The Slimes Didn't Get Bigger

It was the second day after Ellin obtained her Vision.

Ellin lay in her room at home.

She was the only one home now. As for her mom and dad...

After leaving the Serenitea Pot that morning, Ellin had given two Realm Dispatches to Hermann and his wife. The couple were now touring the Serenitea Pot with Feng'er as their guide.

After obtaining the Anemo Vision, Feng'er had grown another teal tail feather representing Anemo.

Likewise, Ellin had gained the ability to channel Anemo energy.

What troubled Ellin a little, however, was that having too many Visions could be inconvenient. Two had been fine, but hanging three from her waist got in the way.

In the end, Sucrose had sewn the Electro Vision onto the point where the two trailing ribbons crossed on the back of her White Mist Coat. (Similar to the placement of the Vision on Barbara's swimsuit skin.)

Although that solved the problem for now, she was certain to obtain more Visions in the future.

"I hope there'll be some other way to handle my Visions in the future!"

Ellin could only pin her hopes on the future.

Lying in bed, Ellin opened her system inventory.

After she became close friends with Sucrose, new slots had unlocked in both the Weapon Inventory and Artifact Inventory.

First came the Weapon Inventory. This time, it had unlocked two catalysts: the four-star [Sacrificial Fragments] and the five-star [Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds].

Sacrificial Fragments' main stat increased Elemental Mastery, which would help Sucrose conduct experiments involving elemental reactions more easily. It was very useful to her.

So Ellin had given Sacrificial Fragments straight to Sucrose, keeping only Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds in case she needed it.

Next came the Artifact Inventory, which had also unlocked two new Artifacts.

One was an Energy Recharge sands from the Hydro set.

The other was a Cryo Damage Goblet from the Wanderer's set.

Both Artifacts would be extremely useful to Ellin right now. By all rights, she should have been delighted, yet she hesitated as she looked at them.

The reason was simple. Based on past experience, whenever she used Artifacts to grow stronger, her hair grew longer, and her slimes grew bigger!

Longer hair was no big deal, but Ellin was genuinely afraid of her slimes getting bigger.

Although Sucrose had said that, given Ellin's build, her slimes probably wouldn't grow any larger, that was under normal circumstances. Artifacts weren't something she could judge by normal standards!

But these were an Energy Recharge sands and a Cryo Damage Goblet!

Energy Recharge would let her channel elemental energy faster, while the Cryo Damage Goblet would increase the damage of her Cryo attacks. Both Artifacts would undoubtedly give her a tremendous boost.

After staring at the Artifacts in her inventory and agonizing for a long time, Ellin finally succumbed to temptation and used them both.

Golden light swirled around her. Standing before the mirror, Ellin nervously squeezed her eyes shut, not daring to look.

"They didn't get bigger, did they? They didn't get bigger, did they? They didn't get bigger, did they?"

Ellin's heart raced as she opened her eyes a tiny crack and cautiously looked down at her slimes.

A second later...

"Yay!"

Ellin jumped up and down with excitement.

"They didn't get bigger! Thank goodness! They didn't get bigger!"

"Hahahaha! Sucrose didn't lie to me!"

Standing before the mirror with her hands on her hips, Ellin threw back her head and laughed wildly.

She turned in front of the mirror, carefully inspecting her body, then squeezed her slimes several times. Only after confirming that their size and feel were unchanged did she finally relax.

"Still, even if my slimes didn't get bigger, there were other changes."

Ellin studied her reflection. Her skin was even softer and finer, and her blue eyes shone more brightly, like glimmering ice crystals.

Her hair had changed too. When she first arrived in Teyvat, it had barely reached her shoulders. After she absorbed Artifacts for the first time, it had grown past them.

After absorbing the second Artifact, her hair had reached her back.

Now, after absorbing these Artifacts, her hair reached her waist. It truly was waist-length hair.

Speaking of her hair, when Ellin first became a girl, she had found long hair such a nuisance and so difficult to care for that she had wanted to shave it all off into a buzz cut.

Fortunately, the system and Feng'er had done everything they could to stop her.

"Master, no! You look cutest with long hair! Don't cut it!" Feng'er had cried.

"You mustn't! You absolutely mustn't! Everyone knows that an anime beauty's combat power comes from her hair. The longer her hair, the stronger she is! Protagonist, cutting your hair short will weaken you!" the system had pleaded in a tearful voice.

Although Ellin hadn't believed the system's nonsense at the time, Feng'er and the system's repeated pleas had ultimately persuaded her to abandon the idea of shaving her hair off.

(Shouldn't you be thanking Big Sis System?)

After some time had passed and she grew used to her identity and appearance as a girl, Ellin had even begun to think her long hair looked quite pretty. Thankfully, she had listened to the system and Feng'er back then and hadn't shaved off that beautiful white hair.

Looking at her now waist-length, straight white hair, Ellin nodded in satisfaction. Perhaps because she had used the Cryo Damage Goblet, her white hair really was getting prettier and prettier.

From a distance, her long hair looked as smooth and lustrous as the finest silk woven from the icy threads spun by ice-silk cicadas.

Her hair was so silky that it wouldn't tangle even if she didn't comb it. On the rare occasion that it did knot, all Ellin had to do was give it a gentle shake, and the silky strands would fall loose on their own.

(Any female readers would probably be very envious of this hair...)

"Mm! Nice. I really like this hair!"

"Waist-length is just right. Any longer and it'll get in the way during fights. If it grows again, I'll trim it a little!"

Ellin cheerfully admired her stunning beauty, brushed her white hair back, then squeezed her slimes again before nodding in satisfaction.

"Mm! Not bad. With looks like mine, I'd definitely be a real heartthrob if I became a man someday!"

"But even if I can only live as a girl right now, I'm going to be the prettiest girl of all!"

With that declaration, Ellin briskly put on her Starblue Dress and White Mist Coat and headed out.

Since she had obtained a new Vision and absorbed two new Artifacts, Ellin went straight to the Training Ground after leaving home. She planned to get a feel for her strength and explore how she could use Anemo energy.

Noelle was going to the library that day to practice for the Knights of Favonius' written exam, so Ellin had to train alone.

After setting up the Hilichurl training dummies Hermann had commissioned adventurers to procure, Ellin began her training.

Time flew by...

A day passed.

In the fading light of the sunset, Ellin put away her longsword.

After a day of training, she had gained a general understanding of her newfound power.

Since she had used another Energy Recharge sands, the speed at which Ellin could channel elemental energy had roughly doubled again.

The arrow she had used to drive Dvalin back last time had taken ninety seconds to charge. Now, she needed only forty-five seconds to fire an arrow of equal power.