"Alright, it's settled then!"
Aether patted Morax on the shoulder and said with a grin.
Seeing how full of energy Aether was, Morax couldn't help but let a faint smile appear on his face as well.
As someone who acted the moment he made up his mind, Aether immediately decided to head to Morax's room and carry out a grand renovation.
"Alright, now let's clear out all these stone furniture pieces!" Aether said to Morax.
With a perfectly good tool-man like Morax right here, there was no way Aether was going to do the heavy lifting himself.
Even though they were just stone furniture, Morax actually had quite a lot of it.
"Very well. Right away," Morax replied.
Seeing Aether in full commander mode, Morax casually waved his hand. Golden light wrapped around the furniture, lifting it into the air before transferring it into other rooms.
"All done. You can begin your decorating performance now?" Morax asked, looking at Aether.
Aether clapped his hands together. "Of course!"
"Trust me—you'll definitely love the masterpiece of this master decorator!"
Ahem. Even though he'd only played the Serenitea Pot for a short time, that didn't stop Aether from calling himself a master decorator.
After all, Morax was just a rock.
What would he know about art?
If I say this is art, then it's art!
Heh~!
"Alright. I look forward to it," Morax said with a smile.
He could hear the bragging tone in Aether's voice, but he didn't call him out on it. Instead, he simply watched as Aether continuously manifested furniture and began decorating the once-empty room.
When Aether finally placed the last decorative potted plant into the corner, the renovation was complete.
If he added any more furniture, it would start to look cluttered instead of beautiful.
But if there were any less, the room would feel too empty.
Interior design really was an art.
"Well? Morax, do you like my masterpiece?" Aether asked, turning toward Morax, who had been observing the whole time.
Morax nodded. "I don't understand much about this sort of thing, but purely from an aesthetic standpoint, it does indeed look very good."
"Thank you, Zennos."
"No need to thank me. Isn't this how friends should treat each other?" Aether said with a smile.
After Aether left,
Morax kept turning that sentence over in his mind.
Friends… isn't this how they should treat each other?
Mm. That's true.
Zennos—this friend of his—Morax had truly made the right choice.
Back in his own room, Aether lay lazily on his soft bed, hands tucked behind his head, one leg crossed over the other.
He looked completely relaxed—only missing a blade of dogtail grass between his teeth.
But Aether wasn't thinking idle thoughts.
Today was his first day after transmigrating into the ancient era of Teyvat.
Fortunately, he had encountered Morax, someone he already knew, and Morax's character truly lived up to his reputation.
In less than a single day, Aether had successfully latched onto this massive thigh.
As long as he didn't do anything reckless and kept a low profile,
he should be able to survive through the Demon God War.
But… was that really all he wanted?
Aether asked himself honestly. That didn't seem to be the case.
If he only relied on others without possessing enough strength himself, then when danger came—when something happened that he couldn't solve—would he really be able to do nothing but watch helplessly?
That sense of powerlessness would be unbearable.
Then what would be the meaning of his Authority of Manifestation?
But how exactly should the Authority of Manifestation be applied in combat?
Could he directly manifest high-yield nuclear bombs?
If he encountered a demon god he couldn't defeat, he could just keep throwing nukes at them.
If it still couldn't threaten a demon god, then clearly the yield just wasn't big enough!
Ahem. That line of thought was a little too dangerous.
It might be feasible—maybe even usable somewhere like the land of Snezhnaya—but using it in Liyue would cause far too much environmental damage.
Better treat it as a secret trump card, never to be used unless absolutely necessary.
So… were there other methods?
Right.
His physical body itself had been manifested through the Authority of Manifestation.
If he could use manifestation to grant his body immense strength,
then could he directly manifest power itself?
"Fire Manifestation, Minor Flame Construct!"
With that thought, Aether sprang upright from the bed and shouted, activating his Authority of Manifestation at the same time.
"It actually worked! Th-This is amazing."
Sure enough, a small flame appeared at his fingertips.
This was power manifested directly through his authority.
If fire could be manifested, then what about the others?
"Water Manifestation, Little Water Ball Technique!"
"Tiny vines, grow!"
"Uh… freeze!"
"And this—wind element!"
"Lastly—lightning!"
Aether was overflowing with excitement, practically buzzing with energy.
He had just tested all the elemental powers one by one. Even though they were only the most basic applications, he was still thrilled.
Who could possibly refuse being able to wield seven elemental powers?
Though, strictly speaking, he wasn't truly using elemental power—everything was being manifested through his Authority of Manifestation.
It felt like there was still so much more potential waiting to be explored.
"Morax, good morning!"
Aether deliberately sought out Morax and greeted him enthusiastically.
Morax looked over. "What is it?"
"You haven't had breakfast yet, right? These soup dumplings are my favorite food!"
"Want to try them?"
Aether pulled out a steamer basket of soup dumplings from behind his back and smiled at Morax.
Morax saw through Aether's intentions at a glance.
He looked like he clearly had something he wanted.
"Demon gods like us do not require eating, which is a mortal activity."
"However, since this is your gesture of goodwill, I will give it a try."
Morax said.
Hearing this, Aether felt a little unconvinced.
Who didn't know that thousands of years later, Zhongli practically ate at either Liuli Pavilion, Xinyue Kiosk, or Wanmin Restaurant whenever Xiangling was on duty?
It wasn't that he didn't like food—he just hadn't encountered truly good food yet.
At this stage, mortal cuisine was still extremely simple, and the Stove God Marchosius had not yet joined Morax's side.
Naturally, the quality of food was… hard to describe.
Morax picked up a soup dumpling. It carried a faint fragrance, though nothing seemed particularly special at first glance.
But the dumpling skin was thin and the filling plentiful. The moment Morax bit into it, he felt the richness and savoriness of the filling, and the hot broth burst forth, instantly flooding his mouth.
A wave of surprise and satisfaction rose within him.
His evaluation was simple—
A rare delicacy.
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