Start Grinding!
3: Chapter 3: Want to Get Stronger?
Start Grinding!
“Let me teach you what real magic is.” Those words were still ringing in his ears as Aether stepped onto the second-floor corridor.
The wooden floor creaked.
The second room at the end of the hallway was unlocked.
He pushed it open to find a single bed, a desk, and a chair.
There was a wardrobe in the corner; it was empty.
The window faced east, offering a view of Magnolia’s streetlights.
It was enough.
Ten times better than being under a tree.
Aether closed the door, bolted it, and sat on the edge of the bed.
The spring mattress sagged with a squeak, softer than he expected.
“Paimon.” A flash of light appeared.
That palm-sized white fuzzball emerged from the Akasha, hovering in mid-air with hands on hips.
“Paimon has been waiting for you for so long!
You finally remembered Paimon!” “There were too many people downstairs.” “Hmph, you did it on purpose.” Paimon did a flip in the air and floated above the desk, sitting cross-legged in the void.
“But Paimon thinks you did a good job joining the guild; at least we have a place to stay now.” Aether didn’t respond, his mind on something else.
Since waking up, the rules of this world had gradually become clear—magic was real, guilds were real, and danger was real.
But he needed to know exactly what cards he held, what Paimon had given him, and what he hadn’t.
He couldn’t delay this any longer.
“I have a few questions.” “Ask away!
Paimon knows everything.” “First.” Aether looked up, staring directly at the floating white figure.
“Can others see you?” Paimon tilted his head and poked his cheek with a finger.
“They can’t.” “…” “Paimon’s current state is a bit special.
Only you, Aether, can see and hear Paimon.
To everyone else, Paimon doesn’t exist at all.” Aether took two seconds to process this.
That meant in everyone else’s eyes, he had just walked upstairs alone, locked the door alone, and was now sitting on the bed talking to thin air.
“Then can you manifest?
Touch things?
Eat?” Paimon’s small face stiffened.
Three seconds of silence passed.
“…No.” Those words were spoken with immense difficulty, carrying a tragic weight as if facing a life-or-death parting.
Aether let out a long breath.
The stone weighing on his chest instantly lightened by half.
He knew Paimon’s appetite well—he was a creature who could clear a whole table of food and then ask if there was dessert.
In his current penniless state, feeding himself was already a struggle.
“Did you just breathe a sigh of relief?” Paimon narrowed his eyes and floated right in front of him.
“You definitely just felt relieved, didn’t you?” “No.” “Liar!
Paimon saw your shoulders drop!” “Let’s get back to business.” Aether decisively changed the subject.
“You said you could make me stronger.
How exactly?” Paimon huffed but flew back over the desk and waved his small hand.
A translucent interface materialized in Aether’s field of vision.
It had a pale gold border, and in the center was a rotating diamond-shaped crystal emitting a faint glow.
Below the crystal was a line of numbers.
[Primogem: 0] “You recognize this, right?” Paimon pointed at the crystal.
He did.
He recognized it all too well.
Primogems.
The culprits that had emptied his wallet on countless nights.
“Even though Paimon can’t manifest, Paimon can still give you Primogems by issuing commissions and tasks!
Complete them to earn Primogems, and once you have enough, you can—” “Pull,” Aether finished for him.
“Right!
It’s called a Wish!” Paimon clapped his hands.
“Looks like you haven’t lost your memory after all.” Aether stared at that [0] for two seconds.
A familiar sense of emptiness welled up, exactly like when he used to stare at the numbers on his phone screen.
“But there’s one thing different here.” Paimon held up a finger, looking unusually serious.
“Since you’re not in Teyvat but in a completely different world, the things you get from Wishes will be converted.” “What do you mean?” “If you pull a character…” Paimon thought about his wording, “the character themselves won’t appear.” Aether was stunned.
“They won’t appear?
Then what’s the point of pulling?” “Don’t be impatient!
The character won’t manifest physically, but their mastery of element power, combat techniques, and muscle memory will be directly instilled into your body!” Aether took a few seconds to understand this.
In other words, if he pulled Diluc, a red-haired man swinging a claymore wouldn’t suddenly appear by his side.
Instead, Diluc’s experience in controlling the fire element, along with his combat judgment and reactions, would become his own.
It wasn’t about summoning allies.
It was about absorbing experience.
“What about weapons?” “As for weapons—” Paimon scratched his head, “the finished products can’t appear directly either.
Weapons you pull will come in the form of raw materials and forging blueprints.
You’ll have to find someone to craft them or learn blacksmithing yourself.” Aether fell silent.
This meant the system didn’t give him ready-made power, but knowledge and materials.
