On the other side.
The Scions of the Canopy's tribe.
"If you want to fish out the Ancient Name, I suggest you go find Vichama for help."
After hearing Mualani and the others' intentions, the Scions of the Canopy's leader Wayna recommended a capable person from the tribe to them.
"Vichama is a legendary surveyor in the tribe; having him capture Kaiulani's Ancient Name is indeed the most suitable."
Kinich, who was also from the Scions of the Canopy, agreed with this idea, but he still had some doubts: "But I've heard that starting a few years ago, Vichama's condition has been a bit off."
"Off?" Paimon blinked her eyes, asking curiously, "Did something happen?"
"A few years ago, when the Pyro Archon wasn't the current lord yet, Vichama won the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame together with his good friend." Mentioning this sad past event, Wayna's tone grew heavy.
"Doesn't that mean they had to participate in the Night Warden Wars?" Thanks to the explanations from Kachina, Mualani, and the others, Paimon now knew the specifics of Natlan's most important events.
"That's right." Wayna nodded, then continued, "Vichama's good friend died in the Night Warden Wars, and Vichama became depressed because of it, living in grief for a very long time."
"I see..." Hearing that it was the matter of a friend's death, Paimon's heart also felt very sad.
But soon after, she noticed something strange: "Huh, that's not right!"
"Isn't it that after the Night Warden Wars, as long as one person survives, all those who sacrificed in the war can be resurrected?"
"Vichama is still alive now, which means they won that war, so that comrade should have been able to survive too, right?" Paimon asked, puzzled.
"Paimon, it's not just about one person surviving to resurrect the others; the premise is also winning that war," Kinich explained softly from the side.
"B-But..." Paimon scratched her hair, her expression even more confused. "Isn't Vichama still alive? Since he's alive, doesn't that mean they won?"
It couldn't be that Vichama was a deserter, with everyone else dying in the battle against the Abyss monsters while he alone escaped, right?
"In fact, that war was lost," Wayna explained gravely. "Before the Night Warden Wars began, the Abyss monsters suddenly launched an attack on our tribe, and Vichama was injured as a result."
"The team at the time and the previous Pyro Archon both believed that Vichama's condition made him unsuitable to participate in the Night Warden Wars, so they had Vichama stay in the tribe while the rest went to subjugate the Abyss monsters."
"However, that time the number of Abyss monsters was especially large, and without Vichama's prior scouting, the team misestimated the numbers and were all swallowed up by countless monsters."
"Because the war was a failure, those people could not be revived using the Ode of Resurrection."
"Since then, Vichama has believed that it was because he was injured and no one scouted the monsters' numbers in advance that led to the team's total annihilation."
Wayna recounted the sequence of events.
"Such a thing actually happened..." Paimon's brows drooped slightly, revealing a sad and sorrowful expression. "Because he couldn't participate in the war, his companions lost their lives; he must be very sad, right?"
"Actually, things like this happened frequently in the past," Kinich explained. "After the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame was suspended, I once subjugated monsters appearing in the territory together with Mavuika."
"The Abyss monsters are numerous, and sometimes their numbers even change."
"In the last time I helped subjugate monsters, the Abyss monsters even transformed into the appearances of familiar people to deceive us, trying to create psychological pressure on us."
"So, even the elites who emerged victorious from the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame still face the risk of total annihilation when confronting cunning Abyss monsters."
"It's only after the suspension of the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame—first with me and Mavuika subjugating the monsters, and then entirely handled by the Pyro Archon—that no more sacrifices have occurred," Kinich said calmly.
[So the Night Warden Wars can still result in total annihilation?]
[I thought this mechanism where as long as one person survives, the whole team can be resurrected, meant it was impossible to wipe out.]
[It turns out Natlan has a lot of tragedies too.]
[No wonder the Pyro Archon suspended the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame; he just didn't want any more sacrifices like his parents or that Vichama's friend.]
[Wasn't it because the Pyro Archon discovered the Ode of Resurrection didn't work anymore that he suspended the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame?]
[The Ode of Resurrection not working is one factor; not wanting more sacrifices is another factor.]
[When I was reading Mualani's character story, I saw in Character Story 1 that the Pyro Archon, before becoming a god, had asked Mualani what would happen if the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame was shut down.]
[At that time, the Pyro Archon hadn't entered the Sacred Flame to receive the inheritance yet, so he probably still didn't know that the Ode of Resurrection couldn't take effect.]
[In other words, the Pyro Archon actually wanted to suspend the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame from the very beginning, and the only reason that can be thought of right now is that he didn't want any more sacrifices like his parents.]
[Detailed, bro.]
[Super detailed.]
[Genshin 5.0 only launched today; how can you see the character stories already?]
[Character Story 1 can be viewed directly; the later ones require friendship level unlocks.]
[There's such a thing? I'm going to check it out right now.]
[But knowing the Ode of Resurrection doesn't work isn't necessarily tied to becoming the Pyro Archon, right? Maybe the Pyro Archon knew the leylines were malfunctioning even before becoming a god, so he wanted to suspend the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame?]
[That's possible, but currently, miHoYo hasn't provided evidence that the Pyro Archon knew the Ode of Resurrection had lost its effect before becoming a god.]
[From a writing perspective, since Mavuika mentioned that Rios might have lost both parents leading to his aversion to the Night Warden Wars, it will definitely be reflected in the plot.]
[Combining the settings given so far, the Pyro Archon's actions, and Mualani's character story, it's more reasonable that the Pyro Archon wanted to suspend the competition from the start.]
[Rather than speculating here, it's better to wait two more versions until the Pyro Archon enters the gacha, then we'll know the truth.]
[Nahida and Furina both entered the card pool in x.2; following this pattern, the Pyro Archon should enter in version 5.2.]
[Just two more versions, and we can learn all the truth from the Pyro Archon's character story.]
[Can someone answer my doubt: why, after suspending the Pilgrimage of the Return of the Sacred Flame, did the Pyro Archon first have Kinich and Mavuika subjugate the monsters, but then handle it himself?]
[Maybe the Pyro Archon had something to do at the time, so he first entrusted the monster subjugation to Kinich and them?]
[I think the reason might be more than that.]
[Kinich just said that the Abyss sometimes turns into the appearance of close ones, forcing warriors to kill things that look exactly like their loved ones to create mental pressure on them.]
[And Kinich also said that after encountering this situation, he never received another commission from the Pyro Archon to subjugate Abyss monsters.]
[I guess the Pyro Archon originally planned to leave everything to the powerful Mavuika and Kinich.]
[But after learning that Abyss monsters can also turn into human appearances, he didn't want Kinich and Mavuika to go through the pain of personally killing their loved ones again, so he handled it all himself.]
[Wait, is this Pyro Archon this kind?]