He changed Tiwat

Among the young knights and alchemists of Mondstadt, there is a consensus: "Lady Lisa must know."

Whether it's about wild monsters, alchemy techniques, potion and herb recipes, or even cooking secrets... Lisa knows almost everything.

They even rumored that Lisa's head contained more knowledge than an entire library—and perhaps that's true.

Lisa was described by Cyresh, the teacher of the former sage of the Sudatta school and the great disciplinarian Seno, as a "genius seen only once in two hundred years"—the person she was being compared to was the famous "Kapikuta".

Even seasoned scholars who have seen countless people have never seen such a "versatile" young talent.

For example, research on the "Dead Zone" monsters.

Within Sumeru lies a place known as the "Dead Zone," which not only withers plants but also claims the lives of animals and humans. Only those with the Eye of God—that is, those who can wield elemental power—can resist the erosion of the Dead Zone for a certain period of time.

The monsters in the "Dead Zone" mostly come from unknown places. Even scholars of the biocentric school cannot figure out the habits of those filthy monsters—but Lisa can readily identify the types and habits of those monsters, and even the corresponding methods of exorcism. Much of the experience that the rangers of Sumeru have in managing the Dead Zone now comes from Lisa's papers.

Another example is the creation of potions by mixing elemental forces with herbs, also known as "alchemy potions," which has long been a headache for many scholars.

Medicine making is a highly precise art. Even a slight increase or decrease in the proportion of elemental power and medicinal ingredients can produce different effects, or even lead to unexpected dangers. Even though the two major schools of thought, the Biophysical School and the Elemental School, have collaborated for many years, the process of making alchemical potions is basically like winning the lottery—but Lisa's "potions" are far superior to most Biophysical School apothecaries, and she has never made a mistake.

The "magic potion" she made using the Dudu Lotus imbued with elemental power, which is also an antidote, is still the designated medicine for the medical clinic of the Sumeru Cult.

In addition, she even knows how to brew wine—a secret recipe that reduces the distillation process by using only two porcelain bowls has now been promoted in taverns throughout Sumeru. Although Lisa's reason is that Mondstadt people are born with the ability to brew wine, everyone knows that it has nothing to do with where one is from; it's simply because Lisa is a genius.

She was one of the very few students who was assigned by her supervisor to be in charge of the college’s key research projects while still studying at the college. In fact, many projects could not function without Lisa.

There are many students at Sumeru University who, like Hosseini, have turned their hair white from working on a graduation thesis. However, Lisa has already published several papers in authoritative academic journals at Sumeru University before she even graduated—similar to undergraduates publishing papers in Nature, and she is not only the first author but also has more than one paper.

If Lisa had stayed in the Faculty, she would have become the youngest "Habantha" in the Faculty after that "Kapikushi," and there might even have been an award named after her!

Almost everyone was certain that Lisa would become a sage... and perhaps even the first foreign "Great Sage" in history.

However, Lisa resolutely left the Faculty of Arts after graduation, and she never revealed the reasons for it to anyone.

Mona was also curious about this reason.

"This must be because of the witch's duties, right... Let me take another look. Hmph, it's getting blurry, but that's okay... Wait! Why is this hourglass lying flat...?"

Mona finally discovered something unusual as she tried to deduce Lisa's fate.

It's not uncommon for fates to be unclear; after all, the witches of the Witches' Guild all have ways to conceal their destinies, and Mona couldn't deduce the detailed fates of Alice or the old woman either. But why is this "Constellation of Fate" so strange?

Lisa's "Constellation" is an hourglass, an ancient timekeeping instrument—but hourglasses should always be placed vertically.

What does a sand hourglass lying flat signify?

still?

At that moment, a purple light shone in Lisa's green eyes.

“...Blitz!”

She uttered a single word softly.

As Lisa's incantation resounded, a rose appeared at her fingertips.

Purple, the color of the Rose Witch, and also the color of lightning.

The flower was dropped into the water dish in the direction Lisa was pointing.

Then Mona "blew her hair out," literally "blew her hair out."

Of course, it was because of the electric shock.

"Hey! What's wrong with you!" Mona angrily straightened her hair, which had turned from pigtails into topknots.

She never expected that the "mystical competition" would be "physically interrupted".

Lisa narrowed her eyes, a half-smile playing on her lips: "Didn't you ask for the contest, little Mona? You're good at astrology, while I'm good at elemental power, you know?"

Mona was speechless. Of course, the competition should be based on each person's strengths... Lisa's statement seems to make perfect sense?

Hey, isn't astrology at a disadvantage then?

Is this why the old woman has been unable to beat Alice all these years?

Seeing Mona's embarrassed expression, Lisa seemed to be in a great mood.

She chuckled and said, "Alright, no noise in the library, okay? Luckily there aren't any other readers here right now, or I'd probably have to ask you to leave. Let's leave it at that. You didn't come to the library just to do something like this, did you?"

Mona then remembered that her main purpose in coming to the library was to investigate the matriarch of the Lawrence family.

"Yes, right, I came to the library to look up documents."

"Oh." Lisa casually opened the catalog on the table. "What kind of literature are you looking for? About astrology?"

Mona shook her head. "No, it's about the history of the patriarch of the Lawrence family, Vanilla Lawrence. It's said that she once sponsored an adventurer named Leonard Musk to climb 'Pinnacle'..."

Lisa stopped turning the pages of the book.

"I'm sorry," she said with a business smile, "the historical records about that Vanilla Lawrence are 'banned books'."

"Huh? 'Forbidden Book'?" Mona's eyes widened.

She originally thought that finding something like a noble genealogy wouldn't be too troublesome, but she didn't expect to hear the words "forbidden book".

"Yes, I'm sorry, the books in the restricted section are not open to the public." Lisa shook her head apologetically at Mona.

“Wait, wait…” Mona placed her hands on the table. “Isn’t there any room for compromise? Like, only reading inside the library, or… or paying a deposit or something…”

Before coming to the library, Mona never imagined that she would encounter a successor of a witch, let alone that the clues given by the Wind God hid such a significant secret, which led to the witch keeping them in the forbidden book section.

Her astrologer's intuition told her that the connection between Vanilla Lawrence and the "False Heaven" might be much deeper than she imagined.

In other words, this clue is indeed very close to "the reality of this world".

“Hmm, the deposit…” Lisa looked Mona up and down, her gaze traveling from her anxious face to her flat chest. “You look… rather thin…”

"Hey! Where are you looking!" Mona clutched her chest.

Lisa puffed out her broad chest. "You don't look very rich. Only those with a broad mind can make a lot of money, you know?"

Mona gritted her teeth.

Lisa blinked: "Actually, if you're asking if there's any room for compromise... yes, there is. It just depends on whether you're willing to pay a price."

"...What price?" Mona stared at Lisa warily.

Lisa gave a mysterious smile. "The restricted book section is not open to the public, but the librarians responsible for organizing the books are not prohibited from doing so. You see, such a big library is difficult for me to manage by myself, isn't it?"

"Uh...you mean...you mean..." Mona seemed to have guessed what Lisa was going to say.

Lisa's smile widened: "So...would you like to be my assistant, little Mona?"

Chapter Sixty-Four: The Price God Offered

...That's why Mona and Lisa were sitting behind the reception desk having tea together.

Mona, the new assistant librarian at Mond Library (note: temporary worker, unpaid but with meals provided), is receiving a friendly onboarding training from her boss, Lisa. Her first lesson is learning how to elegantly savor black tea... After all, for Lisa, this is the most important part of her daily work.

—Lisa...I guess she's too lonely and wants someone to keep her company, and Mona, you just happened to be there for her...

After listening to Mona's brief account of her experience, Han Fulai couldn't help but look at her with immense sympathy.

Luminous and Paimon had just left Mondstadt when a naive young witch fell from the sky, a "cute little thing" who was very worthy of being teased. Lisa probably thinks to herself now that "a new toy has been delivered."

Despite his sympathy, he knew this was the best way for them to get closer to the truth.

Lisa is, after all, one of the three starter characters for Genshin Impact players, so Han Fulai is quite familiar with her personality. How to describe her? He would say she's the kind of "big sister who's not very enthusiastic, likes to tease people, is a bit sadistic, but is very reliable when it matters."

If his first stop in Teyvat wasn't Liyue but Mondstadt, maybe, probably, possibly... he would also come to the library to help Sister Lisa with her work, right? Han Fulai felt that he was quite suitable for this position.

Although Lisa enjoys teasing people, she is actually very caring. For example, Razer, an orphan who used to live in Wolf's Lair and whom Lisa called "Little Wolf," was someone she took in and cared for.

She would prevent Mona from directly investigating the history of the Lawrence family, presumably for Mona's own good.

Moreover, Han Fu believed that her condition of having Mona as her assistant was essentially a request for her to "access 'banned books' under her supervision."

As a civil servant at Yuehaiting, Han Fulai was quite familiar with this process.

Classified files, after all, require several strict reviews before access can be granted, and reading them in the presence of an administrator is a basic procedure. It's only because Lisa is Mondstadt's secret archives administrator that she can directly approve file access procedures; otherwise, it would likely have taken a lot more effort.

He even seriously suspected that the reason Lisa wanted Mona to have the title of assistant was because Lisa was too lazy to fill out so many procedures and reports for accessing classified files, and it would be more convenient to just give Mona assistant privileges...

Besides, magic does exist in this world, so who knows if the "forbidden book" is dangerous?

This is a library managed by a witch. Perhaps those "forbidden books" are like "A Certain Magical Index," inherently dangerous. If someone reading them is careless, they could easily suffer adverse consequences.

In short, he completely understands Lisa's actions.

In terms of experience as a witch, Lisa is undoubtedly a senior, and Mona might be able to learn a lot of the occult knowledge she has always dreamed of by following her.

If the only cost is a few days of unpaid work and being teased by Sister Lisa, then... it's actually quite worthwhile?

So, great astrologer Mona, make a sacrifice to uncover the truth of the world! Wouldn't it be great if you formed the "Mona Lisa" library witch group and debuted?

—Although Mona can't "read minds," the smile on Han Fulai's face made her see through his thoughts at a glance.

Mona pouted: "Stop gloating. Tell me your investigation results. Have you found Abedo yet?"

"Unfortunately, we missed Mr. Abedo. He's probably on his way back to Dragon Ridge now..."

When Aberdo's matter was mentioned, Han Fulai also became serious and relayed to Mona what Timaus had just told him.

The two discussed it for a while and basically finalized their itinerary:

Han Fulai went to Longji Snow Mountain to find Abedo, while Mona stayed in the library to investigate the hidden history of the Lawrence family.

Anyway, Mona has decided to stay in the library for a while, not only to investigate the secrets of the "False Heaven," but also because she is very interested in the witch Lisa herself—although she has quite a few complaints about Lisa's mischievous personality.

Judging from Lisa's statement, those historical records may indeed contain very dangerous secrets.

Combining the Lawrence family's sponsorship of Leonard's ascent of "Pinnacle," the fact that "Pinnacle" was flattened and thrown into the sea by Wendy, and the "Deep Spire" at Musk Reef, etc., Han Fulai actually had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on.

—The matriarch of the Lawrence family probably wanted to explore the mysteries beyond the world.

This is not something unimaginable.

Because 2,600 years ago, the family that helped the people of Mondstadt to clear land in the snow was the Lawrence family!

It was precisely because of this achievement that the Lawrence family became one of the three great noble families of Mondstadt.

However, this pioneering spirit was likely a double-edged sword, bringing both fame and trouble to the Lawrence family. The matriarch of the Lawrence family, hidden among old documents, may have suffered as a result.

Of course, we'll have to ask Mona to investigate the specifics of what happened.

Their conversation came to an end, and just then, the library door was pushed open again.

The person who came in was a guard from the Knights of Favonius headquarters, Wirag, the Knight of Favonius who was standing guard at the library entrance.

This stern guard meticulously reminded every visitor entering the library not to make loud noises, to clean their shoes before entering to avoid bringing dust and mud inside, and to remember to close the door behind them when leaving. Han Fulai and Mona had been to the library several times and were quite familiar with him.

Willag's gaze swept across the library before finally settling on Han Fulai: "Excuse me, are you Mr. Han from Liyue?"

Han Fulai slightly raised his hand: "That's me."

Willag bowed to him: "I have received orders from Commander Qin to invite you to his office for a meeting."

Han Fulai was not surprised at all by this.

Violet, whom he had met outside the Knights of Favonius, had probably already relayed his message to Kaeya. Kaeya had likely also reported to Captain Jean about this "important" visit to Liyue. From Captain Jean's perspective, it was only right that he invite him to have a discussion. Although it happened a little faster than he had anticipated.

At this moment, Lisa, who had been leisurely sipping her tea, also put down her teacup.

"Mr. Han, I also have something I'd like to say to you."

Han Fulai turned to Lisa: "Please enlighten me, Ms. Lisa."

Lisa's expression was unusually serious: "If you ask too much of God for miracles, you should think carefully—can you really afford the price God is asking for? I've only said this to two people so far, and you're the third."

Chapter Sixty-Five: The Man Who Changed the World

What does "the price offered by God" mean?

Mona stared at Lisa.

The words Lisa had just said to Han Fu were still echoing in her mind.

Clearly, this was a secret that Lisa, as a "witch," possessed. Mona could only be certain that the "god" she referred to was not the Seven Rulers of the Mortal Realm they were familiar with, but rather the supreme and unapproachable Heavenly Principle.

But has Heaven ever offered any "price"?

What intrigued Mona even more was Han Fulai's surprisingly calm reaction to this ambiguous "advice."

He simply said "thank you" and left with Willag without asking any further questions, as if he already knew what Lisa had said.

Now, only Lisa can satisfy Mona's curiosity. Although Lisa isn't the type to explain things clearly, Mona still decides to ask.

Although Mona didn't have high hopes, Lisa always managed to surprise her.