Chapter 43: Reciprocation

Nafis left ahead of schedule, already eager to seek out this newly born deity of plants and vegetation.

Outside the window, Lin Feng had eavesdropped on their entire conversation, which naturally fostered in him a sense of favorable impression toward this Vahumana Sage.

In the original sequence of events, Nafis had been secretly imprisoned by the Grand Sage Azar for refusing to participate in the Deity-Making Project. It could be said that his eccentric temperament stood out uniquely even among the sages.

However, Lin Feng had no intention of showing himself right now to actively forge an alliance with him.

After all, mortals possessed virtually no secrets under many circumstances. Even if unintentional, it would easily lead to Lin Feng's existence being prematurely exposed to the Akademiya, which in turn would obstruct many subsequent plans targeting the Akademiya.

Should the Akademiya possess no hidden trump cards or powerful reinforcements, the probability of Lin Feng catching them off guard and rescuing the Lesser Lord Kusanali was fairly high.

Allowing them to make preparations in advance would merely needlessly multiply the variables.

Upon completing the commission given by the Lesser Lord Kusanali, he would pay a visit to Sumeru City.

In short, Lin Feng temporarily made a mental note of this hidden ally. Although he had no plans to cooperate with him at present, he might just come in handy one day in the future.

With a flash of his figure, Lin Feng vanished from the treetop and entered Tighnari's room.

Skillfully shielding his mind from the thoughts of other incoming visitors, Lin Feng dispelled the Lesser Lord Kusanali's influence over Tighnari.

"..." Tighnari paused slightly.

He seemed to be recalling just who the person standing before him actually was, but that confusion was quickly and completely replaced by a sense of resentment that was almost tangible.

"Lin—Feng—!"

Tighnari rushed up to Lin Feng, grabbed his shoulders like an unruly child who had broken his favorite action figure, and shook the young man's body frantically.

"You guy, you've caused me no end of misery!!!"

"I've been graduated for so many years, yet I still end up getting chewed out by my teacher. I was never even scolded like this when I was still a student?!"

Feeling thoroughly in the wrong, Lin Feng stood obediently in place, letting Tighnari vent the resentment weighing on his mind—there really was no deflecting the blame this time; it was all caused by himself.

Tighnari's experience could well be described as heart-wrenching to hear and tear-jerking to behold. While the workload of the other forest rangers had decreased, Tighnari himself felt as though he had been subjected to an infinitely long shift—not only was his workload heavy, but he also had to endure criticism from his superior every now and then.

Expecting Tighnari to be angry enough to ignore him entirely, Lin Feng soon discovered that the other man did not seem nearly as angry as he had imagined.

With a touch of curiosity, Lin Feng asked bluntly:

"Tighnari, I've clearly caused you such massive trouble, but why do you not seem all that angry?"

Tighnari let out a sigh at these words, loosened his grip on Lin Feng's shoulders, and cast a gaze of incomparable complexity upon him.

"Sigh... That is naturally because, although someone has brought me plenty of trouble, to Gandharva Ville, he is an unmitigated and great benefactor."

"Throughout this period, the residents of the Gandharva Ville area—whether they are forest watchers, merchants, scholars, or travelers, everyone associated with Gandharva Ville—have reaped benefits to varying degrees because of this change."

"I was only angry because covering for you got me severely reprimanded by my mentor. But if we really speak of it, I should actually be expressing my gratitude to you on behalf of the residents of Gandharva Ville."

"Thinking about it that way, even I am not all that furious anymore."

"..." Lin Feng thought: *You are so reasonable and understanding, and yet that only makes me feel worse inside. What should I do now?*

"Let's put this matter aside for now. Even if you are a hero, you've caused me such misery. If you don't treat me to a few good meals, I will never forgive you."

"Let's get back to business for now. Since you're back, does that mean things have been successfully settled?"

Thinking back to the instructions Lin Feng had given him more than half a month ago, Tighnari was somewhat curious about what kind of results he had actually achieved.

