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The Lantern Rite ended.
After the Lantern Rite comes the Windblume Festival.
Last year's Windblume Festival was spent with Victor Wang busy breaking through the bottleneck of his mental strength, so he couldn't participate.
This year's Windblume Festival, however, involved the Hexenzirkel.
The Hexenzirkel…
Victor Wang felt a wave of emotion.
When he had first arrived in Teyvat, the voice that guided him onto the journey of seeking the Seven Archons had been mistaken for Nicole, Code Name N of the Hexenzirkel.
His initial startup capital in Teyvat—the crucial item that allowed him to blend into human society—the cloak he was still wearing to this day, had also been obtained from Alice via the Hexenzirkel's tea party island. Although he no longer truly needed it, after wearing it for so long, he had grown accustomed to it.
Come to think of it, it had been a long time since he last contacted Alice.
Fontaine was drawing closer and closer. To respond to Fontaine's prophecy, to decide how he should act—about the Heavenly Principles, about the "Knight of Extreme Evil," he had a bellyful of questions he wanted to ask.
Clearly, during the previous Lantern Rite, both the Anemo Archon and the Geo Archon had been present. Yet one was taciturn, and the other answered everything with an "Eh-heh," perfectly blocking all questions… and in the end, he asked nothing at all.
Still, Alice likely knew quite a lot as well. So, this Windblume Festival—regardless of whether it was necessary to further understand the unfathomable Hexenzirkel—just the chance to have a free call with Alice alone made it a must-attend.
"Place the squirrel on the back of the pointy-eared cat, and a pious puppy will open the doors to show you the way."
On the cliff north of Dadaupa Gorge, overlooking Falcon Coast, Victor Wang revisited familiar ground and called out that incantation.
There was no response.
After repeatedly confirming from memory that the incantation itself wasn't wrong, Victor Wang cleared his throat and called out again, "Place the squirrel on the back of the pointy-eared cat, and a pious puppy will open the doors to show you the way."
"?"
"May I be permitted to disturb your tranquility?"
This was the incantation to activate the lamp on the tea party island that allowed contact with Alice—and still, there was no reaction.
"No way…?"
Could it be that by summoning the tea party island two or three years ahead of time, he had actually caused a shift in the worldline? He was only testing whether it still worked before the Windblume Festival, and now it was really broken?
But others wouldn't know about this. They would still follow the trajectory of fate, work themselves to the bone through all kinds of efforts, and then come here—eh-heh, all for nothing!
"Ahem…"
That kind of outcome felt a bit too joyful.
Victor Wang sighed with his eyes open, sighed again with his eyes closed. Standing made him uneasy; lying down… felt quite a bit more comfortable.
His mind turned, and the first idea he came up with was to call Alice and have her restore the tea party island—only to immediately veto it himself.
Impossible. Even if he were thick-skinned, he couldn't use Alice's bracelet for something like this.
That left two remaining paths: one was to contact Alice through Klee—though whether he could ask her to restore the tea party island was another matter; the other was to stop everyone from searching for the tea party island altogether.
With only two days left until the Windblume Festival, no matter which option he chose, there was no time to lie around here.
Victor Wang immediately got up. From Klee's house, he went to the Knights of Favonius' confinement room; from the confinement room, he went to Albedo's alchemy workshop; from the workshop, he went to Dragonspine. Finally, under Albedo's guidance, he learned that Klee was in the Knights of Favonius' library.
"Lisa, long time no see—missed you dearly. Wishing you a happy Windblume Festival in advance!"
"Hehe, such a sweet mouth. I wish you a happy Windblume Festival as well."
After greeting Lisa, Victor Wang found Klee, who was flipping through a picture book. "Klee, I came to play with you. Do you have time?"
"Brother Victor, don't disturb Klee while she's studying."
"Studying?"
"The Windblume Festival is almost here. Sis—Big Sister Lisa said everyone in the Knights of Favonius is preparing for the festival. Klee has to study too, to prepare for Windblume."
"Let me see… Beginner's Guide to Genius Invokation TCG?"
"When Klee went to play with Sister Diona recently, Klee noticed that the grown-ups at the Cat's Tail Tavern don't really drink anymore—they're all playing this card game. Drinking isn't something Klee can learn, but 'Genius Invokation TCG' is! Once Klee learns it, she can duel the grown-ups!"
"It really is about time for Genius Invokation TCG to rise… But games like this are easier to learn through real matches. How about you stop reading the book and I teach you how to play?"
"Brother Victor knows Genius Invokation TCG too?"
"I'm a Genius Invokation TCG expert. I know lots of strategies—learn them and I guarantee you'll beat a whole bunch of people! Well? Want to learn?"
Klee snapped the book shut and said eagerly, "I want to learn!"
"No problem. First, do you have a deck?"
"Brother Albedo bought Klee the complete card set! There's even a Dodoco-exclusive card back!"
"Then let's do it here. We'll keep our voices down. Let me see how many cards are out now… tsk, kind of old-school—there aren't even that many character cards yet… Alright, I'll teach you a fast-swap deck first."
"Fast-swap deck?"
"These two character cards are the core."
"This is Sister Mona! And this one is…?"
"This is Sister Keqing—she's the main attacker of this deck. Then we add Acting Grand Master Jean… Hydro–Electro–Anemo spread damage with Swirl and forced enemy swaps, while our side can swap quickly, constantly dealing AoE damage based on the enemy's elemental application."
"That sounds amazing!"
"For action cards, you definitely need [Thundering Penance], [Changing Shifts], [Leave It to Me!], and [When the Crane Returned]. Add one [Traveler's Handy Sword], one [Aquila Favonia], one [Thunder Summoner's Crown], and for the rest—dice refresh, card draw, healing, defense, energy recharge—it all depends on the opponent's deck style and your own luck."
"Klee has great luck! Whatever dice Klee wants, Klee gets!"
"That's really enviable. Someone like me can't even play without [Toss-Up] and [Knights of Favonius Library], and sometimes even with them it's like I didn't bring them at all."
"That sounds so pitiful."
"...Alright, alright. Let's try a real match."
Victor Wang casually picked three other character cards, and the two sides began their duel.
"Make good use of elemental reactions. If the opponent's standby characters don't have elemental infusion yet, use Jean to Swirl. Don't rush to trigger reactions—Electro-Charged and Swirl are both AoE damage and can wear down the opponent's standby characters without them even noticing."
"Uh…"
"Remember—don't be afraid of sacrifices. Support characters are meant to be traded when needed. Preserve your core through flexible fast swaps, and try to end the round with initiative. When ending second, avoid having Sister Keqing as the active character."
"It's t-too complicated… Klee kind of…"
"Too complicated? Then how about this—you just remember a fixed sequence. Keqing starts first. After using her skill, switch to Mona. After Mona uses her skill, if you still have dice, use a fast action to switch to Jean. If not, wait for the next round. Next round, Jean uses her skill, then use Keqing's Lightning Stiletto. If Keqing can use her Elemental Burst at that point, do so; otherwise, continue the previous loop."
"Okay… Klee will try."
After rigidly playing five matches like this, Klee finally grasped the basics of the deck. Victor Wang then asked, "Besides that, is there anything else you want to do?"
"?!"
Klee instantly became alert.
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