Chapter 314: Lumine begins the Body Tempering Path
The laughter faded into a comfortable silence as Paimon eagerly dug into her stash. With a triumphant hum, the little floating guide whipped out her next prize—a sleek, blue-glowing card identical to the one March 7th had flaunted earlier. It was the [Chat Group Training Room Pass].
Paimon hugged the glowing rectangle to her chest, a rare look of genuine, unadulterated joy lighting up her features.
In the past, Paimon's greatest desires usually revolved around finding the softest bed or the most decadent Sticky Honey Roast. But things had changed. The memory of Natlan still haunted her. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the terrifying shockwave of Gosoythoth's devastating ambush—the way Lumine had been thrown back, narrowly escaping severe injury. That singular, horrifying image played on a loop in her mind, a dark nightmare that refused to fade.
For the first time in their long journey, the reality of their situation crashed down on her. The hidden dangers lurking across the multiverse far exceeded anything she had imagined. Simply hiding behind Lumine's protective back was no longer an option.
A fierce, unmatched craving for her own strength took root in her tiny chest. She did not just want to rely on Optimization Power anymore. She wanted to truly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Lumine, to be a reliable partner in the heat of battle rather than a fragile mascot waiting to be rescued.
This pass, which would allow her to train in absolute peace for an entire month, was exactly what she needed.
Clenching her tiny fists in front of her, she puffed out her chest. "This time, Paimon is going to train seriously! Just you wait!"
Lumine exchanged a brief, knowing glance with Venti. Given the little guide's notoriously flighty nature and legendary attention span, both the Traveler and the bard silently placed bets on exactly how many days—or hours—this fiery determination would actually last.
With Paimon's loot safely tucked away, the main spoils for the bard and the guide had been fully tallied.
Venti leaned back, stroking his chin. A theatrical look of confusion crossed his youthful face as his emerald eyes drifted toward Lumine. The blonde Traveler had been sitting quietly, a serene, almost secretive smile playing on her lips.
"Hmm? How strange," Venti mused, tilting his head. "The total haul seems just a tiny bit lighter than I expected. Assuming little Klee's pure, overwhelmingly powerful blessing of luck hasn't suddenly fizzled out... then by all laws of probability, the absolute best drop of the day should be sitting right there in your hands, Traveler. The grand finale, wouldn't you say?"
Lumine's smile widened, her golden eyes sparkling with amusement. She did not bother keeping the Anemo Archon in suspense. "Your intuition is as sharp as ever, Venti. You caught me." She nodded candidly. "I do have something else... a purple-tier item."
Paimon gasped so hard she choked on empty air, her flight path wobbling dangerously before she managed to stabilize herself. "P-Purple?!" she squeaked, her eyes wide as saucers.
"Oh?" Venti dropped his playful, drunken-bard persona instantly. He leaned forward, genuine intrigue flashing in his gaze. "It seems Klee's blessing really did work wonders for you today! Don't keep us waiting, Traveler. What exactly did you pull?"
Under their intense, expectant stares, Lumine reached into her inventory. Slowly, she withdrew an object that instantly bathed the surrounding room in a deep, regal purple luminescence.
It was not a legendary sword, nor was it an ancient, crumbling cultivation manual. Instead, it was a bizarre construct that seemed to be forged entirely out of pure, solidified energy.
It took the shape of an anvil. The surface shimmered fluidly, resembling molten metal caught in a state of suspended animation. complex, ever-shifting runes crawled across its purple exterior, pulsing with a heavy, grounded aura that practically hummed with infinite potential.
[Let's Forge Forge Forge On!] (Purple Quality)
Description: Originating from a runic world defined by fierce competition and boundless possibilities, this peculiar creation is materialized from prismatic runic power symbolizing growth and adaptation. It is commonly known as an Attribute Forger.
Mechanics: Upon binding this item, it will automatically condense ambient energy at midnight every day, providing the holder with three randomly generated Attribute Shards.
