"Barbatos!"
"Long time no see, Dragon King! And Morax, too!"
"Long time no see."
It was Venti's first time visiting an internet café, so he wasn't exactly familiar with how these machines worked.
Naturally, the Dragon King took it upon himself to play the role of mentor, coming over to teach him.
Once Venti got the hang of the controls, they all queued up for a game.
Venti sat next to the Dragon King, watching him play.
"You guys play this every night?"
"Yup!"
"I dunno, it doesn't seem that fun to me."
"That's because you haven't actually played yet!"
"Wait, are you going to kill him?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Why are you running? Just slash him already!"
"You can't dive under the tower!"
…
Venti spent the whole match peppering the Dragon King with questions.
The Dragon King didn't mind—after all, they were drinking buddies from way back.
"So? Got it now?"
"Totally got it! This game's super simple!"
"Alright, then give it a try yourself."
"Sure!"
The Dragon King stood up and let Venti take over his seat.
"I want the guy with the bow."
"Go ahead."
"Wait, wait! Why don't I have any money?"
"You have to last-hit"
"Hold up, hold up! Why isn't my tower attacking her?"
"She canceled her attack animation."
"Wait, wait! Where did my super long health bar go?"
"It's gone."
…
Game over.
Venti stared at the horrendous stats on the screen, sinking into deep thought.
That guy named "Cream Puff"—he's definitely cheating, right?
—
After leaving the internet café, Xia Zhi returned to the real world.
He still had a Platinum Treasure Chest to open.
He'd swiped it off of Venti earlier.
Taking it from his inventory, he chose to open it.
A multicolored stone, about the size of a fist, appeared before him.
[Five-Colored Divine Stone]
Quality: Diamond
Type: Special Item
Traits: Rock Blade, Stone Shield, Sky-Mending
Effect: Instantly master all Geo spells of Tier 5 and below; while standing on the ground, immune to any Tier 3 or lower attacks; can repair tears in the heavens—using this will consume the item, converting it into a one-time consumable.
Hidden Effect: +100 Stamina; +50% Defense
Recyclable: 10,000 points
Xia Zhi studied the stone in his hand—white, green, blue, red, and yellow swirling together—as he fell into thought.
Just like the [Golden Circlet] he'd obtained before, this [Five-Colored Divine Stone] seemed to tie into an ancient myth from his original world about patching the heavens.
But mending the sky wasn't as simple as stitching space back together.
It involved repairing the very fabric of the world, restoring the original laws of nature.
Even for a god, accomplishing such a feat was unimaginably difficult.
From that angle, even if this item could only patch the sky once, it was still ridiculously valuable.
The problem was… would he ever actually need such a high-level effect?
Would the sky over Teyvat really break?
And did the false sky above the stars even need fixing?
Xia Zhi thought about it for a moment, then decided to hold onto the item.
For one thing, he wasn't exactly lacking in Diamond-tier items right now.
For another, he trusted his insanely high Luck stat—if he drew something like this, it probably meant it'd come in handy someday, even if it seemed useless for now.
And honestly, that +100 Stamina was pretty nice.
Xia Zhi stashed the [Five-Colored Divine Stone] into his character panel, where it floated quietly around his avatar, its passive effects activating automatically.
His phone buzzed again by the bedside.
Xia Zhi glanced at it.
This time, it was a message from Shenhe.
He got up, walked over to the wall, and used his [Master Key] to open a portal.
Shenhe stood on the other side. She didn't step through right away but turned back and asked, "Senior Sister, are you really not coming?"
He heard Ganyu's muffled voice from under the covers: "No… I'll pass…"
"Well, okay then." Shenhe stepped through the portal and came over to him. "Boss."
And then… well, you can guess the rest.
Let's just say—the bed here has its own unique charm.
After Shenhe fell asleep, Xia Zhi headed next door.
Sure enough, Ganyu hadn't fallen asleep yet.
After all, it was only her first time yesterday—naturally, she was a little… curious for more.
And then… you can guess the rest again.
Let's just say—Ganyu's horns felt really good to the touch, and the bells rang for quite a while.
—
Mondstadt.
In a certain room.
Amber lay face-down on her bed, cheeks flushed as she read a romance novel.
It was one Xiangling had given her last night.
Apparently, she'd bought a bunch of copies to support Zhu Zi and boost her sales numbers.
Since she had extras, she figured she might as well share the joy with her friends.
Amber didn't know who else Xiangling had given the books to.
But she knew one thing for sure—she was having a great time right now.
