1 Cross-World Mission System
The Xianzhou Alliance.
We all know it as the space-faring civilization of 'immortal' beings, a great civilization consisting of numerous Flagships owned by the Hexafleet. Among these star-sailing ships, the Xianzhou Luofu is but merely one of them, one of the six Flagships.
For Haoyu, it was his home.
Well, more specifically, it was his new home. After having arrived here in the Xianzhou Luofu for over what must be six months now, he had come to terms with his situation and eventually came to accept his circumstances.
With no other choice, he quickly forced himself to adapt to the great change in atmosphere and living situations. It was quite an arduous task at first, but one way or another, he eventually managed to make a stable living in this place.
Even after living here for quite some time, Haoyu couldn't help but always find himself thinking back to when he saw this place as nothing more than a made-up fantasy in a video game. But that same fantasy... was now his reality.
At the present time, Haoyu could be seen leaning against the railings of the upper-level area within Central Starskiff Haven. He was a young man no older than twenty, decently tall with smooth black hair and a pair of golden hazel eyes, though his right eye appeared to be a bit duller compared to his left.
His attire was unique, to say the least, and was quite eye-catching when standing amongst the other residents of the Luofu. His clothing mainly consisted of black and white colours, in addition to various golden accessories that were either hanging or attached directly to his clothes.
To be more specific, he had a fancy black form of attire underneath a long-sleeved white cloak over the top. The cloak had various hanging additional cloths, mainly along the back and shoulders. In the peaceful winds here, these extra cloths continued to flutter calmly in the air. He even had on a pair of black gloves that stuck well to his slender fingers, and covered up any skin that wasn't already covered up by his cloak's long sleeves.
However, the most eye-catching thing was definitely the rather flat golden diamond-shaped gemstone secured tightly to the chest area of his clothes, and if you looked closer, something akin to a constellation pattern could be seen within.
Overall, his attire was certainly not something belonging to any average person.
In any case, Haoyu casually held his hand out to the side before something materialised into his hand. Once it fully manifested, the object was revealed to be a fancy black and gold parasol with dragon-like patterns on the canopy.
Twirling it once in his hand, Haoyu snapped the parasol open as the dragon-like patterns became more prominent and visible. He twirled the now-open parasol a few times before it stopped after colliding with his right shoulder, where it remained resting as the sunlight was now being deflected away.
"The sun's too hot today..."
"You can't even feel the sun's heat." A new voice suddenly sounded. Though Haoyu didn't even react to the voice, instead opting to continue staring over the railing as countless starskiffs raced past underneath him. "You say the same thing every day, I swear!"
"Come to challenge me to Celestial Jade again, Qingque?"
Giving a small sigh, Haoyu glanced to the side to see a young female only one or two years younger than himself, appearance-wise at the very least. With very light-brown coloured hair tied into a pair of very low twintails, her outfit too was rather unique with both black and green primary colours.
"Huh?" Qingque, after hearing Haoyu's question, could only blink silently. "Did you do some quick divination or something to know that?"
"Do you really think I'd need to do that to find out what you want?" Haoyu responded, this time in a rather deadpan tone as Qingque could only give a small nervous laugh. "Well, I do have some time on my hands. Why not? It better be in a shaded area though."
"What's with you and the sun?" Qingque sweatdropped as Haoyu walked past her, to which she soon ran over to catch up before speaking again. "You keep complaining about it as if you despise sunlight. It's not even real!"
"I never said I hated sunlight, just the heat." Haoyu corrected as he stopped walking before looking up at the bright shining sun up in the sky. If he were ignorant of the topic, he'd definitely think this sun was real and not some projection. "Qingque, what do you think of the stars?"
"The stars?" Qingque heard the question, and although confused, decided to answer. "I'm not really sure, don't have an opinion. The stars here are a lie, after all."
"The stars are a lie... haha, where have I heard that one before?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing. Anyway, I assume we'll be playing over by the Exalting Sanctum?" Hearing this question, Qingque's response was a simple nod of the head. "Just hope you and I don't get caught by the Master Diviner, you more than me really, I'm on break."
