Wonderland.
Ningguang, her lips pressed shut, froze for a moment but quickly came to her senses. Clenching her teeth, she refused to give Nolan any chance to proceed further.
After several failed attempts, he had no choice but to try a different method to lower her guard.
With his arms wrapped around her from behind, Nolan slowly slid his hands from her waist down toward the slit in her qipao.
The moment he touched the edge of her black lace-trimmed safety shorts, he felt her entire body suddenly tense up.
Then, two black-sleeved hands reached up and gently cupped his face, pushing him away.
Ningguang pursed her lips and stood up a little stiffly, her face flushed as she said,
"Speaking of which, Miss Fischl wanted to make her room more personal. I think I'll go offer her some advice."
And with that, she walked off gracefully on her long, fair legs, not even giving him a chance to stop her.
Well then,
Nolan thought with a quiet chuckle. Looks like even Lady Tianquan can get flustered like a little girl when caught unprepared in these situations.
Since things didn't go as planned, he figured he'd look for another opportunity next time. For now, it was better to focus on his other responsibilities—like checking with his guests about places where powerful monsters might still be sealed.
He couldn't afford to slack on gathering Adventure EXP.
Nolan made his way to the spiral staircase in the center of the living room, which wrapped around the large supporting pillar stretching through all four floors.
This pillar—and the staircase itself—had been painstakingly constructed using Geo energy by Lumine, Ningguang, and Yun Jin.
It had been specially reinforced too. Serving as the structural backbone of four floors, it was more than sturdy enough.
Its exterior was covered with polished wooden panels treated with wood oil, giving it a warm, smooth texture and intricate, beautiful grain patterns.
In short—it looked very nice.
Resting his hand on the stair rail, he tapped his fingers lightly while humming a tune as he walked up to the second floor.
By now, the second floor had been fully renovated.
Split by the central staircase, the floor was divided into two parts: on the left was the hot spring bathhouse.
Using the Wonderland's spatial attribute "Endless," which increased any form of energy within the space by 0.1% daily, the base of the hot spring pool was infused with fire-elemental energy.
Because of this, the pool could maintain its heat without depleting the elemental energy—in fact, that energy increased by 0.1% each day.
Once the concentration of fire energy reached a certain level…
It could even condense into pure elemental fire crystals, which could then be used as breakthrough materials or for alchemy.
Nolan had been using this "Endless" spatial trait to mass-produce elemental crystals. There was even a dedicated storage room in the warehouse where everyone's gathered elemental materials were kept.
Even the sliver of immortal power given by Shenhe—
It too was slowly growing at a daily rate of 0.1% from its initial amount, like compounding interest in a savings account.
A return of 0.1% per day might not seem like much—but as long as you lived long enough, even a single dollar could become a fortune!
To the left of the second floor was the hot spring bath. On the right side was a beach pool area.
Next to the hot spring was a small stretch of sand, and beyond it was "seawater" made from condensed water-element molecules.
And just like that—a small artificial beach was born!
At over 200 square meters, it was spacious enough for all the girls living in the Wonderland to play and have fun at the same time.
Like the hot spring, it would expand further as the space itself grew.
Since it had just been built and it was nighttime, no one was using the artificial beach yet.
However, his spiritual sense scanned the bathhouse—
And there, relaxing in the hot spring, were Fischl—who had just run off to find Lumine—as well as Lumine herself, Mona, and a few other girls.
Nolan was somewhat tempted to join them…
But now wasn't the time to get distracted by beauty. He had things to doserious things.
He continued up the spiral staircase to the third floor.
Before long—
He reached the third floor. It was quieter here, as it served as the research, study, and work area for everyone.
Nolan didn't stop, continuing up to the fourth floorthe warehouse level.
First, he wanted to ask the Salt God. She had mentioned that during the Archon War, while leading her followers to hide in various places, she had discovered ruins and hidden realms that might still contain treasure.
Though thousands of years had passed, and some of those ruins may have been lost or already explored—
There was still a chance that some of them remained untouched.
So it was definitely worth exploring—who knew what monsters or treasure chests might still be lying in wait?
