"Afternoon tea sounds great. Want me to go with you to buy the ingredients?"
Nolan was already planning to visit the Adventurers' Guild to pick up Primogems from Katheryne, so it was the perfect chance to stroll through the streets with Noelle and pick up supplies for the treats.
"Mm!" Noelle nodded happily.
A gentle breeze lifted the hem of her skirt, brushing softly against the sides of her armored high-heeled boots, like waves lapping gently against the rocks.
She rubbed her fingers together and continued,
"But, Honorary Knight, please wait here a moment—I need to finish today's duties first."
With that, Noelle stood up, grabbed her broom, and got ready to head into the Knights' headquarters to complete her cleaning tasks.
"I'll help you," Nolan said, standing up as well. "No point in just sitting around."
"Well... okay then. I'll take you to get a broom," Noelle said after thinking it over.
Nolan nodded and followed her inside, joining her in cleaning up the headquarters.
Roughly half an hour later, their work was done. They stopped by to inform Acting Grand Master Jean and Lisa about the afternoon tea plan.
Afterward, they headed into the city to shop for ingredients. During this time, Nolan also took a moment to roll for a new attribute in his Spiritual Core:
[Spirit Attribute · Breath Circulation]: This attribute only appears in humans. The bearer of this attribute can, while engaging in close intimate contact with a member of the opposite sex, circulate blood and spiritual energy between both parties endlessly. This creates an energy source that draws in external energy, strengthening the body and achieving powerful cultivation effects.
Maybe it was his lucky day—after just a little over twenty attempts, he managed to land a rather good attribute.
Simply put: he could grow stronger just by getting close and cuddly with girls. It was practically identical to the legendary art of dual cultivation. Perfect for him—even if it wasn't an exclusive attribute.
Nolan was quite satisfied with this attribute's effect! Though, for now, he wasn't sure exactly how efficient it would be in practice...
After thinking it over, he decided he'd try spending more time with the girls daily. After all, the Adventure EXP needed to level up were starting to get pretty steep.
Now, he had several options for cultivating:
– Train solo through physical effort.
– Cultivate with girls using "Breath Circulation."
– Absorb Bloodjade Branch and Primogems for EXP.
– Hunt down monsters to gain Adventure EXP.
All of these were viable paths to power.
With so many different leveling methods available, Nolan figured that as long as he put in some consistent effort, even the ten million EXP he needed for the next level wouldn't be too difficult to achieve.
After thinking a moment, he resolved to create a structured training schedule and stick to it. That way, he could steadily grow stronger every day.
Relying entirely on monster hunting for EXP would be far too unstable in the long run.
Yes—mornings and evenings could be dedicated to "Breath Circulation" training with the girls. During the daytime, while everyone was working, he could focus on solo cultivation. Then in the afternoons, he could take on commissions and hunt monsters to farm EXP.
That sounded like a pretty solid routine.
While thinking through his plan, he chatted casually with Noelle. Before long, they'd gathered all the ingredients needed for the afternoon tea.
"Next, come with me to the Adventurers' Guild," he said to Noelle.
The streets of Mondstadt were bustling with people. There were even some riding bicycles—an unusual sight. Most likely, this was due to the new partnerships between the Sweet Flower Merchant Association and other firms.
Noelle had already heard that Nolan was planning to visit the Guild for the Primogems, so she simply nodded and agreed to go with him.
Nolan and Noelle continued strolling through the streets of Mondstadt. By the time they approached the Adventurers' Guild, it was nearly noon.
"Long time no see, both of you. Are you here for a commission?"
Katheryne greeted them with her usual gentle and elegant smile.
"Hello, Miss Katheryne. I'm not here for a commission today—I'm actually here to ask about the Primogem acquisition task I posted. How's that going?"
Nolan returned her greeting politely.
"I see," Katheryne nodded. She crouched slightly behind the counter to retrieve the commission log, skimmed through it, and looked up at him.
"It's been over a month since your last visit to collect Primogems. During this time, many adventurers have completed the task. So far, a total of 205 Primogems have been acquired, with a total cost of 24.6 million Mora.
"The 10 million Mora you paid in advance has already been distributed to the adventurers. You still need to make up the remaining 14.6 million."
Hearing her detailed explanation, Nolan was surprised.
"That many already? It used to be just a dozen or twenty at a time."
"Hehe, recently, everyone's been exploring Dragonspine—an area that adventurers rarely visited in the past—so it's natural they've been finding more Primogems," Katheryne explained with a smile.
"Also, the Knights discovered a spatial rift on the mountain leading to the Beast Realm. After Chief Alchemist Albedo developed the 'Magbear Suit,' adventurers have been able to explore the Beast Realm with ease. So it's not strange that the Primogem yield has increased."
"I see."
Nolan had nearly forgotten that a large number of adventurers had recently flooded into Dragonspine and the Beast Realm. It made sense—areas that hadn't been fully explored were bound to hold many treasures.
Still, he recalled that there weren't supposed to be any treasure chests in the Beast Realm. Even the "Sword God" had only found a single chest there, and that had been inside a ruin left behind by "Gold" — Rhinedottir.
According to prior speculation, that chest had probably been brought over from Teyvat in the first place.
So if there were no chests, how were Primogems showing up?
Puzzled, Nolan asked Katheryne if she had heard anything from the adventurers about this.
"Oh, yes. I've heard them mention it too," Katheryne replied with a smile.
"Apparently, while there aren't any treasure chests there, Primogems—these mysterious crystalline stones—do exist. Adventurers occasionally stumble upon a few during exploration. Perhaps they come from the ley lines. After all, ley lines contain all sorts of things."
The ley lines, huh? Nolan fell into thought.
The Beast Realm and Teyvat were relatively independent from each other. If ley lines could carry Primogems over, then logically, they should also be able to bring over Mora, artifacts, and even chests.
Rather than ley line transfer, he was more inclined to believe the Primogems naturally crystallized there. After all, Primogems were formed from unclaimed dreams and hopes condensed into radiant light.
And dreams and hopes were things that could exist anywhere life did.
So the appearance of Primogems in the Beast Realm wasn't that surprising after all.
Since he hadn't deeply studied this subject, Nolan couldn't say for sure whether his guess was correct. He stopped pondering it and instead opened up his Wonderland Space to retrieve enough Mora from his warehouse and handed it to Katheryne.
"Alright—1,465 Mora notes, each worth 10,000. The extra five are for the Guild's service fee. The amount checks out."
Katheryne took a bit of time to count everything, then handed over the collected Primogems to Nolan.
(End of Chapter)
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