"I don't even want to think about it!" Qingque groaned audibly as her face seemed to pale slightly as various thoughts seemed to flash through her head. "Just imagining it is giving me a headache! If she catches me, I may really end up being demoted to a door guardian!"
"Who's fault is that?"
"..."
"Thought so." Haoyu smirked slightly when Qingque avoided his gaze. Despite Qingque's complaining about potentially being fired or demoted, she has literally done nothing to try and rectify or fix her habit of slacking off. "Who knows, maybe the Master Diviner wi-hm?"
『Cross-World Mission System has been activated』
『Please think or speak 'Menu' to continue』
After hearing this message appear in his head, Haoyu paused in his steps as his eyes narrowed on instinct. Although there wasn't anything physically in front of him, he could see a strange panel visible within his mind. It was... weird, to say the least.
'So, after all this time, you finally decide to show up?' Haoyu scoffed lightly in his head after realising what it was. A System, is the usual thing every isekai protagonist gets, and it seems like he was no exception. Except his System was a late bloomer. 'I can probably guess by the name what it does, but I'll have to check. For now...'
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, just a bit distracted."
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask this for a while..." Qingque seemed to drag on her words as Haoyu gave her a curious look as they continued walking. "Why do you use a parasol to fight? I mean, it's kind of... unusual?"
"That's a good question, actually." Haoyu was honestly not expecting this to come up. To be honest, even he wasn't entirely sure why he chose it. He had tried swords and other words at one point since coming here, but the parasol seemed to resonate with him. "I honestly don't really know, but one reason would be that it helps keep the sun out of my face while fighting."
"Of course..." Qingque could only deadpan after hearing this. "I swear, it's always about the heat with you. Every time I see you, it's either you're working, relaxing with that parasol of yours, or you're sitting somewhere making music by leaf whistling."
"I just have hobbies I like to indulge in, just like how you have a hobby of slacking off."
"You know it!"
"It wasn't a compliment."
As the two continued making their way to the Exalted Sanctum, Haoyu had decided to push the System to the back of his mind for now, at least until he was all by himself where he could focus on it without interruption.
In any case, it didn't take too long before they arrived, and even sooner for them to make their way up to where all the Celestial Jade tables were set up. Looking around, you could see many other people who were already in the middle of their own games.
Celestial Jade was by far the most popular thing to do to bypass time, it was a game pretty much loved by anyone within the Xianzhou Luofu. If he were to compare it to something back home, it was essentially the same concept as mahjong.
After finding themselves a free table, the two of them were quickly joined by a number of people, two who joined in while the others spectated. Both Haoyu and Qingque were quite famous in the Celestial Jade community.
Qingque was known for her skills in the game, while Haoyu was known for kicking Qingque's ass in the game. Whether it be pure skill or luck, Haoyu always seemed to overwhelm Qingque in either of those fields.
"This hand is horrible..." Qingque felt her eye twitch as she looked down at the tiles she had in her possession. Glancing over to Haoyu, she simply saw him calmly sitting with a tranquil and confident look on his face. "I'm not losing like this!"
"Well, that's too bad..." Haoyu chuckled as he calmly slapped a tile down onto the table. "It's my win. Or as you say, Qingque... looks like victory."
"Damn it!" Qingque faceplanted onto the table as Haoyu and the other two players could only stare at her with amused expressions, the same could be said for everyone watching. "How can I never win?! You have to be cheating!"
"Sounds like a sore loser." Haoyu scoffed with a smirk after hearing Qingque's accusation. "So, what does that make it? 198-0 in my favour?"
"It's not 198! You've only won 195!"
"Wow, you actually kept count." Haoyu chuckled as everyone around them also erupted into laughter as Qingque realised her words, her face brightening up in a shade of red out of embarrassment. "You've gotten better though, almost made me try."
"Agh~! One more time!"
"Sure."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"This... cannot be!"
