After accepting the commission, Chen Luo swiftly pulled out a transparent... glass of water?
"Wait, this is the bitter melon juice you said was brewed with the God of Bitter Melon? This isn't bitter melon juice at all, is it?" When Theresa first saw the glass of water, she did not believe it was bitter melon juice.
There had to be a limit to lying, right?
"If you don't believe me, try it. Just watch—it's not like you have anything to lose." Chen Luo did not argue.
"That's true. All right, then." Theresa thought about it and found that reasonable.
The owner of this shop practically seemed to be running a charity, as though he had no intention of charging money at all.
And besides...
Theresa turned to look at Fu Hua beside her and felt somewhat reassured.
Even if she had some strange reaction after drinking this beverage, wasn't Fu Hua right here?
Besides, this was bitter melon juice from the God of Bitter Melon. If she did not seize this opportunity, she might regret it later.
With that thought, Theresa finally gritted her teeth, raised the glass of bitter melon juice that looked like plain boiled water, and took a small sip.
"Ah..." A completely inexplicable moan escaped Theresa's mouth.
"Mm!" Theresa instantly covered her mouth, then stared at the glass of plain water in disbelief.
"Th-this... What kind of bitter melon juice is this? This is practically a miracle!" Theresa was utterly incredulous.
"Is there a possibility that it actually is a miracle?" Chen Luo said.
"Well? Satisfied?"
"I'm beyond satisfied! Boss, I want it to go! One hundred servings!" Theresa shouted excitedly.
"..." Chen Luo's face immediately darkened.
One serving of Void Wine cost five Primogems. One hundred servings meant five hundred Primogems. Send me a commission worth one thousand Primogems first, and I'll immediately give you one hundred servings.
"Sorry, drinks and wines of this caliber are sold in limited quantities." Chen Luo refused with a dark expression.
"Oh. Right. How could there possibly be much of a drink like this? It probably takes centuries to obtain a single serving, right?" Theresa looked disappointed, but also felt it was only natural.
"..." Chen Luo glanced at the Void Wine in the bar shop, which was marked as having an unlimited supply.
Void Wine: Wine with no fixed flavor that can become any kind of wine, but cannot replicate that wine's special bonuses.
How should he put it? There was as much of this stuff as anyone could want, provided they had a sufficiently strong obsession.
Ding! Mission complete. Major mission success. Primogem reward doubled.
Well, in any case, he had received another eighty Primogems and a special item.
St. Freya Academy Staff Certificate (World-type Item): After holding this item, one can freely enter and exit St. Freya Academy and the Honkai Impact 3rd World without attracting the attention of the Honkai Consciousness or other special forces. A world certification item.
This thing... could be called extremely useful, but it could also be called utterly useless.
But for the Herrscher of Knowledge, it should count as a pretty good item.
As for why Venti had not issued this kind of item, it was because a Vision was this sort of thing.
Once you had a Vision, even if someone saw you and you told them you were not from this world, they would not believe you.
"No matter how many times I see it, this tavern is always so magical." Venti marveled from the side.
He had never heard of any God of Bitter Melon, but it sounded rather impressive.
"Of course. As long as the obsession is strong enough, forget the God of Bitter Melon—even wine brewed with an Anemo Archon, I can make that for you!" Chen Luo said smugly.
"W-w-wine... brewed with an A-Anemo Archon?" Upon hearing that, Venti was so startled that he started stammering.
Good lord, was the Anemo Archon I understood the same Anemo Archon he was talking about?
"What? Do you want to drink it?" Chen Luo asked.
"No, I absolutely do not!" Venti shook his head furiously.
Venti wanted to drink every kind of wine, except wine brewed with himself.
This tavern was far too terrifying.
"May I ask, if you really know how to make a glass of wine brewed with an Anemo Archon, would you actually capture the Anemo Archon and use him to brew it, or would you simulate the wine?" To prevent himself from somehow becoming brewing material without realizing it, Venti deliberately asked.
