"Then let's go."
Kael Arclight smiled and nodded. "Thanks for the help, Klee."
"No problem, no problem."
Klee waved her hands and immediately took his small hand, leading him toward the direction marked on the map.
As they walked she glanced up with bright curiosity. "Brother, what's your name? Klee is a Spark Knight of the Knights of Favonius."
"I'm an adventurer," Kael answered with a light chuckle. "Just call me by my name."
"Oh, Kael brother."
Klee brightened and then bounced on her feet. "Kael brother, do you want to join the Knights? With Klee's recommendation you can get in directly. Then you can play with Klee every day."
"Not planning on joining the Knights right now."
Kael shook his head and patted her head gently. Joining the Knights would take away his freedom, and Mondstadt was not somewhere he wanted to settle.
Klee scratched her head, still puzzled that someone would turn down the Knights. She changed the subject and chattered about trivial things as she skipped through the trees, guiding him to the nearest resource spot shown on the map.
Kael followed behind, keeping an eye on their surroundings. The Whispering Woods were relatively calm by day, but ever since the Destructive Path resonance had entered him he felt a subtle, strange presence in the air.
Before long they reached a hidden clearing where sunlight filtered through the leaves, painting the ground with pale green patches. Five blue lampgrass nodded in a small cluster. Their lantern-shaped flowers were soft and semi-translucent, the pale blue standing out against the dim forest floor. Even in daylight Kael could sense a faint glow within them, as if they held some energy that would come alive at night.
"This is it."
Klee squatted, careful and proud, and pointed at the plants. "Five of them. When Klee last came they were still growing. Now we can harvest them."
Kael crouched and studied the lampgrass. Fine down covered the stems, protecting them from the world, and the inner petals held a barely noticeable bluish light, like the weakest stars in the night sky.
"These are distinctive." he said, narrowing his eyes. "That completes almost half the commission."
"Yeah." Klee nodded, earnest in a way that made her look especially cute. "Lampgrass likes quiet damp spots. They only glow at night, so we must gather them while it's still day. If it gets dark, professional adventurers might come and take them."
Kael acknowledged her and began harvesting. The petals trembled under his fingers, cool and slightly resilient. Klee continued to chatter, excited, explaining how lampgrass were prized by alchemists for potions and decorations and many other uses.
Soon the five lampgrass were in Klee's pack. They moved on to the next point on the map, and by midday they had visited three locations and collected fourteen lampgrass in total. The commission Kael had taken from the Adventurers' Guild was done.
"Smooth work." Kael smiled as he looked at the lampgrass in Klee's bag. The task had been set to last a week, and yet with Klee's guidance they finished in less than half a day. The map in her possession had been the key.
"Ah, Klee is hungry."
Klee suddenly clutched her stomach and pouted. Her large, wet eyes looked up at Kael with expectation. "Kael brother, let's go to Starfall Lake. There are big fat fish there. Klee wants fried fish for lunch."
"Fried fish?"
Kael blinked and his mouth twitched. He met her hopeful gaze and nodded. "Alright. Lead the way."
Klee squealed with delight, grabbed his hand, and hurried him along. "Starfall Lake's fish are the best. They get crispy and delicious when fried."
They crossed the forest and arrived at a lake whose surface glittered like a scatter of stars, fitting of its name. The shore was lush with reeds and the water was clear enough to see a few fat fish gliding beneath.
"Klee already prepared the pellets."
Klee said as she dug into her oversized pack and produced a bomb the size of her fist. Its red casing had a few cheerful smiley faces painted on it, making it look both ridiculous and dangerous.
"Klee's bombs are super powerful." She grinned, picked a dense patch of fish, and with practiced motion tossed the bomb high.
"Boom."
The explosion sent a towering spray of water into the air and stunned a cluster of fish, some of which floated belly-up. Klee hopped with glee at the easy success. "See? Fried fish is fastest!"
She hurried to the shore to gather the stunned fish, then turned to Kael. "Kael brother, you try too. It's more fun together." She thrust another bomb into his hand.
Kael looked at the device and his thoughts slid to the Destructive Path skill he had just acquired. If he used Clara-branch skill I Also Want to Help to imbue the bomb with Destructive Path resonance, the blast should be far stronger. He decided to test it.
Thinking of the sword he had broken earlier, he concentrated and poured the destructive resonance into the bomb. He wanted to see how much power it could yield. If he could control it, small explosives could become reliable ranged weapons for him outside town.
The wild, mysterious energy within him flowed into the bomb. Its shell took on a dark black-red sheen that seemed to move as if alive, crawling across the surface and radiating an oppressive tension. Kael felt the resonance gnawing at the bomb's internal structure, as though it might detonate at any moment.
"All set."
He murmured, a faint expectation in his eyes, and launched the bomb toward the center of Starfall Lake with a smooth underhand throw.
The bomb arced perfectly and hit the lake heart. For a heartbeat the water only rippled. Then—
"BOOM!"
The detonation ripped the air with thunder. A colossal wall of water erupted, a column that shot skyward and then crashed outward in a deluge. The shockwave hammered the shoreline, uprooting reeds and battering rocks and trees. Steam and a scorched scent rose as thick white mist rolled across the surface like a boiling sea. The scene was fierce enough to look apocalyptic.
Kael stood watching, his face calm though his gaze tightened. He could sense the destructive aura the bomb released. It far exceeded his expectations. Where Klee's earlier blast had been a splash, this was a storm, tearing at the lake and tossing water into chaotic spires.
"This resonance with explosives seems to be the best match." Kael narrowed his eyes and considered the implications. Small grenades and hand charges would be easy to carry and could produce devastating effects when tuned this way. As for sourcing them, Klee's company should ensure a steady supply.
Klee beside him had gone silent, her small mouth forming a perfect O that could have swallowed an egg. She stared at the lake as if the bomb had altered the rules of the world. The device she had given him had produced such an enormous blast.
How could it be so powerful?