"What a strange sound," Yu Jin remarked, hearing the distinctly distorted voice.
"What's even stranger is that it only repeats this one sentence," Albedo said, looking at the enormous fruit before him.
Initially, he was very interested in this talking fruit, even going so far as to establish a long-term camp on such a high branch.
However, he later discovered that this thing only repeated the same sentence all day long, without even a change in tone. Coupled with his other ongoing research, Albedo went back to his primary work.
"World… forget me…"
No sooner had Albedo finished speaking than the white fruit, as if reminding them, repeated its countless times-spoken words.
"Forget it? But I don't even know what it is, how can I forget?" Yu Jin patted the fruit's skin, and as expected, its voice changed slightly again.
"Does anyone here know about it?" Yu Jin patted it for a while, feeling a bit bored.
"Asking us is not as good as asking the Golden Tree."
"No, a talking fruit, it's my first time seeing one too."
Dain and Albedo both shook their heads; they truly didn't know the origin of this thing.
"I asked, and it doesn't know either. It said it was sucked out of the big tree underground." Yu Jin scratched his head; this made things difficult.
If its origin is unknown, should it be kept or removed?
"Big tree underground?" Dain's ears twitched. He looked around, at the incredibly massive Golden Tree before him.
Could this underground tree be Irminsul?
"It should be Irminsul," Albedo's words confirmed Dain's guess. According to his long-term research, the Golden Tree's branches could connect to the ley lines hidden beneath the earth.
The Frostbearing Tree beneath Dragonspine was the best example.
Because the Golden Tree occasionally shared nutrients with this new 'little brother' it recognized, the Frostbearing Tree was now changing day by day.
Besides the Golden Tree, the Frostbearing Tree was the largest tree of all.
"Irminsul…" Dain looked at the white fruit before him, his expression becoming solemn.
"It's best not to touch anything drawn from Irminsul. Irminsul contains all the history of Teyvat; perhaps this fruit is the Crystalize of a certain period of that history."
Dain recalled the information about Irminsul in his mind and warned them.
He had never seen Irminsul, but Khaenri'ah, being deep underground, had naturally studied Irminsul.
Thus, Dain knew some things about Irminsul. As for more, one would have to search in Sumeru.
Irminsul is guarded by the Dendro Archon, one of the Seven Archons; besides her, no one knows where Irminsul is.
"Is that so? It seems quite important then," Yu Jin glanced at the white fruit in front of him with interest.
"World… forget me…"
Then it started chanting again.
"I find this thing really annoying," Yu Jin's ears were almost calloused from listening.
And so, under the gaze of Dain and Albedo, a tender sprout emerged from the trunk of the Golden Tree next to the white fruit.
Then the sprout grew, its leaves unfurling. At the top, a fleshy red bud Bloomed, and soon, besides the talking fruit, there was now a talking flower.
"World… forget me…"
"Who are you?"
"World… forget me…"
"Who are you?"
"…"
"…"
"What are you doing?" Dain rubbed his temples, watching the white fruit and red flower chanting in unison.
He hadn't eaten any poisonous Mushroom underground, had he?
"Answering this fruit's words," Yu Jin clapped his hands, very satisfied.
The quality of the rot morning glory, the Liyue people know.
"Look, none of us recognize this fruit, doesn't that mean we've forgotten it? So, stop shouting!"
Yu Jin patted the white fruit again.
"World… forget me…"
"Who are you?"
The white fruit immediately responded to Yu Jin, but soon the red flower followed closely behind.
"I think it's too noisy," Albedo picked at his ears. One repeating machine was already loud enough, and now there was another.
"I agree," Dain nodded in agreement… Descending from the towering Golden Tree branches, Yu Jin and the others returned to Albedo's camp.
"Are we just going to leave it be?" Albedo walked out of the tent, looking up at the Sky, seemingly a bit worried.
"Leave it. Anyway, the Golden Tree can't die. If you're interested, you can go and research it."
Yu Jin had a resigned look.
"I'd rather not. My research topics are already overflowing; I really can't spare time for a new project," Albedo gave a wry smile. How come he felt that Yu Jin was a bit like his master?
But on second thought, Yu Jin and Rhinedottir still had many differences.
At least he wouldn't truly ignore everything. And judging by the spread of the Golden Tree's roots, as long as Yu Jin wasn't in some deserted Araumi, he was, in fact, inseparable from the Golden Tree.
This was very different from Rhinedottir.
She truly didn't care about anything.
"Sigh—" Thinking of this, Albedo couldn't help but sigh again.
"Why the sigh? Too busy? Bring me your research topics, maybe I can give you some direction."
Yu Jin saw Albedo's troubled expression. He suddenly felt a bit indignant, was overtime at the Knights of Favonius really that serious? Look how tired the child was.
"That won't be necessary. Your previous guidance is enough for me for a long time. I'm not sighing because of that."
Albedo heard Yu Jin's words and quickly composed himself. He walked to a storage box in the camp and took out a colorful reagent from it.
"Here you go, it might help with the bloating pain in your body." Under Dain's surprised gaze, Albedo tossed over the strange-looking potion.
Catching the potion, Dain looked at the colorful liquid flowing within and shook his head.
"Forget it, my body, it's useless."
"How will you know if you don't try?" Albedo extended his arm, and black-red marks began to appear on his fair palm.
Just like when an Abyss Mage dies.
"Hiss—, if losing control is like this, then it really is painful." Albedo clenched his open palm, and the black-red marks disappeared.
"You… have been corroded by the Abyss?" Dain felt the Abyss aura suddenly rise and then dissipate from Albedo's body, greatly shocked.
The aura Albedo had just leaked was much stronger than that of an Abyss Herald.
"Not exactly corroded by the Abyss, rather, the material that makes me up was extracted from the Abyss."
Albedo explained calmly.
Dain was cursed and corroded by the Abyss, with a risk of going mad; Albedo was the same. Calx is a material refined from Black Earth.
And Black Earth is a manifestation of Abyss power.
Albedo feared that he would lose control, so in addition to his regular research, he was also looking for ways to stabilize himself.
This project, like the research topic Rhinedottir had initially given him, had made no progress.
But since Yu Jin arrived, things were different.
Yu Jin's words about the essence of humanity guided Albedo's research direction on the topic of the true nature of the world.
And the Golden Tree's absorption of forbidden power from the ley lines offered Albedo a possibility to suppress his loss of control.
That was to use the Golden Tree to absorb the impure material produced by the flaws within his body.
"Well, can you try it now? Although it won't completely eradicate it, it can make you feel better," Albedo pushed the potion that Dain had placed on the table, smiling as he spoke.
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