The next morning, Kokomi lazily stretched her limbs and rose from the soft bed, a contented smile unwittingly appearing on her face.
Ever since becoming the Divine Priestess, she had never again enjoyed the ease and comfort of sleeping until she woke naturally.
She left the guest room, intending to find out what tasty breakfast foods the Douluo Continent offered, only to spot two figures in the middle of the living room-one big, one small, one male, one female.
Nahida sat cross-legged, her delicate face showing undisguised exhaustion and irritation, like an office worker forced to work overtime straight through to the next morning.
With a world-weary expression on that little face, he propped his head on one hand and fixed those beautiful emerald eyes on the vacant-looking Ji Feng before him. Shimmering natural energy drifted around the two of them; clearly, the research was still ongoing.
"You didn't sleep all night?"
Kokomi blinked her watery eyes. Naturally, she could tell that Ji Feng was still using Nahida's body to study his original body.
Seeing the exhausted Ji Feng left her oddly pleased. Back on Watatsumi Island, she had always been the one wearing herself out running from one task to another. Now someone else finally had that burden-and it was this old lecher, no less. It felt wonderful!
Good! Work yourself a little harder! At your age, how can you possibly sleep?
"As the God of Wisdom, have you gotten any results?"
"Mm... things aren't looking good. With the pill Ah Yin gave me, and the natural energy I used to guide and fuel a second awakening, my original body now has innate full soul power." Nahida said this without much inflection, sounding almost dejected.
"Wow, as expected of the great Lesser Lord Kusanali!"
Kokomi applauded at just the right moment, offering some emotional support.
"Then are we going hunting for soul rings?"
Nahida rolled his eyes. With just him and Kokomi, it would be hard to tell whether they were going hunting or serving up a meal.
"No. This Genshin Impact martial soul can't acquire new soul rings. It has no growth potential-or rather, it's already in its complete form and can't grow any further. Incidentally, Genshin Impact characters like us seem to be incompatible with the Douluo Continent's martial soul system. In other words, we can't awaken martial souls."
Kokomi was noncommittal about being unable to awaken a martial soul herself. She did not feel she needed a martial soul's power; her Vision was enough.
But if no new soul rings could be added, as Nahida said, wouldn't Ji Feng's original body be reduced to a complete weakling with a combat power of five?
"But I already have a solution! Through the awakening, I expanded my capacity to include a second martial soul slot, allowing me to possess a second martial soul. The problem is that it can't awaken on its own. I have to bestow it afterward."
Kokomi's eyes widened slightly. That was equivalent to acquiring a god-bestowed martial soul after birth-and he could even customize it!
Still, considering that Nahida was a deity, and life was one of her areas of expertise, it was hardly surprising that he could accomplish this.
"What martial soul are you planning to bestow?"
Kokomi began thinking as well, intending to offer him her honest advice as his strategist.
"I think a Dragon God martial soul sounds pretty good. What do you think?"
Kokomi recalled the Dragon God from the novel. Even his two halves, the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King, had caused the original protagonist, Tang San, considerable trouble.
"I'm bestowing a targeted martial soul, not making a wish! The Dragon God is already gone. Where am I supposed to find him and turn him into a martial soul?" Nahida snapped.
"Since you're my strategist, help me work this out! Right now, I can only bestow one in two ways. First, I can use my Dendro Authority to mold a martial soul and bestow it, but I can only mold martial souls related to Dendro. Second, I can directly turn summoned characters like us, or parts of them, into martial souls."
Kokomi looked somewhat confused, so Nahida continued, "For example, I could turn you into Ji Feng's martial soul. Or turn your Vision into Ji Feng's martial soul. Or turn me-that is, Nahida-into Ji Feng's martial soul."
Kokomi pondered for a moment with a subtle expression. "Then, theoretically, the way to get the highest-quality martial soul right now would clearly be to turn Nahida into one. However, although Nahida wouldn't be entirely without combat capability as a martial soul, the return on that investment would be very low."
"I feel... the Raiden Shogun would be better."
