Genshin Impact: Helping Keqing Find Her Way

[Genshin Impact future world; plot-focused; puzzles; light novel] Special note: The plot of this novel may differ somewhat from the game’s original story. If that bothers you, please move along! Five years after the Cryo Archon Barnabas failed to unite the seven Gnoses and challenge Celestia’s order. Chen Huai, the protagonist burdened by a secret past, has grown up in Shimen Village, an obscure hamlet in Liyue. He has also come under the watch of a mysterious force. A childhood upheaval drove his father away when he was still young, leaving the family in decline. As a child, he had no way to survive on his own. To stay alive, he was forced to join the Treasure Hoarders. At least that gave him enough to scrape by and put three meals on the table. More than ten years of trekking through forests and braving danger taught him the hard skills needed to survive in the wilderness, where monsters roamed. He even assembled a small crew of his own. But not even more than a decade of treasure hunting could change his dire circumstances. Every day, he still had to worry about finding enough Mora. Then, during one expedition, a mysterious young man swooped in and snatched the treasure right from under his team, ruining their bright future and breaking up the crew. With no other choice, he gave up the Treasure Hoarders life he had led for over a decade and looked for another way forward. Disheartened, he lamented his miserable lot and felt he deserved better. He decided to travel to the capital, Liyue Harbor, and try his luck. And so the story begins...