Wonderland, Third-Floor Vault
Calling this place a "warehouse" wouldn't be entirely accurate—after all, it didn't just store food or miscellaneous supplies.
It also housed many rare treasures that everyone had helped collect.
For example, not long ago, a merchant guild in Mondstadt held an auction. Among the listed items was a collector's edition of the wildly popular fairytale _"The Boar Princess"_, beloved across all of Teyvat!
This collector's edition of _The Boar Princess_ was entirely forged from gold.
From the cover to the pages, every part of the book was made of solid gold. The text itself wasn't printed with ink but engraved directly onto the golden pages.
Unless deliberately damaged, the words would never fade or become illegible due to age or ink decay.
What made this edition even more precious was that it bore the handwritten signature of the author, Andersdotter. Across all of Teyvat, only twelve such copies existed.
It was exceptionally rare—its value as a collectible was immeasurable.
Lisa had spent a hefty amount of Mora to win the auction for this book, and once she brought it back, she had a special display case made for it right here on the third floor of the vault.
So calling this place a "warehouse" felt like it cheapened it. "Treasure vault" would be more fitting.
When this book was added to the Wonderland, it directly caused the space to expand by one square meter and even unlocked a new space trait called "Tranquil Slumber."
This trait helped people fall asleep quickly and also shielded their minds from any kind of spiritual intrusion or disturbance while sleeping.
It was an incredibly powerful effect—though, in practice, it didn't really matter much within the Wonderland.
After all, the effect of quick sleep overlapped with the other properties the space already possessed. And mental attacks or disturbances simply didn't exist here.
So while the trait was impressive on paper, in practice, it was kind of… superfluous.
Aside from this golden collector's edition of _The Boar Princess_, everyone had continued placing high-quality treasures into the Wonderland over time.
All of it helped expand the space little by little.
As of now, the entire Wonderland had grown to 345 square meters in size. With three stories, it wasn't small by any means.
At the very least, with so many people living there, no one ever felt cramped or in the way.
Earlier, when Nolan had said that the awakening of the God of Salt could be a good thing, he wasn't just saying that for comfort—it made some real sense.
After all, even if a god retained only a shred of divine will, and lacked the strength to act...
If she could record the valuable knowledge she still held, that alone could be considered "divine wisdom."
And storing that knowledge in the Wonderland could further contribute to expanding the space.
Come to think of it, Ei and Makoto were also gods. They'd been living here for quite a while—it might be time for them to start paying a little "rent," so to speak.
It's not like they were busy or anything.
He could ask them to compile what they knew into books and add them to the Wonderland's collection. That would likely result in a decent amount of space expansion.
He himself could do the same when he had the time—recording the knowledge he'd gathered and adding it to the vault.
That too would probably cause the realm to grow.
As these thoughts flitted through Nolan's mind, they soon arrived in front of the Divine Salt.
At this moment, the "Divine Salt" was noticeably brighter than usual—almost like a white-hot bulb.
"Hmm? Doesn't seem like anything's happening. Could it be… she's shy and doesn't want to come out because there are too many people around?"
Paimon tilted her head, absentmindedly twirling a lock of her white hair, and spoke in confusion.
"Maybe she's still in the critical phase of recovery and hasn't fully awakened yet," Lumine said thoughtfully, pressing a pale finger against her lips.
She didn't think the Salt God—who was known to be incredibly gentle—would be the shy type like Sucrose. In her mind, the Salt God should feel more like a big sister: Mature, kind, and the kind of person who would gently forgive you even if you made a mistake.
"I can feel the spiritual energy inside growing stronger. Let's give it a bit more time and see what happens," Nolan said, eyes focused on the Divine Salt.
---
About ten minutes passed.
Suddenly, everyone noticed the white light inside the Divine Salt beginning to gather, slowly forming a glowing white orb above the salt pile.
At first, it was only the size of a fingertip. A while later, it grew to the size of an egg, and then larger—slightly bigger than a clenched fist.
It was very similar to the first time they met Raiden Makoto within Ei's _Plane of Euthymia_, where she had initially appeared as a glowing purple sphere.
Back then, Makoto had been just a small orb. Now, while her form hadn't changed much, it had grown significantly larger.
That was thanks to her long stay in the Wonderland and the restoration of her soul's essence over time.
By comparison, although the Salt God was finally waking up, she couldn't immediately return to her true form.
Just like Makoto had once done, she could only appear in this orb form for now.
After a few more seconds, the remaining white light from the Divine Salt fully merged into the glowing orb above.
Once the light faded, the Divine Salt looked much dimmer—just like it did when they had first discovered it deep within the Sal Terrae ruins.
However, despite losing its glow, the Divine Salt did not diminish in value or cause the Wonderland to shrink.
That was because, although the Divine Salt retained fragments of the Salt God's consciousness, thousands of years had nearly worn that will down to nothing.
Had Nolan come a year or two later, there might have been nothing left to recover.
The fact that her spiritual consciousness could be restored to this extent was entirely thanks to the Wonderland.
So, with her consciousness now detached and free, the Divine Salt simply returned to the state it was in when first stored—no more, no less.
It wouldn't reduce the size of the Realm.
---
"...Where… am I?"
The orb floating above the salt pile remained still for a few seconds after fully forming, before a soft, gentle voice—sounding distinctly like a young woman's—echoed out from within.
Hearing the orb sound dazed and confused, Nolan took a step forward and gently asked,
"Hello. Do you remember who you are?"
"Eh? Who just spoke?!"
The orb flinched like it had been startled, bouncing lightly in the air like a ping pong ball.
Then, it seemed to turn slightly in midair.
"…"
Wait, had they all been looking at the orb's back this whole time?
Though… it didn't look any different from this side either.
And besides, you're a spiritual body—how can you even _have_ a front or a back?
Nolan grumbled inwardly.
"So many people… Are you all my followers? But I don't sense any familiar aura among you…"
The glowing orb said hesitantly, looking over the group.
"Uh, no, not exactly… Here, let Paimon explain," Paimon sighed, rubbing her cheek before slowly beginning to fill the orb in on the situation.
(End of Chapter)
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