Some of you might have seen it that I had originally intended to have the story start at just before Version 4.4, but then I realised how much story potential I'd miss if I did so. Therefore, we're going all the way back to before the Traveler gets to Liyue.
Hope you guys don't mind.
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"What the hell is happening...?"
Alaric could only feel his eye twitching repeatedly in disbelief as he stared at the very unfamiliar first floor of his house, a floor that had appeared and built itself underneath the two floors that made up his original house.
The floor itself wasn't separated into different rooms, but was instead a singular large room naturally the same area size as the house itself. The architecture was still a modern style, and was honestly reminiscent of that of a hotel's front lobby of all things.
There was a resting area with couches next to to coffee tables, with a clean polished white floor with carpet that lead to different sections of the room. One such path being from the front door, now a double door instead of a single, to what looked to be an open front desk.
The most eye-catching things were no doubt the few vending machines that were lined up against the wall, and not to mention the literal elevated platform with what looked to be a hovering crystal that spun in place above said platform.
"The hell is this thing?" Alaric couldn't help but wonder as he walked up to the platform that was placed at the very center of the room, looking up at the floating crystal as he continued. "I seriously gotta be tripping balls, that or I'm in a dream... or maybe both."
[Welcome to the RPG Master System]
[Would you like to proceed with the tutorial? (Yes/No)]
"Could you please shut up for a second? I heard you the first five times." Alaric frowned in annoyance as he looked at the holographic screen in front of him. "I'll get to you soon, let me wrap my head around things first."
During the rather short time, the same notification had popped up several times, obviously trying to get him to interact with it as soon as possible. As curious as he was, he really wanted to figure out where he was first, cause this was certainly not his neighborhood.
He had intended to step outside, hopefully to realise he was just hallucinating, but upon discovering this new first floor a few moments ago really did side track him. Speaking of which, he may as well do so now...
Walking to the front door, not caring that he was still in his sleepwear, Alaric pushed open the doors and stepped out.
"Holy shit..." Alaric muttered as he looked around at the numerous ancient Chinese buildings around him. From first glance, it seems that his house was in one of the rather long streets here in whatever city this is. "This has got to be a dream."
Rubbing his forehead, Alaric felt a massive headache coming on as he tried to wrap his head around the situation he was in. He wasn't the type to believe in supernatural events, nor was he one to deny them outright, so he was one of the neutral people.
Even so, isn't this a bit outrageous?!
"H-Huh, oh... hi."
Rather awkwardly, Alaric gave a small wave back along with a greeting to someone who was walking by, an older male wearing rather old looking clothing. The person gave him an obvious curious look, and no doubt his house as well, while walking by.
The contrast between his modern home and the buildings around him right now kind of really did stick out like a sore thumb.
"No, no, no..." Shaking his head, Alaric quickly turned back and returned inside the house. Looking at the holographic screen, he frowned slightly. "Okay, this thing better explain, otherwise I'm gonna go crazy."
Without hesitation, Alaric pressed on the 'Yes' option.
[Congratulations on being selected as the user of the RPG Master System]
[With it, you have been tasked with distributing a new opportunity to the continent of Teyvat, a chance for the mediocre to rise and the gifted to soar even higher]
[The RPG Master System will provide and assist you in many ways, but most of the benefits will no doubt come in response to your hard work]
"Huh...?" This was Alaric's simple and informative response to what he was reading. "I think I'm even more confused than I was before... At the very least, I got some info about my location. This place is called Teyvat?"
From what the message was saying, Teyvat seemed to be the name of a continent. He may not have been the greatest at geography back in school, but he can at least be sure that he had never heard of Teyvat in his entire life!
"Don't tell me this is some isekai situation..."
As cool as that sounded, Alaric was a bit more realistic.
Isekai most of the time meant being transported into a fantasy world, typically containing some pretty dangerous shit. As cool as using something like magic was, he wasn't sure he'd want to have that in exchange for having to deal with something like a demon lord.
"Okay, so I either got my ass somehow isekaied or I time travelled back to ancient China."
