Inside the vineyard's cottage, there are many barrels of wine. Long Fei lounges on a bench, sipping newly brewed wine while the lady immortal dotes on him. I have no idea what to call her.

I'm standing in the corner, fiddling with my sleeves, waiting for instructions. I don't want to move, just in case I break a barrel. It would cost me a year's salary.

The lady immortal turns to me and scrunches her nose.

"How come your skin is blue?"

I shrug nonchalantly.

"I was born this way. The same reason why the sky is blue."

She looks at me suspiciously.

"Are you sure the Whirlwind Fruit is the only one you've touched? You didn't touch the Blue Fruit at all?"

I glance at him sipping his wine, as I don't know how to respond.

He clears his throat.

"I assure you she only touched the whirlwind fruit and nothing else."

The lady rests her hand on her chest and exhales.

"Those fruits are expensive and quite difficult to grow. What elemental magic can you use?"

"Water and air."

Her eyes widen.

"Really? You can use two? Master Long Fei is so talented!"

I nod, even though I have no idea how my having two elements is related to his talent. Is that how immortal logic works here?

The lady straightens her apron and clears her throat.

"You may call me Mei Ranran, I'll show you how to pick the fruits so we can make wine. I'm assuming you're here because the Crown Prince asked you."

I nod, relieved that I don't need to explain anything.

"Given you have two affinities, I hope this will be easy for you. Now follow me."

She opens the front door, and I follow her out. This time she doesn't slam it in my face.

"You see the Flame Fruit there? The easy part is that you can use water to put out the flame and it will drop off. But not too much. Only those that are ripe."

"How do I know which one's ripe?"

"By color. Fully red ones are ready. Anything orange or yellow is still maturing."

"How many do you need?"

"All of it."

"Where do I put it though?"

"There's a barrel at the end of each row. That's where you drop your collection. Do not mix them up."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. For the Aqua Fruit, you need to tell a tragic story."

"What?"

"This is so the vines can cry and it will drop off like a teardrop."

That makes no sense. It is the Celestial Realm, after all.

"And for the Whirlwind Fruit, I'm surprised, given your affinity, that you two don't get along. It should respond to air. That's how you pick it."

My cheeks burn up. Now I'm embarrassed.

She claps her hands and then fixes her hair.

"Now, get to work. I've got a date with a devastatingly handsome immortal."

A gentle breeze blows my hair, covering my face.

Long Fei appears next to me, sipping a glass of wine.

"I think I'll supervise her, so she doesn't cause any trouble."

He just doesn't want to be stuck alone with her.

A devilish grin spreads across my face.

"Ling Yue, we spoke about that grin."

I abruptly frown. I forgot you're not allowed to have fun in the Celestial Realm.

Mei Ranran's saccharine smile falters, her supposed date is not going as planned.

"Oh, Master Long Fei, don't you want to sit inside where it's much more comfortable?"

"I'm fine here. You may continue with your task and pretend we're not here."

She frowns, biting her lower lip as she walks away, her shoulders slumping.

I glance at the Aqua Fruit. It remains still, No reaction.

"Master, you should have made it a tragic rejection. It would have saved me a lot of work."

He sips his wine and shakes his head.

Looks like I need another method. I'll leave this fruit for last.

So I head to the Flame Fruit, inspecting which one is red. I shoot a water tendril at it and it falls off. The quickest way is for me to let the water tendrils do the work, wrap it around the fruit, it falls off, then shoot it in the barrel. I guess this is as good as target practice gets.

Next, the wretched Whirlwind Fruit. The one that exploded in my face.

I wrap an air tendril around it, it lights up and falls off. Huh. So, it's that simple.

Again, I treat it like target practice; wrap and drop into the barrel.

Now the last one.

How do I make the Aqua Fruit cry? I can't think of any tragic story.

I turn to Long Fei.

"Would you happen to know any tragic stories?"

"I know plenty."

"Well, do you care to share?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because this is your training."

I throw my arms up in exasperation.

Fine, if he won't give me a tragic story, I'll make one up. One that even these weird tragic thirsting fruits can appreciate...

I glare at him. He meets my gaze, face impassive, sipping his wine.

I lean close to the Aqua Fruit.

"You see that immortal over there? He doesn't know how to smile."

It drops off. Another drops off, then a cascading row as all the fruits drop off.

I knew they were drawn to him. I didn't realize that comment would be so effective.

The water tendril can't pick it up; instead, the Aqua Fruit absorbs it.

I try an air tendril; same result.

I use my hands to pick it up, and like a blob, it wiggles. So that means I have to manually pick up all these fruits and put them in the barrel.

I run back and forth, scooping up fallen Aqua Fruits and tossing them into the barrel. By the end of it, I'm wiping sweat off my brow. Fruit picking is hard work.

Mei Ranran comes out with more wine. She blushes as she stands beside my master to top up his glass. He steps away, leaving the glass suspended mid-air as she pours the wine, daintily bowing her head. He doesn't want to be near her.

She looks surprised when she looks back up, and he's not there! I almost drop my Aqua Fruit at the sight of it, stifling a laugh.

"I've finished harvesting the fruit. I'm ready for the next part."

She fans herself with her free hand, nervously adjusting her apron.

"Great. Follow me."

She swings open the front door. I tail her. Then she opens another door. It's a portal to a barn full of large barrels. Behind me, all the filled barrels from my harvest line up in a single file, floating. Oh, how nice of my master to lend a helping hand. He probably just didn't want to talk to the woman.

"How do I ferment the wine?"

"Oh, no, you don't do that. Only I can do that. That's what I'm trained for."

"But my quest says I need to ferment the wine."

"Quest? You can start the process."

"The fermenting happens over millennia."

"What?"

"Yes, I highly doubt that you're expected to do it yourself. Since it's for the Crown Prince, you only need to prepare it and I'll give you what we have in stock as an exchange."

Phew. That's a relief. I don't have the patience to wait millennia for wine to ferment.

"So, to prepare the barrels, manually squeeze the Aqua Fruits on the Whirlwind Fruits. The juice should break down the fruit over many lunar cycles. Then leave the Flame Fruit on top, this acts as a celestial yeast, feeding the mix with its residual heat.”

I can finally use my "law" and "order" for all the squeezing. Without further ado, I rapidly follow her instructions. I split the Whirlwind Fruits into their designated barrels. I rest the Aqua Fruits between my forearm and biceps, flex my arms, and squeeze. The juice runs down as I crush the fruit in my hands. Once I'm done, I flick the juice off and toss the Flame Fruits on top. I brush off my hands.

"Mei Ranran, preparation is complete. It's exchange time."

She returns with a few fancy bottles of wine and hands them to us.

I carefully stash them on a shelf in my mystical satchel.

All this winemaking labour must’ve increased my levels.

Surely I’m close to evolving by now.

“Master, shall we head to an Ancient Ruin after this?”

He nods.

Yes!