As for his mentor's utterly fantastical notion, Tighnari had never taken it to heart in the first place.

After all, Lin Feng had told him long ago that he was from Liyue. Both his daily habits and his dietary preferences had served as circumstantial evidence corroborating his claim.

Seeing that Tighnari's mood had returned to normal, Lin Feng breathed a sigh of relief. Without any inclination to conceal too much, he spoke up:

"Although I'd love to act cool in front of you and drop a line like, 'A mere mortal, I have already ascended to godhood,' considering your mental state over this past period, I'd better not stimulate you further."

"To put it simply, so that Sumeru will no longer give birth to new Withering Zones over the next few centuries, I attempted to acquire sufficient power from the Ley Lines to accomplish this goal."

"And as you can see, despite a few twists and turns, the initial objective was indeed achieved to perfection."

Hearing such explosive news so abruptly from Lin Feng's lips, Tighnari fell into a brief silence.

"...Hold on, the amount of information is simply too vast. Let me clear my thoughts."

"Setting aside whether your remark about 'having ascended to godhood' was a joke or not, weren't you just working as a forest ranger here the whole time? How on earth did you end up getting tangled up with the Withering Zones all across Sumeru?"

"That... is a long story. Let me explain it from the beginning."

Sensing Tighnari's utter bewilderment, Lin Feng understood that his journey of traversing Teyvat was indeed somewhat surreal to an ordinary person. Consequently, he briefly explained everything to Tighnari, omitting only the parts involving the Lesser Lord Kusanali.

This included encountering the Aranara within the Withering Zone, entering the dream realm to spend the Utsava Festival, and the current plan to eradicate the Withering Zones, which was now down to its very final step.

"..." Having heard of the rich experiences Lin Feng had accumulated in just a few short months—experiences so dense that an ordinary person could not hope to match them across ten lifetimes—Tighnari concluded that this fellow was naturally born as an event trigger. Wherever he was, peace and tranquility were never to be found.

"Sigh, you guy, you've barely been in Sumeru for very long, yet you manage to stir up more trouble than I ever did when I was in the Akademiya."

"Remember when I called you the hero of Gandharva Ville just a moment ago? I am officially taking those words back."

"Huh? Why?" Lin Feng asked, bewildered as to why he was suddenly taking it back.

"Just look at what you're doing right now. Where is that something a mere word like 'hero' could possibly encompass?"

"If my junior peers were to find out about this, they'd undoubtedly be dying to trail behind you just to write a few volumes of personal biographies for you."

"This is an achievement worthy of being recorded in history books!"

Tighnari felt a heartfelt sense of amazement at what Lin Feng had accomplished.

Although he understood that the story the other party had told him was not the entirety of it, and he had not forgotten his own abnormal memories prior to this, just as he had his own shameful little secrets he was reluctant to bring up, Tighnari had no intention of digging into the bottom of it.

"Hehe, oh come on, it's not as grand as you make it out to be." Suddenly showered with wild praise by a familiar friend, even Lin Feng felt a bit embarrassed.

"Besides, although I've already left Gandharva Ville..."

"If you hadn't taken me in back then, I'd probably still be stuck in the rainforest foraging for mushrooms to eat."

"If I've managed to achieve any results, a share of the credit naturally belongs to you as well!"

Lin Feng's gratitude toward Tighnari was heartfelt and sincere. Although his rate of growth had been rapid, without Tighnari, his initial survival would have posed a major problem.

Even if he likely wouldn't have starved to death or fallen ill, there was no doubt that, left helpless and alone, he would have embarked on a path of growth completely different from the present one.

At this thought, Lin Feng retrieved a rectangular wooden box from his spatial storage and solemnly handed it to the Tighnari before him.

Noticing the other's puzzled expression, Lin Feng smiled and said:

"Thanks to your care all this time, I've prepared two gifts for you."

"The contents of this box are the first gift. Go ahead and open it."