These shards encompass over thirty distinct combat and survival parameters, including but not limited to: Strength, Agility, Constitution, Elemental Damage Bonus, and Elemental Resistance.
Each successfully absorbed Attribute Shard permanently increases the holder's corresponding base stat by 1 to 3 percent, scaling with the shard's generated quality of Tiny, Small, or Standard.
[Note: The three daily Attribute Shards are completely random. Any unabsorbed shards will dissipate upon the next midnight refresh. The enhancement effect is calculated multiplicatively against the user's base attributes. Please persevere in forging your power!]
Paimon floated closer, squinting at the glowing anvil. She tilted her head, her initial awe rapidly deflating into a look of blatant disappointment. Pinching her thumb and index finger together to leave a microscopic gap, she scoffed.
"Eh? Only three random stats a day? And they only go up by one measly percent? That sounds incredibly... shoddy." She crossed her arms, pouting. "This thing is way too stingy! If it is supposed to be a super rare purple-tier item, shouldn't it be way more generous? Like, giving you a flat twenty percent boost right off the bat?"
Venti, who had been taking a leisurely sip from his wine glass while listening to Paimon's deep critique, nearly inhaled his drink. Coughing to clear his lungs, he shook his head with a wry, exasperated smile. He looked at the floating guide with the pitying expression of an elder dealing with a very naive child.
"Oh, Paimon. You are so completely, utterly wrong about this."
He raised an index finger, wagging it back and forth with sudden earnestness. "You must never underestimate the terrifying power of a measly daily improvement. This is not some fleeting, one-time buff that wears off after a battle. This is permanent, compounding growth. Every single day."
He gestured vaguely toward the window. "Think of Cider Lake just outside the city walls. Most days, it looks perfectly still and calm. But every single raindrop, every tiny stream that trickles down from the mountains, accumulates over the years. That slow, steady accumulation is exactly what creates such a vast, deep body of water."
His tone dropped, losing its usual breezy cadence. "Do the math, little guide. Even if Lumine only gains a two percent increase to a base stat today... what happens after ten days? A month? A full year?"
"As long as she stays alive and keeps absorbing those shards, the sheer volume of raw power she will accumulate is staggering. The extent to which her physical and elemental foundations will be tempered..." Venti shuddered playfully, though his eyes remained sharp. "Even I, the Anemo Archon, hesitate to calculate the endgame of such a terrifying trajectory. To think a growth-type treasure like this actually exists in reality..."
Lumine watched Venti's theatrical awe and Paimon's slowly dawning horror. She could not help but laugh, the sound bright and grounding.
"You are overstating it a bit, Venti," she explained, her voice calm and remarkably pragmatic. "The enhancement effect isn't truly infinite. It has a hard ceiling."
She ran her fingers lightly over the shimmering purple runes of the Attribute Forger, feeling the subtle, ingrained laws of the item pulse against her skin. "According to the information feeding into my mind right now, this percentage-based growth is strictly bound by the overarching laws of the world we currently inhabit."
"At its absolute peak, it can only multiply my base attributes a few times over their original foundation. It cannot stack endlessly, nor can it force my physical vessel to exceed the absolute power limit that the world of Teyvat is capable of accommodating."
"Think of it less as a ticket to infinite godhood, and more as a highly efficient foundation-solidifying tool. It guarantees that I will eventually reach the absolute ceiling of this world's power scale. But to actually shatter that ceiling and ascend further? I will still need to find my own opportunities and epiphanies."
"Lumine—" Venti dragged out her name, his emerald eyes narrowing into a teasing, deeply envious glare.
"Are you entirely sure you aren't just showing off right now? That is the most outrageous humble-brag I have ever heard. Oh, it has a limit, I can only multiply my base stats several times over." He mimicked her calm tone before throwing his hands up.
"You are practically going to become... wait, what was that term the outlanders use? Ah, yes! A stat monster! That is it. It is an absolute, unavoidable certainty that you are going to become a terrifying stat monster who crushes everything in her path with sheer, brute-force numbers!"
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