[Please continue to explore the features of the system]
[We hope to see great things from you!]
[...]
[New Main Mission:A Step Towards A New Future]
"A new mission? Wait, that wasn't much of tutorial, like at all!" Alaric complained slightly, but before he could think about it any further, a new holographic screen popped up, naturally drawing his attention towards it. "Whatever. So, this is the menu of the system..."
.
[RPG Master System]
➣ Store Details
➣ Class Files (Active: None): [File 1 - Empty]
➣ Mission (Main: 1 | Side: 0)
➣ Inventory (0/100)
.
"Store details?" Alaric blinked after reading the first options. "Is this a business related system?"
Alaric wasn't unfamiliar with the concept of systems, he'd read his fair share of novels in the past, but a business related system wasn't too common, at least in his experience. Usually the system would always just serve as a means of becoming stronger.
In any case, instead of pondering, Alaric tapped his finger onto the first option within the menu.
.
[Store Details]
➣ Store Name: RPG Masters
➣ Store Level: 1 (EXP: 0/100)
➣ Employees: [None]
➣ Branches: [Liyue Harbour]
➣ Services: [Tier-1 Awakening Crystal]
.
"RPG Masters, strange name." Alaric couldn't help but comment after reading it. "Liyue Harbour? Why does that sound familiar? Hold on... isn't that the name of a city or something from that one gacha game?"
Alaric's experience with such games were novice at best, in fact, his only real experience with gacha games was Honkai Star Rail. He had always avoided such games like the plague, mostly due to his horrible restraint when it came to gambling.
If he wasn't mistaken, Liyue Harbour was a city from Genshin Impact.
Genshin Impact being a game made by the same developers that made Honkai Star Rail, and as for Alaric's experience with the game, he had gotten up to the point where Liyue Harbour was only mentioned, he hadn't actually set foot in the nation it was from, let alone the city itself.
"I wonder if that incident with the dragon has been solved then, assuming this world has the game's plot reflected onto it." Alaric wondered to himself before shaking his head. "Maybe there's a newspaper that will cover the incident, I'd have out check it out later."
While it was mostly out of curiosity, it wouldn't hurt to know if the current world was experiencing the same thing as he did in the plot of the game. Even if that experience of his was amateurish at best.
As for the Awakening Crystal thing, he'd be willing to bet it was that literal floating crystal in the middle of the room.
"Empty file. Class, huh?" Alaric muttered after going back to the main menu and looking at the second option. "I guess it means a Class like from an RPG, would make sense considering the name of this store."
Whatever the case, he didn't seem to be capable of doing anything with the second menu option just yet, so he moved onto the last one.
.
[Mission (Main: 1 | Side: 0)]
➣ A Step Towards A New Future - [Type: Main] [More Details]
.
Naturally, with it being the only mission, Alaric tapped onto it.
.
[Main Mission]
➣ Mission Name: A Step Towards A New Future
➣ Objective (Tracking: On/Off): Explore your new shop to better understand its inner workings (Progress: 0/2)
-
Reward(s):
➣ Mora (Amount: 1,000,000)
➣ Gold Awakening Core
➣ Class Operations Guide Book
.
After reading through everything, Alaric nodded before switching the tracking function on the mission to 'On'. After doing so, he looked around to see a faint but still visible line of golden light leading towards the front desk.
There was also a second line, one much shorter as it lead directly to the awakening crystal that Alaric just so happened to be standing pretty close to. Speaking of that, the Gold Awakening Core in the rewards for the mission was most likely used for this.
Considering the kind of danger this world possessed as far as he knew, having a means of protection was more than desirable.
"Should I just start here?" Alaric asked himself rhetorically before walking a bit closer to the awakening crystal, to which he then reached out and touched it, and despite its appearance had a strange texture he honestly couldn't really describe compare to anything. "Weird..."
.
[Tier-1 Awakening Crystal]
➣ Description: A crystal used to awaken and grant customers a variety of Classes. This awakening crystal is capable of unlocking Common and Rare grade Classes. Each customer can only use this crystal five times per week
➣ Cost: 100,000 Mora
.
