Dying in a sickbed, I bolt upright—it turns out I'm the one who time-traveled!
Right beside the Statue of The Seven at Starfell Lake in Mondstadt, a handsome fellow whose looks rivaled those of the readers was jolted awake in an instant.
He looked at his surroundings, and then at the slacking-off god's statue beside him, falling into deep thought.
"What the hell, Genshin?!"
"I was playing Honkai: Star Rail, why did I cross over into Teyvat?"
Jiang Chen stared blankly at his surroundings—the Statue of The Seven, and the surrounding environment and lake scaled up several times over.
He was far too familiar with this. Wasn't this Starfell Lake, the exact spot he always ran down to catch fish whenever he passed by in the game?
By the lake, dangling lotus flowers were waiting for handsome guys to come and pick them.
Jiang Chen hurriedly grabbed the statue to steady himself as he stood up.
To wake up right next to a Statue of The Seven the moment he arrived—Jiang Chen didn't even know what to say.
When Jiang Chen stood up, his right hand grazed the statue, and he felt a sudden, slight sting.
*Ding...*
Huh?
"System?"
As the saying goes, a ding-dong sound means instant liftoff.
He was hearing it now!
So was this the rhythm of taking off?
However, the imagined continuation of the voice didn't happen; all that appeared was a panel.
*Data loading...*
*Starting panel load...*
With the appearance of this progress bar, Jiang Chen's eyes instantly lit up.
*Spirit Graph acquired: Karna.*
*Starting fusion.*
Accompanied by the final two prompts, something seemed to have multiplied inside Jiang Chen's body.
A scorching wave of magical energy flooded Jiang Chen's entire being.
Immediately afterward, Jiang Chen's vision blurred, and he seemed to catch a glimpse of that Son of the Sun from Indian mythology.
At that moment, Jiang Chen's pitch-black hair also began to turn white.
A massive influx of information flooded into Jiang Chen's mind as if it cost nothing.
The pain caused Jiang Chen to drop to his knees instantly, face-planting once more.
At the same time, a terrifying power began to manifest throughout Jiang Chen's bones and limbs.
In just a split second, Jiang Chen felt as though a single sneeze from him could annihilate his former self.
Feeling the rich power surging within his body, Jiang Chen was utterly shocked.
"So this is the power of Karna, huh?"
Muttering to himself, Jiang Chen's thoughts stirred, and a spear composed of lightning materialized in his hand.
Calling it a spear was one thing, but was it actually a greatsword?
Gripping the shaft of the spear, Jiang Chen channeled his internal magical energy into it.
The next moment, the magical energy surged through the shaft to the tip of the spear.
The spearhead abruptly lengthened and sprouted double blades!
This was Vasavi Shakti!
As long as Jiang Chen wished, it could even transform into various weapons.
Spears, bows and arrows, even projectile weapons and armor.
It completely depended on what you needed, and the weapon would transform accordingly.
Adapting to suit his own demands.
After all, Karna was capable of holding multiple classes.
And the Noble Phantasms acquired by Jiang Chen naturally came along with it.
At the same time... this Vasavi Shakti also possessed formidable might.
Subjugation of Death was an EX-rank anti-divine Noble Phantasm to boot.
The kind that came with a guaranteed-death attribute.
"So, am I already invincible?"
Feeling the immense power within his body, Jiang Chen suddenly felt a sense of emptiness.
Invincibility came far too quickly.
He hadn't even had the chance to properly savor the thrill of growing stronger.
With a snap of the fingers, it was maxed out instantly.
Looking at the Noble Phantasm in his hand, Jiang Chen's thoughts stirred, and it instantly morphed into armor that clothed his body.
The signature armor of Karna.
"Hmm!!"
"A bit unappealing, let's change it!"
As his voice fell, Jiang Chen molded the armor on his body according to his own ideas.
After a bit of tinkering, Jiang Chen discovered that as long as he was willing, it could take on any shape whatsoever.
