At sunset, Coppelia and Columbina hovered in mid-air until they found a flat rock situated in the middle of a steep slope.
Aside from eagles, no wild beasts, monsters, or primitive humans could reach this spot. It was quite safe, the wind was gentle, and the temperature was comfortable—perfect for a campsite.
The two landed on the flat rock and set up a simple tent.
Coppelia took out an iron stove from her "Backpack" and placed it firmly in the open space in front of the tent. She then retrieved some firewood, tossed it into the stove, and ignited it with Pyro. Next, she set up the iron pot and added water. There were still a few fried fish left over from the day; she prepared them, tossed them into the pot, added seasonings, and let them simmer slowly.
While it wasn't completely dark yet, the two flew down to the jungle below to gather some dry firewood for reserve. Coppelia also took the opportunity to pick some Bulle Fruits and Sunsettias to serve as dessert for Columbina.
By the time they returned to the camp, the sky had turned completely black, and the moonlight faintly illuminated the site.
The soup in the pot had long since boiled, overflowing with a rich fragrance.
Coppelia squatted in front of the stove, took out a bowl, ladled out a few pieces of fish, placed a spoon in the bowl, and handed it to Columbina.
Columbina took the bowl, sat on a cushion, and ate the fish bit by bit, her mind still dwelling on the "Moon Spirits" Coppelia had mentioned during the day.
Swallowing the fish in her mouth, she asked, "You must have seen Moon Spirits before. What do they... or what does it look like?"
Coppelia opened the stove door and reached in with a stick to stir the charcoal, controlling the heat.
Hearing Columbina's question, she carefully recalled the appearance of the Moon Spirits.
"They have round heads, and their body shape is a bit like a fish. They have a pair of wings on top of their heads..." She pointed to the top of Columbina's head. "Just like the wing-shaped ornament you're wearing."
"They also have two 'braids' that are even longer than their bodies. They are floaty like you, always flying in the air. When they fly, those two braids sway like waves." She glanced at the red glow emerging from the stove and added more details, "They look somewhat transparent. As for color... some emit a hazy white glow like moonlight, while others are pure blue or pure red."
From Coppelia's description, Columbina tried to reconstruct the appearance of the Moon Spirits in her mind, imagining them flying in the sky, imagining them surrounding her...
She thought to herself: Moon Spirits must be cute little guys, just like Wind Sprites. Speaking of which, there isn't just one Wind Sprite; could there be a whole group of Moon Spirits too?
Columbina continued to ask, "Are there many Moon Spirits?"
"Of course, there are many." Coppelia closed the stove door and sat down next to Columbina. "However, I don't know exactly how many there are. In the land where you lived, Moon Spirits were everywhere, but once you leave that place, you basically can't see them. They rely on Lunar Momentum to survive."
"What do they usually do?"
"They play with you, draw pictures for you, make you tell them stories, or help people find Treasure Chests outside and such. Oh right, they do all these things just to make you happy."
Columbina felt that the Moon Spirits were becoming more and more adorable, and her mood grew excited. Her movements sped up, and she quickly finished the bowl of fish.
Coppelia took the bowl and went to ladle more fish and soup.
At this moment, Columbina asked again, "Can they sing?"
"Probably not. But I guess since they can draw, they must be able to play musical instruments. Beating drums and gongs shouldn't be a problem."
"By the way, what is a Treasure Chest?"
Coppelia handed the bowl to Columbina and replied, "It's a box containing treasures, such as gems, weapons, or Mora. You can usually find them in the wilderness or inside dilapidated ruins. Of course, Treasure Chests don't always contain treasures; they might also hold cabbages and carrots."
"And what is Mora?"
"That is currency cast by the Geo Archon, Morax, using his own blood."
"Currency..."
That night, Columbina was in high spirits for conversation, asking about many details of daily life in the "future." It wasn't until the moon rose to mid-sky and she had drunk every last drop of fish soup in the pot that she felt a bit drowsy and crawled into the tent to sleep.
Between recalling memories and narrating stories, Coppelia was mentally exhausted. Seeing the curious young girl fall asleep, she hurriedly extinguished the stove fire, returned to the tent, and activated sleep mode to restore her energy.
When the sun penetrated the tent, the two woke up one after another.
Coppelia cleaned the kitchenware and tableware, then stored them back into the "Backpack" along with the tools used to set up the tent.
Once packing was complete, she planned the strategy for searching for the moonlight stones.
She prepared to first look for meteor impact sites on land. As for gathering intelligence by asking around, that method wasn't very viable. The only creatures here capable of speech, aside from the primitives with whom they shared no language, were the Oceanids. The latter might not necessarily understand her, nor would they necessarily be active on land.
The only remaining method was to check each area one by one.
Based on the distribution of fragments in Mondstadt and Chenyu Vale, she could roughly determine that the meteor had flown in from the southwest. Therefore, she only needed to search the slopes facing southwest. This could be considered a way to reduce the workload slightly.
The two flew into the high sky. Starting from the peaks around the campsite, relying on the coordination of Coppelia's precision vision and Elemental Sight, they searched for traces of meteor impacts and the elemental flow of Lunar Momentum.
The location the two were in was on the southeastern edge of the High Sea. They searched all the beaches, forests, and hillsides in this area but found no clues.
The two had no choice but to follow the distribution of the mountain range and continue their investigation northward. During this time, aside from seeing a group of primitives hunting in the jungle, there were no other clues worth noting.
"We've been searching for an hour or two, and there's not a single trace." Coppelia felt it was time to take a break and replan their route. "Let's go down first."
"I want to go look over there." Columbina pointed to a blue lake diagonally below. A giant blue tree grew in that lake, forming a sharp contrast with the green grass and trees filling the surrounding mountains.
Coppelia had some impression of that blue willow tree, so she nodded. "No problem."
The two landed by the lake. There were no sounds of insects or birds here, not even the sound of wind; it was extremely quiet.
A giant willow tree with blue leaves stood tall in the center of the lake; on the shores surrounding the water, many small blue flowers also grew. The lake water appeared a transparent blue.
Columbina looked around, very curious about this scene of blue. Not long after landing, she began to walk around the lake shore, carefully observing the blue flowers and the blue willow tree.
Coppelia walked with her, pondering the next search path. The land area on the southeast side had been mostly checked, with no clues. Going further north would likely yield nothing either. It would be better to head directly west at this point and search the southwest—that is, the "Sea of Bygone Eras" located to the west of Chenyu Vale. The probability of finding the meteor's landing point there would be higher.
____
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