Characters provided the “how to fight,” and weapons provided the “what to fight with,” but the part in the middle—the actual strength to swing, the body to withstand the recoil, the stamina for continuous combat—all depended on his own training.
The system only taught; it didn’t spoon-feed.
“Paimon, tell me the truth.” Aether looked up.
“Did you do this on purpose?” “What do you mean on purpose!
Paimon wanted to give you the full service too, okay!
Do you think Paimon wanted to be nerfed!” Paimon puffed out his cheeks and floated in front of him, his face full of grievance.
“The rules of this world won’t allow it!
Paimon has already worked very hard!
At least the Wish system was saved, right?
You should thank Paimon!” Aether said nothing.
He wouldn’t go as far as thanking him.
But at least one thing was confirmed—he couldn’t rely on the system to reach the top in one step.
In this world with Dragon Slayer Mages, S-Class monsters, and Dark Guilds running rampant, if he wanted to survive, he had to be strong himself.
Downstairs, a kid barely over ten years old had shattered a cup with a casual bolt of lightning.
Meanwhile, he couldn’t even maintain a flame the size of a thumbnail.
The gap was right there.
“There is some good news though,” Paimon whispered in his ear.
“You have a beginner’s benefit right now.” Aether’s gaze returned to the translucent panel.
Below [Primogem: 0], a line of small text had appeared at some point.
[Beginner Wish—First pull free ×1] “One free Wish.” Paimon clapped his hands, his small eyes sparkling.
“Paimon worked really hard to squeeze this out of the system rules!
Only once, so cherish it!” Aether stared at the words.
One free pull.
Pulling was a matter of luck.
One pull could change everything, or it could yield a piece of three-star scrap metal.
But for him right now—with nothing to his name and a flame weaker than a candle—any thing would be a step up from zero.
“Can I pull now?” “Anytime!
You just need to—” Aether reached out and tapped the text.
The rest of Paimon’s sentence was swallowed by a golden light.
The Wish interface expanded, the diamond crystal began to spin and accelerate, and points of light gathered from all directions, converging into a slender streak of light.
The color of the light changed from white to blue, and from blue to purple.
Paimon’s mouth hung wider and wider.
The purple light flashed and exploded.
A card emerged from the light, slowly flipping over.
On the card was a man in a red and black jacket, holding a longsword, surrounded by dark red flames.
Aether’s breath hitched for a moment.
[4-Star · Bennett] It wasn’t Diluc.
But when Aether saw that familiar smiling face, the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
Bennett.
The unluckiest Adventurer in all of Teyvat.
Abandoned, disliked, stepping into pits whenever he went out, and finding nothing but junk in chests, yet he never gave up.
His fire element Talents wasn’t top-tier, but he pushed every bit of his power to the absolute limit.
The next second, golden light flooded into his body.
It wasn’t a gentle soaking.
It was like a bucket of boiling water being poured over his head.
Aether bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for air.
His muscles twitched, and every nerve was being rewired.
Something exploded in his mind.
The flow of flames, the path for guiding magic, the rhythm of footwork during close combat—a massive amount of information fragments flooded his consciousness, chaotic yet possessing an order on an instinctive level.
These weren’t “moves he had seen.” They were “moves his body remembered.” It hurt.
But he could endure it.
Thirty seconds later, the golden light faded.
Aether straightened up and held out his right hand.
A tuft of flame jumped from his fingertips.
It was no longer a flickering flame the size of a thumbnail.
This time, the flame was the size of a fist, stable in shape with clear edges, burning silently and steadily.
It was a completely different level compared to an hour ago.
“Wow.” Paimon flew around him twice.
Aether withdrew the flames and looked down at his hand.
A lingering warmth remained on his fingertips.
It wasn’t an uncontrollable heat, but a tamed temperature that could be reignited at any moment.
But in the next instant, another sensation surfaced.
Physical exhaustion.
Weakness in his knees.
A heaviness in his right arm from shoulder to fingertip.
Experience could be poured in.
Combat instincts could be implanted.
But stamina, muscle quality, and endurance—the system really didn’t care about those things at all.
His mind had learned a hundred ways to swing a sword, but his arm couldn’t even handle ten swings.
Aether sat back on the bed, burying his face in his hands.
Bennett’s combat memories were still surging in his mind; the trajectories of rolls, upward slashes, and lunges were clear and bright, yet they felt as if they were printed onto a shell that couldn’t carry them.
“Starting tomorrow,” Aether spoke in a muffled voice from behind his palms.
“Hmm?” “Physical training.
And, I need to find a place to learn blacksmithing.” Paimon waved his little fist and said, “Go for it!
Traveler!” “Great, now I’ve become Barbara,” Aether muttered, looking at the white floating object before drifting off to sleep.