"Where did your clothes go?" Columbina stood in the shallow water, gazing at Coppelia on the shore.
Coppelia was currently bending over, peeling the sock off her left leg; the dress on her body was already gone.
"Who knows how heavy these clothes get when they absorb water? They'd be a burden while diving, so I put them away." She proceeded to remove the sock from her right leg as well.
Just as Coppelia straightened up, intending to enter the water, she noticed Columbina had drifted further from the shore, the water level now reaching her abdomen.
However, she seemed to be standing inside a bubble within the water. Around her, the lake water formed a depression, as if separated by an invisible barrier, unable to get close to her body no matter what. Her clothes remained dry, still fluttering in the wind.
"This way, my clothes shouldn't get wet." Columbina was quite satisfied with her waterproofing method.
Coppelia, now stripped down to just two pieces of clothing, silently retrieved her clothes from her 'Backpack' and put them back on, one by one.
...
Columbina used her ability to push aside the lake water, forming a bubble large enough to accommodate both herself and Coppelia.
As the bubble slowly submerged, the world within the lake revealed itself to their eyes.
The water wasn't too deep and was remarkably clear. Sunlight penetrated the surface, illuminating everything on the lakebed, making the space appear vast and far from oppressive. If not for the countless schools of white or yellow fish wandering about, one would hardly realize they were underwater.
Coppelia activated her Elemental Sight; upon the grayish-white background, various colors—predominantly blue—were smeared across the view.
She slowly searched the lakebed, looking for caves bearing the elemental traces of Hydro Vishaps.
Columbina maintained the bubble, drifting through the water. While sensing for fragments of her power, she observed the swimming schools of fish.
Large crabs on the lakebed were marching in a queue; on a rock to the side, three small creatures with long snouts and hook-shaped tails were 'spitting' at each other; flat, wide fish spun their bodies to slash out water blades, cutting through the waterweeds; and blue-and-white furry fellows were tossing shells at each other in play...
Columbina's attention shifted from one spot to another, ceaselessly finding amusement in everything.
Just as she was losing herself in the sights, Coppelia's voice rang in her ear:
"Found it!"
Coppelia had discovered a vertical deep pit. The inner walls of the pit retained significant traces of Hydro Vishap elemental energy. These traces had almost blended perfectly with the surrounding Hydro elements; it took Coppelia a great deal of effort to discern them.
Snapping back from her amusement, Columbina drove the bubble forward, taking Coppelia deeper into the pit.
Coppelia also took out Amos's Bow, observing carefully to deal with any battle that might erupt at any moment.
However, the first enemy the pair encountered was not a Vishap.
"We seem to have been here before..." Columbina noticed that the shape and layout of the surrounding rocks looked like a place they had passed not long ago.
"We circled back again." Coppelia looked around; the elemental traces of the Hydro Vishaps were everywhere, making it impossible to distinguish which path was the correct one.
"We need to make some marks." She activated Elemental Sight, gathering Geo elements in her hand to leave a sufficiently conspicuous mark on the rocks at the bottom.
The two continued forward. Aided by the marks, they avoided many repetitive routes.
Finally, they found a passage leading upward. Following the path up, with a loud splash, the two burst out of the water surface.
Above the water was another cave, but it was much wider than the intricate, maze-like caverns below.
Columbina glanced at the calm water surface beneath them and ceased maintaining the bubble.
She was just planning to take Coppelia to land on the rocks by the water's edge when she suddenly noticed a dozen meters to her front-right: a blue Vishap and a purple Vishap were staring in their direction.
The two Vishaps opened their maws wide. Surrounding Cryo and Electro elements gathered in the mouths of the blue and purple Vishaps respectively, forming an ice sphere and a lightning sphere.
With a flick of their heads, two elemental orbs shot toward Columbina.
Columbina immediately grabbed Coppelia and flew away at high speed, dodging the attack.
Bang! Bang!
The two elemental orbs struck the rock wall, knocking down chunks of debris that fell into the water below.
The pair flew behind a large rock to take cover.
Coppelia, having been yanked suddenly, gathered her wits and leaned close to Columbina, lowering her voice. "What happened?"
The other did not respond.
"Vishaps?" Coppelia shifted herself to the corner of the rock and peeked back. Sure enough, she saw the Ice-Blue and Purple Vishaps swimming in the pool.
Coppelia turned back. At the same time, Columbina leaned in, also whispering:
"I sensed a tiny bit of a power fragment. It's right nearby."
Coppelia felt a surge of joy; it seemed they hadn't looked in the wrong place.
"You lead the way." Coppelia readied Amos's Bow.
Columbina took her partner and floated off the ground, following her senses as they advanced through the cave.
Coppelia kept a close watch on their surroundings to prevent a sneak attack by the Vishaps.
But Columbina suddenly stopped, speaking softly, "I can't tell which way to go."
Coppelia looked ahead; there were four branching paths. She immediately activated Elemental Sight, preparing to make marks again and eliminate the wrong paths one by one.
However, a pile of rubble in the corner attracted her attention. Under Elemental Sight, that pile of loose stones shone brighter than anywhere else.
Seeing this rubble, Coppelia instinctively wanted to switch to Zhongli and long-press 'E' to shatter the rocks and see if there was a Treasure Chest inside...
"Let's go check out that pile of rocks." She was very curious about what was suppressed beneath them. "Maybe there's a Treasure Chest?"
"Treasure Chest?" Columbina's interest was piqued. She had never seen a Treasure Chest with her own eyes before.
The two arrived in front of the rubble. Before Coppelia could figure out how to smash the pile, Columbina had already activated her ability, causing the stones to levitate, fly to the side, and land gently.
What lay beneath the rubble was not a Treasure Chest, but a small, azure creature. A round body, glowing tactile feelers... Coppelia immediately recognized it: this was a Guiding Seelie.
Where there is a Seelie, there should be a Treasure Chest. Its appearance here was serendipitous...
"This is a Seelie. Go touch it, and it will lead you to a Treasure Chest," Coppelia whispered. "Maybe the stone we're looking for is inside the chest?"
No reminder was needed; Columbina had already reached out to the Seelie, wanting to pet it. But she felt no sensation of touch; her hand passed directly through the Seelie's body.
"I can't touch it?!" She reached out to touch the Seelie again, but her palm still passed right through.
The Seelie, however, seemed to sense Columbina's touch. It began to move, drifting leisurely as it flew into one of the branching paths.
"It's normal not to be able to touch them," Coppelia comforted her. "Let's follow it."
Columbina immediately took Coppelia and flew up, trailing behind the Seelie. She would even circle to the Seelie's side or front to observe its expression. Since she couldn't touch it, she would at least get a good look.
If this were the past, Coppelia would definitely be fuming with rage at the Seelie's turtle-like speed. But seeing the enthusiastic 'gaze' with which Columbina studied the Seelie, she suddenly felt that flying a bit slower wasn't so bad.
They traveled a while longer until the Seelie suddenly stopped at a corner.
Roar—
A roar echoed out, and a Vishap stepped out from the corner.
The Seelie flew in front of the Vishap, then turned to face Coppelia and Columbina, seemingly inviting the two travelers to step up and slay the monster.
____
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