Chapter 21: Development Direction
Time flew by. The sun dipped below the horizon, painting the evening sky in shades of deep violet and burnt orange. It was that time of day again—the golden hour for the interdimensional group chat.
Paimon, acting as Lumine's self-appointed divine mouthpiece, naturally took the chat by storm. She flooded the interface with exaggerated tales of last night's fierce battles and the wild, food-filled revelry of the victory party that followed.
Aboard the Astral Express, the mood was entirely different. Stelle and March 7th stared at their screens with heavy sighs, practically radiating envy. The Express crew had already locked in their next destination—Amphoreus—but the train required extensive maintenance before they could make the jump.
After all, Amphoreus was a world the Trailblaze Aeon, Akivili, had never reached. Exercising a little extra caution was just common sense.
Meanwhile, the Luminary Wardance on the Xianzhou Luofu had officially concluded. Dan Heng had taken care of the final few world commissions, leaving the trio with absolutely nothing to do. They were practically bored out of their skulls.
Currently in the group chat:
[Honkai: Star Rail - Stelle]: "I am so incredibly jealous of your lives right now. You get to travel wherever you want, beat up monsters, and actually do things. It sounds so fulfilling."
[Honkai: Star Rail - March 7th]: "Yeah, seriously! How much longer is this maintenance going to take? I am so bored I do not even have the energy to go shopping anymore."
[Honkai: Star Rail - Dan Heng]: "It should be finished soon. Pom-Pom mentioned that since we gathered a massive amount of Trailblaze Power this time, the next jump will bring a surprise. We just need to give it a little more time."
[Genshin Impact - Paimon]: "Hey! Why is nobody praising my amazing performance? I was a literal divine healer out there, you know!"
[Genshin Impact - Lumine]: "Paimon did do a great job. But after observing her abilities this time, we actually came to a new conclusion."
[Genshin Impact - Lumine]: "Paimon's Optimization Power does not just clear out corrosive energy from the body. It also has a ridiculously strong healing effect on internal trauma and hidden injuries."
[Honkai: Star Rail - Dan Heng]: "If that is the case, Paimon's ability acts more like a complete biological optimization of the human body. Can it completely erase fatigue and old wounds?"
[Genshin Impact - Lumine]: "Exactly. But we also discovered a pretty major drawback."
[Genshin Impact - Lumine]: "The healing process forcefully consumes the target's own physical energy. If their energy reserves are too low, they will experience extreme, agonizing hunger immediately after the treatment. They have to eat a massive amount of food right away just to replenish what was lost."
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: "From a universal and rational perspective, this outcome is entirely expected. Energy is conserved. How could a healing technique manifest out of thin air without drawing upon a source? Consuming the target's own vitality to repair their physical form aligns perfectly with natural principles."
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: "When you treated Miss Huixin, she was likely overwhelmed by her official duties and simply ignored the hunger warnings her body was sending her. As for Xiao, his foundation is incredibly deep, and his adeptal power is vast enough to easily support such a sudden drain. Hence, his reaction was minimal."
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: "Presumably, Miss Atea's extreme energy depletion and intense hunger were the result of the massive stamina drain from her fierce battle with the Abyss monsters, compounded heavily by the demands of your healing."
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: "Regarding energy replenishment, ordinary food is not the only solution. Medicinal cuisine, concentrated elixirs, and highly effective alchemical potions containing pure elemental energy would theoretically serve as far better alternatives. They would directly and efficiently bridge the deficit."
[Genshin Impact - Paimon]: "Well, medicinal cuisine and alchemical potions make sense since Lumine uses those all the time. But is this elixir stuff actually reliable?"
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: "You need not worry, Paimon. Elixirs are highly viable. The art of alchemy and elixir refinement involves extracting the absolute essence of herbs, trees, metals, and stones through specialized techniques. The resulting pills contain incredibly pure energy, and their efficacy far surpasses that of ordinary medicinal soups."
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: "However, this art is deeply deep. The refinement methods are complex, strict, and unforgiving. A single misstep in temperature or timing can turn a life-saving medicine into a lethal poison. Because of this, the knowledge is difficult to pass down and now mostly survives only within certain ancient alchemist families."
