Ying slowly felt her way forward with the silver sword she had just acquired. After getting within a certain distance, the ice slimes noticed Ying and began to show signs of attacking.
"Watch this!" The blade of her silver sword swiftly cut across the body of an ice slime, successfully knocking it away.
At the same time, a slime to her side ducked and then charged forward with a powerful ram.
Ying quickly dodged sideways, blocking with her sword. However, just as she had taken a defensive stance, two more slimes attacked from different directions.
Seeing that she couldn't block all the attacks, Ying immediately shifted from defense to offense, thrusting her sword at the slime charging from the front.
That slime was directly impaled on the sword with a "噗—" sound and exploded. Ying was also sent tumbling by the impact of the other two slimes.
"嘶—?!"
"These little slimes hit pretty hard..."
Ying adjusted her stance and slashed at them with her sword. After knocking them away, she quickly followed up with two more strikes, giving them no chance to counter.
With a "噗!" sound, both slimes exploded simultaneously.
"Hmph hmph... only you're left, surrender quickly~" Ying rushed forward and delivered a heavy slash to the remaining slime, but after the blow, she found it had only been knocked back.
"Huh? If I remember correctly, this slime has taken three of my hits. Could it be a higher level?"
As Ying was pondering, the slime suddenly trembled in place, then with a "砰—" it grew significantly larger.
"Holy crap?! This thing can hide its strength?!" Before she could finish speaking, the slime gathered strength, leaped into the air, and smashed down towards Ying.
"Whoa?!" Even though Ying dodged in time, she was still sent flying by the impact of its landing.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch... Good grief, even the shockwave hurt me badly... I didn't expect this slime to be so cunning, playing the weak to lure the strong... ≥﹏≤"
"No, I definitely can't beat this guy right now... Thirty-six stratagems, the best is to retreat!"
Ying got up and, using the opportunity created by being knocked back, fled at high speed. Fortunately, the slime wasn't particularly fast, and soon it was out of sight.
Running away...
"Phew... phew... I've rested for a while, but my whole body still aches. This slime was too brutal, well... but I don't really have a right to complain, since I was even more brutal ╰(⇀‸↼)╯"
"Sigh... System, are you there? Do you know my current location?"
"System here. There is a world map function. The host can view it at any time. The operation is the same as before~"
"Emm... alright, alright."
Soon, a map almost identical to the game appeared in Ying's mind.
"Uh... this is almost entirely black, how am I supposed to see anything?"
"The host needs to explore it herself~"
"Whoa! Do you know how terrifying that is for a shut-in like me?!"
"But the host's current identity is a Traveler, and you're a girl now~"
"I... forget it, forget it. I'll search then... There was a marker on the beach earlier, but with that giant slime guarding it, I'd better not go there until I can defeat it..."
"Hmm... if I remember correctly, there should be a statue ahead... Right, if I go and touch the statue, will it also give me elemental power?"
"That's correct. The host's abilities are the same as the original protagonist of this world. The only difference is that you're weaker~"
"Go to hell! I'll definitely slap your face!"
With that, Ying hurried towards Starfall Lake...
"Phew... I wasted quite a bit of time. By now, Lumine should have met the Anemo Hypostasis and Amber. But with my current combat power, it's best I don't get involved in the main story for now. Anyway, they can succeed without me, and there's that fellow Venti to help later~"
Upon reaching Starfall Lake, Ying leaped into the water and swam towards the statue.
"Whoa! The water is quite cold. Wearing wet clothes feels so uncomfortable. I wonder how the characters in the game can stand it... But these clothes are also unusual, they can still maintain their shape!｜д•´)!!"
"If I remember correctly, placing my hand on the statue should do it..."
As soon as Ying touched the statue, a brilliant light erupted. A sphere in her hand radiated a dense Anemo energy that condensed and flew into Ying's body.
"Wow! This feeling?! Hmm... doesn't feel like much (ㅇㅅㅇ❀)"
"Congratulations, host, for acquiring Anemo power. A large portion of the world map has also been lit up~"
"Oh ho~ I can see Mondstadt City on the map now. Although my physical fitness hasn't increased, my combat power should have improved significantly after mastering Anemo~"
"Right, since I've activated the statue, can I teleport from now on?"
"The host is correct. From now on, the host can teleport freely by consuming mental energy~ However, it cannot be used during combat. And with the host's current mental energy, you can at most use it twice. After use, you will need to rest for a full day to use it again~"
"Wait... I don't remember the game having a concept of mental energy, right?"
"That's right."
"Then why do I have it?"
"To add some restrictions for the host, preventing you from getting carried away and teleporting back and forth endlessly~"
"Can you give me a more reliable explanation, you damn system?"
"Then... for scientific reasons?"
"Scientific my ass! How is that scientific?!"
"Heh heh~"
"I'll be so pissed off by you that I'll die eventually (ꐦ°᷄д°᷅)"
"Sigh... Anyway, I'll go find some more small slimes to practice with. After defeating those three slimes earlier, I feel like I've leveled up a bit."
"The host is correct. The more monsters you defeat, the stronger you will become, just like in the game. Stronger monsters give more experience~"
"Uh huh... then gogogo! Let's go grind monsters to get stronger~"
A period of time later...
"Wow! I felt like I leveled up after fighting just three small slimes earlier, but now I've only felt it again after fighting over twenty!"
"The experience required for leveling up gradually increases. It's because the host always used experience books to level up when playing the game."
"Can I get experience books from opening treasure chests?"
"No, there are no experience books in this world~"
"What about 'just like in the game'?"
"I said 'almost'~"
"Are you trying to make me so angry that I'll explode, aren't you?!"
"Cough cough~ It's not entirely the system's fault. The author is also to blame~"
"Sigh... fine, fine. I'll go fight Hilichurls. I've leveled up twice and mastered Anemo, so dealing with Hilichurls shouldn't be a problem. But just in case, I'll find a lone one to test the waters first..."