"Ah!!!"
"Yah!!!"
In the forest outside Fontaine, the startled cries of a young man and a Damselette rang out.
Behind them, a gigantic, enraged, hopping Large Hydro Slime was chasing them.
"Hey, hey! Aren't you a god? Why are you running faster than me! Hurry up and use your Normal Attack to think of something!" Seeing Furina running so fast ahead, Alex instantly got angry. This guy just watched from afar and now that he was being chased by a monster, she wasn't helping.
"Huh? My, my, my powers are all in the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale, all transformed into 'Indemnitium' to maintain the operation of Fontaine!" Furina turned her head to respond, then said angrily, "Who told you to provoke the most troublesome creatures for us without reason! Besides, I am your master, you should protect me properly."
Furina nodded, then turned to blame Alex for his incompetence.
"Oh, I just wanted to try my Normal Attack, but who would've thought, where's the promised large physical DMG? Attracting aggro, that part is definitely stable." Alex pulled out his phone and looked speechlessly at his skill interface, Normal Attack, Unrivaled Punch.
Alright, alright, this must be what he learned from the skill video when MiHoYo first released the Geo Archon, Zhongli.
"Then you definitely have yourself to blame. You are too weak! If Clorinde were here, I wouldn't have to worry at all. Even ten thousand Electro Slimes would be easily dealt with in one move." Furina shook her head, her left hand crossed over her chest and her right index finger casually pointed to the side.
Clorinde, who was patrolling the city, thought, 'If ten thousand Electro Slimes came, I'd be scared too!'
"Phew, but luckily, this Hydro Slime stopped chasing us after we ran a few hundred meters." While bickering with Furina, Alex noticed the Hydro Slime was gone. It must have disengaged from aggro range, or perhaps exceeded its domain.
"I understand, I understand completely! You, the Hydro Archon in allogene, are indeed a replica of Aqua!" Alex shook his head. If that was the setting, he could accept it.
...
In the end, Furina still ate a small cake with a huff.
Meanwhile, Alex thought for a moment, looked at the river beside him, and then at his extra skills. He suddenly realized he had a lot of fresh ingredients.
But how to get fire? He'd figure it out once they got back up. If not, he'd find another Hilichurl camp. If all else failed, there were Flaming Flowers, Pyro Slimes, Pyro tool-users—plenty of options.
"Next, I want to go fish-blasting. Furina, can you also come into the water? Is that okay?" Alex walked to the riverbank, looking left and right, but didn't see any Crabs. He could only go into the water to see what to eat.
Furina retorted, "What kind of look is that? My full name is Furina de Fontaine! I'm still a Fontainian, and there's no Fontainian who can't swim!"
"Come on, come on!" Alex said, starting to take off his clothes.
"You! What are you doing?!" Furina immediately turned away, blushing.
"Don't you need to take off your clothes to swim?" Alex said, putting one hand on his hip and raising the other high, starting his warm-up exercises.
"No need!" Furina said, running into the water, then diving down and disappearing.
"Uh…" Alex was stunned.
"Plop." Furina's head emerged from the water, her hat still on. "You come down too."
"Coming!" Seeing Furina go straight into the water with her clothes on, Alex quickly put his clothes back on and jumped in after her.
Once in the water, Alex couldn't help but look at the hat on Furina's head. Was it glued on? How did it not fall off?
Kick, kick… But there was still a serious problem.
"Pfft-hahaha, you swim so funnily! Your breaststroke isn't standard at all." Furina, in the water, could actually make sounds that reached Alex's ears.
"Gurgle gurgle. Blaaah… Uh uh uh." Indeed, he couldn't speak underwater. Alex truly witnessed the Hydro Archon's privilege.
Furina swam a few strokes and came to Alex's side, pulling him deeper. "I'll lead you."
As Furina pulled Alex, she occasionally explained the secrets of swimming to him.