Watching Diona's retreating figure, Arkz finally let out a sigh of relief.
Although moving in water was inconvenient, and Diona, as a Cryo Element allogene, had the advantage of the terrain, Arkz didn't think he would lose even if they actually fought.
However, since he didn't have any clothes on, Arkz felt awkward bullying a child, so naturally, he preferred to avoid a fight if possible.
Looking at the adorable cat-paw water flask in his hand, he opened the lid. Seemingly because Diona often chilled the contents with her Cryo Element, there was still a faint coolness emanating from inside.
It was practically a natural mini-refrigerator.
This little water flask with its built-in chilling function was quite a treasure in the summer.
Finding a treasure put him in a good mood, feeling utterly delighted.
After Diona left, Arkz soaked for a while longer before climbing ashore to change into clean clothes. He then took out the roasted Mushroom pizza he had salvaged from the trash can earlier and enjoyed a meal, washing it down with the water from the cat-paw flask.
The water in the cat-paw flask was not only refreshingly chilled but, upon careful tasting, it was actually a little sweet.
Arkz suddenly realized that this was likely the bathwater Diona had just collected.
Arkz, holding the flask aloft, fell into silence.
A moment later, Arkz cursed himself for being 'overly delicate' and immediately took a large gulp from the flask.
There were so many fish in this river; had anyone ever complained that the fish soup was made from the fish's bathwater? Besides, he had bathed downstream, and Diona had collected the water upstream.
Moreover, even if it was his own bathwater, Arkz wouldn't despise himself.
With his looks—comparable to those of you, esteemed readers—he could achieve financial freedom just by selling his bathwater in Sumeru.
Gazing at the sun in the sky, it was nearly noon. There was still a large pile of work waiting on the farm, and Arkz still needed to go to Mondstadt City to buy seeds.
Thinking of this, Arkz quickly finished the food in his hands and then headed in the direction of Mondstadt City.
He recalled Venti mentioning that a merchant named Blanche in the Mondstadt commercial street would purchase the dandelion seeds he found in the trash can for 5000 Mora.
Since Blanche bought seeds, she surely sold seeds too, right?
Arkz immediately decided to go to Blanche's department store to inquire if she had any seeds suitable for farm cultivation.
On the commercial street of Mondstadt City, Blanche's department store was quite famous. Arkz casually asked a passerby, and they could accurately point out the location of the Mondstadt Department Store.
Blanche: "Welcome to the Mondstadt Department Store, please~ take your time browsing~"
The moment Arkz saw Blanche, he understood why even a random passerby knew the location of the Mondstadt Department Store.
They actually employed Blanche, with her beautiful looks, sweet voice, and cutesy tone, as a sales clerk. What decent person could resist such temptation?
Arkz then understood why the passerby's expression had been so strange when he asked for Blanche's department store by name. They had assumed he was one of Blanche's admirers.
If he was here for shopping, why would he know Blanche's name but not the location of the Mondstadt Department Store?
"Hello, I want to buy some plant seeds. Do you have any recommendations?"
Blanche asked in a gentle voice, "May I ask, esteemed customer, what you plan to use these seeds for?"
"I am the owner of a farm. I hope to purchase some seeds, like corn or carrots."
Blanche replied, "I see."
"Then, customer, I would suggest you purchase some carrot and potato seeds."
"At this time of year, carrots and potatoes grow particularly fast. Furthermore, as the most common dishes on the dining table, you don't have to worry about your hard-cultivated crops not selling."
After inquiring about the prices of the seeds, Arkz pondered for a moment and gave his answer.
"carrot seeds are 20 Mora per packet, and potato seeds are 50 Mora per packet. Give me 100 packets of each."
Blanche calculated carefully, bent down, placed two bags of seeds on the counter, and then said, "Hello, that will be 7000 Mora in total."
Arkz looked at the seeds inside the bags, confirmed the quality was fine, and then asked,
"Blanche, do you sell strawberry seeds here?"
Arkz remembered that in the game, strawberry seeds could only be purchased from the seed merchant on the day of the Egg Festival. Because strawberries could be harvested in bulk after ripening and sold at a high price, they were very popular among players in the game.
Blanche frowned in distress, her eyes filled with apology, "I'm sorry, customer. The strawberry seeds are sold out. If you need them, I can keep an eye out for you during the next shipment."
Arkz asked, "How long until your next shipment?"
Blanche replied, "In three days."
Not wanting to miss out on the business, Blanche promoted them: "Customer, strawberries are very popular in Mondstadt; old folks and children all love them, and they fetch a high price. If you plant a patch of strawberries on your farm, once they mature, you are sure to earn a large amount of Mora."
Arkz was moved by Blanche's description. After inquiring about the price of strawberries, he decided it wasn't too expensive and resolved to buy 100 packets of strawberry seeds from Blanche.
"strawberry seeds are 100 Mora per packet. 100 packets of strawberry seeds will be 10000 Mora."
"That makes 17000 Mora in total. Thank you for your patronage."
