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[Cheat] Chapter 2: Draw, Draw, Draw!
🕑 Added 2025-02-06 17:46:03 +0000 UTC“That’s an unfair comparison. There’s a fundamental difference between the two,” Zephyr said.
Lumine, on the other hand, was quite happy. As long as she could save her sister, she didn’t care if this was considered cheating or not. In fact, if it was cheating, wouldn’t that be even better?
“By the way, what level am I now?” Zephyr opened the character stats menu.
A glaring white Level 1 stared back at him.
“…”
“Wait, hold up—why are you only Level 1?”
Now, normally in games, players start at Level 1. That’s perfectly normal.
But the problem was, this wasn’t a normal game. It wasn’t even a game at all. This was practically a real world!
“How can your level be this low? Didn’t you survive before meeting me? Didn’t you fight monsters and level up? You should at least be around Level 7, 8, or even 10 by now!”
Lumine explained, “Originally, I did go through some training. Based on this world’s power scaling, I should’ve been around Level 20.
But later, while I was fishing, I reeled in a strange ring. The ring inexplicably drained all my experience points, and I dropped back to Level 1.
At the time, I thought the story would unfold like those novels I used to read—you know, the ones where an old grandpa appears out of the ring to mentor the protagonist. But instead of a grandpa, Paimon popped out…”
As she spoke, Lumine cast a resentful look at Paimon.
Paimon’s eyes darted nervously. “Ahem…”
Zephyr fell silent. “A ring? It absorbed your experience points? Why does this plotline feel so familiar…”
Wait a second—this doesn’t match the original storyline at all! Sure, it’s true that Paimon was fished out of the water, but there was never any mention of a ring.
Zephyr furrowed his brows. This was troubling; the plot had deviated.
He sighed. “So, if the protagonist dies, I die too. The protagonist is only Level 1, and now the story has gone off-script. This is basically a hell-mode starting point…”
“So, where’s the ring now?”
“After Paimon came out, the ring disappeared on its own.”
“…”
“Fine, then let’s talk about Paimon. What’s up with you? How did you end up in the ring? And how did you get out? Do you have any idea where the ring went?”
Lumine nodded. “Honestly, I’m curious about Paimon too. Paimon, what’s your deal?”
Paimon took a deep breath. “Alright, we’ve been together long enough. I won’t hide it from you anymore.
I’ll lay it all out: I’m one of Solomon’s 72 Demons.”
“…”
“…”
“Hey, don’t just go silent like that!”
Lumine hesitated. “Paimon, I know I often joke about you being emergency food, and it makes you upset, but I never thought it would affect you so deeply that you’d make up this!…”
"Alright, here's the deal. I’ve got a little over a hundred Mora left. Once we get back to Mondstadt, you should find a doctor and get checked out..."
“Paimon isn’t sick!” Paimon huffed angrily. “Paimon really is one of Solomon’s 72 demons!”
“And Solomon’s 72 demons look like you?”
“What’s wrong with the way Paimon look? Paimon's appearance is dashing, terrifying, and utterly invincible!”
“…”
“Okay, let’s say I believe you for now. Can you show us some kind of ultimate move? Something like Death Ray or Gaia Energy Cannon to prove your power?”
“...Uh, I can’t do that right now. I’ve lost my memory.”
“…”
“It’s true! Paimon's not lying!”
“Then how did you lose your memory?”
“How would Paimon know? Paimon have no idea how it happened. All Paimon remember is that Paimon is one of Solomon’s 72 demons. As for why Paimon have lost her memory or why Paimon have become so weak, Paimon has completely forgotten.”
“…”
“Paimon is telling the truth!”
Zephyr paused to think. Even though he suspected Paimon was making things up, he wasn’t part of MiHoYo’s writing team and couldn’t definitively say whether Paimon’s identity was special or not.
After all, her introduction had been rather unusual to begin with.
“Never mind. As long as you’re on the protagonist’s side, that’s all that matters.”
Lumine nodded, agreeing. “Paimon, I believe you.”
“Really? Waaaah, thank you, Traveler! Thank you so much!”
