Ch 1 (proof read)

Mondstadt City

In the dead of night, The Acting Grandmaster Jean could be seen leaving the Knights of Favonius HQ after a long day. It was already late at night as she walked along the city street. She tightened up her ponytail which had gotten a little messy after a long day at work. The exhaustion was evident on her pretty face.

It has been a very busy few months lately as the dragon known as Stormterror has been causing frequent disturbances around Mondstadt alongside the monsters outside the city becoming much more active as a result of it. The requests for aid I've piled up upon her desk like the Cathedral's spires.

All the other members of the knights had already gone to rest for the day, but Jean herself had to stay up late into the night to handle those matters. Now she had come out alone for a breath of fresh air and a momentary rest before returning to her work.

Subconsciously, she finds herself on the streets in the northern part of the city. During the day, there would be many shops open, but of course, they were all closed at this late hour of the night.

However, at the end of the street, Jean saw an odd storefront with its lights still on.

"A Mobile Game Cafe?" Jean quietly read the words on the sign, feeling a sense of oddity and bewilderment, 'Mobile games? What are those?' Jean had no memories of this place. 'Was this shop newly opened?'.

Driven by her curiosity, Jean stepped into the Cafe. A chime of a bell jingling to signal her arrival.

"Welcome."

As soon as she entered, a male voice reached Jean's ears. She looked at the man who appeared to be the shop owner. He is a fit young man with a handsome appearance and simple clothing.

Jean then took a moment to survey the interior. The space inside was quite large, but it had a sense of calming and relaxing atmosphere to it.

The closest thing she compared it to was the numerous taverns in Monstadt without an overbearing scent of alcohol permeating everywhere. Instead, it was filled with a subtle yet refreshing fragrance.

It seemed to have a refreshing and relaxing effect, calming one's restless mind, even though there was not much inside the shop at first glance at least the peaceful atmosphere made it a suitable place for a brief respite.

Inside, there were semi-open booths separated from each other each with comfortable seating.

"May I ask what you do here?" Jean inquire.

"Of course, this place is where customers can play mobile games and relax at the same time," The owner then pointed to the sign at the front of the desk.

Jean looked at it, quietly reading the content of the sign.

The first line says 'The first mobile game café in all of Mondstadt.

The second is the price for using the device provided by the owner.

"Ten thousand Mora for one hour?" Jean showed a face full of surprise.

Clearly, the price was quite pricey. After all, with 10,000 Mora, you could buy a week's worth of groceries. Moreover, it was only for a short one-hour session. Even Angel's Share, the largest and most famous Tavern in Mondstadt, didn't ask for such a price for its services.

Looking at the seemingly ordinary shopkeeper, Jean hadn't expected, such exorbitant prices here.

The owner noticed Jean's change in demeanour and immediately understood her thoughts, with a slight smile, he spoke, "The price may look quite steep, but trust me, the game you will experience in my cafe will definitely make every single Mora you spend here worth it."

Jeans shook her head slightly. After all in her mind, this place was just a place for relaxation and leisure. The term 'mobile games' might have just been something made up by the owner. After all, it could be a place for massages for all she knew.

She quickly turns around, not feeling the need to waste her time here any longer. She only came here to check out the place and clear her mind. Compared to her physical fatigue, her mental exhaustion from dealing with the threat of Stormterror was much more taxing. Although, as The Acting Grandmaster, 10,000 Mora was not all that significant a price for her, she would still rather do something else with it to help calm her mind.

"Dear guest, since my establishment is newly open, how about I offer you a two-hour free trial for my product? If you are not satisfied, you're free to leave at any moment," The owner unworriedly said which made Jean stop and reconsider. It seems the owner knew too well all about how to attract a customer's attention.

The owner must've thought that once customers experienced the magic of the so-called 'mobile game', they would return, for a second, and third time, The owner must have great confidence in the content of his mobile game.

Maybe he was surprised that the first customer was none other than her, The Acting Grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius. So the owner must've put in more effort to sway her.

Upon hearing the offer Jean's, initial resistance had wavered.

'So, a two-hour free trial… If that is the case, then trying it out shouldn't hurt' Jean thought.

…

Sitting on the gaming chair, Jean moved her neck slightly to help remove her shawl, placing it on the nearby table, revealing her smooth neck and fine collarbone. She closed her eyes, waiting for the next step in this 'mobile game.'

In Mondstadt, the customs were very simple, and even massages were conducted with a certain formality to them. Jean could never imagine the owner would take advantage of such a situation, so she relaxed her mind and waited for whatever would come next.

However, after waiting for a while without feeling any massage, Jean was puzzled and then opened her eyes.

Before her was the handsome and stoic face of the owner with concern on his face. Green eyes looked at her as if she was an uneducated child just stepping out into the real world for the first time.

Jean then sat up and their faces got very close to each other. She was no more than a hairbreath away from being intimate with this man.

Jean had been fairly sheltered while growing up so she had very little contact with members of the opposite gender besides her father, so she started blushing like crazy.

