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Chapter 68 - Chapter 68: To Imagination

Sucrose pushed her glasses up in surprise.

Tales from the Box, after being published in Mondstadt, had overtaken the long-reigning Boar Princess in sales within just a week. It then surpassed Heart of Clear Springs and Legend of the Shattered Halberd on the classic literature charts, rising to fifth place. Not only beloved by children and teens, its rich philosophical themes had also won over many parents.

Rumor had it that the author of Tales from the Box held a signing event after the book's release. The thousand signed copies from that day had since increased tenfold in market value.

And now, the person known as Dust was standing right in front of her?

Victor Wang himself had no idea about all this. He only paid attention to the Mora in his account. The sales seemed decent, but he hadn't realized just how huge the impact was.

Klee blurted out, "No way! Someone like you, a big bad guy, could write such a good story?"

"What, you didn't like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? What happened to our truce?"

Klee's eyes shifted uncomfortably. At last, she hesitated and muttered, "Alright… I won't call you a bad guy anymore…"

"Mm-hmm."

Victor Wang nodded with a smile, an approving look on his face. He truly liked the people of Teyvat, and had no desire to fall out with any of them.

"?" Albedo was a bit confused. Klee hadn't told him anything about her history with Victor Wang. Watching the exchange, he mused aloud, "Since Alice's Adventures in Wonderland hasn't been published yet, would you mind if I drew some illustrations for it?"

"Can he, can he, can he?" Klee bounced excitedly.

Albedo, also known in the art world as the famed Master Chalk, was nearly impossible to commission even with payment—and now he was offering to draw illustrations for free?

"Of course. I was just wondering what to draw with Klee today. Seems like she's very interested. I'll just need you to give me more detailed descriptions."

"No trouble at all." Victor Wang eagerly rubbed his hands. "Could I borrow a pen and notebook? I might as well get started on the manuscript."

He hadn't planned to "borrow" a second book so soon, but it would be a waste not to ride the momentum.

Albedo retrieved a notebook and pen meant for recording experiment data from among his neatly arranged tools and handed them to Victor Wang. Then he turned to Sucrose and gave a few instructions. With some reluctance, Sucrose went upstairs to continue her experiments.

Drawing on his memories of characters like Alice, the Dodo, Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse, Victor Wang wrote down their visual descriptions—tweaked slightly for the Teyvat audience—and gave them to Albedo.

"If anything's unclear, feel free to ask me."

"Understood." Albedo set up his easel. Klee positioned a small easel of her own beside him. The two of them began to draw.

Meanwhile, Victor Wang focused intently on writing—the second literary work of Dust was about to be born.

...

Unfortunately, the story was too long. By the time Sucrose returned from her experiments, Albedo had already finished several vivid, lifelike illustrations, while Victor Wang was still copying down the manuscript.

"Let me see… This is amazing! Especially the Cheshire Cat's grin—it's just how I imagined it!"

"What about mine? What about mine?" Klee eagerly held up her drawings, hoping for Victor Wang's praise. Her artwork depicted cute chibi-style characters in the same aesthetic as the Dodo-King emblem on Victor Wang's hat—full of childlike charm.

"They're great too. How about I include your drawings along with Albedo's in the new book?"

"Whoa! Really?!"

"As long as you're okay with it."

To have her drawings featured in a book by her favorite author—Klee was overjoyed. "You're a good guy!"

"I'll finish the manuscript tonight, send it for layout tomorrow, get it reviewed the day after, and the final product will be out in three days. Let's all look forward to it."

And with that, the workday at the lab came to an end. Victor Wang carefully packed away Albedo and Klee's illustrations, said his cheerful goodbyes, and turned to leave.

"Mr. Dust, are you… forgetting something?" came a soft voice—it was Sucrose.

Victor Wang froze. His left foot, just past the doorway, stepped back inside.

"Ahem, right. Master Albedo, I actually did come here to ask for your help with something."

He then described his main request in detail: to use alchemy to create a compact, portable device that could store seven types of elemental energy, capable of releasing specific elemental particles on demand.

"If it really isn't possible to store all seven, even just one element would do—anything's better than nothing. What matters most is that the device be as small as possible." Victor Wang added.