The two of them began chatting away.
Zephyr didn’t join their conversation. Instead, he took the opportunity to examine the “game” more closely.
He noticed that many of the original game functions were now gone.
The shop, recharge options, events, and even the settings menu had disappeared. He couldn’t even adjust the time anymore.
However, one feature was still available: Wishing!
“Oh, right! My 100 pulls!” Zephyr perked up. After everything that had happened, surely the game would give him something good to compensate, right?
But as soon as he opened the wish menu, his enthusiasm vanished.
“Where’s the character banner? Where’s the character banner?!”
The character wish option was gone. All that remained was the weapon wish and a new artifact wish.
“What the hell!?” The most important part was missing—how was I supposed to play like this?
After a moment of despair, Zephyr sighed in defeat. Complaining wouldn’t change anything.
“Well, whatever. As long as I can wish, it’s better than nothing. Let’s give it a shot.”
He selected Ten Pulls and began his first wish.
Suddenly, ten meteors streaked across the sky.
“Traveler, look! Look! Meteors!” Paimon exclaimed in amazement.
Lumine looked up, marveling, “Seeing meteors in broad daylight is so rare.”
“Yeah, but… wait, those meteors seem to be coming straight toward us?” Paimon’s expression froze.
“Run!”
But it was too late—the meteors were already hurtling down toward them with a ferocious momentum.
“Aah! It hurts! Paimon is going to die! Paimon is going to die… huh? Paimon is fine?” Paimon slowly opened her eyes, initially confused, but quickly noticed ten weapons floating mid-air on the beach.
“Huh? Weapons? Where did these come from? Wait, could those meteors not have been meteors at all but weapons instead?”
Lumine concluded, “This must be a gift from the player!”
“A gift from the player? Wow, the player is amazing! Gifts falling from the sky like this—it's like they're some kind of god!”
Lumine placed her hands on her hips, smirking proudly. “Hmph! Of course!”
“Hey, Traveler, what are you so proud of? I wasn’t praising you.”
“Praising the player is basically the same as praising me because we are one and the same.”
Paimon tilted her head. “Uh, but didn’t you sacrifice your freedom for this? Oh, wait, Paimon get it now. You’re not happy about the gear itself—you’re happy about the player’s strength. The stronger the player is, the greater your chances of saving your sister, right?”
Lumine blinked in surprise. “Paimon, I didn’t know you could be this insightful!”
“Hehe… hehe, my foot! Paimon has always been smart, okay?”
Compared to the overjoyed duo, Zephyr wasn’t quite so enthusiastic.
Sure, watching ten meteors streak across the sky was cool, but…
Ten pulls, ten weapons. How could anyone be happy about that?
Zephyr sighed helplessly. Without the character banner, what else could he do?
After taking a moment to calm down, he muttered, “Let’s see what weapons I got.”
The results of his pull flashed before him: Slingshot, Sharpshooter’s Oath, Emerald Orb, Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers, Debate Club, Skyrider Sword, Bloodtainted Greatsword, Traveler’s Handy Sword, Harbinger of Dawn, and the guaranteed four-star weapon, Sacrificial Sword.
Zephyr covered his mouth, suppressing his frustration.
“This is so painful!”
Out of ten weapons, only the Sacrificial Sword was remotely usable; the rest were junk. How could Zephyr not feel despair?
But from Paimon and Lumine’s perspective, it was a completely different story.
“Wow! Is that the Skyrider Sword?! The legendary blade of countless heroic tales? And, oh! That’s the Bloodtainted Greatsword—the one that injured the evil dragon!
“And here! The Harbinger of Dawn, the Sharpshooter’s Oath… they’re all incredible weapons!”
Finally, Paimon’s eyes landed on the Sacrificial Sword. She froze in shock.
“T-this is the Sacrificial Sword?! The legendary weapon?!”
Paimon was stunned.
While four-star weapons weren’t entirely unheard of, there was a clear distinction between ordinary four-star weapons and rare ones.
Some four-star weapons were relatively common. Others were so rare they were practically mythical.
The Sacrificial Sword fell into the latter category.
...
