Lisa was in an excellent mood today.
She had been given a special mission by Jean: to continuously play the mobile game and gather useful intelligence from its developing plot.
And ever since her last session, Lisa had become thoroughly interested in the game herself.
This assignment, one could say, was a perfect fit for her.
Previously, she had cleared the three Temples of the Four Winds. What concerned Lisa most now was whether the hurricane surrounding Mondstadt had dissipated.
As soon as she logged in, she was pulled directly into a cutscene.
The screen showed Mondstadt, still shrouded in haze and storms.
But soon, the sky began to change, the gloom giving way to clear weather.
The hurricane vanished along with it.
"By the way, we found more 'lost Anemoculi' in the Temples of the Four Winds. We'll probably collect more and more of them, so don't forget what they're for," Paimon reminded her.
Then, a notification appeared on the screen.
[Prologue: Act I - The Outlander Who Caught the Wind, Quest Complete.]
[To be continued...]
[Prologue: Act II - For a Tomorrow Without Tears, unlocks at Adventure Rank 10.]
It seemed that continuing the Prologue's Archon Quest wouldn't be so easy.
Her current Adventure Rank was 7. Following the in-game prompts, Lisa learned that she could raise her Adventure Rank by collecting Anemoculi, opening chests, and completing world quests.
Although she wouldn't be able to obtain much more critical intelligence for now, Lisa's enthusiasm did not wane in the slightest. She was, after all, determined to build her character into the most powerful one.
While raising her Adventure Rank, any monster that appeared within her line of sight was promptly annihilated by her in-game self's powerful Electro abilities.
The three young men noticed what was happening on Lisa's screen. At first, they were shocked to see Lisa herself appear in the game. Then, they were completely captivated by her fluid controls and smooth combos.
They even put down their own phones to stand behind Lisa and learn her techniques.
"Miss Lisa, why do you hit the monster with Amber's aimed shot first?"
"Miss Lisa, your damage is so high!"
"Librarian, please teach me how to get stronger!"
The three of them were incredibly excited, but Lisa simply tapped the table lightly, and a flash of lightning sparked across its surface.
The trio jumped back in fright, not daring to speak above a whisper for fear of disturbing her.
After quietly observing Lisa's gameplay for a while, the three felt they had learned a great deal.
They returned to their seats, determined to push through the story and unlock the powerful character "Lisa" as soon as possible!
---o---
After some battling in the open world, Lisa returned to Mondstadt.
She made brief stops at the blacksmith, the Adventurers' Guild, and the Good Hunter restaurant, then followed the guide to the Knights of Favonius Headquarters.
Lisa even made a special trip to the main office, only to find that Jean was not at her desk.
Perhaps, just like in the real world, she has gone out to personally oversee some plans, she thought.
After speaking with Kaeya, a prompt appeared on the screen:
[Pavo Ocellus Chapter, Act I: Secret Pirate Treasure, has begun.]
"This must be Kaeya's personal story quest."
As for why it was called the Pavo Ocellus Chapter, she imagined it held some deeper meaning that was not yet apparent.
Including the Archon Quest from the prologue, Lisa felt that every piece of text in this mobile game, down to the very names, concealed a wealth of thought-provoking information.
However, Kaeya's story quest didn't reveal any of his major personal secrets.
The general gist was that in order to successfully capture a criminal, Kaeya had spun a tale to trick the traveler into searching for treasure, thereby luring the criminal into a trap.
Afterward, as an apology, Kaeya gifted the traveler a 'Harbinger of Dawn'.
Lisa took a look; the stats on the three-star weapon were excellent.
Unfortunately, it was a one-handed sword, which she couldn't use. So, she equipped it on the traveler.
Previously, the traveler's name had been 'Jean'. After Lisa found the name change function, she changed it to "Purple Rose."
Jean's account had now thoroughly become Lisa's own.
Two hours passed by in a flash.
During that time, another three or four people had come in to try the game.
And just like the others, once they were immersed, they couldn't pull themselves away.
Outside the shop, a crowd of more than a dozen people had gathered, peering curiously through the windows.
Before going in, each new player had confidently declared they would just try it for a bit and then come out to tell everyone what this "mobile game" was all about.
But once inside, it was as if they were possessed, sitting glued to their seats, staring intently at the palm-sized glowing boxes.
Their faces were etched with either excitement or curiosity.
This phenomenon left the people outside utterly bewildered.
If it weren't for the fact that Lisa was also inside, they would have suspected that the glowing boxes possessed some kind of dark magic that could suck away a person's mind.
Lunchtime arrived, and the crowd of onlookers thinned out a bit.
Lisa also emerged from the shop.
She planned to grab some lunch before returning to continue the story.
After completing Kaeya's story quest and some other miscellaneous tasks, her Adventure Rank had reached 10, unlocking the next Archon Quest.
Lisa felt a flicker of anticipation.
But first, she had to eat.
Such was the refined life of a librarian.