Genshin Impact: Etched in Time Archon Quest Walkthrough (7.1)

Etched in Time is the second subquest of A Rekviem for the Underworld, the Chapter 7 Act 4 Archon Quest added in Genshin Impact Version 7.1. It keeps you inside the Snezhnayan research complex, moving between two elevator destinations while The Jester digs up the buried history of a notebook the Fatui sealed away years ago.

Quick answer: Finish Delusion first, ride the elevator to the Mirror of Remembrance and report to The Jester, touch the mirror, then descend to the Sealed-Off Archive and wait for all six Harbingers before the vote.

How to unlock Etched in Time

There is only one gate. The quest appears once you have cleared Delusion, the subquest that comes directly before it in the same Archon Quest chain. Nothing else needs to be collected or prepared beforehand, and there is no combat requirement.

Chain: A Rekviem for the Underworld (Chapter 7, Act 4)
Order: Delusion → Etched in Time → Black Feathers Scattered at Parting
Region: Snezhnaya, inside the research facility
Length: roughly 10–15 minutes if you skip dialogue, 20–30 minutes if you read everything

After activation, the quest appears in the Snezhnaya Adventure Journal with one initial task: ride the elevator up to the Mirror of Remembrance.

Quest Overview — The quest menu entry for Etched in Time and its first elevator objective. Shown at 00:05 in ZaFrostPet’s video. Image: HoYoverse

Etched in Time walkthrough: Mirror of Remembrance

Head to the elevator console inside the facility and select Mirror of Remembrance from the destination list. The panel also offers the Front Hall, Combat Upgrade Laboratory and Sealed-Off Archive, so make sure you pick the right floor. If you are somewhere else in Snezhnaya, teleport to the waypoint outside and walk back in through the main doors.

Cross the bridge to the floating crystal apparatus and talk to The Jester. This conversation covers the results of the Delusion experiment and Arlecchino’s condition after it.

Interact with the Mirror of Remembrance when the objective updates. Touching it pulls the Traveler into a chain of stored memories, starting with an exchange between Rhinedottir and Ronova about the Heavenly Principles.

Memory Activation — The glowing Mirror of Remembrance you interact with to enter the memory sequence. Shown at 03:04 in WoW Quests’s video. Image: HoYoverse

Watch the Khaenri’ah memories through to the end. They show a young Pierro under the name Eftirvit alongside Hroptatyr, both studying under Professor Mimaameith at the Universitas Magistrorum.

Researching the Crimson Moon — Hroptatyr presenting his Crimson Moon lifespan research to Eftirvit. Shown at 10:04 in ZaFrostPet’s video. Image: HoYoverse

The research is the core of the memory. Hroptatyr tries to use the authority of the Crimson Moon to extend the dying professor’s life, then realizes the method only produces endless pain and renames it the Curse of Immortality. The sequence ends with him abandoning the work, standing at the professor’s grave in the rain, and leaving Teyvat.

Lifespan Research — The corrupted research book shown during Hroptatyr's failed lifespan experiment. Shown at 09:58 in WoW Quests’s video. Image: HoYoverse

Speak to The Jester again once the Traveler wakes up. He confirms Hroptatyr’s identity as “The Wise,” one of the Five Sinners of Khaenri’ah, and explains that the notebook Hroptatyr handed him in the ruins was later sealed with the Tsaritsa’s approval to prevent a national disaster.

Notebook History — The Jester recounting how Hroptatyr's notebook came into his hands. Shown at 13:01 in WoW Quests’s video. Image: HoYoverse

Waiting for the Harbingers at the Sealed-Off Archive

The notebook can be unsealed only through an unanimous vote held in person by the active Fatui Harbingers, prompting The Jester to call them together. When the objective requests it, use the wait function to advance to the next day.

Open the map, teleport to the waypoint that serves the palace elevator, and take the lift down to the Sealed-Off Archive. You arrive first, ahead of everyone else.

Fast-Traveling to the Armory Palace — Fast-traveling to the waypoint by the palace to reach the archive elevator. Shown at 20:07 in ZaFrostPet’s video. Image: HoYoverse

Stay in the entrance hall while the counter climbs from 0/6 to 6/6. Each Harbinger walks in on their own, and the dialogue plays automatically as they arrive.

Arrival order	Harbinger	Title
1	Tartaglia	Childe
2	Pulcinella	The Rooster
3	Sandrone	Marionette
4	Pantalone	Regrator
5	Arlecchino	The Knave
6	Pierro	The Jester

Sandrone and Pantalone turn up mid-argument over Northland Bank vault security, and Arlecchino arrives having recovered from the Delusion experiment, already interested in the Crimson Moon research.

Speak with The Jester to begin the vote and let the scene play out. All of the Harbingers choose to unseal the notebook, mainly because Vir and Nahida have already removed the forbidden knowledge from Irminsul. Sandrone gives the final vote after asking The Jester about Hroptatyr, and the archive doors unlock once the decision is unanimous.

The vote cannot fail. You do not make a choice here, so there is no wrong answer and no branching outcome to worry about.

Reading The Wise’s notes: The side-scrolling section

Walk in with the Harbingers and gather around the notebook. When The Jester opens it, the forbidden research is already blank, leaving only Hroptatyr’s personal notes about his early optimism and his later conclusion about the Curse of Immortality. A framed picture of the two students slips out of the pages, and it turns out to be a memory prism that engulfs the room.

That triggers a short 2D side-scrolling sequence where you control Pierro through the memory. On PC, press A to move left and D to move right. Walk to Hroptatyr and talk to him to advance. A second, much shorter segment puts you in control of the Traveler inside the same garden memory before the scene closes out with a final conversation among the Harbingers.

There is no timer, combat or puzzle in this sequence. If nothing is happening, you have simply walked past the character you need to speak to.

Etched in Time rewards

Reward	Amount
Mora	68,400
Mystic Enhancement Ore	10
Hero’s Wit	5

Primogems for this stretch of the story are paid out across the wider Archon Quest rather than at the end of this individual subquest.

How to confirm the quest is complete

You will know it landed when the quest-complete banner appears, the reward drop plays, and the achievement Nine Days and Nine Nights Beneath the Tree pops. The Adventure Journal then swaps Etched in Time out for the next subquest in the chain, Black Feathers Scattered at Parting, which starts immediately.

Stay for the final moment, because the prism’s memory changes the context of the Traveler’s journey. It shows Hroptatyr calling Aether down from Celestia at the same instant Pierro called Paimon.