"This kind of thing..."
Ningguang narrowed her eyes, examining the unassuming blade of grass in her hand after hearing Felix's explanation.
She had thought it was just a weed. She never expected it to have such a powerful effect.
It's incredible.
She turned the grass over in her fingers. It looked ordinary, yet the description promised miracles.
If she gave this to an adventurer, the danger of exploration would drop by 90%. Monsters would feel pity instead of aggression. They wouldn't attack; they might even guide the wearer to treasure. It was practically a master key to the wilderness.
"It's amazing," Baiwen gasped, staring at the grass with wide eyes. "The effect is terrifying."
Her mind was already racing with possibilities.
"With this grass, expeditions to dangerous ruins or treasure troves would become trivial," Keqing murmured, her gaze sharp. "Ganyu found the Seelie Map recently. If she used this grass, she could solve the sheer cold and monster problem of Dragonspine effortlessly."
While Baiwen thought of general treasure hunting, Keqing immediately connected it to strategic resource acquisition in Dragonspine—a region notoriously hostile to humans.
Dragonspine was filled with ancient technology and lost history, but the monsters and the cold made exploration deadly even for Vision bearers.
Unless you had a Pyro Vision, survival was a constant struggle. And even then, fighting monsters while freezing was inefficient.
But with the Pity-Love Grass, you could just... walk past them. The monsters would look at you, feel sorry for your cold, shivering form, and maybe even let you pass.
It was a game-changer.
"This grass is indeed effective," Ningguang nodded, her smile radiant.
Her haul today was satisfying. A disciplinary tablet, Golden Eyes, and now this overpowered grass.
Three items from four jars. Her luck was excellent.
Bang! Bang!
She smashed two more jars.
Two seashells clattered onto the counter.
[Starconch]: Empty seashells brought to shore by the tides. Put your ear to one, and you can hear the longing call of the sea.
"Starconches."
Baiwen's eyes lit up. They were a Liyue specialty, valuable for crafting and collecting. Getting two was a decent, if mundane, result.
"Not bad," Ningguang smiled.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
She decided to finish it off. She smashed the remaining four jars in rapid succession.
Three items fell out.
A book.
A small, black, square magnetic card.
And a palm-sized miniature house.
"A book!"
Ningguang's eyes sparkled.
Four jars, three items. And one was a book.
Books were her favorite category. She snatched it up immediately, hoping for another volume of Financial Management.
Keqing and the secretaries leaned in, holding their breath.
"Uh."
Ningguang froze when she read the title.
It wasn't Financial Management.
It was four characters: "Surprise Script".
"A script? Like for Yun-Han Opera Troupe?"
Ningguang's excitement deflated slightly. A script wasn't useless, but it wasn't the economic cheat code she wanted.
"Not a finance book?" Keqing asked, seeing Ningguang's reaction.
"Just a script," Ningguang sighed.
"And a small house," Keqing pointed to the miniature building. "Could this be... a Domain?"
She stared intently at the palm-sized model.
It reminded her of Xingqiu's Horror House. That building had appeared out of nowhere, likely from a similar miniature.
Items from the shop often came in "portable" sizes. Beidou's battleship had started as a toy boat before expanding upon contact with water.
"Yes."
Ningguang turned her attention to the model house.
She had been thinking about Xingqiu's training Domain just yesterday. If she could get one for herself...
"Shopkeeper, is this a Domain?" Ningguang asked, her golden eyes full of expectation.
"It is not a Domain," Felix shook his head.
He looked at the three items on the counter with a strange expression.
A script, a film reel, and a cinema. She pulled the whole movie industry starter pack.
[Surprise Script]: A photography script. Open it to randomly generate a complete screenplay. Can be read or used for filming.
[Journey to the West - Film Reel]: A magnetic film reel from another world, recording the story of "Journey to the West." Must be used with specific equipment.
[Fully Equipped 3D Cinema]: A complete cinema complex. Place it in an open area to expand it into a building capable of seating 1,000 people. Whoever owns it can run a movie theater.
"The first is a script," Felix explained. "It contains a story you can read or film."
"The second is a film reel—a recording of a story that can be played using the equipment in the third item."
"The third item, the small house, is not a Domain. It is a building that can hold a thousand people. Inside, you can project 'movies'—moving pictures with sound—for people to watch. It is a form of visual art."
"Ah?"
Ningguang looked blank.
Movies? Moving pictures?
As the Tianquan, she was knowledgeable about almost everything in Teyvat. But in this shop, she felt like an illiterate child.
Cinema? Projecting scripts?
Keqing and the secretaries were equally confused. They understood "script," but the rest sounded like gibberish.
"Um, Shopkeeper," Ningguang asked, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. "Could you explain in more detail? I don't understand what a 'cinema' is."
She felt embarrassed. Admitting ignorance wasn't something she did often.
"Uh."
Felix paused.
Right. Teyvat doesn't have movies yet. They have operas and Kamera photos, but not motion pictures.
"Think of it this way," Felix began, trying to find a relatable analogy. "You know Yun-Han Opera Troupe, right?"
"A movie is like recording a Yun-Han Opera performance onto a special picture, preserving it perfectly with sound and movement."
"Usually, a Kamera only captures a single frozen moment. But this technology captures continuous time."
"The Cinema is a place where you can project this 'recorded time' onto a giant wall, allowing a thousand people to watch the performance simultaneously, exactly as it happened, over and over again."
Read ahead with 100+ chapters now with daily updates!
@patreon.com/Zefyrus