apologized for the various incidents that happened in Liyue, and the normal business exchanges between Liyue and Zhidong should not be affected. "

"It sounds like a normal factional struggle." Yan Fei was a little confused. "During the selection meeting, Lord Ningguang, are you trying to win over any of the factions?"

Ningguang said with a headache: "No, it's not that simple. I just said that this is just the fuse of the matter."

"In fact, different people have different political views within the Seven Stars and Eight Gates. In addition to the disagreement on how to deal with the winter, people also argue endlessly on other issues—"

"For example, the Food Festival. Mr. Li Tao, you suggested that I abolish the Food Festival and merge it with the Monthly Festival. This is indeed a good idea. But the Chamber of Commerce, whose interests were damaged, opposed this because they could make more money from a new festival than from two festivals combined."

Shouldn't that mean they don't know how to market?

Li Tao wanted to complain about this, but Ningguang continued in a deep voice, "The most important thing is that they could have organized the food festival without any problems, but this time we took all their rights back and let us select people to form the food festival organizing committee. They are making less money and can no longer make decisions about the food festival. Of course, they are not satisfied."

This is the point. Li Tao was about to speak, but found that what he wanted to say had already been said by Ningguang, so he continued to keep silent.

"There are also issues related to cultural education. Kaiyangxing's ideas have always conflicted with me."

At this point, Ningguang shook her head and said, "I think that what Liyue needs is high-quality talents. Therefore, we must strengthen higher education and establish colleges or academies to cultivate talents who can enter the Eight Gates or become Seven Star candidates."

"But Kaiyangxing believes that Liyue should pay more attention to basic education, build more private schools or community schools, and offer more courses, with the primary goal of training grassroots staff."

"It's not that his idea is wrong...but does Liyue really have the stickiness to train and retain most of the grassroots staff? The training cycle of a generation is very long. Maybe by then I will have retired from the position of Seven Stars, and those people will not have been trained yet."

"So it's better to concentrate resources on training elites and ensuring that the key executives are of high quality and can take over our responsibilities. Only then can we consider promoting basic education."

Li Tao looked at Ningguang who was talking so eloquently and felt a little speechless: No, sister, you already have your own ideas, why bother asking us?

But Li Tao may not have realized that sometimes people are not without opinions, but lack the courage to make decisions.

No matter how resolute Ningguang appears, she is still a woman. It's not discrimination against women, but women's hormones and body structure determine that she still needs some external force to assist her, and her own inner will still lacks a little strength.

“So—” Ningguang changed the subject and threw the question to Yan Fei and Li Tao, “If you were me, what would you do if you encountered these things? How to deal with these recent events is also a challenge for the Seven Star Candidates.”

"How to do it? Well..." Yan Fei replied, "First of all, it's about diplomatic relations with Zhidong. I personally support maintaining normal relations with Zhidong. If the merchants of Zhidong are expelled, it is likely to cause greater friction between the two countries. But there is no need for us to tear our faces apart with Zhidong. Aren't there Mondstadt and Fontaine between us?"

"The second is the conflict of interest with the Chamber of Commerce. I don't think Seven Stars needs to explain anything to the Chamber of Commerce, because we have the right to interpret the relevant laws. As long as we form a committee reasonably and legally to organize the [Chef King Contest], no one can criticize this."

"Finally, there are issues related to culture and education... If I were Lady Ningguang, I would stick to my opinion, but I would not propose a corresponding bill and ask the Seven Stars Conference to pass it."

Ningguang looked at Yan Fei and asked softly, "Because it's unnecessary?"

"Yes, Master Ningguang, there is no need for that. You also know that such a bill will not be passed. It involves a dispute between two Seven Stars. Once the other Seven Stars take sides, they will fall into a situation of division. At that time, the rumors of discord among the Seven Stars will be confirmed."

"Hmm, hmm. What you said makes sense, Yan Fei." Ningguang seemed a little absent-minded.

Li Tao keenly noticed that Ningguang was not that satisfied with Yan Fei's answer.

At the same time, he also put himself in her shoes and thought: If I were Ningguang, how would I deal with all the things that happened in the past year?

——First, think about what kind of person Ningguang is.

After thinking for a while, Li Tao put forward his own opinion: "Lawyer Yan Fei, I think it is normal for the Seven Stars to quarrel with each other."

"Ah?" Yan Fei was a little surprised. "But won't that lead to the government issuing problematic decrees?"

Li Tao concluded: "In fact, whether it is [diplomatic relations with Zhidong], [coordination of interests with the Chamber of Commerce] or [conflict of ideas with Kaiyangxing on cultural education], they are essentially manifestations of insufficient central power."

“Oh? Go on.” Ningguang’s beautiful eyes lit up and she leaned forward, indicating that she was listening carefully.

Li Tao waved his hand and said, "This is easy to understand. If Liyue is still ruled by the Geo Emperor, then the answers to these questions will be clear, right?"

Yan Fei and Ning Guang immediately began to associate and then understood. Indeed, if it was that Rock King Emperor, he would not have to consider these things at all.

