Chapter 11: The Lottery
Stelle woke up before the Express's artificial sunrise. She groggily swiped open the multiversal chat group interface, quickly tapping through her daily check-ins and tasks. A quick glance at the member list revealed a row of grayed-out icons. Everyone else was either offline or dead to the world.
'If I pull a god-tier item right now and no one is awake to witness it, does it even count?' she mused.
The sheer tragedy of an unobserved flex was too much to bear. Deciding to wait, she buried her face back into her pillows and promptly fell asleep again. She only stirred when March 7th began pounding on her door, loudly declaring that breakfast was getting cold.
'Well, since things have come to this, I might as well eat first,' Stelle thought, dragging herself out of bed.
After a quick meal in the parlor car, she opened the chat interface once more.
[Stellaron Hunter · Stelle]: "I have returned, fully recharged! Knocked out my check-ins and dailies first thing this morning."
[Stellaron Hunter · Stelle]: "It was a real tragedy that none of you were awake to witness my glory, so I graciously postponed my gacha pulls until you were all online. Hold your applause!"
[Genshin Impact · Paimon]: "Is it happening?! Is it time?!"
Across different universes, eyes locked onto glowing screens, eagerly anticipating the chat group's very first gacha draw. Everyone wanted to see exactly what Stelle would manage to pull.
Stelle stared at her point balance. Two hundred and sixty-six points. More than enough for a single draw.
It was time for the sacred ritual.
She locked eyes with Pom-Pom, who was innocently sweeping the parlor car floor. In a flash, Stelle lunged, scooping the fluffy conductor into a tight bear hug.
"Stop! Rude! Let go of Pom-Pom!" the conductor squeaked, short legs kicking frantically in the air.
Stelle ignored the protests, vigorously ruffling the conductor's long ears. "Pom-Pom, Pom-Pom, grant me your astral blessing! Share the luck!"
The struggle continued until March 7th sighed, marching over to pry the struggling conductor out of the trailblazer's grasp. "Can you stop acting like a weirdo for five minutes?"
Undeterred, Stelle summoned her most cherished possession—a dented, metallic trash can. She planted it right in the middle of the aisle and sat upon it like a monarch ascending her throne. With a dramatic flourish, she extended her hand and pressed the virtual draw button.
A burst of green light illuminated the parlor car. Green rarity. Not a total loss, but certainly not a jackpot. As the light faded, a small, wooden propeller materialized in her palm. It looked exactly like a cheap toy from the Xianzhou Luofu—a simple bamboo-copter.
Stelle read the system description. A slow, smug grin stretched across her face.
Ignoring the deeply sympathetic looks from March 7th and Dan Heng, she lifted the seemingly useless toy and slapped it directly onto the top of her head.
The propeller whirred to life.
March 7th's jaw dropped. Dan Heng's eyes widened. Without any visible propulsion, Stelle's body lifted off her trash-can throne, hovering steadily a few feet in the air.
Stelle crossed her arms, striking a heroic pose mid-air. "Behold! I am the Caped Crusader of the skies!"
Welt, who had just walked in with a newspaper, stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at the wooden toy, his brow furrowing as he tried to calculate the physics of a simple bamboo-copter defying gravity.
"Oh, stop posing!" March 7th crossed her arms, though her eyes sparkled with curiosity. "Quickly tell us what you actually drew!"
"Isn't it obvious? It's a bamboo-copter. It lets me fly." Stelle tilted her head, drifting lazily in a circle. "If you beg me nicely, I might let you take it for a spin."
March 7th bit her lip, clearly torn between maintaining her dignity and wanting to fly around the train ceiling.
Stelle didn't wait for her to decide. She snapped a quick selfie from her elevated vantage point and uploaded it to the group.
[Stellaron Hunter · Stelle]: "Oh-ho~ Look at me, ruling the skies."
[Zenless Zone Zero · Belle]: "It actually flies?! That is so cool! What rarity is it? What's the name? I need one right now, can I afford it?!"
Belle's rapid-fire messages flooded the screen. After all, who could resist the sheer joy of effortless flight?
[Stellaron Hunter · Stelle]: "The description says it's a small prop from another world. Only green quality, and it costs 500 points in the shop. Tempted?"
Drunk on her newfound aerial superiority, Stelle attempted a daring loop-de-loop near the ceiling. She misjudged the clearance. Her boot clipped a light fixture, sending her tumbling downward. She crashed directly into the table, knocking over Himeko's freshly brewed coffee.
The mug shattered. A heavy silence fell over the parlor car. Himeko closed her eyes, letting out a long, slow sigh.
"I told you not to play in the carriage!" March 7th yelled, throwing her hands up.
Dan Heng quietly pulled out his databank, typing away. 'Otherworldly artifact: Bamboo-copter. Grants low-altitude levitation. User stability... severely lacking.'
