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ArabicGenshin Impact: A Guide to the Unofficial History of Teyvat — Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Change (Part 1)
Lovia’s little home was tucked away in the most remote, forgotten corner of Liyue Harbor. She jokingly referred to it as her own personal Peach Blossom Spring, a hidden sanctuary nestled right in the middle of the bustling mercantile capital.
To an ordinary person, the place was dreadfully damp. But for her original Fontaine Melusine body, it was surprisingly, wonderfully comfortable.
Most, it was entirely her own. There was no one else around to judge her; she could only truly let her guard down when she was safely behind these closed doors.
Sigh. If she couldn’t even relax in her own house, life would be far too miserable.
Lately, however, Lovia had come to a belated, horrifying realization: her daily habits had undergone a massive, fundamental shift.
She thought back to when she first moved in. Staring at the water droplets seeping from the corners of the stone walls, her human mind had panicked. Help, how much mold is going to grow in here?!
Yet, after living there for a mere week, she found herself thinking the moisture was absolutely fantastic.
Despite living right next to the sea, Lovia constantly felt like the air just wasn’t humid enough. She didn’t just buy a massive clay pot specifically to hold water and saturate the room’s atmosphere—she even developed a self-taught, manual humidifying technique. Whenever she was writing her fanfictions, scribbling away until she felt like she was going bald from the stress, she would naturally dunk her hands into the water pot to cool down. She was basically functioning as a desktop humanoid humidifier.
Her body’s reaction: Ah, so comfortable!
Her soul’s reaction: What on earth am I doing?!
Her sleeping posture had completely derailed as well.
At first, she stubbornly insisted on maintaining a proper human sleeping position: lying flat on her back, hands neatly folded.
Consequently, she would wake up in the middle of the night to find herself curled into a tight little ball. Her tail would instinctively wrap the blanket tightly around her, turning her into a snug, fluffy sushi roll.
The reason was simple enough. Lying flat pressed uncomfortably against her little wings.
As for now? She had completely given up and simply built herself a nest. For whatever reason, her Melusine body was incredibly sensitive to textures, and she had developed a deep, borderline obsessive love for soft mattresses. She went out and bought a mountain of plush cushions, piling them high in the corner of her room.
Every night when she crawled into the center of her pile, she would let out a long, satisfied sigh.
This… this is a tragic case of the flesh triumphing over willpower!
But the nesting was fine. What left Lovia with the most complicated, conflicting emotions was the total overhaul of her dietary system.
Before transmigrating, she was a hardcore devotee of spicy hot pot and sweet milk tea. Now, whenever she saw a lively, jumping shrimp at the docks, her first reaction was a wide-eyed stare.
Wow! Look at that color, that vitality—it must be incredibly fresh and sweet if eaten raw!
Her human reason would desperately try to intervene. No! You need fire! You need cooked food! We are civilized!
But the first time she actually gave in and tried raw shrimp, her mind frantically spammed internal bullet comments like I’m eating sashimi, I’m eating sashimi, it’s just sashimi!—only to be utterly shocked by her body’s honest reaction.
The moment the fresh, sweet flavor exploded across her tongue, she almost dropped to her knees and performed a dramatic weeping routine right there in the kitchen.
It was a deep throb originating from her very Melusine instincts, a deep sense of satisfaction that had every cell in her body cheering and leaping for joy.
No soy sauce, no wasabi, no garnish needed. The most primitive, vigorous essence of the seafood itself was a supreme delicacy. The fiery spice of hot pot and the cloying sweetness of milk tea instantly became pale and weak compared to this soul-piercing umami.
Her taste buds had officially defected.
She still remembered the flavors of the modern delicacies from her original world, but thinking back on them now, she actually felt they were just… so-so.
From that day forward, Lovia’s dietary habits began a grand, irreversible Melusinization.
The entire purpose of her market trips shifted. Before, she hunted for the freshest ingredients to take home and cook. Now, she scoured the stalls for the liveliest ingredients to eat raw.
Even the fishmongers at the Liyue docks started giving her strange looks. This pretty little girl was always staring at the flopping fish and shrimp with glowing, predatory eyes, occasionally asking, “Is this vigorous enough?” Upon receiving an affirmative answer, she would nod with intense satisfaction and buy the whole lot.
If she couldn’t find fish that met her new exacting standards, or if she simply felt like it on a whim, Lovia would dive straight into the sea to catch them herself. Every time, she returned with a bountiful harvest, happily sighing with emotion over how much Mora she had saved that day.
The changes didn’t stop at seafood. She even tried buying a small piece of high-quality Crystal Chunk, an ore known for its purity.
Back home, she locked her doors and shut her windows like a thief hiding stolen goods. She swallowed hard, staring at the sparkling blue ore. Then, she carefully bit off a small corner with her teeth—which, apparently, had become significantly tougher since her transmigration.
Crunch.
The sound was crisp. She actually gnawed right through the solid ore with incredible ease. It felt exactly like munching on a thick-cut potato chip.
Lovia sat there, stunned. A crunchy mouthfeel, carrying a subtle trace of elemental resonance, spread through her senses. It was as if she had just eaten a small slice of the starry sky. A surge of pure elemental energy slowly swirled in her stomach, making her feel a bit lightheaded yet exceptionally comfortable.
It was over.
She was ruined.
She actually thought eating rocks was delicious!
As for actual cooking? She still did it occasionally, but her culinary style was rapidly deteriorating into pure Melusine chaos.
One day, acting entirely on a whim, she threw a freshly caught sea fish, several unnamed Liyue aquatic weeds, and a handful of pretty little seashells into a pot of plain water to boil.
She kept the golden rule of Melusine cooking in mind: boil it until it changes color. She watched in fascination as the pot of clear water gradually morphed into a strange, fluorescent, green-tinted light blue sludge.
Lifting the bowl, she took a deep breath and went in for a sip with the solemnity of a pilgrim.
Right before the liquid touched her lips, Paimon’s classic voice echoed in her head. It tastes so weird!
But as the broth washed over her tongue… a complex flavor profile hit her taste buds. It was a chaotic mix of plant fragrance, the rich texture of meat, and a faint, briny fishiness.
Her human reason was screaming at the top of its lungs. Spit it out! Spit it out right now!
Her Melusine instinct was happily murmuring. Mmm, so delicious! I can’t get enough!
In the end, Lovia sat clutching the pot, her brow furrowed in deep conflict as she helplessly drank the entire thing down, gulp after gulp. When she finally finished, she smacked her lips, thoroughly savoring the peculiar, glowing aftertaste.