With such a device, he wouldn't have to rely on the environment or items during combat or puzzles.

"Hold on a moment."

Albedo went upstairs and came back with a machine that looked like a juicer—but with a nozzle attached. He casually plucked a Flaming Flower petal from his stockpile of experimental materials, placed it inside, and activated the "juicer" with Geo energy. A stream of faintly glowing Pyro particles burst from the nozzle.

"It uses elemental energy as power, paired with material rich in that element, to produce the corresponding particles. In every sense, it's a boring device—made by a very bored version of myself a long time ago."

Albedo stopped fiddling with the machine and continued, "What you're asking for is more portable and capable of storing energy… I've never tried that before. But creating something from nothing—that's the beauty of alchemy. I think it's worth attempting."

He spread his hands, expression flat. "But it's too late today. And you still have a book to finish. Tomorrow afternoon—will that work for you? We'll experiment then, and I'll prepare the necessary materials in advance."

After leaving Albedo's lab, Victor Wang grabbed a quick dinner. To finish the book as soon as possible, he didn't go outside to burn off his mental energy as usual.

By 1 AM, he had finally completed Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. After placing Albedo and Klee's illustrations in suitable spots, he added a title page at the front of the manuscript that read:

To the most splendid and dreamlike treasure humanity possesses—Imagination.

With everything done, Victor Wang let out a long yawn.

Normally, staying up all night wouldn't be an issue for someone young and strong. But lately, he had been exhausting his mental energy every night. Only a full night's rest could fully restore him—and lack of sleep made him foggy and sluggish.

So, he didn't resist. Letting the bed claim him, he sank into deep sleep.

At 7:30 AM the next day, his internal clock woke him right on time. Though the sleep had been short, he hadn't spent any mental energy the night before, so he actually felt better than usual.

After a brief round of mental-split training, it was 9 AM. Victor Wang, bread in mouth, hailed a carriage to the Knights of Favonius' headquarters while checking his manuscript for typos or anything that might need editing.

Go to the publisher myself? Not happening. Better to ask Lisa—owe her a favor, build rapport. Smart choice.

Then, just outside the Knights of Favonius' headquarters, he ran into the blond nobleman Caesar, holding a massive bouquet of red roses. From the look on his face, he'd been rejected by Lisa again.

"Good morning." Perhaps recalling Victor Wang's status as "Vice President of the Barbara Support Association," Caesar narrowed his eyes and greeted him with a smile.

Victor Wang gave a slight nod in return. The two passed each other.

"Lisa, Lisa, I've written a new book. Could you help me contact a publisher?"

"Don't be fooled by appearances. I'm actually very lazy. Why don't you… do it yourself?"

"But I don't know the way."

Lisa sighed as she dripped alchemical reagent onto a vase of roses. "What kind of book is it? Let me see. If I'm not interested, I'm not helping."

Victor Wang made a face. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was absurd, whimsical, and illogical—nothing like Tales from the Box, which even older readers could enjoy. This one skewed more toward children.

He had no idea what Lisa would think—but handed over the manuscript anyway.

Once she finished with the reagent, she put away her tools, turned around, and picked up the manuscript. The first page was the title page Victor Wang had added last night.

"To the most splendid and dreamlike treasure humanity possesses—Imagination…" Lisa looked up at Victor Wang, then continued reading.

An illustration came into view—a small elf girl with golden hair and a red-and-white dress leaning against a tree. Then another image, same scene, but a completely different art style.

"Oh? You included illustrations too… This 'Alice'—don't tell me it's that Alice?"

"Maybe the Alice you know really did have a dream like this. Or maybe not. I'm not sure."

"A dream? Don't spoil it." Lisa gave him a playful glare, then continued flipping through a few chapters before nodding slightly.

"Title?"

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

"Pen name and bank account the same?" When Victor Wang nodded, Lisa added, "Standard procedure. Book will be printed in two days. Sign the contract and get it reviewed on the third floor—release the day after."

"Lunch is on me today!"

"Then you'd better think carefully about what I like to eat." Lisa smiled faintly—accepting his offer.

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