The silence in the workshop was heavy with unspoken questions. Ren sat on his pallet, caught red-handed, his heart thumping a nervous rhythm against his ribs. Xianyun simply stood there, her scholar's mind working at a furious pace, processing the impossible event she had just witnessed. The anger of a worried guardian was gone, completely eclipsed by the insatiable curiosity of a scientist who had just discovered a new law of nature.
Finally, she moved, pulling a stool over and sitting directly in front of him. Her golden eyes were not accusatory; they were intensely, deeply inquisitive.
"Show me again," she said, her voice a calm, quiet command. "Create something."
Hesitantly, Ren raised his hand. He envisioned the lotus, and the familiar, beautiful stream of Cryo energy flowed from his palm, weaving itself into the perfect, glowing form of the ice lotus. It hovered between them, radiating a gentle chill.
Xianyun leaned forward, her gaze forensic. She didn't look at the lotus; she looked at him. "Tell me exactly what you feel," she instructed. "Is there a strain? A drain on your energy? Does it hurt?"
Ren focused inward, analyzing the sensation. "No," he said honestly. "It doesn't hurt at all. It doesn't feel like I'm… losing anything. It's not exhausting. It just feels… natural. Like I'm borrowing the energy from somewhere else and just giving it a shape."
Xianyun reached out a slender finger, not touching the lotus, but moving her hand around it, her adeptal senses analyzing the energy it radiated. "The output is stable. The elemental purity is exceptionally high. Fascinating." She then looked at his hand. "Now, make it solid."
"Solid?" Ren asked, confused.
"The lotus is a construct of light and frost," she explained. "It has form, but no substance. Can you make it dense? Hard?"
It was a new challenge, a parameter he hadn't considered. He looked at the translucent, ethereal flower. He focused, not on its shape, but on its internal structure. He envisioned the delicate, crystalline particles packing together, compressing, their bonds strengthening until they were as tight as a diamond's.
The lotus began to change. Its ethereal glow dimmed, replaced by the hard, opaque sheen of solid ice. It retained its perfect shape, but it now looked less like a magical apparition and more like an exquisite, expertly carved sculpture of frosted crystal.
Xianyun reached out again and, with a careful, delicate touch, tapped one of the petals with her fingernail. A sharp, clear clink echoed in the workshop, the sound of glass on glass.
"Incredible," she breathed, her eyes wide with scientific wonder. "You can manipulate not just the form, but the density of the construct. The potential applications are… staggering." She looked at him, her mind clearly racing through a thousand possibilities. "This is not just mimicry, Ren. This is creation. You are a cryo-sculptor of the highest order."
She finally leaned back, a profound, thoughtful expression on her face. "This changes things. The liability that Shenhe spoke of… the defenseless child… is no longer entirely accurate. This ability, if honed, is a formidable means of self-protection."
A new resolve entered her eyes. "You must cultivate this power, Ren. You must train it, understand its limits, and master its control. It is a part of you now, and to ignore it would be foolish."
She then raised a single, stern finger, her expression turning deadly serious. "However. There is one rule that is absolute, and on this, there will be no compromise. You will never attempt to repeat this process. You will not touch raw energy from another element. Ever."
Her voice was as cold and hard as the ice lotus. "We have no idea how you acquired this ability, but it is clear it is a result of absorbing Ganyu's Cryo energy. Your body, for reasons unknown, was compatible with it. There is absolutely no guarantee it would be compatible with Pyro, or Electro, or any other element. The elemental reactions could be catastrophic. It could tear you apart from the inside. We will not take that risk. Is that understood?"
The gravity in her tone was chilling. Ren nodded immediately, a genuine fear prickling his skin at the images her words conjured. "Yes, Master. I understand."
"Good," she said, the tension in her posture relaxing. She stood up, her mind already shifting back to their more immediate, practical concerns. The mystery of his power was a long-term project, but the heater was a present-day reality.
"You have clearly recovered," she stated, gesturing to the empty space where the lotus had been. "Your energy is no longer depleted; it is… transformed. This period of forced rest has served its purpose."
A familiar, business-like light returned to her eyes. "And since you are well, it is time we moved forward. Your blueprint is complete. The Tianquan is waiting. We will journey back to Liyue Harbor tomorrow."
She looked at the still-unfinished refrigerator prototype, then back at him, her priorities clear. "We will finalize the agreement for the heater. We will hand over the production rights and schematics to the Qixing. Let them handle the mass manufacturing. That will free our time and resources to focus on our next project."
The plan was set. The period of quiet convalescence and secret discovery was over. It was time to return to the world, to deliver on their promise, and to formally begin a partnership that would bring warmth to all of Liyue.