After meeting Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, Lisa admired her wisdom even more. Compared with the younger Lesser Lord Kusanali, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's horizons were on a completely different level.
"Now I finally understand why my teacher and those sages all praise and respect Greater Lord Rukkhadevata so much," Lisa said with a sigh. "All I can say is that Lesser Lord Kusanali is still too immature."
"Nahida's situation… is kind of complicated," Koji said after thinking for a moment, unsure how to evaluate the little Dendro Archon.
In the story, an Archon being locked up for over five hundred years was just absurd. Was there really no way to leave at all? And yet, she cared deeply about her believers… but then she let the war criminal Scaramouche enter Irminsul, which felt irrational too…
She was a very complicated god. Compared to Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, she really did seem too inexperienced.
If Nahida had the kind of power Greater Lord Rukkhadevata possessed, she'd definitely be able to convince the masses. And wisdom wasn't something you were born with as some world-shaking genius anyway.
Hopefully, with Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's guidance, she could become a qualified God of Wisdom—rather than doing things that made people's brains shrivel up and their vision go black again.
…
When Lisa went to visit her teacher, Koji didn't follow. He wasn't familiar with the people at the Akademiya either, so he decided to take a stroll around Port Ormos instead.
"There are seriously way too many mosquitoes in the rainforest," Eula said with obvious disgust. And the mosquitoes here were huge.
If it weren't for Koji's Blessing of Mosquito Avoidance, she and Shenhe would've had to use Cryo's chill to drive them off. Getting bitten even once would be miserable.
"That's normal," Koji said casually. "The rainforest climate is perfect for mosquitoes to multiply like crazy. In the desert, there are usually a lot fewer. Places like oases, where there's water, can still support mosquito breeding, though."
Over at Dragonspine, you wouldn't see mosquitoes at all. The extreme cold would freeze them to death.
"Master's place has a formation, so there aren't any mosquitoes," Shenhe said after thinking about it. The adepti abode on Mt. Aocang didn't allow outside creatures to enter.
"Mosquitoes are especially interested in cultivators like us, and people with Visions," Shenhe added. "Even the taste of our blood is better to them."
"Honestly, yeah," Eula agreed. "Back when I was out in the wilds around Mondstadt, they loved buzzing around me. It was so annoying."
"Want something to repel them?" a small girl suddenly cut in, launching straight into a sales pitch.
She was short enough that she barely reached their waists, yet the way she marketed her product was smooth and practiced.
"See those ladies over there?" Dori pointed at three blonde, mature-looking women. "This is a special-effect mosquito repellent provided by Alice-san."
Koji and the others weren't unfamiliar with Witch Alice… but when it came to things she made, could anyone really guarantee there wouldn't be "side effects"?
"If it's from Alice, I think that repellent is the opposite of reliable," Koji said bluntly.
Hearing that, Alice walked over in quick little steps and glared at him. "What do you mean? My stuff isn't fake."
"Alice-fujin, do you really not have any sense of what you make?" Koji said with a half-smile. "Whether you 'added something extra' or not—you know perfectly well."
In that regard, she was kind of like Da Wei-sensei: both of them loved stuffing their inventions with their own wild ideas.
"Uh…" Alice thought about it. She really did enjoy adding her own "signature touches" to her inventions.
Dori nodded. Alice wouldn't sell fakes, sure—but the "signature touches" were exactly what gave people headaches.
It was like opening a mystery box. Maybe it was a pleasant surprise… or maybe it was a jumpscare.
"Alice-fujin, what are you doing here?" Koji asked.
Alice rolled her eyes at him and said flatly, "Stop calling me that. What, are you trying to become a 'Cao Cao-type'?"
As if she didn't know. That whole "the spirit of Wei Wudi lives on" vibe.
"That's not exactly a dealbreaker," Koji said earnestly. Alice's looks were top-tier, and with the "Klee's mom" bonus on top… she was absolutely the kind of woman a shameless scoundrel would dream about.
"A mama-tier beauty like that is pretty rare," he added.
Eula stared at Koji with a weird expression. She hadn't expected him to have that kind of taste. Seriously—people really were hard to judge.
"Hey, junior," Alice said, exasperated. "I don't have a daughter that old."
"And Klee," Alice added, "I have zero intention of finding her a father right now."
"Not right now… so later, then?" Koji's eyes practically lit up as he looked Alice up and down, openly appreciating her breathtaking face.
That gaze was way too hot.
Alice almost couldn't meet Koji's eyes. If she did, she felt like she'd get embarrassed.
Dori and the others looked like they were enjoying the gossip. After all, there was no blood relation involved, and age wasn't a real issue either—long-lived people could deal with that easily.
"Alright, enough of that," Alice said, cutting it off and switching topics. "I'm here to deliver some goods to Dori."
"Yeah…" Dori sighed. "Business hasn't been easy lately. If it weren't for Alice-san, I'd be so poor I'd have to eat dirt."
Bottled Knowledge had huge profit margins, and she'd made a fortune off it. But now it was being suppressed, it couldn't be used anymore, and all she could do was pile it up in storage.
"You're 'so poor you'd eat dirt'?" Koji said, speechless. "In Sumeru, you should be ranked among the richest people."
Dori wasn't poor at all. She was a genuine little rich girl.
"Mora is something you can never have too much of," Dori said. "Nobody dislikes Mora."
"If you had to pick one faith between Morax—the God of Mora—and Nahida—the Dendro Archon," Koji asked with interest, "which would you choose?"
"That question…" Dori hesitated. She couldn't choose right away.
"Can't I pick both?"
Mora was currency that Morax created, circulating across all nations of Teyvat. She felt it wouldn't be a bad idea at all to worship Morax—maybe her finances would get even luckier. But as someone from Sumeru, the Dendro Archon was also their faith.
"Hehe, little Dori, you're kind of greedy," Alice teased.
"I can't help it," Dori said without any embarrassment. "It's too hard to choose. I love Mora, so I want to worship the King of Mora… but Greater Lord Rukkhadevata also has to be worshiped."
Besides, no rule said you could only believe in one god.
"Koji, that white-haired paramecium you brought back… she kind of resembles Asmoday," Alice said curiously. "Are they related?"
She'd met Kiana before, but she didn't know what relationship Kiana might have with the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.
"No idea," Koji said, nodding. "They're all miHoYo characters. Looking a bit alike is normal."
Right now, Asmoday wasn't on Celestia, and Paimon's identity was still a mystery.
Still… it didn't feel very likely that Paimon was Asmoday. But who could really say for sure?
(End of Chapter)
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