"Don't worry, I'm not that brutal. I can only simulate it with complete realism. I wouldn't actually use an Anemo Archon, much less substitute some other Wind Spirit or anything like that to confuse the issue. Of course, if you really want to drink wine truly brewed with an Anemo Archon, that's not impossible either. It's just a little expensive, and you'll have to provide the ingredients yourself." Just as Venti sighed in relief, Chen Luo changed his tune.
"!!!" Venti stared at Chen Luo in horror.
Was being a bartender really this terrifying?
"So, would you like a glass of wine brewed with an Anemo Archon?" Chen Luo asked.
Bitter melon juice brewed with the God of Bitter Melon had earned him eighty Primogems. Wine brewed with an Anemo Archon should probably earn eighty Primogems too.
"No!" Venti said firmly.
"Really not? This is only an extremely realistic simulation. No inhumane ingredients are being used. This is wine brewed with an Anemo Archon. I'm sure it's far more delicious than the wine you drank yesterday." Chen Luo continued tempting him.
"Absolutely not!"
Venti spoke with great conviction, but Chen Luo could hear hesitation in it.
"All right, it's your choice." Chen Luo did not press him further, because he knew Venti definitely would not be able to hold out.
After all, the Anemo Archon here was not necessarily the Anemo Archon of Teyvat Continent.
The Anemo Archon he meant was not necessarily Teyvat Continent's Anemo Archon, right? Thinking about it that way, it actually seemed acceptable.
Venti struggled fiercely inside.
This tavern was so magical, there was no way it would keep exploiting just one world, right? It could not possibly make him drink himself, could it?
Wine brewed with wind was already so delicious. What about wine brewed with an Anemo Archon?
"Um, can I take this drink to go?" Theresa asked, holding up the glass.
"Of course." Chen Luo nodded.
"Do you need me to put it into a milk tea cup for you?"
"If possible, thank you." Theresa nodded vigorously and handed the plain water in her hand to Chen Luo.
It was not that Theresa did not want to finish this incomparably wonderful bitter melon juice here. The main issue was that this strange bitter melon juice was simply too delicious. Every sip made her unable to stop herself from crying out.
Especially with someone she knew, Fu Hua, right here, it was far too embarrassing.
So Theresa decided to take it back first and drink it slowly while hiding in her room.
"By the way, Fu Hua, aren't you going back?"
"Oh, you go back first. I'll head back later."
"All right, but don't stay out too late." Theresa reminded Fu Hua.
Theresa was quite at ease when it came to Fu Hua.
After all, she was dependable in every respect—whether it was her attitude, execution, or breadth of heart.
She gave people a sense of reassurance.
Theresa and Himeko
"Oh, right, I haven't paid yet." Theresa, who had already reached the door, walked back.
"Shopkeeper, how much are these three drinks?" Theresa asked as she took out her wallet.
"What? The alcohol in this tavern costs money?" Venti was shocked.
"What? The alcohol in this tavern doesn't cost money?" Theresa was shocked.
"Ahem, actually, here's how it works. This tavern doesn't take ordinary currency. It takes your obsessions. The more desperately you desire something, the more likely your commission is to appear on the commission board. Then I'll accept the commission and fulfill your wish. I don't know exactly how it works either. Maybe it has some mechanism for harvesting obsessions or something. In any case, I receive rewards too, so you don't need to worry about it or feel embarrassed." After pondering for a moment, Chen Luo explained to Theresa.
"Is that so? Then this tavern really is magical. Or rather, connecting to other worlds is already magical enough, so such a magical payment method is only to be expected." Theresa nodded thoughtfully.
Yes, based on the tavern's setting, it could connect countless worlds. Money and such probably did not matter to it.
"Of course, if you insist on paying, I'd be very grateful." Chen Luo added at the end.
"Huh?" Theresa froze for a moment.
"Here's the thing. Although this tavern doesn't lack money, I do. The living expenses my parents gave me were originally enough, but then a freeloading cousin moved into my house, so my expenses suddenly became insufficient." Chen Luo sighed.
