Noelle was mopping the hallway outside the office.
She didn't really need to be there—but seeing Mr. Xia go into Captain Jean's office, she'd somehow wandered over, dragging her mop slowly, lingering right by the door.
Half an hour passed.
Mr. Xia still hadn't come out.
The door was locked from the inside.
What were he and Captain Jean doing in there?
Noelle's thoughts wandered.
If this were before, she might have let strange ideas creep in. But now that she knew Mr. Xia's true identity, she wouldn't dare think like that.
Even thoughts alone would be disrespectful.
An hour went by.
Mr. Xia had said he came to discuss something with Captain Jean.
Could it really take this long? Must be very important…
She looked down at the freshly polished floor. Then decided to mop it again.
After all, this was the Knights' face to the world.
A few minutes later, the office door finally opened.
Noelle quickly turned.
Mr. Xia stepped out, clothes neat, expression calm and kind as ever.
Captain Jean followed, seeing him off. Her cheeks were flushed, hair and clothes a little disheveled.
The scene looked eerily like that time Noelle had walked in on them before—easily misunderstood.
Noelle ducked her head and pretended not to notice, focusing on her work.
Mr. Xia greeted her casually, then made his way into the Library.
He headed straight for the librarians' office and knocked. "Miss Lisa, do you have a moment?"
A pause, then Lisa Minci's languid voice drifted out.
"Come in."
Inside, she sat with a book in hand, clearly in the middle of reading.
She glanced up as he entered, a faintly odd smile on her face as she casually closed the novel.
"Mr. Xia, back again for your borrowing business?"
"Not just borrowing this time."
"Oh?"
"I was just talking with Captain Jean. I heard the Knights' alchemists have run into some problems lately."
"You mean the potion explosions?"
"Mm."
"Exactly. After the monster attack on the city, we scoured the battlefield and collected a trove of alchemy materials. Since those monsters were local to Mondstadt, many were common ingredients for our potions."
She sighed lightly.
"With the Knights' consumption so high in recent years, we were thrilled to finally restock. But these materials… their properties had changed. They're unstable. Every attempt at brewing resulted in explosions."
"Because of Electro mutations?"
"Right. Every piece carries traces of Electro."
"And no solutions yet?"
"We tried plenty, but nothing practical. Albedo attempted to purge the chaotic energy, but that made brewing far more costly and time-consuming. At that point, it was cheaper to just buy normal ingredients."
"So in other words, the haul's wasted?"
"Not exactly. They can't be used for potions, but for less delicate items, they still work."
Lisa outlined the Knights' current stance and research on the matter.
Xia Zhi listened, then nodded. "I see. Fascinating."
"Fascinating?" Lisa arched a brow, eyes glinting.
"Mr. Xia finds these materials interesting?"
"A bit."
"I've heard from Sucrose that Miss Xianyun's mechanism craft is remarkable. And Miss Xianyun herself said your skills surpass hers."
"Oh, hardly. I just dabble here and there."
"So, why come to me today?"
"I left the borrowing errands to my cousin. What I want is to study these new materials with you. Maybe we can crack the problem."
"You think you can?"
"After hearing the details… I've got some ideas."
"Oh?"
Lisa's smile widened as she rose to her feet.
"Perfect. Let's go, then. I've been wanting to work alongside someone as talented as you."
"This isn't the way to the alchemy lab."
"Not going there. Too crowded. We'll head upstairs."
"The Library's second floor?"
"Mhm. My private alchemy office. It's fully equipped, and no one will disturb us. You can do whatever you like there, Mr. Xia."
---
Stepping onto the Library's second floor, pushing open the door, the first thing in sight was a massive Special Heating Cauldron.
"Welcome to my alchemy workshop."
As Lisa walked inside, she introduced the various alchemical instruments within to Xia Zhi.
Clearly, she was mindful of his blindness.
Xia Zhi quietly followed her voice, listening carefully, occasionally nodding.
It was his first time seeing such a proper alchemy workshop.
Though not as sprawling as the mechanical workshop in Cloud Retainer's abode, the strange assortment of devices crammed together here was spectacular in its own right.
Especially the massive table lined with jars and bottles—
even larger than the one in Miss Jean's office. You could probably lie five or six people across it without issue.
Xia Zhi stopped, stretched out his hand to touch the big pot before him, and asked, "Miss Lisa, this doesn't seem like a cauldron, does it?"
"No, just an ordinary pot."
"And the jars here… these don't look like alchemy reagents either?"
"Correct. They're common seasonings. This one's salt, that one's oil."
"So then, what sort of alchemy research is Miss Lisa conducting?"
"None at all. It's just that the other day I tasted one of your dishes, Mr. Xia, and it was so delicious I wanted to try making it myself."
"No wonder you came to the kitchen that time, hovering over me and asking for the exact measurements of each seasoning… So? How did it go?"
"All failures. Even though I followed your recipes to the letter, the finished dishes always seemed off somehow. Do you know why that might be, Mr. Xia?"
"Probably the cooking buff."
"Cooking buff? Isn't cooking just skill gained through practice? If I could replicate every single movement you make while cooking, then theoretically the dish I produced should taste exactly like yours, right? It's the same as brewing potions: once you've mastered the formula and steps, anyone can make the same potion with the same effect."
It was a very typical scholar's mindset—believing everything could be studied, and once the underlying rules were revealed, manipulated at will.
Xia Zhi only smiled without confirming or denying.
Lisa let it go, instead retrieving some sealed alchemy materials.
"These are the reagents we obtained from mutated monsters."
Xia Zhi picked up a small vial. Inside was slime condensate—something he knew well—yet this one gleamed with a dazzling violet hue.