Qingque dramatically collapsed onto the ground as her entire person seemed to lose all colour, there was even a cloud of depression floating above her head. Seeing this, Haoyu could only sweatdrop with a wry smile on his face.
They had ended up playing five more games, and from the current situation, Qingque had obviously lost all of them to Haoyu. If they weren't just playing for fun either, Haoyu definitely would've made quite a sum from Qingque's wallet.
In any case, it might take some time for Qingque to properly recover.
"So... that makes it 200-0."
"...Hehe~, this isn't over!" Qingque, stumbling back up to her feet, dramatically pointed her finger at Haoyu who gave her a deadpanned look. "Y-You may have won in those games, but your streak won't last forever... one more game!"
"I believe that's enough."
"Who- ah, Master Diviner!"
Qingque started panicking after realising who spoke after she turned around, the person who spoke revealed themselves to be a young petite female with long pink hair and a pair of golden eyes. There also appeared to be a strange amethyst-coloured gemstone embedded on her forehead.
As for her attire, she wore a dark brown and white dress which was designed with golden constellation-like designs, along with a pair of white tights. Around her neck was also a strange choker connected to a purple and gold ornament, which had a similar appearance aside from shape and colour to the one on Haoyu's chest.
This person was none other than Fu Xuan, the Master Diviner of the Divination Commission here in the Xianzhou Luofu. At this very moment, she was walking over towards where they were as everyone made way for her, she only stopped after arriving in front of both Haoyu and Qingque.
"I knew I'd find you here, Qingque." Fu Xuan spoke, and although her tone was relatively calm, there was a hint of annoyance expertly behind it. Qingque obviously noticed this and could only smile stiffly. "How many times do I need to tell you the consequences if you keep slacking off?"
"I-I know, I was just having a break!"
"Then hurry with it and get back to work! We're already rather understaffed in the Divination Commission, so slackers are the last thing we need right now." Fu Xuan scolded before releasing a sigh. She then turned her attention to Haoyu. "Haoyu, make sure she actually gets to work. Your break is almost over as well."
"Understood, Master Diviner. You can count on me, as always."
"Good. Then I'll leave her in your hands." Fu Xuan nodded, though she then quickly added. "Oh, and make sure to come by to the Matrix of Prescience as soon as you can. There's a lot of work that needs to be done still."
"I understand."
"Very well, then I shall take my leave." Fu Xuan turned around, though sent a quick glare towards Qingque. "I hope you don't slack off again, Qingque. Otherwise, I might really have to demote you again."
"..."
They both watched as Fu Xuan walked away, and it was only after a few seconds after Fu Xuan was fully out of sight that Qingque dropped to the ground before rolling around in a bit of a childish tantrum.
"Let's go, Qingque. Don't want to make her angry."
"It's unfair...!"
"Huh?"
"Why does she treat you so well but treats me like this?!" Qingque exclaimed as she scratched her hair in frustration. "I know you're the second-best diviner in the commission, but even then the Master Diviner wouldn't give such special treatment!"
"We are friends, so that might be why."
"Is it really like that?" Qingque asked with a large amount of visible doubt. "Are you sure you two aren't more...?"
"Hm? What? You say she likes me or something?"
"Well..."
"You're kidding?"
As far as Haoyu had observed, Fu Xuan held no interest in something like romance, and he doubted only knowing him for a little over six months was enough for her to develop any actual romantic feelings for him.
Whatever the case may be, it wasn't anything important right now, he'll first watch over Qingque for a bit before attending his other matter of business.
●●●●●●●●●●●●
Qignque was a slacker by nature, it took a bit of convincing to finally get her to properly start working. Although she was quite unreliable most of the time due to her personality, when she really got to it, Qingque was someone you could really rely on.
This was known by pretty much everyone within the Divination Commission, and it was this hidden side of Qingque that kept Fu Xuan from actually firing her. The fact that the commission was understaffed was also another reason, but we digress.