"Hey, Havria, are you around?"
As he walked toward the place where "Divine Salt" was stored, Nolan called out casually.
"Nolan? It's you. What brings you here?"
A small white orb floated out from the mass of "Divine Salt." Havria's form had grown noticeably larger since her arrival—living here had clearly helped her spirit recover well.
"I wanted to ask you about those ancient ruins you mentioned before. I've got some free time now, so I figured I'd go explore a few."
Nolan got straight to the point.
"Ah, that. Sure—just bring me a map of Liyue, and I'll mark the general locations for you,"
Havria nodded, her floating form bobbing slightly in the air.
Over thousands of years, the terrain wouldn't have changed all that drastically, so using a current map of Liyue to mark approximate locations wouldn't be a problem.
Luckily, he and Lumine had collected maps from all the nations they had visited, and they were all stored right here. Before long, he found the Liyue map on a shelf and brought it to Havria.
"I can't exactly write in this form, so you'll have to do the writing,"
Havria said with a somewhat helpless tone.
"Alright, let's start with the more hidden and hard-to-find ruins and domains,"
Nolan replied as he used his spiritual power to unfold the Liyue map in midair.
The salt-white orb floated over the map and studied it carefully for a moment before saying:
"The hardest one to find is at the riverbed in the upper reaches of Bishui Plain. The second is at the foot of the mountain behind Mt. Aozang. The third…"
Before long, Havria had pointed out six hidden ruins and domain locations—all of which were well concealed and difficult to stumble upon.
Which made sense. If they were easily discoverable, Havria wouldn't have been able to hide herself and her people for so long in the Domain of Salt.
That being the case, the plan to ask Raiden Ei and Makoto about any places sealed with powerful demons would have to wait until after he finished exploring Havria's ruins.
"Oh, by the way—since my people are still living in Liyue, there's a good chance their ancestors recorded the locations of these domains to pass down for future generations to explore.
"Some of the safer domains may have already been explored.
"As for the more dangerous ones, they likely wouldn't have been able to delve into them without my protection.
"So if, during your explorations, you happen to run into any of my people trying to enter these ruins and they're in danger—please help them."
Havria seemed to remember something as she said this.
Domains often held unknown treasures. For the Salt Folk, who had long fallen into decline, discovering a domain's location would be a tempting opportunity.
After all, no one would turn down the chance for more wealth.
"Of course. Even if you hadn't asked—if I see anyone in danger, I'd help them anyway."
Nolan replied with a smile.
Though Havria had decided to sever contact with her people, in the end—they were still her people.
Offering help when he could was only natural.
"Mhm. Thank you," Havria said with gratitude.
[Havria Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 300 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv. 4 (200/400)]
Having gotten the information he needed, Nolan bid Havria farewell and headed downstairs.
When he reached the second floor, he noticed that Lumine, Fischl, and Mona were still soaking in the hot spring pool.
It made sense—only a short time had passed.
Nolan's lips curled into a faint smirk as he headed directly into the bathhouse. In the changing area, he saw the girls' discarded clothing:
A white backless dress, over-the-knee boots, a pointed witch hat, and sheer black tights.
He quickly undressed and folded his clothes onto the pile with theirs. Then, using the "Interstellar Travel" system's backend keyword privilege—
He teleported straight into the hot spring, appearing right in the middle of Lumine, Fischl, and Mona, the warm water rising to his collarbone.
Before they could even react, Nolan extended his arms underwater and pulled them all into an embrace!
"Eek!"
A series of soft, bashful squeals rang out from the girls in the second-floor hot spring.
...
The next morning.
Nolan woke up ready to invite Lumine and Fischl to explore the ruins with him.
But the two, still sore from soaking in the hot spring the night before, firmly refused.
Just like Mona, they stayed curled up in bed, unwilling to move.
Paimon, of course, immediately guessed what had happened and stared at Nolan with a mix of contempt and disdain, making him feel a little awkward.
Well, it's not like he really expected them to go anyway. Besides, taking too many people would only lower his efficiency in farming affection with Noelle and the others.
