Chapter 179

Diona lay sprawled on the table, her cat ears perked up, and her tail swaying back and forth irritably.

Her cat ears and tail were not decorations.

These cat-like features were symbols of the "Kätzlein bloodline," extremely rare in the Mondstadt region.

Thanks to this ancient lineage, Diona, like her father Draff, had exceptional talent in hunting.

Stealth, archery, agile climbing and dodging, night vision...

Diona had originally been very proud of these excellent abilities, but now she somewhat regretted having cat-like sensitive hearing.

Even with her cat ears covered, she could clearly hear the strange sounds coming from Senior Zhu Zi in the back hall.

The sounds were soft and low, seeming both pleasurable and painful, wildly scratching at her cat-like curious heart.

Diona finally couldn't help herself and looked at the composed Shenhe sitting beside her, asking quietly, "Senior Shenhe."

"Mm?"

"Is the boss giving Senior Zhu Zi a massage?"

"Mm."

"Is it the weight-loss massage?"

"Mm."

"What's it like?"

"I don't know."

"Huh?"

"My constitution is very good. I don't get tired or gain weight, so I've never gotten a massage from the boss."

"Oh."

"If you want to know, you can ask the boss for a massage."

"I-I don't want one! I'm not fat at all! I was just asking!"

Diona's face turned red as she protested strongly.

Shenhe nodded, still expressionless: "Then you asked the wrong person. When Zhu Zi comes out, you can ask her."

Diona looked at her, feeling deflated, and slumped back onto the table with a muffled, "Oh."

After a long while, Zhu Zi, having finished her second bath, came back from the bathroom looking radiant.

Diona immediately sat up and waved to her: "Senior Zhu Zi!"

Zhu Zi smiled and nodded, and as soon as she sat down, Diona leaned in to ask her quietly about the massage.

With slightly reddened cheeks, Zhu Zi softly explained to her what kind of experience the 800-mora full course was.

Then, Diona's expression became dazed, and her cheeks also turned red.

"It's really extremely comfortable. You should try it next time. 800 mora isn't cheap, but it's absolutely worth it."

"N-no way!"

--

The next morning, Xia Zhi woke from his sleep, feeling the bed beneath him was both warm and comfortable.

[Heat Talisman] five-star review! Gentle warmth! Long-lasting! Super experience! Even better than the heated bed from his original world!

Xia Zhi couldn't help but lie there a while longer, opening the system panel to recycle all the dream materials he had collected last night.

His available points instantly became: 1024.

Finally saved up to 1000 points.

Xia Zhi opened the [Shop] and found the platinum item he had been eyeing for a long time.

[Second Meditation Method]

Quality: Platinum

Type: Skill Book

Properties: Passive, Visualization

Effect: Immediately gain the passive skill "Second Meditation Method" upon use, permanently increasing mana limit by 1 point per minute.

Hidden Effect: Mana consumption reduced by 30%

Price: 1000 points

Xia Zhi bought it directly, his available points dropping by 1000, instantly becoming a pitiful 24.

At the same time, a platinum-colored strange light orb appeared in his inventory.

This was Xia Zhi's second platinum item.

He didn't immediately use this skill book, but sat up in bed.

Then, Xia Zhi took out [Second Meditation Method], [Enhancement Crystal], and [Hourglass of Time] from his inventory.

He took the crystal and brought it close to the strange light orb.

"Do you want to use [Enhancement Crystal] on [Second Meditation Method]? Please note, this is a platinum item with only a 1% chance of successful quality improvement."

"Yes."

The crystal in his hand suddenly shattered, transforming into countless bright points that merged into the light orb.

Xia Zhi stared intently at the light orb.

If this operation succeeded, [Second Meditation Method] would directly become [First Meditation Method].

Permanently increasing mana limit by 1 point per second, in one day it would permanently increase mana limit by 86,400 points. He could break through 100,000 mana limit tomorrow and become a light system deity. Then he could casually throw around that [Heaven's Star] skill like the Geo Archon.

"Evolution failed, received random enhancement — [Second Meditation Method] skill effect increased by 5%."

Xia Zhi picked up the [Hourglass of Time], trying again.

"Evolution failed, received random enhancement — [Second Meditation Method] skill effect increased by 3%."

"Evolution failed, received random enhancement — [Second Meditation Method] skill effect increased by 6%."