After agreeing with Blanche to pick up the strawberry seeds in three days, Arkz painfully took out 17000 Mora from his wallet and handed it to Blanche.
[Mora: 484200]
In the blink of an eye, over 50,000 Mora had been spent without even planting a single seed. Arkz couldn't help but sigh at how quickly money flowed away like water.
After leaving Blanche's general store, Arkz suddenly remembered that he still hadn't bought a pillow or bedding to sleep on. He immediately turned back and spent 2000 Mora on a pile of daily necessities.
Thanks to the System Warehouse, Arkz didn't need to struggle carrying these purchased items; he just tossed everything into his backpack and didn't have to worry about losing anything.
It was nearly evening by this time. Although Arkz's hands were empty, he was actually returning laden with goods.
Facing the fiery sunset, Arkz left Mondstadt City and headed toward his farm in Springvale.
When advised by the Knights of Favonius at the city gate, Arkz first thanked them, then displayed the Vision at his waist. Indeed, upon seeing the Vision, the Knights of Favonius stopped obstructing Arkz from leaving Mondstadt City.
The wilderness outside Mondstadt City was a wasteland occupied by monsters, and many dangerous monsters preferred to be active at night. Every year, some inexperienced Adventurers failed to notice the difference between day and night, encountered dangerous monsters in the wild, and died tragically in the wilderness.
Out of their duty to protect ordinary people, the Knights of Favonius stationed at the city gate would always offer a word of caution to any commoner leaving Mondstadt City. Of course, if one insisted on experiencing the feeling of being hunted by monsters, the Knights of Favonius couldn't forcibly stop them either.
Naturally, for those with some level of strength, the Knights of Favonius usually skipped the advisory step entirely.
The reason they treated Arkz as an ordinary person this time was because he was too low-key. With a gentle, scholarly air and common attire, it was easy to mistake him for a random passerby on the street.
Normal allogenes usually possessed some distinct characteristic. Which allogene character didn't wear flashy clothes, making them instantly recognizable as non-ordinary people?
Since the Vision is an external elemental organ for an allogene, concealing it inside clothing would reduce the efficiency of the Vision absorbing and releasing Elemental Power. Therefore, most allogenes wore their Visions conspicuously on the outside.
Besides affecting the use of Elemental Power, keeping the Vision in a prominent external location also helped avoid some unnecessary trouble.
As in this instance, if the Knight of Favonius had seen Arkz's Vision, he wouldn't have bothered to speak or obstruct him.
In Teyvat, there were many dangerous areas. These areas were usually guarded by local officials sent to prevent ordinary people from accidentally entering and losing their lives. Sometimes, those entering were even required to display their strength.
allogenes wearing a Vision naturally bypassed this somewhat troublesome step of strength verification.
Furthermore, both on the dark side and the official side, whether it was the Treasure Hoarders or official personnel, their attitude would be a bit more polite upon seeing an allogene, adhering to the principle of not provoking them if possible.
While this was partly due to the fact that most allogenes were not weak, a large part of it stemmed from reverence for the gods.
On the continent of Teyvat, allogenes were also known as 'people watched over by the gods,' meaning that the will, courage, and wishes of every allogene had received the recognition of a god.
If someone were to cause trouble for an allogene and, unfortunately, a god happened to be looking over at that moment and was angered, that would truly be the end.
For Arkz, the Hilichurls wandering in the wilderness posed no threat whatsoever.
However, since these Hilichurls didn't actively seek trouble with him, Arkz was too lazy to pay them any mind.
Speaking of which, these Hilichurls were pitiable creatures. As cursed humans, they transformed into such monsters and suffered immensely, finding even death a luxury. They could only waste away their tragic sanity in endless pain, leaving behind only beast-like survival instincts.
With Arkz running at full speed, it took him less than ten minutes to run from Mondstadt City to Springvale. Although he saved a lot of time, Arkz was panting heavily from exhaustion.
As a town primarily focused on hunting, Springvale naturally had no shortage of hunting dogs to assist the hunters.
And sure enough, the moment Arkz stepped into the vicinity of Springvale, barking erupted from all directions in the town.
Woof! Woof woof! Woof woof woof...
"What's going on? Did the Treasure Hoarders come to steal something?"
One could only say that this town, capable of persisting so far from the protection of Mondstadt City while under siege by monsters, certainly had a fierce populace.
Before Arkz could even speak to explain, a group of sturdy men armed with bows and large cleavers came out.
Arkz quickly explained, "I'm not one of the Treasure Hoarders! I'm the new owner of that farm over there!"
Murmurs rose from the crowd.
"Isn't he lying?"
"He doesn't look like it. This young man is quite handsome; it would be a pity if he really were a Treasure Hoarder."
"I saw him yesterday. He came into town yesterday saying he wanted to visit Mr. Draff, but Mr. Draff wasn't here."
"I remember that too."
The leading hunter chief, Draff, stepped forward and took the certificate Arkz offered. After seeing the Knights of Favonius seal on the document and accidentally glimpsing the Vision at Arkz's waist, he lowered his guard.
"Disperse, disperse. It was just a false alarm."