—
The next morning, Xia Zhi woke up feeling more energetic than usual.
That +100 Stamina wasn't wasted.
Ganyu was still sleeping beside him. She'd really worn herself out last night.
Not wanting to disturb her, Xia Zhi quietly got up and slipped back into his own room.
Shenhe was still asleep too—she'd also been completely exhausted.
He changed his clothes, left the room alone, and headed to the Church of Favonius.
It was still early, so not many people were there for morning prayers. Only a few nuns were quietly going about their routines.
Xia Zhi walked silently through the church, then out to the main square.
Someone was clearing away yesterday's flowers from the base of the statue.
Others were placing fresh flowers at her feet, offerings for the Anemo Archon.
These gestures looked devout, but in reality, they were pointless.
Xia Zhi had asked Venti about it before.
Venti had said, as long as someone truly believed in Anemo Archon, their voice would ride the breeze straight to his ears—whether they offered flowers or not.
Of course, hearing a wish and choosing to act on it were two different things entirely.
So in the end, Mondstadt's flower offerings were really just about moving their own hearts.
After strolling around for a while, Xia Zhi returned to the Church of Favonius.
By then, everyone had woken up, so they went out for breakfast together.
Xia Lin still insisted on holding Xia Zhi's hand.
In the morning, Xia Zhi first went to the Alchemy Station to submit an application.
Then he stopped by Mondstadt General Goods to purchase a batch of alchemy materials.
Once the application was approved, he took the materials to the alchemy station and began crafting.
Cloud Retainer and Ying'er were the most interested—they followed him the whole time, studying his alchemy techniques.
Xia Zhi didn't keep any secrets. He explained as he demonstrated.
After all the components were synthesized, they returned to the Church of Favonius to assemble them into five sets of Wind Gliders.
Right at that moment, Amber arrived.
She looked at the freshly assembled gliders, eyes sparkling. "Wow! You guys made these?"
Diona immediately chimed in, "The boss made them!"
Amber turned to Xia Zhi. "Mr. Xia, you can make Wind Gliders too?"
Xia Zhi smiled. "Well, it wasn't just me. Everyone helped—especially… Cloud Retainer."
Amber reached out to touch the gliders, her eyes full of light. "They're beautiful!"
"Miss Amber, could I ask—how do we get a gliding license?"
"Oh, that? You have to pass an exam first. After that, the Knights issue the license."
"And how do we take the exam?"
"Normally you submit an application to the Knights, and they assign an examiner. I've done it a few times."
"I see."
"Are you guys planning to take the gliding exam?"
"Yes, we're preparing for the gliding competition. But tomorrow's the first day of the Windblume Festival, so we're a little worried we won't make it in time."
Amber thought for a moment. "It's tight, but if you hurry, you could still get your license today. I'll take you to Captain Jean."
Xia Zhi blinked. "Captain Jean? Even for something like this, we have to bother the Acting Grand Master?"
Amber nodded, a little helpless. "Yeah. I don't think it's necessary either, but Jean always wants to handle everything herself…"
Xia Zhi didn't press the issue. "In that case, let's go."
They left the Church of Favonius and followed Amber toward the Knights of Favonius headquarters.
On the way, they ran into Sara from Good Hunter. She waved at Amber. "Finally found you, Amber."
Amber jogged over. "What's up?"
Sara said, "I need to ask the Knights for help. Could you pass a message to the Acting Grand Master for me?"
Xia Zhi perked up his ears, paying attention.
"I'm really sorry, but I can't go myself right now. The Windblume Festival is starting soon, and the restaurant is completely swamped. On top of that, the food supply route from Springvale has been overrun by hilichurls. But the Springvale hunters are acting like it's none of their business—they say they only handle hunting. Amber, could you ask Captain Jean to send someone to clear out the hilichurls?"
"I understand."
"If Jean takes care of it, I'm sure it'll get resolved quickly. Thanks, Amber—I've gotta run. See you!"
Sara hurried off.
Xia Zhi found it a bit absurd.
Clearing out hilichurls? That's something the Adventurers' Guild could handle with a simple commission. Why trouble the Acting Grand Master?
And as they continued toward the Knights' headquarters, Amber picked up two more errands.
One was from Charles at Angel's Share, asking her to get this quarter's tax report from Captain Jean. Since Mondstadt's economy revolves around the wine industry, Jean personally reviews every line of the accounts.
The other was from the owner of Cat's Tail tavern, who wanted Jean to help find her missing cats.
Xia Zhi silently observed all of this, thinking—maybe there's something wrong with Jean herself.
----
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