đź’– If you enjoy my work, consider supporting me on Patreon. I'm offering advanced chapters there as a thank-you to readers.
--------------------
Check out advanced chapters on : patreon.com/DragonOP
--------------------
Once the legendary reputation is gathered, it can be used to draw from a lottery system. To Ye Ruo, this manifested as a familiar interface where a series of treasure chests and information displays appeared on a scrolling list.
Normal Treasure Chest: Opening condition requires 160 popularity points. After opening, you will receive random white-tier items, including basic weapons, cooking ingredients, Mora, ores, and other common materials.
Exquisite Treasure Chest: Opening condition requires 500 fame points. After opening, you will receive random blue-tier items, and there is a distinct probability that items from different worlds will appear.
Precious Treasure Chest: Opening condition requires 5000 fame points. After opening, you will receive random purple-tier treasures, ranging from powerful items found in Teyvat to artifacts from other dimensions.
Gorgeous Golden Treasure Chest: Opening conditions require 200,000 fame points. Opening this grants the golden treasures of the heavens and the multiverse.
After Ye Ruo saw these treasure chests, he was completely powerless to complain. The appearance was exactly the same as the chests found scattered throughout the game world, and even the names hadn't changed. He didn't expect that after traveling through time and space, he would form an indissoluble bond with treasure chests all over again. He could already imagine the titles of his own biography: Reincarnated in Teyvat, a Life of Working Hard for Treasure Boxes, or perhaps About the Time I Wrote Novels Just to Gacha for Loot.
From the information provided, it was clear that the exquisite and precious chests represented a major threshold. The gap in required points was massive, doubling and tripling with each tier. The descriptions also shifted from mere items to true treasures as the rarity increased. For now, however, only the ordinary treasure chest slot was lit up. The others were locked behind a progression wall. He had to draw a normal white-tier chest one hundred times to unlock the refined blue-tier chests, and the pattern would continue from there. It was a challenging setup, but it felt oddly nostalgic. Seeing the familiar wooden frame of an ordinary chest gave Ye Ruo a sense of intimacy. Perhaps this was truly where his new journey began.
Over the past few weeks, Ye Ruo had dipped into his small personal savings to establish the Wind and Bird bookstore. His first venture, To Save Mondstadt, Debut and Become an Idol!, had been an unexpected hit. Capitalizing on that popularity, he had quickly followed up with his new work, Detective Fengdu. This second release triggered another wave of excitement among the citizens. It was already considered a hot commodity, providing Ye Ruo with a steady stream of fame points. His established reputation as the Wind Knight gave him a significant head start. As long as his stories continued to spread, and as long as he could eventually open more branches to expand his influence, his popularity would keep climbing. The future looked bright.
Ye Ruo sat down at his desk after opening the window, picking up his pen to quickly draft the fourth and fifth volumes of Detective Fengdu. Both of his series were specifically written to appeal to the tastes and culture of Mondstadt's inhabitants. He had made numerous modifications to the original concepts from his memory to ensure they felt like authentic Teyvat stories. In his idol novel, the protagonists were all local Mondstadt figures, though he planned to introduce characters from Liyue and even Mona later on. As for Detective Fengdu, since the plot revolved around secret treasures powered by the Anemo Archon, he had to carefully balance the lore. After all, these books were for the people of Mondstadt. If he wrote about complex power systems from other worlds that no one understood, he wouldn't gain any fame. He had to write what the people loved.
Let me think about the plot for the new volume, Ye Ruo muttered to himself. This time, I'll arrange for the Museum organization to sell a cursed item created from materials smuggled out of a remote, storm-shrouded island nation. It'll be a processed fragment of the remains of a fallen serpent god. Using that evil object will allow the user to transform into a giant snake and wreak havoc on the city. Of course, the more the power is used, the more the user's mind will be eroded and destroyed.
It was definitely an advantage to be both a traveler and a creator, as he could adapt his memories to fit the reality of Teyvat. If he had tried this kind of loose adaptation in his previous world, critics would have torn him apart for ruining the source material. But here, it worked perfectly. The concept of the Gaia Memories from his memories was inherently poisonous; if the toxins accumulated too much, the user would go berserk. For the well-informed few who might read his description, they would likely associate it with something else entirely: the Delusions and artificial Visions manufactured by the Fatui. The similarities between his fictional cursed items and the backlash caused by Fatui technology were so striking that the connection was inevitable. Naturally, Ye Ruo would never admit to any hidden meaning. To him, it was just a simple novel.
Soon, the stories for the next two volumes flowed from his pen like a fountain. Once finished, he would hand them over to the staff in charge of production. As the Wind Knight, he had excellent connections. Diluc had even offered his support in the distribution process, which made everything run smoothly. It made Ye Ruo realize just how much easier life was when you had powerful friends.
While he worked, Ye Ruo took a moment to check his popularity status panel. His legendary degree currently sat at 1605 points. The value was still ticking upward, meaning his influence was spreading through word of mouth. He had already drawn more than half of the required ordinary chests and was on track to unlock blue-tier items soon. At first, he thought the points would accumulate instantly. However, he discovered that an average citizen in Mondstadt only provided a tiny fraction of a point, while even children provided almost nothing. On the other hand, individuals who possessed a Vision provided much larger chunks of fame, usually ten or twenty points depending on the person.
Given the one-hundred-draw requirement for unlocking higher tiers, the treasure chests weren't as easy to get as he had initially hoped. Fortunately, he was in the real world now, not the limited scope of a game. Mondstadt was a prosperous city with a population of at least a hundred thousand, possibly even double that. It wasn't the small village with only a few dozen NPCs he remembered from his screen. Since popularity could be gathered repeatedly as his fame grew, the potential for harvesting points was massive. It was all like wool waiting to be sheared.
Ye Ruo felt satisfied with the steady increase. Everything is difficult at the start, he thought. It's been very smooth for me so far, and I can't afford to be in a rush. If I try to force it too hard, it might backfire. This pace is already very good. Once the momentum builds, it'll be like a snowball rolling down a hill.
Taking in the scenery outside and listening to the bustling sounds of the customers downstairs, Ye Ruo stretched lazily. He genuinely liked the city of Mondstadt. For a traveler like him, it was probably the friendliest place in all of Teyvat. Life was relaxed and comfortable, the pace was slow, and there wasn't much daily pressure. The environment was beautiful and inclusive, welcoming anyone who passed through its gates. It was certainly better than the constant thunderstorms and oppressive atmosphere of Inazuma. Liyue was grand, but its internal politics were complex and the business competition was fierce. In Sumeru, he'd heard that being a fan of the Lesser Lord Kusanali could get you reprimanded for participating in traditional dances, and the sages there treated knowledge like a commodity you had to be qualified to hold. They'd even harvest your brain for data if you weren't careful. Just thinking about it made his blood pressure rise. Mondstadt was truly like the perfect starting zone, a place that made you feel physically and mentally at ease.