After breakfast, Nolan teleported with Jean back to the Knights of Favonius headquarters.
Noelle had already arrived and had been waiting for him. In the meantime, she'd also managed to clean and organize the entire headquarters.
With her "All-Purpose Maid" attribute boosting her work efficiency, paired with her already formidable skills—
The results were simply astonishing!
"Mr. Adventurer, I'm ready to depart at any time!"
Noelle said enthusiastically.
She had already experienced the attribute ability the adventurer had given her—it was truly incredible. In less than half an hour, she had managed to clean and tidy the entire Knights of Favonius headquarters!
Before, that would have taken her at least an hour and a half!
Thinking about it made Noelle's affection for Nolan rise just a little more:
[Noelle Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 220 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv. 8 (630/800)]
Nolan blinked in surprise as the character panel popped up with the notification. He hadn't expected Noelle to give him such a pleasant little surprise first thing in the morning.
Smiling, he said:
"All right then. Let's head to the Church of Favonius and inviteahem—Miss Rosaria. She's strong, and having her with us would make the adventure go much more smoothly."
As he finished speaking, he glanced over at Acting Grand Master Jean, relieved to see she was preoccupied with paperwork and hadn't noticed what he said.
If she found out he was eyeing Barbara, who knows—she might just draw the Favonius sword and stab it up his nose…
Better to wait until Barbara's affection rose a little more. Once she was clearly interested in him, Jean wouldn't really be in a position to say anything about it.
"Miss Rosaria, huh? Okay, let's go then."
Though Noelle didn't quite understand why Mr. Adventurer—already so strong—still wanted to bring Miss Rosaria, she didn't think too much about it.
After all, she believed Mr. Adventurer could never be wrong.
Nolan gave a small nod, and the two of them began walking toward the Church of Favonius. As they passed through the plaza by the Anemo Archon statue…
He saw Venti once again telling stories to a group of children.
Listening more closely, he realized the bard was actually telling tales of how he and Lumine had saved various nations.
As a bard, Venti was indeed up to standard—lavish praise, vivid storytelling, engaging delivery.
The kids were enthralled. Even Noelle was looking at him with awe and admiration, which made Nolan want to crawl under her skirt and hide.
He tugged at Noelle to quicken their pace, pretending not to notice Venti.
But Venti, ever the agent of chaos, saw him and dramatically pointed his way:
"Look, children! That's the actual Honorary Knight in the flesh!"
"What?! Where? I want to see Honorary Knight!" A crowd of children turned to where Venti pointed and, upon confirming it really was him, came running over like a herd of excited forest deer.
"…"
Barbatos, can't you just do something serious for once…?
Nolan looked at Venti under the Anemo Archon statue with utter speechlessness.
"Ehe~" Venti winked playfully and even stuck out his tongue cheekily.
Fortunately, Noelle was excellent with children, and after Nolan bought each kid a lollipop, they were able to slip away.
Afterward, he casually chatted with Venti for a bit, and since they had run into each other anyway, he took the chance to ask—
As the Anemo Archon, did he know where any powerful monsters might be located? Preferably ones at the level of Archon's kin or those newly entering the domain of the divine?
"Aiya, why are you asking me that? I've been asleep for nearly a thousand years. You think I remember that kind of thing?"
Venti shrugged and shook his head.
"Tell me, and you won't have to worry about drink money for a while."
Nolan took out a large sack full of 10,000-denomination Mora notes and held it out with a calm smile.
"…Hehe, hearing the word 'wine' sure jogged my memory. I'd better go have a few sips now—then I'll definitely remember everything clearly!"
Venti shamelessly snatched the bag and ran off toward the tavern without even giving an answer first!
Nolan sighed helplessly. Since there was no dealing with that guy, he continued on with Noelle to the Church of Favonius to find Barbara and Rosaria.
Things went relatively smoothly.
Barbara, always kind and enthusiastic, readily agreed to join them on the adventure. Unfortunately, Rosaria was out on duty and not in the church, so they couldn't invite her this time.
(End of Chapter)
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T/N: Here is an extra chapter, don't forget to send Powerstones guys 😉
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