Mondstadt, Stormbearer Mountains
The grassy fields continued on the sloping hillside. Just ahead was a fault line, and below that was another stretch of grassy plains, on which stood broken grey stone walls.
Wisps of black smoke rose from within, carrying the smell of something burnt.
"It smells like someone burnt their cooking. Let's go down and take a look," said Nolan. Having cooked often, he was quite familiar with these smells.
"O-Okay," replied Sucrose.
Standing atop the cliff's edge, Sucrose's cloak fluttered gently in the mountain breeze like wings.
With a light leap forward, her plain Wind Glider suddenly appeared and unfolded, resembling a gliding bird.
Her long green hair tied behind her head was carried up by the airflow, dancing gently as she flew toward the broken stone wall.
Nolan had yet to learn how to use wind gliding, so going down wasn't as convenient.
He used the vertical cliff face to buffer his descent, simply jumping down before jogging to catch up with Miss Sucrose.
Sucrose spread her arms to maintain balance. Her stocking-clad legs relaxed naturally as she softly landed on the grass. Led by curiosity, they walked into the rubble ruins within the broken walls.
On the grassy ground lay a paralyzed Ruin Guard, with a brown-haired girl sitting on its body, her most striking feature being the bunny ears tied on her head.
Her long, dark brown hair cascaded down her back, completely covering the red hood on her clothes.
In front of the girl were three wooden sticks tied together at the top, with an iron pot hanging from them.
Inside the pot was boiling black, burnt substance emitting dense black smoke and a choking smell.
""Amber!?""
Nolan and Sucrose both called out in surprise at the same time, then glanced at each other.
As a member of the Knights of Favonius, Sucrose naturally knew Amber.
"Huh?" Sucrose looked curiously at the young adventurer beside her. It seemed he was not a stranger to Amber either.
Upon hearing the sound, the red-haired girl's shoulders suddenly shook, and her bunny ear hairpiece twitching too.
Amber stiffly turned her head, her fair face slightly embarrassed, feeling like her little secret had been discovered.
She got up slightly, hiding the makeshift stove behind her with hands clasped behind her back.
However, the steady plume of black smoke rising vertically, along with the burning firewood visible between her legs, drew attention nonetheless.
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"It's you guys! What are you doing here?"
Amber asked, her gaze flickering toward the side, clearly still concerned about her little secret being discovered by her friends.
"Uh, we... we came out to collect materials and suddenly, um..." Sucrose hesitated with a slightly weaker voice, glancing at the thick black smoke rising behind Amber.
She fidgeted nervously, poking her fingers together, suddenly unsure if she should say it outright.
"Ahem~ We could smell something burning from dozens of meters away," said Nolan, trying to phrase it more tactfully. "Also, if you keep cooking like that, I'm afraid your pot won't be usable anymore."
"Wh-What?!"
Amber's eyes widened in shock, though it was unclear if it was due to the former or latter statement.
Then, with a dejected expression, Amber slumped down her fair face again onto the paralyzed Ruin Guard, and finally said helplessly, "So you guys found out, huh?"
It's so obvious, it'd be hard not to notice, Nolan thought to himself.
Everyone who had gone on missions with Amber or encountered her in the wilderness knew of her poor cooking skills.
Just like how he and Sucrose had found out now. After all, that burnt black smoke could practically serve as a smoke signal.
"By the way, Amber, did you come here on patrol?"
Nolan and Sucrose helped Amber extinguish the burning firewood under the pot, using the water she carried to wash the charred iron pot.
The thing inside could barely be identified as a piece of meat.
"You know, not long ago, there was a sudden surge of beasts in the Stormbearer Mountains, right?"
Amber put her things away into her Vision, immediately regaining her usual cheerful demeanor.
"Um, wasn't that over a month ago?"
When it first happened, the Hunter Chief Draff had brought Nolan to hunt in Stormbearer Mountains and Whispering Woods.
"Yeah, after discovering this situation, the Knights of Favonius investigated and found out that there was an overflow of elemental energy in a certain area of the Stormbearer Mountains, causing nearby plants to grow exceptionally lush."
"With an abundance of food, naturally many beasts were attracted here. After temporarily dealing with the overflow of elemental energy, the Knights of Favonius suggested that hunters come here to hunt, and the problem of the beasts gradually resolved itself."
Amber sat on the rust-colored steel body, her legs stretched out, clad in tight white over-the-knee boots, the metallic soles reflecting a glimmer of light.
Leaning slightly forward, with gloved hands resting on her knees, she absentmindedly stroked her legs.
"I see. Since it's been resolved, there shouldn't be any problems, right?"
Nolan and Sucrose also found a place to sit on the paralyzed Ruin Guard to avoid getting their clothes wet from the dew-covered ground.
"Yeah, it should have been fine, but... Yesterday, a comrade from the Knights of Favonius found out that a patch of blue Elemental Energy Blossoms has appeared there now, attracting many monsters. It seems like the previous solution wasn't thorough enough."
Amber brought her legs together, and slightly bent her knees, and the white boots showed some wrinkles. She rubbed her calves and said.
"Are those blue Elemental Energy Blossoms the ones that absorb their energy and can enhance strength, the 'Revelation' Elemental Energy Blossoms?!"
Sucrose leaned against the rust-colored steel slightly, her bright eyes fixed on Amber, and she said excitedly.
If elemental energy leaked externally somewhere, rare Ley Line flowers might sprout. There were generally two types.
In Tevyat, the so-called Elemental Energy Blossoms are Ley Lines. The blue Ley Line Outcrops are called Blossoms of Revelation while the yellow Ley Line Outcrops are called Blossoms of Wealth.
The Blossoms of Wealth, which emitted golden mist after blooming and produced Mora, which was quite peculiar.
The other type was the blue Revelation Blossom, which released miraculous energy that could be absorbed without side effects, strengthening the body and enhancing one's abilities.
As an alchemist specializing in "bio-alchemy", how could Sucrose not be fascinated by such mystical plants!
Were Ley Line flowers purely energy forms? Or did they have genetic properties? If so, could they be grafted onto other plants, causing those plants to become Ley Line flowers?
Sucrose was curious as hell.
"That's right, those ones! If you want to see them, Sucrose, we can head over together," said Amber, smiling. Her bunny ear hairpiece fluttered slightly in the mountain breeze.
(End of Chapter)
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