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: ", during my leisure time over the past few days, I have taken to browsing the group mall. The inventory is truly total. I found numerous classic texts and formulas specifically related to the art of elixir refinement."
[Genshin Impact - Paimon]: "Oh right! I completely forgot we even had a group mall!"
Lumine read the scrolling text on her screen. A small, knowing smile tugged at her lips. 'We have been running around so much lately that I have not had a single moment to sit down and study the mall properly. Has Zhongli just been window-shopping this entire time? I wonder how his research into the erosion issue is coming along.'
[Genshin Impact - Paimon]: "Speaking of the mall, has anyone pulled anything good from the gacha recently?"
Seeing Paimon bring up the gacha system caused Stelle to slump against the Express sofa, a sharp pang of jealousy hitting her chest. She had gotten a little lucky on her last pull, sure, but Paimon's luck was completely off the charts. It defied all logic.
[Honkai: Star Rail - Stelle]: "No. Dan Heng suggested we save up our points for a guaranteed ten-pull, so March and I have not touched our balance at all."
[Honkai: Star Rail - March 7th]: "Correction! It is not that we do not want to spend them, it is that we absolutely cannot afford anything! The prices for the items we actually want are terrifying. Tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of points! We could not afford them even if we sold ourselves to the system! We can only pray the prize pool takes pity on us and drops something good."
[Genshin Impact - Paimon]: "By the way, where did Belle go? Why is she so quiet today? @[Zenless Zone Zero - Belle]"
[Zenless Zone Zero - Belle]: "I am here, I am here! Wise and I are still working overtime debugging the HDD system. We had to move our entire setup on short notice, and a lot of our secondary equipment got left behind."
[Zenless Zone Zero - Belle]: "We have to run a ton of diagnostics beforehand so we do not completely mess up during the upcoming proxy competition."
[Genshin Impact - Paimon]: "Ugh, that sounds so exhausting! Belle, Wise, you two seriously need to take a break! If we get the chance, I am definitely dragging you both to the People of the Springs to soak in the hot springs. It is ridiculously comfortable! Oh, and they throw the most amazing, lively hot spring parties!"
[Honkai: Star Rail - March 7th]: "That sounds amazing! I want to go so badly! Soaking in hot springs! Eating delicious food! Going to a party! But I am stuck on this train! It is pure torture!"
Zhongli did not interrupt the chaotic, playful banter. He waited patiently, sipping his tea, allowing the energetic girls to finish their tangent before smoothly steering the conversation back to his original point.
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: "Returning to the topic of elixir refinement, the methods I mentioned do appear in the group mall, primarily in the form of instructional formulas. Naturally, since these formulas originate from worlds beyond our own, the required materials..."
[Honkai: Star Rail - Dan Heng]: "So the required materials must also be exotic specialties from those specific worlds, rendering the formulas useless to us?"
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: "Not necessarily. If one possesses a complete, fundamental understanding of pharmacology, it is entirely possible to analyze the properties of the required ingredients and find suitable local substitutes."
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: "But let us set that aside for the moment. Recently, I have observed several highly fascinating cultivation methods listed in the mall. Allow me to share my findings with you all."
[Zenless Zone Zero - Belle]: "Mr. Zhongli, do you know if there are any cultivation methods in there suitable for my brother and me? We really want to gain some actual combat power so we can protect ourselves."
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: "There certainly are. You simply need to be patient. First, let us look at the path of immortal cultivation. According to the introductory texts, this discipline involves the simultaneous, harmonious advancement of one's essence, qi, and spirit. Because of this, every time a practitioner breaks through a physical or spiritual bottleneck, their overall lifespan increases. Should one reach the pinnacle and become a true immortal, their lifespan becomes virtually immeasurable. Such beings can nourish their home worlds with their presence, or even step into the void to explore beyond the boundaries of the universe."
[Genshin Impact - Zhongli]: "Because this specific method demands the equal refinement of the physical body, martial techniques, and the inner spirit, it provides a massive enhancement to the mental and soul aspects of the practitioner. I suspect this might offer a viable solution to the erosion that plagues long-lived species in my world. However, I do not yet know if it would have any curative effect on the affliction Dan Heng previously referred to as being Mara-Struck."
[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!]