He uncorked it, poured a little onto his hand, and rubbed it between his fingers. Violet sparks crackled and snapped between them.
Lisa's lips parted as if to scold him for handling it so recklessly without any protective gear—but when she saw that the sparks didn't harm him at all, she swallowed the words and narrowed her eyes, silently observing instead.
"As I thought… the material's properties have become violently unstable."
Xia Zhi set the vial down and picked up another, this one filled with Whopperflower nectar. Again, it shone in that same gorgeous violet.
He poured a drop onto his hand—just like before, violet sparks leapt between his fingers.
He pondered for a moment, then fetched a small test tube. He poured in some violet slime condensate, then prepared to add the nectar.
Lisa's expression changed, and she quickly interjected: "Mr. Xia, don't!"
"Oh?"
"Mixing those will cause an explosion!"
"I figured as much. I just want to see how it reacts."
"Then come over here first—and please, wear proper protection."
"Fair enough."
Xia Zhi set the test tube down without argument.
He followed Lisa to a rack, where she helped him don a set of heavy protective gear. Clearly hers—it carried a faint, pleasant fragrance even through the stuffiness of the suit.
Lisa retreated to a safe distance.
Xia Zhi mixed the slime and nectar. The two shades of violet churned together, growing increasingly unstable. Sparks flared violently within the tube, until it trembled and shattered.
But the shards froze midair.
The entire workshop fell into absolute stillness.
Xia Zhi adjusted his glasses and carefully studied the suspended mixture.
Through his lenses, it appeared only as a blinding cluster of violet lightning—its inner details obscured.
He switched his vision to the system's God's Eye view.
At once, everything became clear.
The reaction wasn't between the slime condensate and nectar themselves. Each liquid contained countless tiny motes of light. When mixed, those motes collided—and exploded.
Xia Zhi felt something familiar in their aura.
He checked his inventory: within were several shards of strange glowing fragments.
They all bore the same name—[Path of Lightning].
These were remnants of the lightning rule he'd absorbed when his cousin resurrected, fragments of rule power.
And now, these mutated reagents carried that same taint. Their violent properties came from the same assimilation.
Xia Zhi thought deeply.
He glanced at the frozen Lisa—her normally lazy demeanor replaced by a stern expression under the suspended explosion. The contrast amused him.
Pity his phone didn't yet have a camera function—this would've made a perfect snapshot.
He walked past her to the worktable and picked up another mutated reagent, again glowing violet.
Pulling out the [Universal Syringe], he extracted it.
Tiny glowing liquid gathered within the syringe—though only a little. Once done, the reagent lost its violet sheen, reverting to its original color.
He replaced it and took another, extracting again.
The syringe now held two types of glowing liquid. Yet they didn't merge—instead forming eerie layers.
Xia Zhi placed the drained reagents back on the table.
Then he pulled out a [Universal Test Tube], separated the two glowing fluids into it, and checked his inventory.
[Path of Lightning]
Quality: Gold.
Type: Rule Fragment.
Trait: Torrent.
Effect: Shattered rule fragment, unusable.
Hidden Effect: Can fuse with fragments of the same trait.
Not Recyclable.
[Path of Lightning]
Quality: Gold.
Type: Rule Fragment.
Trait: Radiance.
Effect: Shattered rule fragment, unusable.
Hidden Effect: Can fuse with fragments of the same trait.
Not Recyclable.
Xia Zhi studied the descriptions, frowning in thought.
As he suspected, these motes were indeed Rule Fragments—though broken down far more completely.
No wonder even a seasoned alchemist like Lisa couldn't solve the problem.
As for Albedo—even with his high rank, he couldn't handle unfamiliar Electro rule power either.
Xia Zhi reloaded the extracted fragments back into the drained reagents with the syringe. Instantly, they reverted to their violet mutation.
He returned to his position and released [Time Stop].
The explosion resumed. Shards scattered harmlessly against his protective gear.
Lisa hurried over, concern in her voice. "Mr. Xia, are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
"As you just saw—sometimes potions explode right as you add the first ingredient, sometimes only after several… It's unpredictable."
"I see."
Xia Zhi knew the truth.
Sometimes, if the fragments shared the same trait, they fused harmlessly. Only when a new trait entered the mix did the reaction detonate.
The problem was clear. One solution was using the [Universal Syringe] to extract the fragments and restore all reagents to normal.
But it was tedious.
If he could harness the Rule traits directly—turn them into potion effects—that would be ideal.
That required higher-level alchemy.
Opening the [Shop], he found an item.
[Alchemy Grandmaster]
Quality: Gold.
Type: Experience Book.
Trait: Mixing.
Effect: Become an alchemy grandmaster.
Hidden Effect: None.
Price: 100 points.
He purchased it, froze time again, and used it.
Instantly, new knowledge filled his mind.
With his vast mental strength, he absorbed it quickly.
Moments later, he frowned.
Not enough.
Even grandmaster-level knowledge lacked methods for handling Rule Fragments.
He needed something higher.
But the [Shop] offered no experience beyond Gold-quality.
To advance further, he'd have to [Evolve].
Xia Zhi considered it, then set the thought aside.
He released time, shed the protective gear, and sat with Lisa to discuss.
With grandmaster-level expertise, he casually displayed his brilliance before the master alchemist herself.
Though the reagent issue remained unsolved, he answered many of Lisa's lingering questions.
Admiration shimmered in her eyes.
Mr. Xia seems even younger than me…
All that talk of "once-in-two-centuries geniuses of the Akademiya"…
Perhaps only Albedo's mysterious master, that witch of legend, could rival him in alchemy.