The Genshin Roleplay System
"It's me, Traveler! Have you missed Paimon?"
Yes, Paimon — I really did miss you. Xia Yu felt a swell of genuine emotion. In a world where she knew no one, having something familiar at her side was a comfort she hadn't realized she needed.
"Paimon's really happy to see you too, Traveler!" Paimon's voice was bright and buoyant. "So, without further ado, let Paimon walk you through how the system works!"
"All you have to do is think the word 'menu,' and the system menu will open right up. It's a lot like a game menu!"
Xia Yu did as instructed. Sure enough, a pale-blue translucent screen materialized before her eyes, her avatar displayed in the upper-left corner. She probed it with her consciousness, and it unfolded to reveal her detailed profile. A status window bloomed in her mind:
Her name was now Natsume Xiayu, and her age read twenty — she'd lost several years overnight compared to her past life. Even her face had become that of Lumine, and on first glance it still felt strange to see herself in the mirror of someone else's body.
She closed the profile and scanned the panels below it: inventory, characters, quests, a shop, and more. One panel in particular caught her eye — Wishes. The gacha.
Curiosity got the better of her. Paimon, what's the deal with this gacha thing?
"Just like you're seeing, Traveler," Paimon explained, "you complete quests to earn rewards like Mora and Primogems. Quests are issued from time to time. You can spend your Mora and Primogems in the shop on weapons, food, and leveling materials — and Primogems can also be used in the gacha system to pull characters. The rules are basically the same as the gacha you knew in your old world!"
Quests? What happens if I fail one — is there a penalty? Xia Yu had never done "quests" in real life before, and she worried she might stumble out of the gate.
"Don't worry, Traveler — there's no penalty for leaving a quest unfinished!" Paimon reassured her. "Quests connected to the main storyline give the best rewards, though. You won't be punished for missing them, but they definitely affect the goal of keeping the Red-Black balance. So you should really try your best to finish those."
Paimon was doing her best to soothe Xiayu's nerves. She was the Traveler's very best companion, after all — what kind of partner would punish her own Traveler for failing a task?
"Besides, Traveler, rest assured! Paimon can't appear by your side just yet, but she'll always help you whenever she can — and she'll be with you forever and ever!"
Forever...? The words landed somewhere deep in Xia Yu's chest. Her whole life, she had been alone — solving her own problems, living by herself. This was the first time anyone had ever promised to stay by her side. Even if the promise might someday fall short, she knew she would remember this moment for the rest of her days.
Of course you'll stay with me forever, Paimon. You are my emergency food, after all.
"TRAVELER!"
The voice in her head suddenly ballooned in volume, and Xia Yu could perfectly picture Paimon stomping her tiny feet, shouting at her in outrage.
Everything had happened so fast, and until now Xia Yu had felt as though she were drifting through a dream. But this moment — Paimon's indignant squawk echoing through her skull — finally made things feel real, and she found herself eager to take stock of her situation.
Oh, right — Paimon, what about the characters I pull from the gacha? Do I have to control them myself, or can they act on their own?
Paimon had already forgotten their little squabble entirely. "You'll control them yourself, Traveler! You split off part of your consciousness and send it into the character. Your consciousness will be influenced by the character's built-in memories, so you'll act much more like the real them — nobody will ever guess you're the same person underneath!"
"Characters can also be stored in the system space for safekeeping. But once a character is out in the real world, if you're not actively controlling them with your consciousness, they'll go into sleep mode. So be careful, okay?"
Consciousness control... is it hard? Xia Yu had been an ordinary person in her past life, and the whole concept sounded intimidating. Her confidence wavered.
"Relax! It sounds tricky, but it's actually super easy in practice." Paimon brightened. "Oh! There's a new-employee reward waiting for you — go open it! It usually comes with ten free pulls. You can try summoning a character and get some hands-on experience!"
Only now did Xia Yu notice the little red dot on her message bar, marking something unread. She opened it with her mind — sure enough, the new-employee reward. Her heart sank slightly as she read the contents: only ten pulls? She'd been hoping for a few more. Aside from that, there were some EXP books and Mystic Enhancement Ores for leveling characters and weapons, along with 3,000 Mora.
◈ Wishes: 10 free pulls
◈ EXP Books & Mystic Enhancement Ore
◈ Mora: 3,000
Still, it wasn't bad. At least she had some starting capital now — far better than being flat broke.
With ten pulls in hand, Xia Yu decided to try one and see. The pity system guaranteed a character at minimum, which meant she'd have someone to help her out — even if that someone was ultimately herself.
But before she drew, there was one thing she needed to do. She glanced around her surroundings, found nothing useful, and turned to Paimon. Paimon, do you know where the nearest bathroom is?
"The bathroom? Yep, Paimon knows! Just down this road..." Paimon paused, puzzled. "Wait — Traveler, do you need to go now?"
No, no — I just want to wash my hands. Xia Yu figured her very first gacha pull deserved a little good luck, and washing her hands was insurance against having rotten luck.
"Wash your hands? But Traveler, your hands aren't even dirty..." Paimon was baffled. One minute the Traveler was about to pull, the next she was off to the bathroom — she'd only just arrived here, and she hadn't touched anything, had she?
Xia Yu finished washing up and was heading back to her seat, head down, carefully drying the water from her hands — and not watching where she was going, she bumped straight into a little girl.
"Ah—!"
Xia Yu stopped at once and looked down. A girl of seven or eight, with chin-length hair and a red top, had collided with her feet.
"Are you okay, sweetie? Did that hurt?" Xia Yu crouched down to check on her. Thankfully it was only a light bump — the girl seemed none the worse for it.
"I'm okay, Miss! I wasn't watching where I was going either, so it's my fault too." The girl looked up at the young woman before her and blushed a little. She's so pretty, she thought. And her hair is golden, just like sunlight.
"Ayumi? What's wrong?" Two young boys' voices drifted in from outside the bathroom.
Ayumi? So this little girl is Ayumi. Xia Yu felt oddly delighted — running into a member of the main cast so quickly felt like fate.
Which meant the two boys outside had to be Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko and Kojima Genta — the other two members of the Detective Boys.
The next words out of the girl's mouth confirmed it.
"Genta, Mitsuhiko, I'm fine!" Yoshida Ayumi called out so her friends wouldn't worry, then turned back to the young woman. "Miss, I'm really okay. You can go ahead if you're busy — I need to use the bathroom anyway. Bye-bye!"
With a little wave, she hurried off toward the stalls.
Xia Yu saw that the girl really was fine, and left with an easy mind. On her way out she stole a glance at the two boys posted near the bathroom door — one chubby, one thin, with a comical difference in build. The round-headed one was muttering to himself about food; the other looked considerably more level-headed. Both were just about the spitting image of the characters she remembered from the anime.
She lingered no longer than that. It was time to head back, make her first pull, and put Paimon's claims about consciousness control to the test.