He couldn't help but feel that the Hydro Archon was acting like a fangirl, the kind of girl who secretly fantasized about her idol doing naughty things at home.
Wait, your movements are too wild—your towel is slipping off...
Bigger than Director Hu in the past, but smaller than Director Hu now. Needs [Cotton Candy Sunsettias] for salvation—Dr. Xia silently delivered his professional diagnosis.
The girl pulled the pillow away from her face, completely indifferent to the fallen towel.
Staring at the ceiling, she murmured, "It's already February 11th... Soon, soon..."
Soon?
Xia Zhi caught the word.
What's soon?
Does she mean meeting me?
Suddenly, the girl sat up with renewed vigor. "Alright, alright! No more sleeping! Time to work on stacking mana!"
Stacking mana?
Does she mean using [Tears of the Goddess] to permanently increase her max MP?
As Xia Zhi pondered, the scenery around him began to distort.
The dream's host was waking up.
This dream world would soon vanish.
Xia Zhi cast one last glance at the girl on the bed.
Her appearance aside, that shimmering diamond progress bar was far too eye-catching.
A thought crossed his mind:
If Furina has truly been stacking mana every day for the past few hundred years... just how long is her MP bar now?
---
Fontaine, Palais Mermonia.
Furina opened her eyes and sat up in bed, stretching lazily.
Then, she turned to the mirror nearby and asked, "Why did you wake me up all of a sudden?"
Focalors' figure appeared in the mirror, her gaze unreadable as she replied, "I have good news and bad news for you."
"Oh?"
"Which do you want to hear first?"
"The good news."
"He was in your dream just now."
"Him?"
Furina froze, then her eyes widened in disbelief, her voice trembling slightly.
"You mean... could it be...?"
Focalors nodded solemnly. "Yes. The man you've been dreaming about day and night."
"Uwah uwah!"
Furina immediately started rolling around on the bed.
"Stop acting like a lunatic!"
"I didn't see him! When did he come?"
"While you were in the bathroom."
"Ahhh!"
"There's still the bad news."
"Not listening, not listening!"
"He heard everything you were doing."
Furina stopped rolling and looked up at the mirror.
"What? How is that bad news?"
"Your image in front of him is completely ruined."
"Ruined? No, it's complete now."
"?"
"The advantage is mine... Focalors, you wouldn't understand, being an old maid and all."
"!"
"So, if you knew he was there, why didn't you tell me?"
"If he was hiding, he clearly didn't want to see you. What good would telling you do? Did you think he'd just pop out if you called for him?"
"True... For him, this is our first meeting... Oh! I remember now! No wonder, when we first met five hundred years ago, the way he looked at me was a little strange..."
A look of realization dawned on Furina's face as she smiled.
"It must have been because of tonight's meeting..."
After a moment's thought, Furina took out a small cube—
It looked like a smartphone from Xia Zhi's original world.
She tapped the screen, and it lit up, displaying a wallpaper of Xia Zhi.
Focalors' voice from the mirror carried a hint of displeasure.
"You're playing with that thing again?"
"I'm not playing, I'm just checking if there's any signal."
"And?"
"Ugh, not even one bar."
"Of course not. He hasn't even gone to Dragon-Queller yet. Where would the signal come from?"
"I just wanted to check, in case... Ugh..."
"Why are you lying down again? Weren't you going to stack mana?"
"What's the point now? I'm going back to sleep. Maybe I'll dream of him again. Goodnight—and don't you dare wake me up."
"..."
---
The scenery blurred before his eyes.
Xia Zhi returned to the sea of dream bubbles.
This was his first meeting with the Hydro Archon, Furina.
Though brief, he had gleaned some useful information.
The most striking impression was that Furina didn't seem like a god at all.
Her "humanity" was overwhelming—her every action made her feel more like the girl next door than a deity.
This was completely different from the aura Xia Ci and Xia Zhen gave off.
Even with her divine power not fully restored, Xia Ci still exuded an unmistakable divinity. Xia Zhen, even as a remnant soul, carried the same presence.
It was a hard-to-describe distinction.
Xia Zhi thought of Morax. Though both he and Morax were calm by nature, their serenity felt fundamentally different.
Perhaps it was because Xia Zhi had not been born a god—he had been human first, ascending to godhood later...
Xia Zhi lowered his head in thought.
If he felt such familiarity with Furina, did that mean her origins were similar to his?
Had she, too, been human before becoming a god, hence her overwhelming humanity?
Was that the real reason he had given her [Tears of the Goddess]?
To help her become the Hydro Archon?
If so, another question arose.
His cousin had mentioned that Focalors was the former Hydro Archon Egeria's familiar, a pure Oceanid.
How had she become human?
And where had her original divine power gone?
Furina... Focalors...
"Things are getting more and more interesting."
Xia Zhi chuckled, then looked up to see two pink dream bubbles floating unusually close to him.
Now that he had mastered his cousin's dream authority, identifying the owners of dream bubbles was effortless.
The left one belonged to Zhu Zi. The right one, Diona.
Pink represented excitement and satisfaction.
Xia Zhi couldn't help but laugh.
They must have been influenced by the aura Ganyu had been radiating.
They'd probably be sneaking out early tomorrow morning to wash their sheets.
He opened a rift and stepped into his meditation space.
Then came the usual five-stack gaming session.
For some reason, Xia Zhi didn't mention his encounter in Furina's dream to the others.
After stomping a few bot matches, Xia Ci dragged Xia Zhen off to tinker with the server again.
Xia Zhi watched them and said, "The three of us are heading out to gather materials."
Xia Ci waved him off. "Go ahead, go ahead."
Shenhe, however, pulled out her English vocabulary book. "I've got a few more words to memorize, so I'll sit this one out."
Ganyu blinked. "Huh? Junior Sister isn't coming?"
Shenhe smiled faintly. "Mm. Senior Sister, do your best."
Ganyu's face flushed slightly.
Xia Ci shot her a knowing look.
She'd once teamed up with Ganyu to secretly discuss strategies for dealing with Xia Zhi. Who knew Ganyu would have already cleared the game so quickly?
Qilin are truly auspicious beasts—their luck is just too good.
Once outside the meditation space, Ganyu glanced at Xia Zhi beside her and suddenly felt a strange thrill, as if they were sneaking around.
This exhilarating feeling was... amazing!
And then—well, there was no "and then."
If she had to put it into words, it was the realization that her past few thousand years had been wasted. Work? Who cares about work when you can be in love?