"Hey, hey, hey, this isn't a joke, is it!" Mona exclaimed, agitated by the flickering images on the Hydro Astrolabe.
She snatched the Hydro Astrolabe and began adjusting it, but no matter how she fiddled with the parameters, the screen continued to display a swirling chaos.
Now, she couldn't even see Fischl's future.
"This... how is this possible!" Mona looked utterly devastated. In the astrology her master taught her, everyone's fate was etched into the Sky's guiding stars.
The guiding stars revealed a person's destiny; no matter how circuitous the path, it would ultimately lead to the outcome foretold by the stars. This was why Hydro Divination could predict the future.
As long as the outcome could be seen, that outcome was bound to happen! This was the root of astrology, and something Mona believed in implicitly.
But now, the very theoretical foundation she had once trusted so deeply was shaking.
"Nothing is impossible. Besides, your astrology has flaws. Introduce a little variable, and you can't see anything." Yu Jin said.
Yu Jin used the Hydro Astrolabe as a mirror and wiped his helmet with a rag. It actually got quite clean.
"If you ask me, go a step further. What's prophecy? It has never truly come true. Why not find a way to directly see the future?" Yu Jin returned the dirty Hydro Astrolabe to Mona, complaining.
Prophecies, once spoken, were just asking to be proven wrong. Yu Jin had never seen any prophecy truly come to fruition.
Or perhaps, the act of speaking a prophecy itself influenced its occurrence?
Yu Jin pondered for a moment but couldn't make sense of it. He had always found divination useless; it was better to just see with one's own eyes.
"See... see the future? That's impossible!" Mona was so shocked she didn't know how to respond.
Seeing the future, no matter how you thought about it, was impossible. If divination was prying into fate, then seeing the future was stripping fate bare.
Looking at the blackened Hydro Astrolabe in her hand, Mona silently threw it away. Given how mysterious and powerful Yu Jin was, she wouldn't dwell on it.
Then Mona summoned a new Hydro Astrolabe and made a few adjustments.
"Phew..." Seeing the results on the Astrolabe, Mona breathed a sigh of relief. Indeed, just as she suspected, as long as it wasn't connected to Yu Jin, she could still divine an outcome.
Hydro Divination was not wrong! The one who was wrong was Yu Jin!
Knowing that astrology still worked, Mona's mood immediately improved. Now she just wanted to run back and tell the old woman about Yu Jin, to see her flustered expression.
However, thinking about how she had secretly read the old woman's Damselettehood diary, Mona sighed again. She felt that she might be "humanely dealt with" by the old woman before she even had a chance to speak.
It truly was a sad story.
"Hey, what's wrong with her?" Yu Jin asked, seeing Mona's dejected look, as he leaned towards Lumine and Fischl.
"I don't know, maybe she was just discouraged by you, Senior," Lumine shook her head. That's just how it was with Yu Jin.
In Mondstadt, Lumine thought she would have a big battle with Dvalin, but nothing happened, and Dvalin was fine.
In Liyue, she felt she would have to fight a God no matter what, but she ended up just being an emotionless clapping robot.
"So fragile?"
"Who said I'm fragile? I'm fine now!"
Mona was only depressed for a while before she recovered her spirits. She had long known the saying that there's always someone better, and a Sky beyond a Sky.
The old woman alone could beat her in every aspect, let alone her eccentric "sisters."
And Yu Jin, before her, was just another new strong individual. Once she understood this, Mona calmly accepted the fact that astrology had failed.
"But those images you were fiddling with earlier were truly peculiar," Mona recalled the scenes she had glimpsed, a mix of shock and doubt in her heart.
She had previously traveled extensively with the old woman, naturally knowing more secrets than others. In that fleeting glimpse, Mona had seen many forbidden scenes.
This made her wonder if Fischl, this chuunibyou Damselette, truly had the potential to reach those futures.
"You're right, I think I saw the Princess becoming the Knights of Favonius's Grand Master," Oz also remembered the scene he had witnessed after Mona mentioned it.
An adult Fischl with a Horsetail, wearing the Knights of Favonius armor, was both cool and dashing!
"That's less likely. It's more probable that you, Oz, become the Knights of Favonius's Grand Master." Yu Jin nodded, adding.
"Is... is that so?" Oz was speechless. He had never imagined his bird life could be so exciting.
"I saw Fischl wearing a white robe. What's that about? Is it possible for Fischl to become a nun?" Lumine also chimed in.
"No..." Yu Jin mused for a moment, then said, "That's Fischl taking down Barbatos and becoming the Anemo God herself."
"Fischl can be that powerful!" Lumine was astonished, never expecting Fischl, with her chuunibyou demeanor, to be so formidable.
"That possibility is even smaller than Bennett becoming the Pyro God."
"How small is that?"
"Smaller than the probability of Teyvat being destroyed tomorrow!" Yu Jin gestured. While it was true that the future held countless possibilities, the probability of each coming true varied.
And the possibility of Fischl becoming the Anemo God was indeed smaller than Teyvat exploding in place tomorrow.
Just as everyone was about to continue discussing Fischl's infinite future possibilities, Fischl couldn't take it anymore.
Blushing, she frantically ran to the center of the group and shouted in embarrassment, "Stop talking! If you say another word, I won't talk to any of you!"
"Hehe, I didn't expect Fischl to have such a shy side?" Paimon saw Fischl so embarrassed that she stopped her chuunibyou talk, and immediately gave up the idea of teasing her further.
She had originally wanted to ask why Fischl would turn into an angel, but now it was better not to say.
It was probably also a very low-probability possibility.
Seeing that everyone had stopped talking about her absurd future, Fischl finally felt much better.
Painter, Knights of Favonius's Grand Master, Anemo God, and such—she had never even thought about them. Could her future really lead to her becoming these people?
Oh, no, some of them weren't even people.
Seeing Fischl's confused gaze, Yu Jin tapped her head. "Fischl, where your own future goes depends on who you are now."
"So, stop thinking about those irrelevant things. If you don't want to become Catherine II in the future, you need to work hard now!"
"What does Catherine II mean?" Mona scratched her head, asking curiously.
"It means someone who serves tea and water to others. If you indulge yourselves, this is quite likely to happen." Yu Jin glanced at Mona, then teased:
"I think Mona is almost there. Your Mora is almost gone, isn't it?"
Hearing this, Mona immediately blushed and retorted indignantly, "Who said that? The Reward offered by the Adventurers' Guild this time is very generous, enough for me to spend lavishly for several months!"
"I hope so." Yu Jin smacked his lips, practically writing "I don't believe you" on his face.
Because in his recent peeking, Mona bought a lot of astrology materials as soon as she received her Reward.
The Mora she received hadn't even warmed her hands before it flew out of them, making Yu Jin worry if she would suffer from malnutrition due to eating dirt for too long.
"What do you mean by that?!" Mona heard this and felt that Yu Jin was looking down on her.
Although she was a bit poor now, she had already decided! From now on, she would definitely control her spending and save money!
Then she would definitely be one of Mondstadt's top wealthy individuals. Let's see if Yu Jin still looked down on her!
"Nothing. It means if you keep dallying, you'll be sleeping alone in Dihua Marsh!"
"Hey! Wait for me! Why are you running so fast!"
As she spoke, Mona quickly ran towards the group in the distance. She certainly didn't want to sleep out in the wilderness.
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