Crossing Dawn Winery, passing through Windrise, and skirting Starfall Lake…
Eve finally reached her destination: the beach nestled beneath the cliffs of Stormbearer Point.
Gazing out at the familiar scenery, Eve felt a genuine stir in her chest.
This was where every single dream began.
The starting point for every Traveler’s grand, sprawling journey.
Eve lingered by the shore for a good long while, but there was still no sign of any Traveler.
She recalculated the timeline in her head.
*Looks like I came a bit too early.*
That realization elicited an internal groan of annoyance.
She had rushed all the way here, exhausting herself for nothing, only to jump the gun.
With no other options left, she decided she might as well wander around Mondstadt for a bit.
Eve pondered her next move.
She figured she could pay a visit to the City of Mondstadt; she might even run into a certain slacking colleague while she was at it.
Given his personality, she could probably con a Gnosis out of him with a single bottle of wine.
Speaking of wine, that reminded her of the bottle of Dandelion Wine she had conveniently ‘borrowed’—or rather, acquired through equivalent exchange—when she passed by Dawn Winery earlier.
She had left two Sunsettas behind as payment, after all!
And since the owner of the winery hadn’t raised any objections, he clearly consented to the trade.
Meanwhile, back at Dawn Winery…
“Master Diluc, that bottle of Dandelion Wine we just took out of the cellar is missing,” Conner, the winery’s master brewer, reported to a young man with striking crimson hair.
The man in question was none other than Diluc Ragnvindr, the master of Dawn Winery.
“Oh?” A flicker of puzzlement crossed Diluc’s calm features.
“What happened?”
That particular bottle was a vintage aged for over a decade.
“I’m not sure, Master Diluc, but right where the bottle was stored, I found these two Sunsettas instead,” Conner said, holding up the two fruits in his palm.
“Hm…
A prank by some wild monsters?
Quite possible,” Diluc mused, crossing his arms as he stared at the two fruits.
Having decided to visit the city, Eve began bouncing happily along the dirt road toward the capital of freedom.
In her Dendro Slime form, she hopped her way through Whispering Woods until she reached the stone bridge outside the gates of Mondstadt.
Cider Lake shimmered brilliantly beneath the sunlight, while a few plump, glossy ducks paddled contentedly across the water’s surface.
It made for a picturesque landscape.
Eve couldn’t help but admire the view; Mondstadt’s natural environment was undeniably far better-maintained than Sumeru’s wilder frontiers.
As she reached the approach of the stone bridge, however, she spotted a familiar face.
Timmie—the undisputed apex predator of poultry supply across Teyvat.
The boy was currently standing by the edge of the stone path, tossing wheat grains to feed the pigeons.
Eve hopped up to the mouth of the bridge.
Just as she prepared to roll across, she suddenly realized a rather critical problem.
She was currently an ordinary-looking Dendro Slime.
If she tried to waltz in like this, the guards would likely treat her as an invading monster and eradicate her on the spot.
Look at those two guards flanking the gate—their hands rested permanently on the pommels of their broadswords, marking them as thoroughly disciplined knights.
While she wasn’t particularly afraid of getting poked to death, causing a massive public disturbance right at the entrance wasn’t part of her itinerary.
“Looks like I’ll need to use my brain.” Eve shifted her round, green body slightly further behind a thick stone bridge pillar.
*But how should I sneak in?* The God of Wisdom flashed a profoundly blockheaded expression.
As Eve was pondering her strategy, a voice suddenly piped up from behind her.
“Hey there, little sis!
You looking to head inside?”
Eve slowly turned her round body around, only to discover that the voice belonged to a chunky Electro Slime.
Apparently, it had mistaken her for one of its own kind.
As the God of Wisdom, Eve naturally understood the language of monsters.
“What?
You have a way in?” Eve asked, projecting a puzzled mental tone.
She hadn’t originally planned to mingle with these low-level monsters, but if they happened to have some sort of viable plan, listening in wouldn’t hurt.
“Hehehe, of course I do, little sis!
I’ve rallied a whole bunch of brothers and sisters, and we’re planning a full-scale invasion of Mondstadt.”
Taking a closer look, she noticed a sizeable gathering of multi-elemental slimes huddled behind him.
“I’ve christened this grand strategic operation: The Bouncy Ball Riot.”
