Saturday afternoon, the gymnasium at the Experimental School was packed and buzzing with noise.
The national tournament preliminaries were in full swing—Haizhou Academy's second match, this time against the Experimental School.
Lu Chen had a tough time squeezing in with his small "family": Venti and Qiqi. The gym here wasn't as large as Haizhou's but had to accommodate students from both schools.
Since it was a weekend, the school allowed outsiders to attend—parents and such—so the gym was filled to capacity.
Lu Chen looked toward the field where both teams were warming up. This was a double-elimination bracket. If Haizhou lost this match, their already bottomed-out point tally would likely eliminate them from the nationals.
The Experimental School, on the other hand, looked far more relaxed. As group leaders, even a loss wouldn't affect their top spot in the standings.
Scanning the court, Lu Chen quickly spotted Raiden Ei.
She was dressed in a sleek white fencing uniform—identical to the others—but Lu Chen could still pick her out at a glance.
It was all in her presence. Just standing there, Ei radiated a calm intensity that set her apart from the crowd.
Lu Chen raised the cheap inflatable cheer stick—apparently mass-produced by the Experimental School—and started cheering enthusiastically for his Ei.
Venti looked around with a bored expression. When he saw Lu Chen flailing around with that goofy stick, he looked even more disinterested.
He'd thought "duel" matches in this world would be thrilling—hot-blooded contests of honor. Instead, it was just people poking each other with two soft noodle-like sticks. Lame.
Worse yet, there was no alcohol.
"A duel," he muttered to himself, "and no booze to go with it?"
Uninspired, Venti pulled out a notebook and started composing music.
He was halfway through a ten-piece set already. That trip to Dragonspine had given him loads of creative fuel.
On Lu Chen's other side, Qiqi sat quietly, watching the match with rare curiosity in her eyes. She held the big snack bag Lu Chen had bought her, calm and well-behaved.
The bag had been opened, but she hadn't taken a single bite.
The match officially began, starting with the men's team. Since Ei wasn't competing in this round, Lu Chen's attention drifted.
He opened the system to check his Primogem rewards.
After completing the challenge quest [Melting Ice], he'd received 1,600 Primogems.
Add that to the ones from defeating the Great Snowboar King, looting the chests on the mountain, and various achievements since Venti showed up...
He had enough for fourteen pulls.
Speaking of achievements, he'd racked up four in total since Venti arrived—besides [The Anemo Archon's Solo Concert]—
There were notifications for his classroom lecture, his impromptu street performance, and even a ridiculous barroom drinking contest.
Venti somehow kept unlocking achievements without Lu Chen even knowing. One day during class, the system had suddenly chimed in—Lu Chen had to fake a bathroom break just to fish Venti out of a nightclub.
That so-called "Archon of Wine" had drunk the entire bar under the table, including the owner, who by the end was calling him his sworn brother...
Putting that aside, Lu Chen tapped open the wish screen and hit the draw button.
His stockpile of Primogems vanished instantly.
The clear blue sky and white clouds lit up as streaks of shooting stars burst into view.
One after another, they descended—some glowing blue, some purple. Lu Chen didn't even blink. He just kept watching, waiting for the golden flash.
Finally, it came—a soft, golden glimmer near the end.
Lu Chen smiled. He couldn't complain about the system. The quests were absurd, but the drop rate was fair.
Time to see the haul:
[Purple Item – Maiden's Fleeting Leisure (Goblet of Eonothem)]
4-Piece Set Effect: After using Elemental Skill or Burst, increases all party members' healing received by 35% for 10 seconds.
Hmm... One more and he'd complete the four-piece Maiden set. The Healing Master Lu Chen was satisfied.
[Purple Item – Stat Point (Agility +1)]
He glanced at his current stats:
[Lu Chen]
Intelligence: 8
Charisma: 7
Stamina: 6
Agility: 6
With Agility now at 6, his movement and reflexes would likely see a big boost. Good stuff.
[Purple Item – Lion's Roar (Weapon: Sword)]
Base ATK: 42 → Max: 510
Effect: Deals 20% increased damage to enemies affected by Pyro or Electro.
A beautifully engraved, Liyue-style sword lay quietly in his inventory. The damage boost was huge. Lu Chen reluctantly made up his mind to retire his old Traveler's Handy Sword...
Even maxed out and tripled, the Traveler's Handy Sword couldn't compete with this four-star weapon.
His long-standing dream of returning to Teyvat with a blunt sword to smash the heavens... was starting to crumble.
The rest—blue gear, XP books, ores—weren't worth mentioning.
He had reached Level 36.
It was worth noting that leveling up required much more XP now. Where one Traveler's Experience book used to be enough, now it took several.
And finally, the star of the show—
[Gold Item – Vision (Cryo)]
Lu Chen now had Visions of three elements. A faint hunch told him... something might happen if he collected all seven.
Like summoning a dragon with seven Dragon Balls or something.
But that was a concern for later. Right now, he stared at the newly acquired Cryo Vision in his inventory—an icy blue crystal radiating a chill straight from Teyvat.
Back in Teyvat, obtaining a Vision was nearly impossible. Many people spent their lives yearning for the archons' favor and never received it.
Like Krips Leugenfeld.
Like Teppei.
And here was Lu Chen, collecting them like wholesale goods—one after another.
He honestly didn't know what to say.
...
On the court, the two teams were locked in battle. The atmosphere in the gym was heating up, with students from both sides cheering loudly for their schools.
Venti had stopped writing music—he was too distracted. Chin in hand, he simply watched the match unfold.
Qiqi sat quietly to the right, still staring at the match, not having touched her snacks.
Lu Chen, remembering something, opened a bottle of coconut milk and handed it to her.
Just then, a wave of boos erupted from the Experimental School's cheering section. Lu Chen looked over curiously.
The score was neck and neck: 15 to 14, with Haizhou trailing by just one point.
At that score, the match should be fierce and exhilarating. Why were they booing?
A quick look made Lu Chen laugh.
The reason was Haizhou Academy's strategy.
In team fencing, each side fields four athletes: three active, one substitute. Matches are played in nine rounds, with three-minute duels. First team to hit 45 points—or whoever leads at the end—wins.
Haizhou knew their team's overall skill lagged far behind the Experimental School. They'd been crushed in the last match.
So this time, they built a strategy around their trump card—Raiden Ei.
The plan?
Stall.
Delay.
Drag it out until Ei could take the stage.
By all rights, the score should've been 15:3 in the Experimental School's favor—those three points only made by the team captain.
But instead, they held out... until Ei entered the match.
And in just five minutes of her first bout, Ei completely turned the tide and brought the score back up.
The Haizhou supporters who'd come all the way to the away venue roared with excitement—while the home crowd?
They booed.
Loudly.