"Evolution failed, received random enhancement — [Second Meditation Method] skill effect increased by 7%."

"Evolution failed, received random enhancement — [Second Meditation Method] skill effect increased by 5%."

Forget it, this is pointless.

Better save the crystals to enhance [Hourglass of Time].

After all, this is the noble rule of time.

As for [First Meditation Method], its effect is just so-so. [Second Meditation Method] might be slower, but it's still usable.

There's no point in waiting anymore. A 99% failure rate for evolution is too high. Starting [Second Meditation Method] one minute earlier means gaining 1 point of mana limit one minute earlier.

Xia Zhi sighed helplessly and picked up the light orb.

"Do you want to use skill book [Second Meditation Method]?"

"Yes."

The light orb disappeared, and Xia Zhi closed his eyes, feeling lots of new information appear in his mind.

After digesting all this information, Xia Zhi opened his eyes to see a new passive skill [Second Meditation Method] on his system panel: +1.3 mana limit/minute.

[Scholar's Ring]'s amplification effect: five-star review!

Xia Zhi did a quick calculation. With just [Second Meditation Method]'s effect, he could increase his mana limit by 1,872 points per day. It would only take 53.4 days to increase by 100,000 points.

Adding the previous [Third Meditation Method], by the end of next month, he should be able to use fifth-rank spells.

Then he could ask Miss Chi Yu if she wanted to be revived, and if she did, he could cast [Resurrection] on her.

As for the unknown divinity corrupting his eyes, once he became a deity himself, dispelling them should no longer be difficult.

After his eyes returned to normal, the glasses Miss Yanfei gave him would be useless, which was a bit of a shame.

Xia Zhi also tried the new property that [Second Meditation Method] brought: [Visualization].

[Visualization]: Concentrate your mind to enter a meditation space where you can visualize a world.

Xia Zhi went into the meditation space to look around. It was an empty mental world that required him to spend mental power to create what he wanted.

It had a sandbox-like fun to it, though he hadn't discovered more uses for it yet.

Unfortunately, his mental power was currently very tight. He needed to save it for basic income to earn points, so he temporarily didn't have extra mental power to build this meditation space.

After playing with [Visualization] for a while, Xia Zhi got up and took out [Blazing Incense Burner] to start refining [Joy Incense].

Can't skip the basic income.

After recycling a piece of incense, his points increased by 10, becoming 34.

Xia Zhi put away the incense burner, thought for a moment, took out that bag of [Bliss Rice], grabbed a large handful, and decided to make something good for everyone this morning. He also spent 2 points to purchase a [Momentary Wine Starter] from the [Shop], which was a supernatural wine starter that could speed up fermentation.

After going downstairs and finishing his morning routine, he emptied the [Dragon-Turning Pot], cleaned it, and put the [Bliss Rice] and [Momentary Wine Starter] in together.

Shortly after, the [Bliss Rice] in the [Dragon-Turning Pot] had fermented. Of course, this was due to the effect of the [Momentary Wine Starter], as the [Dragon-Turning Pot] had no effect on supernatural ingredients and only served as a container.

[Bliss Rice Wine]

Quality: Silver

Type: Consumable

Properties: None

Effect: Rice wine quickly fermented with [Momentary Wine Starter], consumption makes one feel as if they've arrived in paradise.

Hidden Effect: Can accelerate spirit value recovery.

Non-recyclable.

Looking at the item description, Xia Zhi found that [Bliss Rice Wine] had the same effect as [Bliss Rice Pops].

He tried adding some [White Jade Honey], and sure enough, the item effect became the same as [White Jade Bliss Rice Pops]: consumption brings extreme happiness.

"Boss, what are we eating this morning?"

"Rice wine with eggs."

Upon hearing the word wine, Diona immediately bristled.

"Wine? I don't want wine! I absolutely won't drink wine!"

"Really don't want any?"

"No! Wine is evil! I, Diona, would rather starve! Die outside! Than drink a single drop of wine!"

"This is rice wine, rice wine doesn't count as wine. It's similar to cooking wine, which I use in cooking all the time, and you've eaten that."

"I..."

"Here, this bowl is for you."

"I... I'm not drinking because I want to! It's because the boss is forcing me! I just don't want to waste the boss's... Actually, it's great!"

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