"Mhm," Columbina replied softly, then pointed to the scattered mycelium on the ground.
It seemed the mushrooms growing on the mycelium had all gone into Columbina's stomach. Besides her physical weakness, she showed no obvious signs of poisoning. After all, she wasn't an ordinary human; common food, even if toxic, couldn't harm her. But why did she still look malnourished? Mushrooms should be quite nutritious. Though dirty, they shouldn't be completely indigestible, right?
"How many do you eat a day?" Coppelia asked, shaking the mushroom in her hand, suspecting Columbina was eating too little.
"Three."
"Why not eat more?"
"They're awful."
"What about things other than mushrooms?"
"Even worse."
The mushrooms were probably the best food she could find nearby. Being so weak, she obviously couldn't travel far to find other food, and she probably didn't know how to start a fire to cook.
Seeing Columbina raise the mushroom to take a bite, Coppelia spoke again:
"This mushroom is too dirty. You should clean it before you eat."
Columbina casually brushed the cap with her hand a few times and prepared to eat it anyway.
That's not cleaning it at all. Could it be she doesn't even understand the concept of 'cleaning'?
Coppelia noticed that every part of the girl's clothes was spotless, and every inch of her skin was perfectly clean. Her jade-like feet had walked a considerable distance through this forest, yet not a single grain of sand clung to them. It was as if an invisible film enveloped her entire body, repelling all filth.
Then she looked at herself. Just from walking from the beach to here, a mere hundred steps or so, her shoes, socks, and the hem of her skirt were already smeared with a mixture of black mud and white mycelium.
It seemed Columbina wasn't afraid of getting her body dirty, but she shouldn't treat her food the same way. Things eaten would be digested—what if she digested something toxic? The lack of poisoning symptoms now might just mean the toxins were still accumulating and hadn't reached a critical level.
At this thought, Coppelia didn't hesitate. She snatched the dirty mushroom, which already had a few bites taken out of it, from Columbina's hand and said:
"It must be cleaned properly. I can help..."
Before she could finish, Columbina reached out to snatch the mushroom back. Startled, Coppelia unconsciously took a step back, causing Columbina to lunge at empty air.
She missed. Columbina grew a little angry. Her hands slowly clenched into fists, and the ginger-red parts of her hair began to glow with a faint red light that grew brighter and brighter. Some kind of power seemed about to erupt.
Seeing this, Coppelia realized her act of snatching something without permission had offended her. She wanted to apologize immediately, but then she saw the red glow on the girl's hair gradually recede. Her body swayed weakly, and she raised her right hand as if to steady herself, but this only made her lose her balance and fall forward.
Coppelia immediately dropped the mushroom, took a step forward, and caught her in an embrace. She slowly helped her over to a tree, letting her rest against the trunk. Once Columbina was leaning securely, Coppelia began to check her condition.
Columbina's face was as pale as ever, not showing any strange colors. Her breathing was very faint but slow and regular. It didn't look like poisoning; she had fainted from hunger.
Coppelia quickly reviewed what had just happened. The girl in white probably thought she was also hungry and had come to the forest for food, so she had offered a mushroom out of kindness. Dirty food shouldn't be eaten, but her act of snatching it was indeed excessive.
To think her first proper meeting with Columbina would be so unpleasant. She hoped it wouldn't leave a bad impression.
No, a bad impression had already been made. The question now was how to reverse it.
While Columbina was asleep, Coppelia planned to start a campfire, find some food other than mushrooms, wash it, and cook it. When she woke up, she would let her eat until she was full, stuffed, and completely satisfied. Then, she would formally apologize.
Coppelia picked up Columbina, left the grove, and went to a shady spot near the beach, placing Columbina down on the sand.
She gathered a few rocks from nearby, arranged them in a circle on the sand, cleared away flammable materials, and then went into the woods to collect a pile of dry firewood, which she stacked inside the stone circle, ready to start a fire.
She began to recall everything she knew about "how to start a fire in the wild without tools" and thought of "making fire with a drill."
She found a sturdy stick, about the length of her forearm, and a flat piece of bark that had broken off a thick tree trunk. Tossing the bark onto the ground, she set the stick against it and began to drill.
However, she hadn't realized there was no tinder on the piece of wood. A lot of smoke billowed up, and sparks flew everywhere, but even after a quarter of the stick's tip had turned to charcoal powder, she couldn't get a flame.
Glancing at Columbina while taking a break, she finally realized she had been foolish again.
"Bro thinks she's still on Earth..." she grumbled to herself internally.
This is Teyvat. Why bother with a fire drill when you can use elemental power?
But how to use elemental power? She hadn't found a Vision on her body.
Columbina definitely didn't need a Vision to wield elemental power, but she couldn't just wake her up now.
Coppelia was clueless, so she decided to solve the food problem first.
She walked around the beach but didn't see any living creatures. She had no choice but to return to the forest. She didn't dare touch any plants she didn't recognize. Searching the outskirts, she found only mushrooms, mushrooms, and more mushrooms.
She finally found a small stream, but it only contained finger-sized shrimp and crabs, which were hard to catch and not enough to eat.
"If only I could find some fish."
She followed the stream deeper into the valley and eventually discovered a pool of water.
Coppelia gazed into the depths of the pool. The black rocks at the bottom turned the water's surface into a mirror, reflecting the light glowing from her eyes. Using the reflection, she saw her own face for the first time.
"I really do look like Sandrone... but my face is a bit thinner. Her irises are blue, while mine are orange-yellow..."
"Wait, I'm here to find fish!"
Coppelia focused her gaze into the water, observing the shadows. After careful scrutiny, she finally spotted a school of streamlined dark shapes swimming lazily together.
The black scales on the fish's backs almost blended in with the black rocks below. Their white bellies were only occasionally exposed, making them hard to spot.
Coppelia quietly moved away without startling the school of fish. She found a head-sized rock nearby. Her mechanical body once again displayed strength that belied her appearance, lifting the rock with ease.
It was a little too easy. After solving Columbina's food problem, she would have to find a chance to test the limits of her mechanical body's strength.
She slowly waded into the pool, took aim, and raised the rock high above her head. Muttering, "I will have order," she put her whole body into it and hurled the rock at the school of fish.
CRASH!
She dodged the splash that shot up taller than a person and heard several echoes reverberate through the valley.
She was confident enough in her mechanical body's strength; even if the impact didn't kill them, it would at least stun a few.
She moved closer to inspect and, sure enough, several large fish were floating stiffly to the surface.
She picked up a branch, bent down, and tried to hook the floating fish towards her.
Just as she was about to succeed, she felt a hard, unknown object strike her waist. As she started to turn around, a second and third attack hit her back and buttocks, causing her to stumble forward and fall into the pool.
____
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