Chapter 153: Paimon's Bizarre Adventure
Following Zhongli's insightful guidance in the group chat, every member now possessed a much clearer vision for their future path. Wasting no time, they all threw themselves into urgent cultivation, eager to improve their strength.
In a guest room at the Goth Grand Hotel in Mondstadt, a familiar scene was playing out.
Paimon watched as Lumine sat down cross-legged, her posture settling as she prepared to enter a state of deep meditation. Her little eyes darted about, a familiar, mischievous glint appearing within them as a scheme began to brew.
She floated right in front of Lumine, rubbing her small hands together in a wheedling gesture. "Umm... Lumine," she began, her voice dripping with manufactured sweetness. "Look, your talent is just so amazing, and those new abilities you got are so powerful! You should definitely start cultivating right away!"
"As for Paimon... hehe, Paimon will just help you stand guard! And also... also study the mind technique part of Mr. Zhongli's 'Enlighten My Original True Self Technique'. Just, you know, read it!" she chirped. "It costs points to enter the cultivation room, what a waste! Besides, Paimon just found a super interesting light novel that she hasn't finished reading yet..."
Unfortunately for her, Lumine had long since seen through her little tricks.
Lumine opened her eyes, her gaze flat and expressionless as she stared at her companion. Her tone brooked no argument. "No. You're coming in with me. This cultivation technique is important. Who knows, if we run into some kind of illusion in the future, this might be the only thing that can help us."
Lumine knew Paimon all too well. Her capacity for learning was actually quite astonishing; she had managed to absorb the contents of those deeply dense books Alhaitham had sent her in just two years of spare time. She had even been evaluated by the Scribe himself as 'capable of assisting with a Sage's research project.' Paimon's potential was far greater than her playful, lazy exterior suggested.
What she had always lacked was the enthusiasm for active learning and the perseverance to see it through. With a potential crisis looming, it was time for a little push.
"W-wooo... but cultivation is so boring..." Paimon whined, deploying her ultimate technique of acting spoiled. She wriggled in the air, a tiny, pouting storm of protest, making one last desperate struggle for freedom.
Lumine remained unmoved, simply watching her silently.
Seeing Lumine's unyielding resolve, Paimon knew her companion was only doing this for her own good. In the end, she deflated like a punctured balloon, her head drooping in surrender. "Alright, alright... Paimon knows... Honestly, always forcing Paimon to study..."
She grumbled under her breath, mentally retrieving the secret manual from the group's shared warehouse before reluctantly paying the 100-point entry fee.
With a soft flash of light, her small figure vanished from the guest room, transported into the chat group's dedicated cultivation space.
The flow of time within the cultivation room was different from the outside world, and its environment could be altered at will. Paimon, seeking some small comfort, configured the space to resemble a quiet and elegant study.
The cultivation of the 'Enlighten My Original True Self Technique' was, as Zhongli had said, not as difficult as ascending to the heavens. The first part consisted of a mental incantation, which only required repeated recitation—or even silent chanting—to gradually calm the mind, concentrate the spirit, and nourish one's mental energy.
For Paimon, who had already survived Alhaitham's "devil training," this was a piece of cake. She grasped the essentials in no time at all.
The trouble arose in the second part: visualizing oneself and constructing the "Image of the Original Heart."
The technique required the cultivator to construct a clear image deep within their consciousness, one that represented their "True Self" or their "Ideal Self." This image could be their current form or a future version they yearned to become. However, once the visualization was set, it would be difficult to change in the short term and would deeply affect all subsequent cultivation.
'Visualizing my future self, huh...'Paimon mused, sitting cross-legged on a soft carpet, her small hand propping up her chin as she was lost in thought.'Future Paimon... will definitely still be this smart, cute, and loved by everyone! Preferably... preferably a little taller? And able to eat all the delicious food she wants without getting fat? And have stronger abilities to help Lumine better... Hmm, it seems Paimon is asking for a bit too much...'
She tried to concentrate, attempting to sketch out a more glorious, majestic, yet still utterly adorable version of herself in her mind's eye.
But just as her consciousness was fully immersed, beginning to outline that vague, perfect image... a sudden change occurred.
Tucked away in her small inventory space, that strange disc she had drawn from the gacha—the one with the green-tier quality that seemed so unremarkable—began to emit a faint, imperceptible fluctuation.
The next moment, it materialized out of thin air, floating directly in front of the meditating Paimon.
"Huh?" Paimon sensed the disturbance and opened her eyes in confusion. "This disc... how did it come out by itself?"
Before she could react, the disc erupted in a soft, brilliant light. A vast and alien stream of information, like a bursting dam, forcefully surged into her mind.
Paimon's vision blurred. Her consciousness felt as if it were being forcibly ripped away, thrown into a completely unfamiliar, fantastical, and wondrous journey.
It was the story of a tall, seventeen-year-old young man named Jotaro Kujo.
He existed in a world utterly different from Teyvat. His personality was cold and distant, yet beneath it lay an unbreakable will and a fierce determination to protect his family and friends.
And what shocked Paimon to her core was that this young man could also summon a guardian spirit—a Stand named "Star Platinum," whose power, speed, and precision were so overwhelming they defied belief.
'So... so that's how Star Platinum came to be?!' Paimon's consciousness, both an observer and a participant, followed Jotaro's perspective, experiencing one thrilling battle after another, each one a maelstrom of wits and courage.
She saw how Jotaro used Star Platinum to unleash precise, lightning-fast barrages of "ORA ORA ORA!" She witnessed him create miracles in the impossibly brief gaps of stopped time. She felt how he wielded this incredible power with a spirit and will as unyielding as diamond...
This "movie-like" experience contained a colossal amount of information, yet Paimon miraculously understood and absorbed it all. The techniques for using Star Platinum, in particular, seemed to be branded directly onto her very instincts.
After an unknown amount of time had passed, the light from the floating disc gradually dimmed. Finally, with a soft crack, as if it had exhausted all its power, it shattered into motes of light and dissipated completely into the air of the cultivation room.
With the disc's disappearance, the vast stream of information receded like the tide. The clear memories of that specific story, of that young man's experiences, began to blur and fade rapidly, as if it were all just a hazy dream.
However, the techniques and experiences—how to fight, how to seize an opportunity, how to wield the power of Star Platinum with greater subtlety—did not disappear. Instead, they settled deep within her, transforming into a deep, almost instinctual "muscle memory."
"Hmm..." Paimon shook her slightly dizzy little head, her consciousness slowly returning to her body.
"What... what just happened? It feels like Paimon had a very long and strange dream... Paimon seems to have learned a lot... but can't quite remember what..."
Her head felt muddled, as if a mountain of things had been forcibly stuffed inside, only for most of it to be taken away again, leaving only a faint, lingering sensation.
"Oh no! Don't think about it, don't think about it!" She shook her head vigorously, trying to dispel the fog of confusion. "Paimon almost forgot the main thing! I'm still visualizing! It seems I was interrupted halfway through... Let's quickly see what my visualized future Paimon looks like! It must be a super smart, cute, and powerful, perfect image!"
She closed her eyes again, concentrated her mind, and with a heart full of anticipation, "looked" at the "Image of the Original Heart" that had just taken shape within her.
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