Chen Luo's words immediately drew a glare from the Herrscher of Knowledge, but because Theresa was here, she could not flare up directly.
Who was freeloading? Didn't I bring back late-night snacks?
"You have parents too?" Theresa said in disbelief.
"Wait, what do you mean by that? Am I not worthy of having parents?" Chen Luo's face instantly darkened.
"Ah, no, sorry. What I meant was, your parents still give you pocket money?" Theresa hurriedly apologized.
"Why wouldn't they give me pocket money? I'm only seventeen, after all. So if you can give me some cash, I'd be very happy." After hearing Theresa's explanation, Chen Luo's expression eased.
"So, A-Luo, you're a poor bastard just like me." Venti was rather happy, because he seemed to have found a fellow sufferer.
"No, we're different. I'm still underage, so it's normal for me to ask my family for money. You, on the other hand, are already an adult, yet you're still a poor bastard. You're a useless grown-up who's old enough but can't do anything right!" Chen Luo emphasized.
"Emmm..." Venti instantly fell silent.
"But can money from our world be used in yours?" Theresa asked in confusion.
"Won't we find out if we try? I heard from Fu Hua that you use yen over there, right? We have yen here too, so I want to try it. You don't need to give much. One thousand yen will do." Chen Luo said.
Chen Luo could certainly have lied and told these people they had to pay him money before he would make them drinks, but for one thing, not everyone had money, like Venti.
For another, if they hesitated because of the price, he would lose Primogems.
Chen Luo could still tell which was more important, Primogems or cash.
And if he wanted other currencies or payment instead, whether they were willing to pay was another question.
Besides, Chen Luo felt people should be a little more sincere with one another. Not only would that mean fewer tangled interests in getting along, it would also make it easier to raise favorability.
Favorability seemed useless and did not bring tangible benefits, but Chen Luo had a feeling that if he had not possessed those two titles, it might not have been so easy to obtain the St. Freya Academy Staff Certificate.
The higher the favorability, the more frequently special rewards might appear.
Chen the Great Philanthropist
Friend of the Non-Human
Both of these were titles that could raise other people's favorability.
Especially Friend of the Non-Human, which worked on the Herrscher of Knowledge, Theresa, and Venti, because all of them had non-human traits.
Venti naturally was not human, Herrschers also possessed non-human traits, and Theresa had Honkai Beast genes within her.
"Only one thousand yen? That's quite cheap." Theresa did not care much about one thousand yen.
Although the other party said she had already paid the reward, she did not really feel it. Theresa was still willing to spend one thousand yen on these three cups of bitter melon juice.
"Why didn't you ask for more?" the Herrscher of Knowledge could not help asking from the side.
"Why would I ask for more? This is only an experiment, after all. If it's only one thousand yen, I can just say I found it and then go to an exchange office to see if it can be converted into real money. Even if it can't, I can brush it off by saying the money I found might have been counterfeit." Chen Luo said.
"That makes sense." The Herrscher of Knowledge nodded.
"Actually, gold would be even more convenient, since gold is accepted in most worlds. But I don't think anyone carries gold around with them." Chen Luo sighed.
For this household, Chen Luo had truly worried himself sick.
"All right, then I'm really leaving now. But if I want to come again next time, how do I get here? Do I go back to the original alley?" Theresa asked.
After tasting that peerless bitter melon juice, Theresa felt she might not be able to live without this shop anymore.
"You'll have to ask him. He has experience." Chen Luo pointed at Venti.
"Oh, that's simple. I'll teach you a trick. Find a room with a door, then stand before the door with your eyes closed and imagine this tavern. Then push the door open. There's an eighty percent chance you'll arrive at this tavern." After thinking for a moment, Venti said.
"Mm, I understand." Theresa nodded gratefully.
Theresa walked to the door once more. This time, she truly was leaving.
After Theresa pushed open the door, Chen Luo saw the scenery of another world through the tavern entrance.
Before you continue