The Tempus Of The Heart

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***

"Seriously...Hu Tao that was a bit too much…" Yomite spoke, but didn't find himself a response, as the girl he was talking to was currently kneeling on the ground, seemingly praying.

She took a deep breath, calming herself, and then closed her eyes.

She cupped her hands into a prayerful shape and held them out over a bowl of the fire.

"Order of duality...Impermanence of fate...I raise this butterfly to guide thee."

Terminating her speech there, Hu Tao tucked her chin down and straightened herself up, placing her hands on her chest.

A small butterfly made of fire slowly rose from her hand and made its way across her chest. The butterfly danced across shoulders all the way up to the blue sky.

A symbol of her power, a symbol of the strength of her resolve and dedication to her job as the Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.

Dressed in her black coat and black shorts coated with golden accents, the charming girl stiffened her good-looking, fearless face.

The sharp glint in her eye, and her frigid appearance gave off a solemn look, a look of someone who was deeply in grief.

Anyone from Liyue who'd have known her for being a weirdo would have likely been extremely impressed by just seeing how professionally she conducted the departing ceremony.

"The ceremony is now complete. The souls have departed, so we shall do the same."

Hu Tao announced as she stood up from the ground, dusting off her clothes, still wearing the solemn look.

"Ah...right…" Yomite was woken up from his stupor. It almost felt like he was looking at someone completely different.

They led a fierce battle with the so-called Treasure Hoarders, who were actual human thieves instead of some monsters.

They weren't hard to beat and the group annihilated them quickly.

While most of them managed to run away after they've been defeated, leaving behind the treasures they've stolen, from those who fought with Hu Tao, all of them had died and as such she made sure to make a proper prayer ceremony before they headed out.

Yomite felt like she went overboard, but then again, it wasn't smart to underestimate your opponents either, as in battle, anything could happen.

Although she didn't even spare the ones who were already running away…

After they returned back to Mondstadt and picked up the rewards from their quests, Fischl left saying that she saw her parents when they were entering the city.

She was very eager to meet them again after so long and talk about her tales and new friends and Yomite didn't have a reason to stand in her way.

They were finished with all quests after all.

As they were about to go to the Resin Moon Inn, the group met Amber who was just returning from her daily patrol.

After some quick talk, Lumine and Paimon left with Amber, to hang up some missing posters around the city.

Her brother was still missing of course, and hearing Amber's offer to help, Lumine swiftly agreed to it.

Only Yomite and Hu Tao remained now.

Upon entering the inn, they went straight to their room.

Hu Tao seemed to pull out a notebook out of nowhere and started writing something into it.

All she said was that she didn't wish to be disturbed, so he left her like that and silently watched her scribble into her notebook.

It was still quite early and he had plenty of time to relax until they would meet with Diluc to proceed with the plan.

But he already knew how he was going to spend this precious time.

All this while, Yomite hadn't tried out his last ability, The Tempus of the Heart.

The problem was, he didn't know how to activate it, but now that he had time and no one was bothering him with anything, it was the right moment to try and experiment with it.

For the Tempus of the Story, he had to think, "What should I say?" for the ability to activate.

For The Tempus of the Particles, he just had to think about a light sensation around his fingertips, and his ability would turn on immediately, bringing forth a cube of transparent light.

But no matter how much he tried, he just simply couldn't seem to activate his last ability.

'Status...observe...profile...properties...Even these don't work...'

He had already tried hundreds of incantations from different novels he remembered, but none of them worked.

He laid down on his bed, contemplating.

'It shouldn't be that hard, Yomite...Think... You're not that dumb...You should be able to figure this out...I just need a keyword or something. A keyword...'

***

**

*

After about a half an hour of thinking and guessing left and right, a genius idea finally popped into his small brain.

His tongue was already dry from all the random words and sentences he tried to activate the ability with.

"That's it! That may work!"

He grinned as he stood up, 'Let's see...I am helpless about the Tempus of the Heart...''What should I say?"

The world stood still and immediately, a small blue window with three choices opened up in front of him.

[1. I want to shower.]

[2. I want to know.]

[3. I want to have sex.]

'I knew it! That's great! I can use it in a way that benefits me.'

He looked at the three options provided and chose the second one, disregarding the first and the third option that had appeared on there immediately.

The first one was completely random and out of nowhere, although he was a bit sweaty after the quests, it still wasn't that bad, and as for the last option...

That appeared out of his hidden carnal desire, but he chose to ignore it altogether...For now.

'Using my second ability to figure out my third, unknown ability, not bad Yomite...not bad! The second option, of course! I want to know!'

[1. THE AVERAGE CHOICE]

[2. THE BEST CHOICE] ✔️

[3. THE WORST CHOICE]

"I feel offended at the sex one being the worst...like come on..."

Anyway, all this time, instead of chanting random words, he just had to think, 'I want to know.'

It was basic, yet so annoying and stupid he felt like strangling Sia, but he finally got it right.

The sentence in question was a tad bit too long though, so hopefully, he will be able to shorten it a bit in the future.

The moment he thought about that sentence, a green light appeared above nearby living beings.

'Hmm...The Goddess Sia did mention that I could also use it on some special items, but what's with this...' He noticed that his pocket was shining as well.

He rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a stone.

'Isn't this...'

He gazed at the blue jade that dropped from the Cryo Regisvine. The very stone that had a hidden message inscribed in the back of it, although it was currently unreadable due to cracks within it.

'I shouldn't forget about this...I will have to find someone that can help me with this later, but for now...'

'I want to know.'

And with that, a green panel containing information appeared.

———————

Name: Shivada Jade Gemstone

Rarity: 5*

Description: Gemstone dropped by an adult Cryo Regisvine. Could be grinded into powder and consumed to increase the potency of a Cryo Vision Avatar.

Also contains a message on the back of the Jade - Sorry...██████████████████

███████ my bitter cold ███████████ ██████ burn away ████ world ██████

———————

'A five star rarity? Jackpot. Although unfortunately, we don't have a Cryo Vision user in our party...The closest person I know is Kaeya...Well then...I gotta train this to maximum level or something...Next up is...'

He glanced around the room, his gaze falling onto the defenseless Hu Tao who was as if in trance, writing her poem into what appeared to be a diary of some sort.

'I want to know.'

———————

Name: Hu Tao

Age: 19

Title: Versemonger of the Darkest Alleys

Occupation: Director of The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor

Hobby: Reading, writing novels, writing poems

Likes: Her late grandfather's hat, moon-gazing, Qiqi

Dislikes: How people treat her, Boredom, Baizhu, People who try to extend their life instead of dying naturally.

Dream: For everyone to pass away peacefully. For people to realize funeral isn't a sad affair.

Current mood: Concentrating, Happy

Relationship Level: 7/10 - Fondness

State of Relationship: Close Friend

———————

'Goodness...There are a lot of things to unpack here...' Yomite viewed her status with an intrigued expression.

'19 years old!? Sure doesn't act as such.'

Now that he thought about it, things like statuses were really inappropriate as he could basically know most information about an individual with just a single glance.

Took him a while to figure out that one.

'Breaching privacy...Let's go~!'

Looking over the written stuff, he understood most things, but there was one thing he wasn't sure about, and it was the Relationship Level value.

Upon closer inspection however, he noticed a small button near the Relationship Level. He clicked on it, and it revealed another series of text.

———————

1. Hate

2. Disgust

3. Hostility

4. Dislike

5. Acquaintance

6. Value

7. Fondness ✓

8. Intimacy

9. Love

10. Soulmate

———————