[Genshin Impact · Paimon]: "That's amazing! You got a green quality item on your first try, and it's worth 500 points? That means you made a profit of over three hundred! I want to try too!"
In the world of Teyvat, Paimon closed the chat interface and spun around to face her golden-haired companion. "Lumine! I'm going to do it!"
Lumine offered an encouraging nod, silently praying to the Seven that her little guide wouldn't pull a pile of useless junk.
Paimon stared intently at the glowing gacha pool. Her balance sat at 194 points. She hadn't even finished her daily commissions yet, but thanks to the morning check-in, she had just enough for a single pull.
She squeezed her eyes shut, clenched her tiny fists until her knuckles turned white, and slammed her hand down on the draw button with all her might.
Seconds ticked by. Paimon cracked one eye open, just a sliver.
A blinding, radiant purple light erupted from the interface, washing over the clearing. Paimon's eyes snapped wide open. She froze, completely stunned, until Lumine gently poked her cheek.
"Paimon? What did you get?" Lumine asked gently. "It's okay if it's not a combat skill. We'll have plenty of chances later."
The words finally broke Paimon out of her trance. She shot up into the air, spinning in wild, chaotic circles.
"Purple! Purple! Purple!!!" Paimon shrieked, her voice echoing through the trees. "Lumine! It's purple! The 0.1% chance! Wahahahaha! Paimon is the true luck king! My luck is the best in the entire world!"
Lumine blinked, genuinely shocked. "Wait, really? That's incredible. Quick, read the description."
Paimon pulled up the system window, squinting at the glowing text. "Let me see... It's called Optimization Power. It says it's a rule-based ability capable of removing negative elements or impurities from a human body or an object, restoring them to their perfect, original state."
Her excited spinning slowed to a halt. "Uh... this doesn't sound like it has any combat power at all. I was really hoping I could finally fight the bad guys with you."
"Don't be silly, Paimon. This is incredibly strong," Lumine reassured her, a smile touching her lips. "You just said it's a rule-based power. That means it bypasses normal logic. You just need to figure out how to use it."
Paimon puffed out her chest. "You're right! No problem, I'll test it out right now."
She tapped the 'Extract' button. A soft, pulsing orb of violet light materialized in the air between them. Before either of them could inspect it, the orb zipped forward and slammed directly into Paimon's tiny palm.
"Eep!" Paimon yelped, jumping back. She hurriedly uncurled her fingers. A glowing, metallic imprint of a wrench was now branded onto her skin.
"Lumine, I feel like... I can summon something." Paimon focused on the strange sensation tingling in her hand.
The tattoo flared. A heavy, physical object dropped into her grasp.
Paimon's eyes bulged. She stared incredulously at the massive, grease-stained mechanic's wrench now weighing down her tiny arms. Her voice shot up eight octaves.
"Ah?! Is this it?! This... this... this is my legendary purple rarity item?! A wrench?! It's so ugly! This doesn't suit Paimon's cute image at all!"
Lumine covered her mouth, stifling a laugh. "Oh~ I see. It's Master Paimon's turn to work. Do you want to fix something?"
Reaching into her travel pouch, Lumine pulled out a jagged chunk of raw iron ore. "Here. Give it a try. You said it removes bad things from objects, right? Let's see if you can purify this."
Paimon grumbled, but her curiosity won out. "Fine. I'll try."
She hoisted the oversized wrench over her shoulder, took a deep breath, and brought it down on the iron ore with a solid clank.
The ore instantly began to shimmer. It shrank rapidly as dark, dusty slag and impurities were forcefully expelled from the rock, crumbling into ash on the grass. In mere seconds, a perfectly smooth, gleaming iron ingot sat in its place.
Both girls stared at the shiny metal, completely speechless.
"Is this... the power of rules?" they murmured in unison.
Lumine knelt down, picking up the pure iron ingot. Her golden eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "If it can forcefully extract impurities from raw ore... what happens if you use it on a person?"
She looked up, a sly smile spreading across her face. "Could it cure diseases? Or remove curses and negative statuses? If it really works like that..." Lumine paused for dramatic effect. "Then Paimon, you might just become a divine doctor. Even better than Baizhu from Bubu Pharmacy."
Paimon's breath hitched. 'Divine doctor...'she thought.'If I'm a famous doctor, I can charge huge fees! I'll earn mountains of Mora! More Mora than Baizhu! I could buy endless Sticky Honey Roasts... endless Fisherman's Toast...'
A line of drool threatened to escape the corner of Paimon's mouth as she floated there, completely lost in her wealthy, food-filled fantasy.
Lumine clapped her hands, snapping her guide back to reality. "Alright, wipe your chin. Go tell the chat group the good news. After that, we need to hit a Teleport Waypoint to Liyue Harbor. It's time to pull Zhongli into the group."
Paimon nodded vigorously, quickly opening the multiversal chat to brag about her newfound legendary status.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]