Ye Luo was a transmigrator — the plain, boring kind.
One minute he was sleeping; the next he woke up bafflingly in Fontaine.
By training he'd been a run-of-the-mill college grad back in his old life, so he knew a little about steam tech. Not a lot, but enough to get by.
After a hell of a scramble he'd actually clawed his way to a high post in Fontaine, standing beside the Hydro Archon as an ordinary secretary.
Ordinary, because at that time Ye Luo had no golden cheat, not even a Vision.
As a mere mortal, why did he want high rank? Well… maybe it was just the obsession transmigrators get.
If you drop into Teyvat and do nothing, you feel like you've wasted the whole point of being dragged across worlds.
He'd meant to help Furina shoulder some of the load… but one day she gave him a kick and said, "You — go deal with Sumeru's problems."
"Me?" Ye Luo pointed at himself, utterly confused.
"Yes, you. Get going."
And so Furina shoved him off to Sumeru like an imperial envoy sending troops to foreign lands. Napoleon's Egyptian campaign in the old world, except now it was the Hydro Archon sending a secretary on a crusade.
For the glory of the First Empire of Furina, right?
Ye Luo's face went slack. Historical parallels aside, he was just a weak civilian with zero soldiers and zero combat ability. He had no business leading an expedition.
But gods issue orders and mortals follow. With nothing to do but obey, Ye Luo left Fontaine and fled to Sumeru.
Once in Sumeru, he fast-tracked his way into the Rtawahist circle — armed with a handful of prewritten papers on the stars — and somehow became Layla's senior.
Sumeru was in reform; it made sense to cozy up to the Akademiya. What he endured to get there was a tale for another time.
After staying a while, Ye Luo began to suspect Furina's motivation wasn't so benevolent. It started to feel like she simply wanted him exiled from Fontaine. Maybe she'd found a perfect scapegoat to keep trouble away. Once he reached Sumeru, he'd heard, some blonde had already solved Sumeru's problems and was taking a break before heading back to Fontaine.
Wow. Furina really does care about me, huh.
Nope. Ye Luo decided then and there he'd sneak back to Fontaine.
Getting back wasn't the hard part — the tricky part was how to return. If he went by the book or crept back, the shadow court would likely have him arrested either way. He needed another plan.
Follow the Traveler.
He wasn't from Fontaine anyway; no one would charge him with tampering with "primordial ocean water." Besides, he wasn't about to abandon Furina. He'd prepared for this for years, but without a system he was always one step behind a goddess who'd schemed for five hundred years.
The truth was: he could do nothing on his own.
So he decided to find that blonde Traveler. Maybe she had a better plan.
He'd heard the Moonlotus Cup — Beast Tamer Tournament was about to be held, and his junior Layla was going to participate. Perfect: canonical event, guaranteed Traveler sighting. Simple logic: put up a stall where contestants register and—boom—meet Traveler.
The equation in Ye Luo's head seemed foolproof. From the result, it looked right. But somewhere along the way, the process misfired.
Ye Luo studied the scene and mulled over what had gone wrong.
Why would Lumine be chasing him? Her eyes held that determined look of someone intent on arresting a criminal — not helping them. And the people around them were frozen as if a spell had stopped them dead in their tracks. Literally stopped.
When Ye Luo tried to move, he found he had stopped too.
What the heck — some degraded time-stop? Only his thoughts were still ticking?
He stared at the floating panel before him. It had to be linked to the popularity system.
[Ding... Loading complete.
You have become a five-star character in Genshin Impact. Work even harder to gain the players' favor!
Note: The more players like you, the stronger you will become.]
After the message finished, Ye Luo could move again, but everyone else remained frozen in place.
"So this is my golden cheat?" He stroked his chin and looked at the interface in disbelief.
Wait—five-star character?! That golden glow is so flashy!
I'm a playable character in the game?! No, no, this is wrong. Have you ever seen a character without a Vision? This has to be some mistake.
Ye Luo shook his head like he was shaking off a bad sales pitch. What the heck is a popularity system? Do I now have to debut as an idol in Teyvat?
Popularity = power? If you want popularity, who in Teyvat can beat the Seven Rulers of the mundane realm?
[There is still half an hour before players log in to the game. Please decide on your character.]
("Players will log in in half an hour. Please finalize your character.")
"Uh…"
If Ye Luo guessed right, the Moonlotus Cup was an event quest. So the system wanted him to hog popularity within the event? Fine — he'd snatch the spotlight. He remembered Goro and Yae Miko pulled huge numbers the last time, so why not? He could buff monsters with heals or whatever and rake in fan votes.
He really wanted to know what kind of role he'd been assigned.
Could he be some free five-star like those crossover characters? Like Eloi? (Who even remembers Eloi?) Unlikely — link characters were special. Could he even have a collaboration with himself?
Stop overthinking. Ye Luo shoved those weird thoughts aside and focused on the screen.
There, a figure identical to him stood quietly. His heart thudded at the thought of being able to grow stronger through player affection. Power could change things. Maybe even save Furina.
"So next… constellations and Vision attribute choices?" Ye Luo watched the menu that allowed him to pick a Constellation and an element for his Vision. His breathing quickened; his pulse hammered as he reached for the selection.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/pikachu614