"Wh... Wh... What are you doing…!?" Jean said with a slight stutter.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, I have set up the game for you, but what are you doing?" The man asked equally puzzled by her actions.

Meanwhile, in the owner's head, his mind was filled by what Jean was trying to do earlier. He had just placed the phone on the table and even set up an account for her, he was just waiting for her to touch the screen and start playing. However, Jean had for some inexplicable reason she had reclined the chair, looking like she was waiting for something, furthermore, she had taken off her shawl in advance, revealing her fair-coloured skin. 'Could it be… No, surely not… The Acting Grandmaster Jean I know doesn't act like this!' He thought to himself, realising that she must've misunderstood what this place was.

===

"Cough, cough…" Jean faked coughed, failing to hide her flustered face as she brushed her hair away from her ear.

Maintaining a slightly upright posture, Jean realised that she had misunderstood what this store was and was now feeling no end to her embarrassment. She chooses to focus all her attention on the palm-sized 'box' in front of her to distract her from her blunder.

"So, you are saying that this thing in front of me is called a 'phone'? And that 'mobile games' refer to the games that can be played on it?" Jean asked, finally calming down.

"You catch on quick," Praised the owner

Jean found it quite unbelievable that a device like this could exist. Her thoughts were filled with how this was possible as she was captivated by this palm-sized device.

"It can actually emit light, and there are moving pictures on it, this is truly amazing."

At this moment the screen of the phone displayed the game's entry interface: a mysterious sky background with archways, pillars and a walkway made with stone which was followed by an arched gate being built at the centre of it.

"The screen is touch-sensitive, so you just need to tap the screen once," t

The owner reminded her as Jean was just staring at the phone, obviously unaware of how to operate the thing.

Upon hearing the owner's guidance, Jean hesitantly used her slender index finger to tap the screen, making sure to be extra careful so as to not break it.

'Creak'

With a sound, the arched gate suddenly opened, followed by a near-blinding light enveloping the entire screen. It looked as if someone was entering a new world after passing through the gate. After a brief loading screen, Jean realizes that the game has truly begun.

...

Normally, upon entering the game there would be an introductory cinematic, featuring Lumine and Aether fighting the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. However, he, as the developer, had changed this segment with an aerial animation of the various landscapes all over Mondstadt such as Starsnatch Cliff, Starfell Lake and Windrise.

The final scene ends with them returning to Mondstadt city under the setting sun as the massive windmill still turning outlining the city with a golden hue making it appear exceptionally peaceful and beautiful.

He had decided to remove the original opening for a number of reasons.

Firstly, he wanted The Traveller, whichever one it was going to be, here to not be soured by bad memories and to have a more intimate connection to the game than they would have already by showing real events that they had experienced.

Second, this game's content was extremely close to many truths of the world. The original opening contained some very important information after all.

As the owner, he predicted that his mobile gaming café would become very popular as more and more people joined. There would naturally be people or beings who could understand what was being told in the original opening cinematic.

He didn't want to be dragged off by some of the more powerful entities in this world just when he was starting his 'business'.

Of course, he would not waste this important information. At some point in the future, when he had enough personal power, he could use it to his advantage.

...

Seeing the opening, Jean couldn't help but show an expression of astonishment. How could she not when this small metal box could show the many landmarks of Mondstadt including Mondstadt City itself in such a realistic way? With this, there would never be any need for any maps in the future as you could simply view the real scenery from the comfort of your hand.

"Sir, what is going on? How can the scenery of Mondstadt City appear inside this thing?" Jean asked in astonishment

"Why are you so surprised? I told you that in this game, you can play as one of The Travellers here and explore the world of Teyvat in this game."

Following the man's direction, Jean redirected her gaze to the phone screen. On it were two different figures. On the left was a boy with braided hair while on the right was a short-haired girl. Both had golden hair and exotic clothing. They were seemingly a pair of twins.

Jean understood that she needed to choose one of them. It was probably to role-play as the protagonist just as one would imagine themself as a protagonist of a book.

Without much hesitation, she selected Lumine. After all, she herself was female, so it would be more immersive to play as the girl.

At this moment, Jean has been completely captivated by this mobile game. It was her first time encountering something so peculiar and she was eager to find out what would happen next.

After choosing her character, the game prompted her to set a nickname for herself. She quickly wrote 'Jean' on the phone screen.

A very simple and straightforward name, nothing too creative or funny. She was just starting to get acquainted with this new thing in this world after all. Everything for her was still only in the exploration phase, so nothing too fancy.

Once everything was ready, the story began with a narration from what Jean assumed was her player character.

"And just like that, the unknown God took away my brother. Some kind of seal was cast upon me, and I lost my power."

"How many years ago was it? I don't know, but I intend to find out…"

"When I woke, I was all alone right up until I met you two months ago."

Lumine sat on a rock on the beach speaking to the white floating entity. It looked like some kind of sprite or fairy with the body and face of a little girl.

The thing nodded her head and said "Yeah, Paimon really owes you for that. Otherwise, Paimon likely would've drowned…"

A memory of The Traveller fishing Paimon out of water is quickly shown which makes Jean giggle slightly.