Diplomacy? I'll go directly to the Winter Solstice to reason with the Ice God.

Chamber of Commerce? Have you forgotten who is protecting your business?

Cultural education? We, Morax, don’t even charge for our services. So where should we focus our resources when establishing education? Why not just do it all?

Li Tao said at this time: "If the power of the entire government is centralized, then the efficiency will be very high, and similar things will not hinder the operation of the government. But now it is not possible. Now the political power of the entire Liyue is dispersed among the seven stars and eight gates, so we can't do things like in the past."

Ningguang frowned and asked, "Mr. Li Tao, are you trying to say that the current Liyue ruled by humans is not as good as the Liyue ruled by gods in the past?"

Li Tao didn't dare to respond, he cleverly gave an example: "I dare not make random comments on the rule of Emperor Yanwang, but even gods will gradually be worn out by time. I heard that the ruler of Inazuma on the other side of the sea, Thunder God, wants to build an eternal country, so they have begun to close the country and have no contact with the outside world. Isn't this the disadvantage of divine rule?"

"I mean, God has His way, and man has his way."

"First, we should focus on the main issue - since the central power is not enough, then we should strengthen the central power. Of course, this does not mean that we should invite the emperor back, but we should continue to strengthen the power and cohesion of the Seven Stars and ensure that the Seven Stars can move forward and retreat together on key matters. We can even elect a "talker" who can speak on behalf of others."

"Secondly, within the Seven Stars, the principle of 'fighting but not breaking' should be upheld. In order to protect the rights and interests of other members of the Seven Stars, each member of the Seven Stars can make comments and suggestions to other members of the Seven Stars, but these issues can only be resolved within the Seven Stars and cannot be raised to the legal level. On this point, I hold the same position as Lawyer Yan Fei."

"But that doesn't mean that the Seven Stars can't argue with each other. On the contrary, there should be ideological oppositions among the Seven Stars, and the Seven Stars need to rely on different viewpoints to attract support from different groups of people. Take the conflict of ideas between Master Ningguang and Master Kaiyang about cultural education as an example. You should express your respective views, attract people's attention, and let the people of Liyue participate in the discussion, but formal legislation needs to be passed by all Seven Stars."

"In my hometown, someone once said: 'The essence of politics is dancing on eggs.' I don't completely agree with this statement, but people have factions, and different factions have different demands. Balancing these demands is the key to the entire Seven Stars Selection Committee."

Between a person who can only make a political show according to a plan and a person who can balance the interests of all parties and dance on two feet, the latter is stronger no matter how you look at it.

Ningguang couldn't help but applaud. "That's very well said. Mr. Li Tao, have you ever been involved in relevant political affairs?"

"No, no, no, it's just some paper talk..." Li Tao shook his head quickly.

"Even if it's just talk, it's a valuable vision!" Yan Fei also praised, "I can't come up with such a high-level view. Very impressive, Mr. Li Tao!"

Li Tao was a little embarrassed - he was just repeating what others had said, what kind of foresight is that? However, the essence of politics is indeed the relationship between people, and this is always correct.

At this time, Ningguang also stood up and looked up at the roof of the Qun Yu Pavilion: "Mr. Li Tao, I haven't told you the story of my Qun Yu Pavilion before, right?"

Li Tao was stunned for a moment, then he bowed slightly and said, "Even if Lord Ningguang didn't tell me, as an adventurer, I have heard a little bit about it... At the beginning, the Qun Yu Pavilion was just an ordinary pumice platform. Later, you spent a lot of manpower and material resources to build this extremely magnificent private palace."

"Yes, in the beginning, the Jade Pavilion was very small, so small that it couldn't accommodate a few people. But now, the Jade Pavilion has become large enough to accommodate so many gold, silver, jewelry, cultural relics and antiques, and even has such a wide space left."

Ningguang smiled and said, "But my ambitions will not be limited by this. Do you know what I want to do?"

Uh, continue to expand the Qun Yu Pavilion?

Yan Fei complained slightly in her heart, not noticing the desire and excitement in Ningguang's words.

But Li Tao heard it - he realized that Ningguang wanted to use her identity and public office to bring more innovations to Liyue and change the entire Liyue.

Yes, Ningguang certainly supports human rule, because only with human rule can her talents and ambitions be better utilized.

So, Ningguang said: "I have a dream."

“I dream that Liyue can progress and transform in many aspects and at many levels, and become a true, cohesive country.”

“Everyone can get a job in Liyue through their own efforts, and Liyue welcomes them with the most positive attitude.”

“Businessmen are indispensable to this enterprising road. With money, people have the motivation to act.”

"We do not welcome any beggars, vagrants, thieves, or secret agents or spies here... The people must pursue their own beautiful tomorrow."

“Or, the pursuit of excellence.”

Progress, development, excellence—this is Ningguang’s vision for Liyue’s future.

“I’m not sure whether I can realize my dream.” Ningguang briefly described her thoughts and then said, “But as long as I am above the Seven Stars, I will not give up.”

"After that, I need to write a team selection plan... I hope you can help me complete it."

"Of course, the compensation will be paid as usual."