The Electro Slime puffed out its gelatinous chest with immense pride.
Listening to this speech, Eve was left utterly speechless.
*With a name like that, are you even trying not to get farmed as a daily commission by some blonde outlander?*
“Well, what do you say, little sis?
Come join our crew!
You and I can coordinate an Electro-Dendro Quicken reaction and zap those arrogant Mondstadters into next week!” the Electro Slime continued enthusiastically.
Pestered by the chatty slime, Eve reluctantly agreed to tag along.
After all, her sole objective was to get inside the city.
Once these monsters stirred up a distraction, wouldn’t that provide the ultimate cover for her own infiltration?
“Brilliant, little sis!
With your addition, this operation’s success rate is bound to surpass *A Small Step for a Hilichurl*!”
Eve: “???”
“What’s wrong, little sis?” Seeing the strange expression flicker across her gelatinous exterior, the Electro Slime asked.
“Nothing.
Did you run other operations before this one?” Eve asked dubiously.
“Well, duh!
That brings me to my absolute masterpiece of a plan.”
“For that operation, I even recruited a Frostarm Lawachurl, so I named the mission *Duty Calls*!”
“Pretty impressive, right?
Though we did end up getting totally wiped out by some Reconnaissance Captain from the Knights of Favonius in the end!”
The Electro Slime chattered on endlessly.
Eve: *…6*
A short while later.
Slimes of all shapes, sizes, and elements began gathering around the bridgehead in a steady stream.
Eve glanced over the assembly and roughly counted them—around twenty-odd specimens.
Every single element was represented, though her own white-tufted Dendro Slime form stuck out like a sore thumb among the colorful crowd.
“Alright, everyone’s here!
Charge into Mondstadt!” the Electro Slime bellowed once the troops had assembled.
“Charge!” the other little slimes chimed in chorus.
Meanwhile, Eve quietly and deliberately distanced herself from the vanguard.
With a lineup like this, the moment an Anemo Vision holder showed up and triggered a Swirl reaction, they’d all be wiped out in one go.
She preferred to stick to her role as a professional backline lurker.
The Electro Slime took the lead, and the pack of minor slimes bounded forward in a chaotic wave.
The two guards stationed at the gate took one look at the approaching commotion and instantly panicked.
They scrambled back inside the city gates while screaming at the top of their lungs: “Alert!
Alert!
Fierce monsters are invading!”
*Fierce monsters…*
A bizarre look crossed Eve’s face.
She glanced sideways at the mob of bouncing blobs.
*Yep, super fierce.*
*Could you point out the fierce part for me, please?*
Seeing both guards retreat behind the walls, the Electro Slime puffed up triumphantly and shouted, “Wahahaha!
Little ones, pillage everything!”
The pack of slimes immediately hopped right past the gate and swarmed toward a temporary supply stockpile parked not far from the entrance.
These were clearly goods just delivered by a traveling merchant, unloaded and left stacked by the path.
The slimes tore open the burlap wrapping with their bodies and began gorging themselves on the raw beast meat inside.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Eve slipped quietly into the city in their wake.
She had originally planned to head straight for the tavern, but as she waddled past the supply pile, her eyes locked onto a small glass bottle filled with a vibrant green liquid.
“Oh?
Woodland Essential Oil!
Good stuff!”
Eve’s eyes lit up.
That sort of concoction was quite precious; leaving aside the rarity of the ingredients, brewing it required the expertise of a master alchemist.
She could sense a dense concentration of Dendro elemental energy radiating from within the vial.
More importantly, consuming it would grant her a decent boost of divine power.
It was infinitely more efficient than chewing on wild grass seeds or hunting down Fungi.
Without a second thought, Eve waddled over and slurped down the bottle of Woodland Essential Oil.
She immediately felt her divine reserves tick upward.
While the increase wasn’t massive, accumulation added up over time.
Flicking aside a corner of the canvas tarp with her slime body, Eve’s eyes lit up all over again.
*There are so many more essential oils here!*
Aside from the Woodland oils, there were flasks dedicated to every other element as well.
Eve offered a silent, three-second moment of condolence to the unfortunate merchant—who was probably going to lose a small fortune over this raid.
Then, she muttered an internal phrase: *Itadakimasu.*
And with that, Eve dove headfirst into a feeding frenzy across the entire stockpile of essential oils.