𝙎𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 [𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝘼𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙤𝙨 𝘼𝙐]

𝘿𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣...𝙄 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣 -𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚

Hi, author here. I wanna apologize for being away from this story for a while. You probably know that exams and majors were being handed out like candy, so I had to take some time off to study. And I took *too* much time off. I almost forgot about this book tbh. But I am back and I'll post tomorrow too to make up for it. Alright, let's get to the story.

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Dragonspine.

Pretty much everyone's most hated area, right next to inazuma before the giant world quest to clear the storm.

Zou hadn't explored that area in a long time, as they only stopped after getting all of the crimson agates to fully max out the tree. They rarely even got any chests.

After logging in, she was immediately greeted with a chorus of voices.

"Welcome back, traveler!"

A smile formed on Zou's face after hearing their voices out of their voicelines. It had been a few days since she knew that her characters could talk to her via breaking the fourth wall. That being said, the team wasn't quite happy when she explained her plans of exploring dragonspine.

"Do we have to?" Yanfei asked, playing with Hu Tao's hair. Zou had invited her team for a small break in the teapot before the big trip. She was now playing Genshin with a VR headset to make it feel more in touch with her team.

"I mean, you don't have to specifically. I can always swap you out for someone else." Zou curled their hair with their finger as they continued. "Hey, Fischl, how's the cooking going?"

It wasn't long before an unpleasant burning smell filled their nostrils....and the mansion.

"Umm...*ahem* it has come to my attention that the delicacies that I have so deliberately prepared have been cooked to a temperature so great, that they have morphed darker than the darkest night. And thus, I, the Prinzessin Der Verurteilung, shall prepare a more lower class dish to satisfy our tastebuds to a degree that they will rejoice one's holy name."

"What she means is that she burned the food and she'll make more for us." Oz translated.

"You could have left out the first part- I mean- forget I said anything!"

Zou wheezed quietly, as to not wake up Venti, who was sleeping on the couch across from her.

She got up and crossed the room to him and looked down on his sleeping form. He looked like he was having a good dream. Not for long, though.

She poked one of his little cheeks and he stirred in his sleep before slowly sitting up and yawning.

"Wake up, my little sleepy baby!" Zou teased and began squishing Venti's face.

"Mmph, I'm not a little baby. Stop squishing my face." Venti replied, clearly half asleep.

Zou shook their head. "Mmm, no. I don't think I will." They continued to squeeze Venti's warm, chubby cheeks before letting go. "Alright, I'll let you sleep for another half hour. Then we need to go."

"Thank youuu~" the bard chirped before drifting off to the land of slumber again.

(Part 2 coming tomorrow)