Since that was the case, it might as well replace his regular casual clothes.
After all, he didn't want to walk around looking bizarre.
This was Teyvat; although there were plenty of strange suits of armor around, Jiang Chen still preferred wearing his own clothes.
Once he finished all of this, Jiang Chen couldn't have been more satisfied.
Aside from his newfound strength, Jiang Chen also discovered he had gained a storage space.
The kind where you could stuff pretty much anything inside.
However, his Noble Phantasm wasn't kept in the storage space; rather, it resided within his very body.
After all, the Noble Phantasm was one with Jiang Chen.
Aside from these, there was nothing else.
"Is this system a bit weak?"
"And then?"
"That's it?"
"Just handing over a template and a spatial inventory?"
"Is there anything else?"
"What about quests?"
Jiang Chen stared at this pathetic little system, a wave of confusion washing over him.
He glanced at the Statue of The Seven nearby.
Could it be that he had to explore Teyvat and go touch the Statue of The Seven just like Lumine?
"Look over there, there's a Statue of The Seven ahead."
"Wait, there's someone else over there too, eh."
Just as Jiang Chen's mind was wandering wildly, a familiar voice drifted over.
Wasn't that Paimon's voice?
Jiang Chen was far too familiar with Paimon's voice.
Turning his head to look, sure enough... Jiang Chen saw a blonde mute bride and a white-haired flying toddler looking over from across the lake.
Jiang Chen turned his head to look at Lumine and Paimon.
Is this the very beginning of the story?
When Paimon caught sight of Jiang Chen, she was struck dumb with amazement.
"Whoa!!"
"So handsome!!"
"Could this be the legendary person who's as handsome as the readers?"
"Lumine, did you see that?"
"He's so handsome!!"
Even Paimon was utterly captivated by Jiang Chen's good looks.
Faced with Paimon's query, Lumine indicated that she had indeed seen him.
He really was quite handsome.
"Hello there!"
Even though Jiang Chen was quite surprised inwardly, he still greeted them.
Hearing Jiang Chen's words, both Lumine and Paimon froze for a moment.
Glancing at the distance between them and thinking it over, Lumine took a step back, then suddenly accelerated, leaped high into the air, and jumped straight across.
Seeing this, Paimon hurried to follow.
Lumine had leaped directly across from the opposite bank.
Thank goodness it wasn't too far of a distance; otherwise, Lumine probably would have ended up in the lake, right?
Starfell Lake itself wasn't very large, coupled with Lumine's exceptional physical fitness.
That was the only reason she was able to jump across directly.
After all, even though her powers were still sealed and unreleased, her physical strength was still somewhat intact.
*Thud!*
Lumine landed heavily on the island, nearly taking a tumble.
She quickly steadied herself, however.
"Hello!"
Once she was steady, she finally greeted Jiang Chen.
Seeing her badass antics, Jiang Chen couldn't help but be amused.
"Lumine, doing that is way too dangerous!!"
"What would you have done if you fell into the lake?"
As Paimon flew over, she began nagging like an old mother.
Hearing her words, Lumine rolled her eyes.
"Should I have just swam across instead?"
If she hadn't done that, would she have had to strip off her clothes and swim across?
She certainly wasn't going to do that.
Hearing this, Paimon choked on her words.
Fine!
What she said made total sense; if she hadn't jumped across, it really wouldn't have worked.
Paimon didn't dwell on the matter any longer, instead turning her gaze toward Jiang Chen.
"Hello there~!"
"I'm Paimon, and she's Lumine."
"May I ask what you're called?"
The divine mouth not only introduced herself, but conveniently blurted out Lumine's name as well.
"Jiang Chen!"
Faced with Paimon's inquiry, Jiang Chen reported his own name as well.
Hearing the name Jiang Chen, Paimon looked somewhat surprised.
Was this someone from neighboring Liyue?