5 Chapter 05: A Newfound Power

If we reach 100 power stones there will be an extra chapter <3< p>

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It had been millennia since Teyvat world had been involved in that unprecedented and devastating war between beings of unimaginable power. The catastrophic effects of that conflict were still evident in some areas of this world.

After long years of war, the original Seven had emerged victorious. Each embodied and mastered one of the seven elements, and with their victory they acquired the divine Archon status.

To restore order after the war, the original Seven divided Teyvat world into seven regions, each under their protection and rule. Since then, approximately two thousand years have passed, during which time the Archons have cared for those places.

And the monumental statue in front of me belonged to one of them. Barbatos, the Anemo Archon who rules the wind and symbolizes freedom.

The voice in my head kept calling me, and I felt it was coming from the statue.

I remembered that in the video game, at the beginning the Traveler received wind power by touching a Barbatos statue. But my case was different. I didn't have a floating fairy as a guide, but it was calling me itself.

"I lose nothing by trying — Will I be able to get some power too?"

After a brief observation period, I approached the statue and placed my hand on the cold stone. At that moment it began to glow with a pale blue light. Before I removed my hand, I clearly heard a soft voice in my mind:

"The world opens up to those of noble heart."

After hearing the voice, a pale bluish light began to swirl fast around me and entered my body. I felt as if a great wind enveloped me.

Perhaps because I had been in Gods Realm for a while, now that I was reborn I was more aware of myself. Therefore, I instinctively knew that something different and something I was not used to had settled inside my soul.

"This... It's actually the wind power."

Now that I had put an end to the thirst, I took advantage of the time to experiment with my powers.... Or the powers gifted to me. I didn't quite understand how the Statue of Seven worked, but apparently it gave a small portion of Archon Barbatos to the Traveler, and now to me.

Using the Anemo element, wind, should not be difficult. That was because after receiving the blessing from the statue, I could feel how to channel its energy.

I concentrated on feeling the Anemo element flow into a part of my soul. Then I imagined the wind covering my body and at that moment, a current of air came out of me.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that my arms, legs and my whole body were enveloped in a subtle cyan green cloak that shimmered faintly. It was as if tiny wind dusts were enveloping me.

As I looked ahead, I could better perceive colors and details. Unintentionally, Anemo's power also entered my eyes and they hurt a little, although it greatly improved my vision.

Another thing I noticed was that I could hear much more clearly. Although I was not at Superman, for example, I sensed a leaf falling toward me from above.

As well as my senses, my agility and reflexes improved enormously. With just one movement, for an instant I seemed to merge with the wind to move fast a few meters away.

It was too fast, to the point where I almost lost my legs control. I came to the conclusion that if the goddess Astraia had not blessed me with this physical condition, I would have surely crashed into the Statue of the Seven.

I performed some tests and indeed my agility and dexterity were well above average. Even by disabling the power of the wind, I was able to carry and lift a log of about 50 kilograms without difficulty.

'The goddess went a bit overboard in strengthening my physique...'

It seemed that the Anemo element improved my speed, reflexes and perception, while my body was naturally strengthened in strength, stamina and durability thanks to the goddess Astraia's enhancement.

It wasn't a bad combo buff. In fact, it had great potential to explore further. Although also, I was sure I could accomplish more with the Anemo, at that moment another matter caught my attention more.

I closed my eyes and breathed in sync with my heart sound. Suddenly, I felt as if a spark went through my mind, along with a word that appeared in the form of runes in thoughts.

"Clock of Eternal Resonance."

As I opened my eyes, I witnessed how a large circular figure in the shape of an hourglass was drawn on the ground, of which I was in the center. In amazement, I watched as the environment changed around me within 10 meters.

As I activated the ability, the fluttering leaves and butterflies seemed to stop dead in their tracks. Even the wind stopped blowing.

However, as I watched carefully I noticed something very important. The leaves were still falling and the butterflies' wings were fluttering in slow motion, almost imperceptibly. The wind was also blowing but in a leisurely way. If I didn't have acute senses, I would think that the environment had completely frozen.

Pitifully, I realized then that I could not stop time completely, but I could slow it down to a great extent. Even if it was not the same as in my thoughts, this ability was still really useful.

It could be put to good use in many ways, this was good, if anything.

I suddenly let out a groan and felt a loud hammering in my head. That pain caused "Clock of Eternal Resonance" to deactivate and everything went back to normal.

Apparently I could only keep it active for 10 seconds at most, then came a terrible headache. Unpleasant...

'Of course, getting stronger will depend entirely on you, on your abilities and how you know how to handle it'.

Now I understood what she meant.

While I could only use it briefly for now, but in her words, it meant that there was potential for improvement over time. How to strengthen it was still a mystery, as apart from the name and this brief test, I knew nothing about it.

Then, I heard an animated "Boing, boing!" that caught my attention. As I looked toward the lake, I saw a strange bouncing ball coming closer.

That's not a ball, those are slimes!

They were two very funny and cute creatures. They had huge white eyes that were completely round and every jump they took on the water froze it into a thin frost. Their almost transparent bodies took on a white hue like freshly fallen snow.

"Two Cryo type slimes."

I approached carefully to take a closer look at them. Their antics with the water only exposed their icy powers.

They were very refreshing friends.

Slimes tend to be fairly typical creatures in video games. They are usually described as gelatinous and appear at first as easy enemies to defeat.

But these slimes I saw were different. In this world, slimes could adopt elemental abilities depending on their type. For example, these two could manipulate the element ice, which is known here as Cryo.

That made them more interesting, because although their appearance is still funny, they now had new powers. They were no longer simple enemies. The further you progressed in the story and your team was weak, the more annoying they would become.

The two Slimes soon closed the distance to me. Their bodies seemed to flatten against the ground as they expanded, before with a "Boing," they leapt into the air. In the sunlight, the shadow of the two slimes overshadowed my figure.

As I watched the enemy collapse, I completely dodged the attack. For some reason I was sure I could avoid the attack from the start. The opponent's movement, I could see it.

This is physical effect strengthening ability the goddess gave me. I move my body forward and kick the Slime like a ball.

Boing!

Wow, that was a good kick. The slime flew off, and gave a little star-shaped glow in the sky.

When I turned around, not holding back, I pushed my foot into other Slime body who flattened itself on the ground and my kick landed on it. My foot went into its soft body and bounced far away.

Nice, they won't be bothering me again from now on.

I didn't have a weapon to kill them. Maybe I should have used the Anemo element, but I still felt a slight itch in my head from using "Clock of Eternal Resonance."

Around this place there should be that thing, right? The object I was looking for was called, I think? Anemoculus. A rather strange name... It was used to make offerings at the Statue of the Seven of Mondstat.

With that in mind, I looked at the stem of the tree. With its large roots, it was easy to climb. But higher up, I had to move more carefully so as not to fall. This tree was uselessly gigantic, so only a few minutes later, I reached my destination.

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