"100,000 Mora, huh? Is that a lot or not?" Alaric was doubtful. He knew that Mora was this world's form of currency, but he had no idea what amount was considered rich. "Considering the description, probably not."
Seeing that the crystal could only awaken Common and Rare graded Classes, which most likely weren't all that amazing, probably meant that 100,000 Mora was most likely not all that much money, at least when used as a pricing in this regard.
"It specifically says customers too, does that mean I can't use this myself?" Alaric frowned after having given the description another quick scan over. "If that's true, then although it sucks, I guess it kinda makes sense."
Hypothetically, if his store eventually became really popular and countless customers came flooding in, then he'd be able to use these awakening crystals himself who knows how many times with the accumulated Mora.
"Alright, next is the front desk..."
Closing down the information screen about the Tier-1 Awakening Crystal, Alaric looked before walking over to where the front desk was. Just like with the crystal, after touching it, a new information box appeared.
.
[Front Desk]
➣ Description: Where customers will go to have their questions answered by the individual currently manning it. Newly awakened or to-be-awakened individuals are given a 'Class Operations Guide Book' after awakening to a Class here.
.
"Pretty much just front desk work stuff, huh?" Alaric commented before crossing his arms over his chest. "That sounds a bit troublesome. Especially if that means that I'll have to spend a majority of my time here."
Perhaps that's why there was the section about employees in the 'Store Details' menu that he opened not too long ago. As for who he'd be willing to hire, that was something he'd have to determine later down the line.
As for the guide book that is issued, that was also one of the rewards for the mission.
Alaric was pretty confident in his knowledge of RPG games, especially those where characters are given different classes, he's played his fair share of them. However, he certainly didn't mind at least having guidebook in case there was something he didn't know.
For now...
[Mission Completed: A Step Towards A New Future]
[Rewards have been placed into the Inventory]
The Inventory was the next menu option after the Missions, and since it said that he didn't have anything, he naturally didn't bother checking it out. However, now that it had something, he had a reason to take a look.
.
[Inventory (3/100)]
➣ Mora - [Description: The accepted form of currency used across Teyvat] [Amount: 1,000,000]
➣ Gold Awakening Core - [Description: Can be used on any tier of awakening crystal, granting the user a Class of any grade level no matter what tier awakening crystal it is used on] [Amount: 1]
➣ Class Operations Guide Book - [Description: A guide book with information regarding how to operate the class system as well as overall details regarding Classes and more as whole can be found within] [Amount: 1]
.
"I see, so it's basically the same but with a much bigger pool of results." Alaric nodded in understanding after reading the Gold Awakening Core's description. "The question is whether or not it bypasses that customer restriction. Only one way to find out..."
Walking back over to the crystal, Alaric pondered for a moment before deciding to step onto the platform. He didn't exactly know the specifics of what he was supposed to do, but a platform is usually made to stand on, right?
After tapping onto the Gold Awakening Core in his Inventory, it materialized as a solid glowing golden diamond-shaped jewel with two rings of white light that seemed to orbit around it as if the core was a planet.
"How do I use this thing?" Alaric frowned before deciding to use the simplest possible method. "Screw it, hope this works..."
Alaric wasn't hoping for anything crazy, but he wanted a Class that could at least provide him with a good deal of combat potential. In a world like this with monster's like hilichurls and whatever else it had in store for him, he wanted to be prepared.
Holding the core up, Alaric watched with relief as it seemed to float up and into the Tier-1 Awakening Crystal. After doing so, the awakening crystal itself began to light up with a powerful yet condensed glow.
The crystal began to spin rapidly in place, and a pillar of transparent light completely enveloped Alaric's whole body. Although nervous, Alaric forced himself to stand still as this light grew denser before it went from transparent to solid light.
As the pillar of light continued to glow, it was only after a few seconds did it slowly begin to dim and reveal what was within.
[...]
[...]
[...]
[New File: Moon Sovereign (Legendary)]