"So, Paimon will do her best to be a great guide."

"We should head off. Let's get going!"

As Paimon finished speaking, the perspective unlocked and she could finally look around. When Jean saw the scenery in the picture she couldn't help but speak, "So familiar. This place must be… the beach below Stormbearer Point."

===

"You hold the phone like this, the left side is for character movement the right side is for attack commands." The owner patiently taught her how to play the mobile game.

The inevitable physical contact between the two made Jean's heart flutter, but compared to her, he was much more composed as he taught her which caused Jean to feel a hint of embarrassment.

Teaching Jean the basic controls also demanded him to guide her on other things in the game. Genshin Impact was an open-world game with a fair amount of gameplay after all, even just exploring the world and enjoying the scenery was a good way to pass the time among other things. Cough 'mint picking' cough.

When he first activated his mobile game development system, he had to put some effort into creating Genshin Impact. Of course, it was still in its early stages of development with almost similar content but there are still a couple of things that are different to the 1.0 version of the original game's public release.

The number of playable characters wasn't massive yet among the five-star characters. There was only Diluc and Grandmaster Jean. Among the four-star characters aside from the three starter characters, there was Noelle, Razor, Barbara, and some other Mondstadt characters.

Since the opening of his mobile game cafe had just begun, it didn't need too many flashy characters. What was important was the updates, and new game content, which required payments in mora to obtain various resources from his system.

Additionally, his system had a lottery function that could draw various items that could impact this world.

The Lottery tiers where divided as follows:

Common lottery: 10,000 Mora per draw

Rare lottery: 100,000 Mora per draw

Epic lottery: 1,000,000 Mora per draw

Legendary lottery: 10,000,000 Mora per draw

He was still just an ordinary person in this world filled with monsters and gods, and still quite insignificant by comparison. Thankfully, there was a beginner protection system at a storefront even if it would not guarantee his safety outside.

But, he can't always stay held up in the small shop, can he? The most important thing right now is to earn lots of Mora through the mobile game to draw powerful items and abilities so he can stroll around Teyvat and do the activities that he wants to do without much risk to himself.

That was the reason he opened this mobile game café in Mondstadt. Although the location was a bit off the beaten path. A strong fish doesn't fear the deep ocean.

...

Following the owner's guidance, Jean began to try to control the character in the game as she walked along the beach. A hydro slime, suddenly jumped out but Jean didn't panic, she followed the man's instructions, used the attack command on the right and smoothly defeated the hydro slime with a flurry of sword attacks.

"This mobile game is quite interesting…"

Continuing to follow the quest marker, they activated the teleportation waypoint. Jean Learned that the purpose of these waypoints was to teleport throughout the world which added to her curiosity about the Teyvat in this mobile game.

Although the overall map wasn't as accurate or large as the real Teyvat, there are still some important landscapes which seem to have been faithfully recreated.

Jeans sneakily glanced over to the man behind her. Besides being amazed by the game itself, she also felt very curious about the owner of this mobile game café. To design such an advanced device and recreate Teyvat in it, he must've been quite an extraordinary person.

"So let's follow the route we planned on."

"We're off to... A Statue of The Seven."

Focusing back to the game she follows the route suggested by the creature named Paimon.

Over time, Jean gradually adapted to this mode of movement. Along the way, she collected a variety of items strewn about like sweet flowers, mints and sunsettias. As The Acting Grandmaster, Jean knew she had to have sufficient supplies to deal with various needs.

Soon, she and Paimon reached the top of a cliff where she could overlook the vast landscape of Mondstadt. The Statue of The Seven on Starfall Lake was admitting a red glow.

In the far distance, she could clearly see Mondstadt city, with massive windmills slowly turning in a circle and the iconic cathedral in the far distance.

"I didn't expect to see such beautiful recreation of Mondstadt City in this game's world."

Jean took a deep breath and jumped right off the cliff in front of her. The Statue of The Seven was just ahead, and she estimated the height was about only seven or eight meters. An easy jump for Jean without any adverse effects.

But as soon as she landed, the green health bar below her character emptied, and she soon turned into particles of light, dissipating into nothingness.

"This… is not the end…"

'I… died from falling…?' Jean was dumbfounded. The journey had ended before even began.

Fortunately, after waiting a while, she respawned near the teleportation waypoint. With this experience, Jean realised that while the game looked very realistic, there were still some aspects of it that defied common sense.

For example, falling from a height of 7 to 8 meters could kill you, running out of stamina while swimming would result in immediate drowning and lastly, climbing vertically smooth walls if you have enough stamina.

After a bunch of trial and error, Jean returned to the plot and followed Paimon.

"As we all know, poetry and language flow like the wind… There'll definitely be someone there who knows about your brother, at least that's what Paimon thinks".

"Whether the gods actually answer you is a different story, but you never know unless you try. So let's hop to it."

They arrived before the Statue of The Seven. Both Jean herself and The Traveller hope to receive a response from the Anemo Archon.

At this moment, The Traveller placed their hand on the golden ornament on the statue and something magical happened.