"Thank you for taking care of Klee all this time."
Inside a cave, after watching Klee leave with Lumine and Shenhe, Albedo politely thanked Su Bai. When he had held Klee earlier, he noticed she had gained weight—at least a couple of pounds heavier.
He also saw pure joy on her face, completely different from her demeanor in Mondstadt. As her brother, Albedo was genuinely happy for her.
With Klee as the bridge, Su Bai and Albedo got along well. Su Bai took a moment to look around Albedo's workspace. The various strange tools and equipment hinted at the alchemist's mastery. After all, even Timaeus in Mondstadt couldn't always handle an alchemy bench properly.
"I didn't expect such a skilled alchemist to be so young. Mr. Albedo's talent is truly remarkable."
"You flatter me, Lord Su Bai. Your strength at your age is equally rare in this world."
Sensing the faint yet dangerous aura emanating from Su Bai, Albedo exchanged pleasantries but felt more curiosity than anything else. This was his first time meeting an adeptus from Liyue.
"You can call me Su Bai, Mr. Albedo. I came here specifically to ask for your help."
"Just call me Albedo, Su Bai. You've taken care of Klee for so long—if it's within my ability, I'll do my best to help."
"Then I'll get straight to the point."
Su Bai pulled up a chair and sat down, then drew two droplets of blood from his fingertip, suspending them in the air. Albedo examined them closely but found nothing unusual—except that the blood seemed slightly redder than ordinary human blood.
Seeing Albedo's puzzled expression, Su Bai didn't explain further. Instead, he guided one droplet onto Albedo's palm and handed him a glowing white talisman.
"Albedo, place this talisman beneath the blood droplet, then channel elemental energy into it."
"Once the light from the talisman envelops the droplet, stop channeling and think of a random phrase in your mind."
Though Albedo didn't understand what Su Bai was trying to achieve, he followed the instructions. As the light from the talisman grew brighter, Albedo noticed it was restricting his elemental energy, allowing only a faint amount to reach the blood droplet.
Still confused, Albedo thought of the word "Klee" in his mind. When the white light faded, he was startled to see the round droplet on his palm had transformed into the characters for "Klee." How was that possible? Could Su Bai be controlling the droplet's shape? That didn't make sense—Su Bai had no way of knowing what he had just imagined.
"If you think that's impressive, look at the droplet on my palm."
Albedo looked up to see that the blood droplet on Su Bai's palm had also transformed into the characters for "Klee." His pupils contracted. He was beginning to understand.
He channeled elemental energy into the talisman again, this time deliberately thinking of a long string of text. When the light faded, he saw the droplet had formed a long, thread-like string of characters on his palm, identical to the one on Su Bai's palm. Albedo's interest was instantly piqued.
"How is this possible? Is there a time or distance limit between the two droplets? Can they still function in harsh conditions?..."
"Stop, stop. I can't answer all those questions at once."
"My apologies. I got carried away."
Albedo gave a slight bow, but the curiosity in his eyes didn't fade. In fact, there was a hint of something almost unnerving in his gaze toward Su Bai. Su Bai felt a chill. This wasn't a good sign. What if Albedo decided to dissect him while he was sleeping?
He'd have to set up some illusion arrays around himself at night. Thinking of Sucrose's room, Su Bai figured Albedo, as her teacher, would be even more eccentric.
"Ahem, Lord Su Bai, would you like some tea? We can continue our conversation over tea."
Realizing his gaze might have made Su Bai uncomfortable, Albedo cleared his throat awkwardly and retrieved a jar from a shelf.
"Oh? You enjoy tea, Albedo? I'd love to try some of yours."
Sensing Albedo's embarrassment, Su Bai played along with an expectant expression. Albedo smiled, opened the jar, and poured some leaves into a teapot. He skillfully brewed the tea with a kettle.
For some reason, the tea in the pot turned a strange shade of black. Albedo examined it, then quickly added a few drops of some reagent from a test tube.
"My apologies. This tea was sent by my student, Sucrose. She's been researching tea leaves recently, so the brew sometimes comes out a bit unusual."
"Don't worry—I've already used an alchemical reagent to restore the tea. There shouldn't be any issues."
Su Bai's mouth twitched. "There shouldn't be any issues"? If something did go wrong, he'd probably end up as research material for Albedo and Sucrose.
"Um, Albedo, I'm not really thirsty right now. Do you have anything to eat? I'm feeling a bit hungry."
"Food? Sucrose actually brought some over this morning. Let me get you some."
Albedo opened a large box, and a dark shape leaped out. With practiced precision, Albedo grabbed a small knife and struck the shadow.
When he placed the object before Su Bai, he nearly fell off his chair. The apple had grown legs.
Seeing Su Bai just staring at it, Albedo slapped his forehead and dripped an alchemical reagent onto the apple. After a moment of wriggling, it returned to its normal appearance.
"Try it, Su Bai. Sucrose's 'motion apples' taste quite good. The long period of exercise in the box makes the flesh crisper than ordinary apples."
"No, no. Suddenly I'm not that hungry. Albedo, let's just talk about why I came."
Su Bai politely declined the offered apple. He had a feeling it would start running around inside his stomach. Seeing Su Bai's reluctance, Albedo regretfully put the apple away, saving it for an after-dinner snack.
"The reason I came is to ask you to use the unique properties of my blood and alchemy to create a portable device that allows long-distance text communication."
"Of course, I'll also use my adeptal arts to assist. I have a feeling that your alchemy combined with my arts will lead to success."