Anyway, after making sure Qingque was working, Haoyu returned to his home within the Divination Commission. Ever since arriving here in this world and joining the commission, his living quarters have always been within the Divination Commission area itself.
"Let's see here." After sitting himself on his bed, Haoyu closed his eyes before focusing as a familiar screen seemed to materialise within his mind. "It hasn't changed since I first saw it, guess it must've been waiting for me to take some sort of action..."
『Cross-World Mission System has been activated』
『Please think or speak 'Menu' to continue』
After giving the screen a quick read, Haoyu did as instructed as he mentally thought out the word 'Menu'. Immediately afterwards, the current screen disappeared before being replaced with a more detailed screen window.
.
『Cross-World Mission System』
● Status
● Current Mission
● World Travel
● World Shop
● (More Details: ▢)
.
Unlike most systems he had seen within things like novels and fanfictions, the system he had here seemed to be much more simple in comparison. There really wasn't too much, not even something like an Inventory, though that wouldn't have been useful to him.
As far as he knew, Pathstriders all had a form of pocket dimension in which they could store all kinds of different items, and although not at all a bottomless storage space, it was more than enough to carry the essential items you'd need.
On another note, Haoyu mentally selected the final option. When he did, an extra block of text appeared next to each option available on the menu screen. Each block seemed to give a simple explanation of each feature.
.
『Cross-World Mission System』
● Status - [A log of information that records the number of completed missions, total number of earned points, and also individual rating. The individual rating is improved depending on the level of completion of a mission, and the higher one's rating, the greater the rewards from missions as well as chances of getting harder missions]
● Current Mission - [The current mission available to you. This mission will not change until the user either completes it or waits a week, and completing one will earn you a certain number of points depending on its difficulty. Note: Time will be slowed down by 5 times in this world while the user is outside of the world]
● World Travel - [The ability to travel to other worlds, although three missions within that world must have been completed for it to be unlocked. To travel between worlds, a total of 100 points are required, both to and back]
● World Shop - [When a world is unlocked for travel, its store will also open, allowing the user to purchase all kinds of things from its archives. Items, abilities, and more. Each store is only at Level 1 upon opening, and can only improve by completing further missions]
● (More Details: ▣)
.
'I understand now, so I'm basically a mercenary with a black market.' Haoyu casually thought to himself after reading all the information. Just a small few points were enough to tell him the general idea of what this system is for. 'Individual rating... sounds like a double-edged sword. I can earn more, but I may be given a mission possibly outside of my capabilities. Not only that, it says 'chances', meaning I literally could still get a harder mission even if my rating is low.'
From what he could tell, although this system was a good thing in its own right and had countless benefits, it was also a sleeping lion when it came to posing danger. The way to avoid waking up that lion was simply not to overestimate himself.
"That begs the question, what constitutes a failed mission?"
From what he has read, there didn't seem to be any explanation regarding what conditions would result in a failed mission. He was going to think that perhaps he couldn't fail it, but that just wouldn't make sense, and this was proven when he opened up the 'Status' screen.
.
『Status』
● Name: Haoyu
● Individual Rating: E
● Total Points: 0
● Total Completed Mission: 0
● Total Failed Missions: 0
● Total Missions Overall: 0
.
"Pretty straightforward, not much to see here." Haoyu commented before quickly moving on to the next section, that being the one labelled 'Current Mission'. When he navigated to the menu, his eyebrows raised slightly. "Hoh~? So, this is my first mission?"
.
.
.
➣ A question before this chapter wraps up, as I am intending for him to complete a mission in the Genshin Impact world at some point, how strong would Pathstriders be in Teyvat? Just as strong as Vision Holders? As strong as Adepti? For a benchmark, let's use the Astral Express trio, meaning March, Dan Heng, and the Trailblazer.
➣ For right now, I'm pretty sure HSR's power scale is far above Genshin's, though I could be wrong, it's just based on what I've heard and seen in the game. Until I hear your thoughts more, I'm leaning towards the average Pathstrider being at least equivalent to that of Adepti.
