章 33: Chapter 33

Hall of Rebirth

"Gible, let's head out!"

Hu Tao, the Hall Master, was moving with excitement when, to her surprise, she nearly bumped into her long-lost guest, Zhongli, right at the door.

"Hey, Zhongli! Where have you been these past few days? Listening to books and watching plays again?" Hu Tao greeted him with a wave.

Zhongli replied, "I've just been wandering here and there, not really listening to books or watching plays."

Hu Tao nodded. She knew well enough that if Zhongli went somewhere that required payment, the bill would inevitably end up being sent to the Hall of Rebirth, expecting her, as the Hall Master, to cover it.

As a consultant to the Hall of Rebirth, Zhongli was wise and knowledgeable, but he had one flaw—he lacked any concept of money and never carried Mora with him.

"And this is…?" Zhongli's gaze landed on the baby Gible standing next to Hu Tao, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

This strange creature was unfamiliar to Zhongli. After all, "Zhongli" was merely the human form most favored by the Geo Archon Morax. Despite his extensive knowledge accumulated over the longest life among the seven archons, he couldn't identify this particular creature.

"Now I get it. You must have been out of Liyue Harbor for a few days," Hu Tao chuckled. "If you'd been around, you'd have already heard about my '50 Million Mora'!"

Zhongli had, in fact, been away visiting old friends in Jueyun Karst and paying respects to the suppressed Dragon King Azhdaha with a bottle of fine wine. As the Geo Archon, he wanted to leave his mark across Liyue before his retirement.

"Fifty million Mora…" Zhongli mused. "So, is this a very precious creature? Just how valuable is it?"

A vein twitched on Hu Tao's forehead. She quickly realized that talking about the baby Gible's value in terms of Mora was pointless with Zhongli—he had no concept of money!

"Never mind," she said hurriedly. "I'm taking Gible out for some training in the wild."

With that, she dashed off like the wind.

Gible…?

Zhongli remained still, stroking his chin as he pondered. In his long life as a god, he had never encountered any creature named "Gible."

"Interesting!" he murmured. "It requires… further observation…"

The Vision of Geo hanging from Zhongli's waist began to glow softly as he focused his gaze on Hu Tao, who had already reached the outskirts of Lisha. With a faint shimmer of rock energy, Zhongli disappeared.

Moments later, he reappeared on a rocky peak on the outskirts of Lisha, observing Hu Tao from about a hundred meters away.

Amidst the rugged terrain, Hu Tao moved as though walking on a flat path, with Gible trailing behind her, displaying surprising agility that belied its chubby, endearing appearance.

Suddenly, Hu Tao spotted a group of small slimes and one large Geo Slime up ahead.

"Alright, Gible! Charge forward!" she cheered, brandishing a spear that seemed to burn with energy.

"Go get 'em!" she commanded.

Gible let out a roar and, undaunted by the number of enemies, charged forward with all its might, aiming directly at the large Geo Slime. With a powerful Tackle, it managed to knock the large slime back three to four meters.

The surrounding smaller slimes, startled by the sudden attack, chirped in alarm and immediately closed in on Gible.

"Careful! Use Sand Attack!" Hu Tao called out.

Gible nodded with determination, stomping its stubby legs on the ground, kicking up a cloud of sand that disrupted the small slimes, obscuring their vision and allowing it to slip out of their encirclement.

The battle proceeded with Gible bumping into the smaller slimes and using sand clouds to escape when surrounded. As slimes were one of the weaker types of monsters, they were slowly whittled down by the persistent little Gible.

The large Geo Slime, however, was too sturdy for Gible to take down. Even its most powerful move, Take Down, could only chip off a few small fragments.

After Hu Tao finally defeated the large slime with her spear, she wiped her forehead, beads of sweat forming as she marveled at its hardness. Meanwhile, Gible lay down, exhausted and breathing heavily.

"Gibiiite~ (Hungry)!" it whimpered, looking to Hu Tao.

Prepared as ever, Hu Tao took out a box of high-quality Pokéblocks, poured five or six onto a large leaf, and set it in front of the little dragon.

"You did well!" she praised, rubbing its smooth head.

While Gible ate, Hu Tao took out her Pokédex and uploaded the video of their fight with the slimes, captioning it proudly in the group chat:

「Video.AVI - My Gible is invincible!!」

After the battle, Gible had leveled up to Level 4. Hu Tao shared this news excitedly in the group chat:

「Yup! Fighting wild monsters definitely helps with Pokémon training and leveling!」

High on a stony hill, Zhongli observed Hu Tao, who was now bouncing in joy, occasionally taking out a strange device to talk into with a grin. If anyone else had seen her like this, they might think she was possessed. But this was Hu Tao, and in Liyue Harbor, her eccentricities were well known. No one was surprised, least of all Zhongli.

"Hmm, this strange creature has a 'dragon' aura, and something similar to Geo, yet different… more connected to the earth itself," he mused.

As he pondered, his gaze turned to the strange device she was holding.

"Is that device from Fontaine?" he wondered.

But as he looked up to take a closer look at Hu Tao, she was already gone, her laughter and the sound of rustling leaves disappearing into the distance, leaving only the sound of crows echoing through the air.