Favonius Cathedral.
In their room, Shenhe and Ganyu were talking.
"Senior Sister, are we staying together tonight?"
"Maybe not…"
"So, same as last night? I'll go next door?"
"Mm…"
"Senior Sister, don't you think this is a hassle?"
"But…"
"Senior Sister, you're already an adeptus. You don't need to be so hung up on things."
"But…"
"We have a Silence Orb. They won't hear anything."
"…"
Ganyu blushed, lowered her head, and after a moment of hesitation whispered,
"Then… let's stay together tonight."
When Xia Zhi arrived, he found Shenhe and Ganyu sitting on the bed painting each other's toenails. The scene was strangely warm and domestic.
And then… well, you can imagine.
Let's just say it was twice the joy.
The next morning, Xia Zhi woke up feeling as full of energy as the day before.
His shoulders were a bit heavy, though—Shenhe and Ganyu were asleep, nestled on either side of him. They'd completely worn themselves out last night.
Well, no surprise there. With his current stats, even just the 100 points of stamina alone made it easy to handle both of them at once.
Xia Zhi quietly watched them from his God's Eye. Waking up with the people you love right beside you—now that was a great way to start the day.
After a while, Shenhe and Ganyu stirred awake. They looked at each other and smiled softly.
"See, Senior Sister? It wasn't so bad, right?"
"Mm, it's fine."
Xia Zhi tilted his head. "What are you two talking about?"
Shenhe never hid anything from him. She leaned over and whispered in his ear.
After listening, Xia Zhi chuckled. "You know, it's really not necessary to go out of your way…"
Shenhe looked at him seriously. "But do you like it this way?"
Xia Zhi nodded. "Of course I do."
"Then it is necessary."
That kind of line… that's cheating.
And so, morning exercise.
Afterwards, Xia Zhi gave them massages and cast Healing, but the two of them still lazed around, saying they wanted to rest a bit longer.
So Xia Zhi changed clothes and left the room to stroll outside.
Since he'd used Time Acceleration during the morning activities, the actual time in the real world was still early—about the same as when they first woke up.
He arrived at Favonius Cathedral. As expected, there weren't any worshippers yet, just a few nuns doing their morning prayers.
Xia Zhi passed silently through the cathedral and stepped into the grand plaza outside.
A soft breeze carried the sound of a gentle, soothing melody. People in the plaza couldn't help but pause and immerse themselves in the music.
Xia Zhi stood still, listening for a while, then walked toward the source of the sound—stopping at the feet of the stone statue.
The music was coming from atop the statue.
It was too high for his God's Eye to see, so he took out a mirror and checked.
In the reflection, he saw a familiar green figure.
It was Venti.
Looks like Xiangling was right—this guy really does love sitting on the statue playing music.
Xia Zhi opened his skill panel, scrolling to the list of abilities he'd "borrowed" when he drank with Venti the other night. There, he found a special skill:
[Wind Whisperer]: Automatically master all instruments. +50% pleasantness to all performances. Become a master of all instruments, Grandmaster of Strings.
At some point, the melody stopped. Venti leapt down from the statue, his vision gleaming as he borrowed the power of Anemo to land lightly.
"Good morning, my friend!"
"Morning."
"Did you enjoy the performance just now? The world's finest bard, giving you a private concert."
"It was… fine."
"What do you mean, 'fine'?"
"Hold on…"
Xia Zhi pulled out his [Focus Guitar].
Effect: When performing with this instrument, you will always become the center of attention. +20% pleasantness to music, +10% chance of perfect performance.
In an instant, everyone in the plaza turned to look at him—including a certain nun who had just returned from outside.
Xia Zhi strummed the guitar.
A guitar has strings, so it counted as a string instrument—perfect for his [Wind Whisperer] ability.
He played exactly the same piece Venti had just performed.
But since Venti had used his wooden lyre, which didn't have the +20% pleasantness bonus of the [Focus Guitar], Xia Zhi's rendition sounded even better.
When the last note faded, Xia Zhi asked,
"Well? What do you think, my friend?"
"…It was… fine."
"What do you mean 'fine'? Wasn't that better than what you just played?"
"Ahh, fine! You win!"
Perfect. He'd just received the highest male honor: "Fine, you win."
"So now you're officially the second-best bard in the world."
"…"
Venti looked completely speechless.
"No no no! That doesn't count! Next time I'm bringing my another lyre, and we'll have a rematch!"
"I'm not rematching you."
"!"
From a distance, Rosaria watched Xia Zhi and Venti standing together, her eyes flashing with something unreadable.
---
At dawn, the base of the stone statue was once again adorned with fresh flowers, the soft breeze picking up a hint of their fragrance as it drifted through the square.
Xia Zhi put away the [Focus Guitar], then turned to ask, "So why'd you come here to play music this morning?"
Venti slung his wooden lyre back around his waist, smiling. "I come here to play all the time."
"You weren't here yesterday morning."
"I said I come often, not every day. I come when I'm in the mood."
"In the mood? More like in a drinking mood. Don't tell me you came here to mooch wine off me again?"
"What mooching! It's sharing! On such a fine Windblume Festival morning, it's only right to raise a cup with friends and chat about life!"
"…Well, fair enough."
Xia Zhi laughed, took out a wine jug from his inventory, and gave it a shake. It was one of Diona's experimental brews, with a few drops of Rainbow Concentrate mixed in for flavor.
"Here you go."
"My dearest friend!!!"
"I'm heading back. Haven't washed up yet, and I'm supposed to have breakfast with everyone. Did you eat already?"
"Not yet."
"Wanna come join us?"
Venti raised the jug and took a big gulp, sighing in satisfaction before waving his hand dismissively. "Nah. If your little cat's there, I won't get to eat a thing…"
"Alright then. Enjoy your drink."
Xia Zhi headed back toward Favonius Cathedral. As soon as he stepped inside, he spotted the same Cryo Vision nun from last night, sitting at the last row of pews, casually smoking.
Next to her stood another younger nun, this one with a Hydro Vision, earnestly lecturing her. "Miss Rosaria, please mind your behavior! No smoking in the church! And as a member of the clergy, skipping choir practice is absolutely unacceptable!—"
Rosaria exhaled a puff of smoke, her tone indifferent. "Don't stick your nose into things, kid."
From his God's Eye, Xia Zhi could see the two Silver Progress Bars hanging over the nuns' heads. He quietly walked past them and continued into the church.
Rosaria watched his figure disappear around the corner, then turned back to the younger nun, who was still going on and on.
"Barbara, stop pestering me already."
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