12 hours 34 minutes later, Wangshu Inn
The first half of the trip was easy. There was an easily accessible teleportation point at the edge of dragonspine, but Lumine could only teleport short distances at a time- so, they decided to rest at Wangshu Inn before heading to the city the day after. Y/N smiled at Ver before heading up the stairs to her room. She got inside, closed the door, and immediately collapsed on the bed. Alright. She leaned over and grabbed the small pad of complimentary parchment on the desk beside her, pulling an inked pen from the drawer.
First order of business. She wanted to attend the rite of decension. Putting the system aside, she decided that the best course of action was to follow the traveler- Lumine, apparently- on her journey to find her brother. After all, that would be the most fun, and the best use of her time, right? At least she wouldn't be a sitting duck waiting for her fate.
Y/N did not want to think about what the system would do about her defiance. Frankly, she didn't really care, but this wasn't even her body. Part of her felt bad, being so reckless with the life didn't truly belong to her. But what could she do?
And now that she thought about it, the system hadn't done anything about her defiance. She had thought, with her earlier actions- leaving Mond before capturing the targets- something surely was to have happened by now. But so far, it had kept quiet. Hopefully it would stay that way.
"Y/N!" Y/N turned. Lumi stood at the doorway. "I'm ordering in, is there anything you want?" Y/N thought for a moment. "...I'm really not that hungry. Can I just have a few grilled fish skewers?" Lumi smiled. "Sure! No problem." Y/N thought once more. "Ah, now that I think about it, can you order me a plate of almond tofu too?" The traveler nodded. "Don't forget to split the bill-" Lumine laughed at that, turning and closing the door behind her. Y/N sighed.
She stood up, heading over to the small wash bin and wetting a towel. As she wiped the dirt off her face and arms, she turned to the open balcony, where she could see the twinkling lights of Liyue city from afar.
New function unlocked: System shop
Her eyes widened. Y/N stared at the floating blue message board in front of her. Huh. So instead of punishing her... she was being rewarded? If that was the case, that she would have rebelled a lot earlier. She lifted a finger and pressed the "open" button. Immeadiately, a catalogue of items opened up, individual windows floating in a circle around her. Y/N felt the grin fall of her face like sap. What were these outrageous prices? "This is a scam!" She whispered under her breath as she swiped past each item.
4 star ranked equipment box- Cost: 10000 points
5 star equipment box- Cost: 100000 points
Seriously- the difference between the prices was just an extra zero. What a let down, Y/N thought sadly as she checked her balance. 16 500000 points. She could afford an 5 star box, at least. She clicked the "buy" button, almost feeling the amount of currency drain out of her account. A flower shaped artifact fell into her hands with a light clink. Flower of life, Crit rate, ATK percentage increase. Not bad. She kept swiping, flashing back to her old life when she would mindlessly surf online shopping websites. But soon, she noticed that some of the items were worth their prices (kind of) because the cheats they enabled were just what she needed. So... it wouldn't hurt to treat herself, right?
Advanced healing pill- Cost: 125000 points
Weapon ascension material pack- Cost: 20000
But when she finally reached the last item, her heart stopped. Her finger hovered over the image. Outlander's Key. Was this... what she thinks it is? She opened the item description, her finger trembling.
Used to return to host's original world. Choice of being reborn or reincarnated.
Holy archons. That... wouldn't be such a bad idea. The only reason she hadn't thought about it before- was because she had hated her life there, as Y/N L/N. But, if she could be reborn, and have a better life... Suddenly, going back was an option. The only problem was-
Outlander's key- Cost: ???
Seriously. The one thing she actually wanted didn't even have a price tag? Wait. Did that mean the price was so outrageously big that the system couldn't even compute it? Or maybe... it wasn't someone of monetary value. What if, in order to unlock the item... she had to complete the game? Y/N groaned. She knew it. She knew that this new function was a double edged sword. Was this the system's way of getting back at her?
"Hey, I'm back!" Y/N quickly waved her hand through the blue holograms, forcing them to dissipate into streams of blue light. "Lumi- hi- oh, you brought food, that's great!" Y/N pushed a table to the balcony, and Lumine dropped off the food on her bed. "I'll be in my room if you need me," She said. "I would eat with you, but... Paimon's probably starving, so-" "it's fine," Y/N said softly. "Don't worry, I'm used to it." Lumi frowned at that, but didn't argue any further. She sighed and exited once more. Y/N stood, grabbed the food, and set it on the table, unpacking the box of skewers- just three, she didn't want to eat much before bed- and a plate of almond tofu. Y/N carefully lifted the plate and headed to the balcony, balancing it on her palm. With one push, she launched herself off the railing, grabbing onto the roof with her other hand. Then, she swung herself up, landing lightly on the roof shingles. Hopefully she didn't wake up anyone with the noise she made. Now- Y/N looked around. Where was that green haired adeptus?
~🪈 👹🏮🐦~
"Lumi? From now on... Call me Y/N." Lumine stared at her. She had stopped to pick a few vallberries, and now stood to face her. Her fingers were stained with a slight, rosy hue. "... Y/N? Alright, if you insist. Do you mind me asking why?" She asked as she pocketed the last berry. They continued on their way towards Dragonspine.
"...Lumi, how exactly was it that you were able to travel across different worlds?" Lumi frowned, not noticing how she had avoided answering her question. "I'm not really sure. I'm always with my brother. Whenever we wanted to move, we just did. It was just our will, I guess." "Ah. So. Death wasn't a factor then?" Y/N asked, her tone dry. "What?" Her companion looked taken aback. She couldn't blame her. Ahead of them, Paimon chased a butterfly with deep blue wings.
"I'm an outlander. Just like you are. Only, unlike you, I had to be hit by a truck in order to get here." "...Truck?" "You've never been to Earth before?" Lumine shook her head. "It... doesn't ring a bell, sorry." That made sense. Y/N sighed. "Sorry... for springing this up on you so suddenly. I know it's probably a bit hard to believe." Lumine laughed. "Yeah, no kidding- but, to be honest, I've seen and heard weirder things. Actually, I'm quite glad you told me." Her eyes softened.
"Every time I go to a new world, I'm forced to leave friends I made behind. I've had to do it time and time again, and it never gets easier. Every time, I always wonder if there is someone like me and Aether, out there. Another outlander. Guess that's you, Y/N." She flashed a smile, and Y/N smiled back. "Yes, but... There's nothing for me to miss in my old world." Lumine cocked her head to the side, her brows furrowed. "The way I see it, there's a positive to be found in everything. No matter what." The golden-haired traveler skipped ahead, spinning on her heel to face her once again. "You can tell me about it, if you'd like. I bet we can find one together."
~🪈 👹🏮🐦~
Y/N remembered everything from her past world. Now, as she remembered that conversation with Lumine, she still didn't feel anything, as those memories came back to her. Her old life, was pain and suffering.
Even as she watched Rex Lapis' body fall from the sky, she felt nothing. This was bound to happen- it had to happen. That was why the second the dragon's corpse made contact with the stone platform with a loud thud, Y/N had turned to Lumine and said, "We need to run. Like, right now."
~🪈 👹🏮🐦~
A/N This chapter seems all over the place does it :*)
Also I found my fav emoticon (～￣▽￣)～
^mood