"One Two. One Two." Qiqi muttered as she did some stretches. This was her new morning routine, as she is now assigned to accompany Lars as he starts his physiotherapy.
"Huh? What are you doing?" She wondered, noticing that Lars was performing weird moves she's never seen before.
"Calisthenics. Warming up before I start my actual workout." He explained, performing a planche. Qiqi blinked. That was exercise? She never really gave it a thought before. All she knew about exercise was stretching and it's movesets.
"It kinda looks like you're floating." She commented. Lars chuckled, sweat dripping down his face.
"Not really, my hands are just very strong. Maybe you can do it too."
"Really? It looks hard."
"Well it is. But I believe that if you try everyday, you'll get it down one day. Then you can move on to more complicated exercises. That's how I did it, that's probably how everyone does it. They try and try until they succeed. Failure is the mother of success after all."
"Hmm, I see...." She whispered before writing something down on her notebook. She then got down on the ground, and mimicked the position Lars was performing.
" Hngg!....Ugh..." Qiqi didn't even manage to maintain it for half a second before her legs felt down. "I can't do it..." She muttered to herself. Lars who by now was done with his warm up, smiled at her.
"You can, but not right now, Qiqi. Your core just isn't strong enough. Plus you have the wrong technique."
"I did?"
"Uh huh. You'd need to start with planks to build up your core strength while training planches at the same time. It's a step by step process, I'm sure you could do it in time." He explained. At the same time, Qiqi was jotting down notes on her blue notebook.
"I see. I shall remember to train it everyday."
"That's the spirit." He grinned and patted her tiny head.
"What type of workout are you going to do today?" She then asked.
"Not much, Baizhu said I can't do anything intense, so no sword swinging or 1000 pushups or something along those lines. So I decided that we'll just go for a jog around the city."
"Okay. Let's start then."
They started jogging around the city side by side. Lars finds that Qiqi is the perfect jogging partner. Her undead physiology means fatigue is mostly irrelevant, no lactic acid panic, no lungs screaming for oxygen. Which means she can jog forever, provided if no one interrupts her.
The citizens of Liyue, some just started opening their own shops, watched as a man and a small purple haired child with emotionless magenta-colored eyes jogging silently past their stalls.
"Man you're really good at that this." He praised the girl who looked up and nodded in return. "You too." She said as they continued jogging in silence.
Lars narrowed his eyes as he noticed something familiar not far away from him. 'Ah yes, the Adventurers Guild. I should go sign up now.' Taking a small detour, they started heading towards the Guild Post.
"Why are we going there?" Qiqi asked.
"I'm just signing up for the Adventurers Guild, it won't take too long." He replied, standing in front of a black haired receptionist with bangs.
"Ad astra abyssosque! Welcome to the Adventurers Guild. I am Katheryne, the receptionist here at the Adventurers' Guild." Katheryne introduced herself. Lars could almost hear the robotic accent, but she sounds so much like a real human it's almost indistinguishable.
"I want to sign up for the guild."
"You are Lars? Yes?" Lars blinked at the question before slowly nodding.
"Normally, the guild provides an entrance exam for new adventurers to determine if one is capable or not to become one. But word of mouth about your deeds travelled fast, and Lady Ningguang has put in a good word about you, so we have no reason to doubt your capabilities."
Lars wasn't surprised. Actually he'd wanted to take the test since there wasn't an 'entrance exam' quest in the game although it existed. But why take the long road when the destination is already before him?
"Uh... Sure, thank you Katheryne. I really appreciate it. So what do I do now? Do I start doing commissions and stuff?" The robot receptionist nodded.
"Yes. As you are currently a novice adventurer, you will start off with D-Rank commissions. As you complete more commissions and earn a high rating from commissioners, we will allow you to take on higher ranked commissions." She explained in detail before opening a drawer. Lars was them handed a small green book by Katheryne.
"Here is your Adventure Handbook. It will help record your completed commissions. Once you completed a commission, simply show the handbook to the commissioner and ask for their signature. Then come back here to get a stamp, verifying that you have completed the commission before receiving your payment."
"I see. I probably won't be able to do much though, I'm still injured ya see?" Lars lifted his shirt a little, showing Katheryne that his bandaged chest.
"No problem. As you are still recovering, the 'daily commissions' rule doesn't apply to you. Simply come back as soon as you are given the green light."
"Got it, thank you Katheryne."
"I aim to please." Katheryne nodded politely in return. She then looked down at Qiqi who was looking around the unfamiliar surroundings.
"What about you, miss? Do you want to become an adventurer too?" Katheryne asked her. Qiqi stayed silent before shaking her head.
"I don't know." Katheryne only smiled at the child's answer. "It's alright, you can come back when you change your mind. The Adventurers' Guild is open for business 24/7 all year round."
"Okay." Qiqi nodded. Lars waved Katheryne goodbye before he and Qiqi walked away from the post.
"Lars, is being an adventurer fun?" Qiqi asked him as they headed back to Bubu Pharmacy. Lars rubbed his chin.
"Hmm... I'm not sure, I haven't even done any commissions yet. But I'm sure it's going to be pretty fun. We're helping people after all."
"Hmm...." Qiqi has no reply to that. Lars always said that he feels good after doing good things. But how would she know? She has never 'felt' anything, especially emotions. But the warm feeling she gets whenever Lars cares for her, surely it must be proof that she can feel emotions.
'Maybe, just like exercises, I should do something about it as well.' Qiqi needs some pondering to do when she gets back to the pharmacy. Meanwhile, Lars silently stared at his Adventure Handbook.
'I'm gonna make the most of my life, and no one's gonna stop me.' He declared, placing the handbook away.
One step closer to being an absolute legend....
To be continued.....
(kind of a boring chapter sorry)
(gimme power stones though)