So said Sangonomiya Kokomi, a veteran Raiden Shogun hater.
"That's especially convincing coming from you!" Nahida grumbled unhappily. In his transformed state, he was also influenced by some of Nahida's personality, so he felt a certain kinship with her.
"Nahida's specialty is support. Turning her into a martial soul would simply weaken her abilities, and she isn't particularly good at fighting, either. You wanted to become stronger in the first place to improve your combat ability. If you want support, you can simply transform into Nahida like you're doing now."
Kokomi thought it was utterly pointless. By the same logic, turning her into a martial soul would not mean much, either.
At the very least, it would have to be a combat-oriented character to be worthwhile. In a sense, Kokomi felt that Ji Feng's beloved Raiden Shogun really was the best solution.
"I know all that! Isn't that exactly why I'm so frustrated?!" Ji Feng, in Nahida's form, waved his arms indignantly like a little creature baring its teeth and claws.
"There, there! This problem actually isn't that hard to solve."
Rather than getting angry, Kokomi gently wrapped her arms around the petite, adorable Nahida from behind and drew him into her embrace.
Although Ji Feng looked like a beautiful young goddess, he was still a man inside. Faced with Kokomi's embrace, he quickly surrendered, his cheeks flushing as he went limp in her arms.
"Although a molded martial soul would have stronger combat abilities, its quality would definitely be lower than one made by directly converting you or me. In that case, the best solution is to refine the martial soul created from us further, turning it into something more suitable."
"Doesn't the Dendro Archon possess authority over dreams? If you converted that aspect alone into a martial soul, it should form an extremely high-quality mental-attribute martial soul."
"But it would still lack offensive power." Nahida pursed his little lips, clearly dissatisfied.
"The Dendro Archon can connect the consciousnesses of living beings. That in itself is an expression of her Dream Authority, isn't it? If you modified it in a targeted way, allowing your dream martial soul to connect with living beings and even borrow their martial souls, then you could use practically every martial soul on the Douluo Continent."
Sangonomiya Kokomi already had the bamboo fully painted in her mind; clearly, she was very confident in this plan.
"Brilliant! You're so brilliant!"
Nahida looked at Kokomi with admiration written all over his face. This was entirely feasible!
As long as he maintained a mental connection with someone, copying their martial soul as an extension of their spirit would hardly be difficult.
The concept was nothing short of exquisite: it would retain a mental martial soul's amplification of mental power while also reproducing all sorts of martial souls, vastly expanding his tactical options. The idea was sheer genius.
Ji Feng now felt rather fortunate to have gained his little Kokomi as a strategist!
He really couldn't do without this strategist!
Her reputation as a brilliant adviser was no empty boast!
Unable to contain his wild delight, he reached out with Nahida's small, soft body and hugged Kokomi tightly. His little body lunged rather forcefully, and he leaned over to plant a light kiss on Kokomi's moist, tender cheek with a "mwah."
Though his face was Nahida's innocent, childish little face, his eyes held Ji Feng's undisguised, almost blatant lust. In that young, clear voice, he declared, "Having Kokomi is like giving a tiger wings! One day, I shall bring Kokomi into my harem to repay her generously!"
The corner of Kokomi's eye twitched. "...So you're repaying kindness with enmity!"
Still, she truly could not bear to refuse adorable Nahida's embrace. Even knowing there was a man inside, she still found Nahida cute.
Being treated with such treasured affection by the great Dendro Archon also left her secretly pleased and a little smug, making her want to hum.
"All right! Kokomi, keep helping me think. How do I get other people to connect to my dream world? I don't have the ability to forcibly connect everyone," Nahida ordered imperiously.
Kokomi asked in bewilderment, "You're the God of Wisdom right now, aren't you? Don't you have any ideas of your own? I certainly don't think I know more than you about connecting dreams."
"Without a strategist, I have to think for myself. With a strategist, I still have to think for myself. Then haven't I gotten a strategist for nothing?!" Wearing Nahida's palm-sized, delicate little face with its faint baby fat, Ji Feng lifted his chin with perfect self-righteousness.
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