Furina looked at Sushang with suspicion. Was the girl really not pranking her?
"What's wrong?" Seeing the look in her eyes, Sushang asked, puzzled.
"...I just feel like... 'Fufu' isn't exactly the kind of nickname a lady would have." Furina chose a polite and diplomatic way to put it.
"Huh? I think it's cute... and it feels intimate, doesn't it?" Sushang didn't seem to have anticipated her distaste, a slight bashfulness tinting the smile on her face. "Back home, Little Gui always called me 'Shangshang' too."
Little Gui?
Furina immediately thought of the friend Sushang had mentioned earlier. It seemed their relationship was indeed quite close, but... Little Gui? That nickname sounded even less refined than Fufu...
Could this be the way people from Liyue expressed closeness?
In Fontaine, people usually shortened names or added a suffix that sounded nice to them, like changing Lloyd to Loid.
...Anyway, since Sushang was the only one calling her that, she supposed it didn't really matter...
With that thought, Furina accepted Fufu as her nickname.
"Fine. If that's the case, then Sushang can call me 'Fufu.' I haven't thought of a nickname for you yet, though." Furina honestly admitted the difficulty she was facing.
Sushang didn't mind, simply suggesting, "Then why doesn't Fufu just call me 'Shangshang' as well?"
As it stood, this was indeed the best choice. After all, Furina couldn't bring herself to call someone something like 'Little Li.'
Though it was frustrating for Furina to share a nickname with someone else, it was a fact that she couldn't come up with anything else that sounded both smooth and pleasant.
Compared to being called 'Sushang' like everyone else, 'Shangshang'—a name used only by one other person—wasn't quite as hard to swallow.
"Alright... until I think of something more fitting, I'll borrow this for now... Shang..."
Halfway through the name, the rest of it caught in her throat, tickling like a feather-tipped cat wand.
For some reason, Furina felt an inexplicable shyness wash over her.
But seeing Sushang's puzzled expression, she swallowed that lump in her throat.
"It's nothing, just thought of something trivial. Let's head to the second floor, Shangshang."
"Oh, right! If Fufu is rested up, let's get going."
Quickly composing herself, Furina walked toward the depths of the dungeon alongside Sushang and entered the second floor.
Compared to the first, there were far fewer people on the second floor. Not only was it more expansive, but more importantly, from this point on, the monsters were no longer at the "beginner-friendly" level.
After they walked a short distance side-by-side, Sushang noticed a faint, rhythmic scurrying sound. It wasn't just coming from the ground; more of it echoed from the walls and the ceiling.
Although Furina lacked that keen perception of her surroundings and the dim light of the dungeon hindered her vision, she still felt her skin crawl, her intuition warning her that something unpleasant was nearby.
Skitter—!
The sound of dust and gravel hitting the floor made her pause, but she reacted quickly, whipping her head upward.
Several human-sized, tan-skinned lizards were scattered across the ceiling above them, their scarlet eyes clearly visible even in the gloom of the dungeon. Furina was so startled her hair stood on end.
"Stay calm, they aren't that strong!" Sushang reminded her from the side.
As her words fell, the dungeon lizards dropped from above. Compared to Goblins and Kobolds, they were about twice as large, dwarfing Furina by several heads.
The oppressive weight of their size stimulated Furina's already frayed nerves, and her legs nearly went weak.
She wasn't a particularly courageous person to begin with, so it was only natural to be frightened by hideous monsters. But at the same time, she was a person of firm resolve; even when terrified, she would quickly find a way to face the situation.
"Shower me with praise!"
Blue and white water flowed out of thin air, condensing into a bubble the size of a person in front of Furina.
As the bubble burst, a giant crab shimmering with water appeared.
Without needing a command from Furina, it moved to stand between her and the monsters, its two massive claws splayed out to the sides, as if telling the creatures, No entry.
"This is...!"
Furina stared blankly at the crab before her.
She remembered this figure. It was a 'friend' she had designed during her long, lonely life—a fantasy that existed only in her mind.
Yet, this imaginary friend had actually appeared before her, and even without her instruction, it had taken the initiative to shield her.
Monsters wouldn't stop attacking just because an adventurer was stunned, but Mademoiselle Crabaletta (the crab) was no pushover. Facing a giant lizard that lunged directly at her, she didn't raise her claws to block; instead, she suddenly stood tall.
A creature with even a shred of intelligence would have been wary of such an undefended stance, but a dungeon lizard knew nothing of caution.
And so, it paid the price.
Hundreds of bubbles burst forth from Mademoiselle Crabaletta's mouth. The moment the lizard's skin touched them, it suffered deep depressions.
The relentless, cascading impact of the bubbles tore through the monster until, as half the bubbles vanished, the lizard disintegrated into a cloud of dissipating black smoke.
"Amazing..."
Furina's eyes widened. This was the Hydro elemental construct she had summoned to fight for her...
She felt she still had some magical energy left. Although the summoned Mademoiselle Crabaletta was constantly consuming it, the drain was minimal—almost perfectly balanced by her natural rate of recovery.
What if she summoned another one?
As Furina pondered this, she quickly realized something.
She didn't want to be someone who could only stand in the back! What was more important now was increasing her combat experience and enlightenment, so she could complete her 'Edge of Taixuan' as soon as possible.
Calming down, Furina took a deep breath, gripped her plain longsword, and moved forward.
Watching her, Mademoiselle Crabaletta seemed to understand her intent and stepped aside, no longer blocking her path.
Just as Furina prepared to fight in tandem with Mademoiselle Crabaletta, a sense of crisis made her scalp tingle. Looking up quickly, she saw that two more lizards had crawled onto the ceiling.
Mademoiselle Crabaletta was about to spray bubbles to fend them off, but then she saw an orange blur flash through the air. A blade of moonlight traced an arc as the Edge of Taixuan easily cut both monsters down.
"Mind if I join you, Fufu?" The girl who had landed on the ground smiled at her. "Don't worry, I won't steal your thunder."
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T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL