He changed Tiwat

Kolai said somewhat embarrassedly, "So please rest assured, I absolutely trust you. I also want to tell you more about Lord Grass God... but I haven't lived in Sumeru for a long time, and I haven't read many books, so... I'm really sorry."

“It’s alright, the information you just gave us was very valuable,” Paimon reassured him.

Ying nodded: "It's good that we can confirm that the Little Grass God lives in the 'Pure Goodness Palace'."

Upon hearing this, Ke Lai couldn't help but ask curiously, "I'd be happy if I could help in any way. But why are you asking about the Grass God?"

Ying and Paimon exchanged another glance, and then both nodded.

Well, since they're Amber's friends, they're also their friends. Cory said she trusts them completely, so they should reciprocate with the same level of trust—that's what friends are all about!

So Ying and Paimon briefly told Cole the story of what happened on the "Golden Apple Islands" and told Cole and Paimon the purpose of their trip to Sumeru.

When Cole heard the words "the Grass God may be imprisoned by the Fools," he clenched his fists tightly.

Ying noticed that black flames were faintly emerging from Ke Lai's hand.

This was the first time she had seen Cole so angry, and the first time she had heard such a tone that seemed to want to devour someone alive—

Cole kept repeating that word: "Fools, people, crowd!"

Chapter Twelve: The Great Compassion Tree King and the Little Lucky Grass King (4/10)

Kolai had never met or interacted with the Grass God, and frankly, he didn't care much about being imprisoned.

But the Fatui and Korra have a blood feud—the reason she met Amber was because she had followed the "Doctor" to Mondstadt to seek revenge on the Fatui.

The mastermind behind the "Blackfire case" that shocked Mondstadt a year ago was none other than Cole.

It was in front of the Knights of Favonius that Krystal burned the Fatui diplomat to death with black fire made from the remnants of the Daedric Prince at the gates of Mondstadt.

Upon hearing that the Fools were up to no good again in Sumeru, Cole wanted nothing more than to fly to Sumeru immediately and unleash a divine punishment of black flames upon those villains. Instead, Luminous and Paimon desperately tried to dissuade Cole from acting rashly—after all, these things were still just Luminous's speculations at this stage, and they couldn't just go and burn down the Church House because of an unconfirmed guess...

Cole realized he had revealed a hostility he shouldn't have shown in front of others, so he quickly made an excuse to check the awning and left temporarily. Meanwhile, Ying and Paimon finally started working seriously, cleaning the Statue of the Seven.

Ying was very familiar with cleaning statues; the nuns at Favonius Cathedral had given her similar requests before, so she was quite experienced in it—the first request she received after mastering the wind element was to use the power of the wind to blow dust off Venti's statue…

Before long, the cleaning was completed, and Ying and Paimon sat under the statue and began to admire the fruits of their labor.

So far, they have come into contact with the seven-day statues in four different countries.

According to the patterns summarized by Ying and Paimon, the designs of the Seven Gods statues have certain commonalities—the top of the statues will always have a statue of the local "Seven Rulers of the Mortal Realm," and the statues will always be in the pose of holding a sphere that is condensed with elemental power.

Out of reverence for the gods, statues of deities usually do not depict the details of the deity's facial features. Instead, the face is typically covered by decorations such as hoods and cloaks. However, the gender, physique, and clothing of the statues faithfully reproduce the image of the deity.

The same goes for the seven statues of Sumeru. At the top of the statues is carved an image of a grass god wearing a hooded robe and holding grass elemental power. However, the image of this grass god made Ying feel a serious sense of incongruity.

"Paimon, don't you think the Grass God looks a little too youthful?"

Upon hearing Ying's question, Paimon immediately flew to the top of the statue, carefully examined it, and even hovered next to the statue to compare his height with it...

Paimon finally came to a very rigorous conclusion: "Hmm, judging from the size of this statue, the Grass God seems to be about the same height as Klee, and even his ears are the pointed ears of an elf..."

Ying looked up at the statue and asked, "Hmm, Paimon, do you think she is the 'Great Tree of Compassion' or the 'Little Lucky Grass King'?"

Paimon thought for a moment and replied, "Is it 'Little Lucky Grass King'? The appearance of this statue matches the name 'Little Lucky Grass King' quite well."

In fact, anyone who sees this statue would come to the same conclusion as Paimon—after all, the statue is completely childlike in size, which doesn't match the grand name "Great Tree King" at all.

Ying still felt something was off: "But the Seven Gods Statue is a very ancient statue, you know? It was built after the end of the Demon God War, and the Seven Gods Statue in each country has existed for at least a thousand years. 'Little Lucky Grass King' is a newly born god, less than five hundred years old. This statue is older than 'Little Lucky Grass King'..."

"So you're trying to say it's a statue of the 'Great Tree King'?" Paimon circled the statue again, trying to connect it with the image of the legendary "Great Tree King," but no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't believe that the "Great Tree King" would be a "tiny deity"...

Such baseless speculation naturally yields no convincing conclusions. Paimon finally shrugged and said, "Forget it, we'll find out about the Grass God eventually."

As she spoke, something flashed past the edge of her vision.

Paimon instinctively looked down and saw a strange, round, green creature suddenly burrow into the ground with a "thud".

"Wait a minute, what was that just now? Was it my imagination?" Paimon exclaimed.

Ying had the same reaction: "So you saw it too...those, those 'cabbages'!"

“Yes, yes! Small and round, it really does look like a cabbage!” Paimon nodded vigorously. “But that thing is clearly alive!”

She even saw that the thing had eyes and a mouth.

“I think we need to find out what this thing is.” Ying took out her adventurer’s logbook and quickly drew a cabbage with eyes and a mouth, planning to take the drawing to Cole later to ask him about it.

After a while, Cole returned.

She had clearly composed herself, a smile returning to her face, and she was holding a bulging oil paper package in her hands—"Are you hungry? I brought back some food. This is a portable food that we rangers often eat, called 'pocket biscuits.' I don't know if it suits your taste."

Despite being wrapped in oil paper, the aroma of the food had already wafted far into Ying and Paimon's noses.

"Yay! It's delicious!" Paimon flew a million times faster than when he was working, and with a "whoosh," he appeared in front of Cole, rubbing his little hands together, ready to have a big meal.

Ying also appeared beside Paimon in a flash, grabbing Paimon's cloak: "Paimon, be a little more reserved..."

Paimon pouted, "What does it matter? Cole is no stranger to us. The diners' enthusiasm is the best compliment for a chef. Besides, I just worked really hard, and I deserve a delicious lunch to reward myself!"

Yingmei glanced at him sideways: "Hey, you only helped wipe the dust off the statue with a rag, okay? I did all the other work, and I'm the one who gets to eat first."

Paimon struggled: "If you eat first, there won't be enough for me..."

Ying ignored Paimon's struggle: "Even if you eat mine first, it's definitely not enough..."

Cole quickly pulled out another oil paper package: "It's okay... I prepared three packages according to the number of people, so everyone will get one..."

As she spoke, her hand suddenly trembled for some reason, and the oil paper package fell to the ground with a thud.

"Ah..." Paimon's face was full of heartache, as if what had fallen to the ground was not a "pocket biscuit" but some fragile treasure.

Ying stared at Cole's hands—last night, when Cole brought her medicine, it seemed her hands were trembling, causing her to drop and break the medicine bowl. Then she thought of how Tinari had taken Cole's pulse this morning…Could Cole be sick?

Chapter Thirteen: Cole's Secret [4k]

After a hearty meal, Paimon lay contentedly in the air, patting his belly. If Cole had seen the puffy creatures on Fontaine Beach, he would probably think that Paimon was actually a distant relative of the puffy creatures.

"This is so delicious! Cole, your cooking is amazing. Luckily you wrapped each piece of bread carefully beforehand, otherwise I would have been so heartbroken that I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night!" Paimon-shaped Puffball patted its belly as it bestowed the highest praise upon Chef Cole.

Cole couldn't help but chuckle: "Haha, you're exaggerating... But since you like it, I can copy a recipe for you and write down all the cooking tips, so you can learn it quickly."

"Really? I want to learn! Can you teach me the recipe right now?"

This time, Ying was no longer reserved at all, eagerly awaiting the recipe—Coley's "pocket bread" was so delicious that even Ying, who considered herself a gourmet, was deeply impressed.

The so-called "pocket pie" is actually a type of meat pie. After baking, the pie becomes puffy and is cut in half, looking like two pockets, hence the name.

In terms of preparation, "pocket bread" is actually a very simple dish: just add minced meat to dough, bake it in the oven, and then eat it with sauce.

Every ranger in Daochenglin knows how to make this "pocket biscuit," and it was Tinari who taught Cole how to make it.

Logically speaking, since the method of making "pocket bread" is so common, everyone's version should taste about the same... After all, it is just an "emergency food" for forest rangers during their daily patrols. Its greatest value lies in its portability and ability to fill their stomachs.

But Cole's "pocket bread" was completely different. It can be said that Cole single-handedly upgraded "pocket bread" from a "fast food to fill your stomach" to a "delicious dish".

Other people's "pocket biscuits" are "stuffed pies"; Cole's "pocket biscuits" are called "treasure bags".

Ying described the "pocket bread" she had just eaten like this: "The sauce on the bread crust is like a light, perfectly highlighting the charm of the ingredients in the center of the stage. The aroma of meat and the crispness of vegetables complement each other perfectly. Every bite brings a new flavor—like a magic bag in a magic show, bringing one surprise after another."

As an adventurer who has traveled all over the world, Ying is definitely a seasoned and experienced cook. Especially with Paimon, a little glutton, constantly clamoring for delicious food, Ying is forced to cook different dishes every day, which has led to her skills improving by leaps and bounds.

Moreover, Luminous herself is quite talented in cooking—if Paimon is the "mouth of God," then Luminous is the "tongue of God." As long as you run your tongue over a dish, she can describe the ingredients, cooking techniques, and seasoning recipes almost perfectly. After a few practice attempts, she can perfectly replicate the dish she just tasted.

She has now mastered the cooking methods for hundreds of dishes from Mondstadt, Liyue, and Inazuma. If there were any chef associations or similar organizations on the Teyvat continent, it would be no problem for Yingmei to obtain a master chef's certificate.

However, even someone as skilled as Ying was stumped by this "pocket cookie".

This is not only because the sauces and some of the fillings used in Cole's special "pocket bread" are Sumeru specialties that Ying had never seen before, but also because Cole's ingredient ratios are ingenious.

Ying could taste at least several ingredients in the filling, including pork, tomato, milk, eggs, and cabbage, as well as a special spice flavor, which should come from "spice fruit"—but Ying couldn't think of any way to recreate the multiple layers of flavor she had just tasted with these ingredients.

"Should we write it now...?" Cole seemed a little hesitant.

Ying blinked and handed over her adventure log: "Did you forget to bring paper and pen? No problem, I have some here, please use them, Chef Cole!"

Cole couldn't resist Ying's eager, starry eyes, so he had no choice but to take the paper and pen and start writing the recipe.

This writing stunned both Ying and Paimon.

It's not that there's anything wrong with the recipe itself... but rather that there's something wrong with Cole's handwriting.

Well, to put it simply, in terms of calligraphy skill, Ke Lai is on par with Xing Qiu. And unlike Xing Qiu, Ke Lai's calligraphy isn't a matter of "beauty or ugliness," but rather a matter of "literacy."

Xingqiu's calligraphy is poor in terms of the shape of the characters; at least the meaning of the sentences she writes is still coherent, and if one can understand the shapes of the characters, reading them is not difficult. But Kelai's writing is more like "drawing." She is like a primary school student copying a classmate's homework, completely unaware of the meaning of the characters she writes, simply imitating the shapes of the characters...

Cole wrote the recipe very carefully, even trying hard to make her handwriting neat—but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't change the fact that she wrote "2 pound flour" as "Z p0md 4"...

Such mistakes usually only appear in the diaries of preschool children like Klee, mistakes that only little kids who haven't learned to write yet would make... But Cole and Amber are the same age, already old enough to work as trainee rangers!

Ying and Paimon exchanged a glance and tacitly decided to pretend they hadn't noticed the problem with the "recipe".

But the perceptive Cole had already noticed something amiss in their eyes.

She gave an apologetic wry smile, closed her notebook, and said with her head down, "I'm sorry... I'm not very literate. As for the recipe, I'll ask Master Tinali to write it for you tonight."

Sumeru is the kingdom ruled by the "god of wisdom," and its people take pride in being close to the wisdom of the gods.

Thanks to the policies of the Faith Academy, every child born in the Sumeru Rainforest can receive a unique, high-quality compulsory education on the continent of Teyvat—the Faith Academy's "Tiriyas" and "Apprentice Tusata," who are required to complete a fixed number of "educational internships" each year, bringing the Faith Academy's knowledge to children in various towns and villages.

At least on the inner side of the "sand-proof wall", the people of Xumi achieved "everyone has access to education and everyone has books to read".

If writing is the carrier of wisdom, then literacy is undoubtedly the starting point of learning, and it seems that Cole has only just reached the foot of the peak of knowledge.

Children in Sumeru City generally begin to recognize characters around the age of three. In more remote areas, such as Huacheng Guo or Weimo Zhuang, children should be able to read and write fluently by the age of five or six. For those aspiring to become scholars in the Academy of Teachings, the ability to write academic papers fluently in multiple languages ​​is the most basic requirement.

However, Cole was taken away by the "missionaries" of the Fools as soon as he learned to speak, and as a "guinea pig" who underwent various experiments for many years, he did not enjoy the blessings of the Church.

The few languages ​​she knew were taught to her by the older children she was imprisoned with. These children from different countries had once dreamed of the outside world with her and made a promise to travel the world together... but most of them died in the fire that burned the laboratory to the ground.

Her companions who escaped the ruins with her either perished in the raging sandstorms or succumbed to the torment and erosion of the demon's remnants.

Burdened by illness and curses, they had nowhere to live and could only turn to the deserted jungles and plains for refuge.

Nature is both kind and cruel; it will not refuse to give to them because they are sick, nor will it take from them just because they call for help.

As more and more companions fell, the lessons they left behind taught those who came after them how to struggle for survival in perilous situations.

When the last companion fell, what Cole learned was—to stop calling for help from anyone.

At that time, she and her only remaining companion were being chased by wild animals and were running for their lives. Whether it was because the passage was narrow or for some other reason, her companion knocked her off the cliff while they were running away.

Fortunately, in her panic, Cole grabbed a thin branch beside the cliff, thus avoiding falling into the abyss.

Cole shouted for help to his companion, but only received a complicated look in return. Then, the man ran away alone without hesitation.

The pursuing beasts heard Cole's shouts and rushed toward her, following her cries. The only thing Cole could do was shut her mouth.

Then, the beasts heard the footsteps of another prey fleeing.

The man didn't get far. The roars of wild beasts were faster than the sound of fleeing footsteps.

Clay, trembling at the foot of the cliff, clung tightly to the branch that seemed ready to snap at any moment, until the roars of the beasts and the screams of his companions completely subsided.

She survived.

She couldn't bring herself to hate her fellow escapees. And if they were in each other's shoes, she couldn't guarantee she'd make a different choice.

Crying for help would not bring salvation, but would instead attract deadly enemies—from that moment on, Cole cut off all thoughts of communicating with others.

Since there is no need for communication, language and writing are naturally useless.

...until she met Amber.

A year ago, Seno brought her back to Mount Meru from Mondstadt and then handed her over to the Tinari.

When Kolai first arrived in Huacheng Guo, even the usually outspoken Tinari hesitated, repeatedly asking the Grand Disciplinarian if he had come to the wrong door—as a "Tasata," Tinari usually gave academic lectures to the "Tiliyesi" of the Faith Council, rather than teaching literacy textbooks to preschool children.

After several twists and turns, Cole finally became a disciple of Tinari.

To improve Cole's literacy, Tinari collected various books and documents, hoping that Cole could master new words through extensive reading. Apart from the Teyvat dictionary for children and academic papers that were daunting but unavoidable, Cole's most frequently read books were Mondstadt's fairy tale picture books.

The reason is simple—children's books have few words and many pictures, so even if you don't know the words, you can guess the general idea from the pictures.

Cole had been diligently studying writing; at the very least, she wanted to be able to understand the letters Amber sent her without the help of her master, Tinari, and ideally, be able to write back by hand instead of having someone else write for her or using drawings instead of words…

However, because she started too late, she has not yet been able to achieve this small goal.

"So, my current literacy level is probably not as good as Little Claire's..." Cole twisted the hem of her clothes embarrassedly. "I'm sorry for making you all laugh... Although Master Tinari wouldn't say that, I know I'm stupid, and I just can't learn no matter how I try to teach me..."

Paimon quickly comforted Cole: "How can you say that about yourself? Cole, you're clearly very skillful!"

Ying also encouraged Cole: "That's right, being able to make such delicious 'pocket bread' shows that you're good at discovering and creating, unlike some silly little idiots who only know how to eat..."

"Hey!" The little idiot who only knows how to eat is unhappy.

"Yes, thank you all. I will work hard and live up to your trust and my master's expectations." A smile finally appeared on Ke Lai's face.