GENSHIN MAD: CHAPTER 1 (Patreon)

Genshin Impact, A Monster’s Ascension to Divinity

Chapter 1: Reincarnation

—

Something is wrong.

My whole body hurts, from head to toe, as if I was stuffed in a box for days.

What in the world happened to me?

With a grunt, I tried to part my eyes open. They seemed to be glued, and I didn’t like that feeling.

Finally, after what felt like pushing a boulder off a cliff, I felt my eyelids part slowly. But-

Everything is blurry…?

I wanted to rub my eyes more than anything, but while I could feel my hands, I couldn't muster the strength to. The good thing was, even though my eyes failed me, my ears could hear something.

Grunts.

Grunts of kids, maybe toddlers, were filling my eardrums. Is this a hospital? Did I survive…?

So I didn't die? That's a miracle and a half then.

After my dad's nonstop complaints, I decided to take a part-time job at a construction site. On my 1st day there, a metal pillar fell on top of me from the 30-story building we were making building.

"Huff…"

Remembering all that, my breathing started to get erratic. I tried to calm my breathing down. Though it is good news that I could even breathe. Meaning I am living, and this isn't just some distorted afterlife (assuming people don't need to breathe after their death).

I swear, I will leave that old bastard the moment I get out of here. Fuck your work.

If he wants alcohol, he should buy it with his own damn money, don't drag me into that.

Fuuuh...

Slowly, I could feel the sound in my ears clear up, they became more vivid, and now I was 100% sure I was surrounded by newborns.

On second thought, even with my blurry vision, I could tell the texture of the room I was in. It wasn't really hospital-like. It's brown, almost wood-looking. Moreover, why would they put a grown-up teen like me with kids?

...Eh, I will figure it out soon enough.

And so, I laid there limp, not trying to move even a muscle since I didn't know in what condition my body was in. I didn't know how much time passed, but from the bright background that went dim slowly and even dark at one point, I could tell a day had passed. Though I wasn't there to see the light return as I had lost myself to sleep.

[—Next Day—]

The first thing I did when my world became bright, even with my eyes closed, was to take in a deep breath and pray my vision returned to normal. As if the prayer had worked, when I opened my eyes for the second time, I could see… everything.

My vision was clear, crystal clear. I didn't have bad eyes before, no, it's in fact, the opposite, but this was almost as if I was seeing a world in 8K Ultra HD with RTX on. Speaking of RTX, everything looks kinda… animated?

Oh, and yeah, I am not in a fucking hospital, where the fuck am I??!?!

I could feel my breathing slow down as I stared at the wooden ceiling. It was broken and badly made, the woods weren't placed up properly, so the sun was visible from here.

If this isn't a hospital, what is it then?

I tried to move my eyes around me, and surprisingly succeeded without much difficulty. Though the sight around me wasn't exactly… pleasing.

Babies with charred black skin, many times darker than any African I have ever seen, laid around me, crying, whimpering, and some even laughing. But their skin tone wasn't the disturbing part though, I am no racist, the disturbing part was their face.

If it can even be called that.

They had a mane around their necks, covering their heads like hair, and two black ears were popping out of there. Again, that wasn't the disturbing part. The disturbing part came down to their face, their disgustingly contorted face.

I quickly turned my head back to the ceiling. I didn't want to see that more than I had to.

Where the fuck am I?

Not long after that question popped up in my head did I realise the truly horrifying fact.

I also looked like those things around me.

[—Next Day—]

While it's a mystery how I fell asleep even after knowing I was surrounded by monsters, the more mysterious part was my growth.

Standing up from where I was laid for the past two days, I couldn't help but feel strange. I had grown nearly as large as an elementary school kid in 3 days. What the hell?

It also didn't take me much time to realise I have been reincarnated, not sure why or even where, but I have indeed been reborn.

"Oy, y'all! Come here!"

I heard a yell in a language I shouldn't understand, but I could for reasons unknown.

I guess I will think about my reincarnation later.

Looking in the direction of the voice, I saw a creature, looking almost like the monsters in this room, albeit a bit taller, standing with a shaman wand in his hand, which was taller than his body actually. The thing that was different about him from these kids and me, was his mask, and I could imagine the same disgusting and disoriented face under that mask.

Though I wasn't the only one who heard him, the other creatures around me also did, the newborns who have grown to be as big as me in the last 3 days.

Allowing one of them to walk in front of me, I walked out of the hut we were in. Can this even be called a hut though...?

We reached the Shaman creature, and as we did, some things became clearer to me. His appearance… looked familiar.

"You all are the newborn of our tribe, the Dadaupa Hilichurls!" The Shaman said, all to my alarm. "Now, stop staring at me with those ugly faces of yours and take these!"

He kicked the box resting on his legs that I didn't notice before, and upon further observation, the box seemed to be filled with masks similar to the Shaman Hilichurl.

A Hilichurl… God, what kind of prank is this?

My mind was honestly not prepared for all this, but I didn't let my surprise cloud my vision. I picked up one of the masks, just as the other newborns did, and wore it as the Shaman showed us how to. It was magical, apparently. We just had to put the mask on top of our faces and it would cling there. Good thing is, because of whatever magic was used, I could still see and smell normally as if the mask didn't exist at all.

"Now, let me explain some things." The Shaman talked in a squeaky voice. "That mask isn't just to hide those ugly faces of yours… those faces of ours, but they also indicate ranks."

I don't think, Hilichurl or not, 3-day-olds know things like Ranks…?

Looking back at the nodding Hilichurls, I discarded that idea. Most likely, since magic is happening right in front of me, all of us were fed with some kind of spell to understand these words and even this Hilichurlian language as a whole.

The Shaman continued, his voice cracky. "As of now, you are normal Hilichurls. Upon growing to Level-5, you'll be given one of the seven main elements. After that, at level 25, you will get the choice to ascend, evolve, and become a Samachurl, such as I. After that, at level 50, you'll become a Mitachurl, and at level 100, you'll become a Lawachurl. Though evolution is optional, you can even stay as you are but still keep levelling up, as long as you want."

…Were Hillichurls always this smart in the game? If not, I guess I have an AU to worry about. Also, Level?

I didn't notice before, but upon hovering my eyes over the Hillichurls around me, I could see texts floating over their heads.

All the 3-days-old around me were [Level 1], but there were some exceptions… there was one Hillichurl in particular who was [Level 3] amongst the 3-days-olds. Then looking at the Shaman, the Samachurl, I blinked.

[Samachurl - Level 48]

Ah, 2 levels away from evolving.

"As for how to check your levels." The Shaman talked again, his mask brushing over our faces. "You need to place your hands here." He pointed at the blue almost-ethereal liquid resting on a bowl beside me, I did notice that before, and was wondering what it did.

"This would reveal your level!" He said. "If you're lucky, then maybe, just maybe, you can get your hands on some ancient Khaenri'ah artifact. I heard those things let you see someone's level with a simple glance, though that's just legends at this point, hah... Sad, but our naked eyes can't see Levels, that would have been very good. Sigh, anyway."

Uh…? Ah-huh! I get it.

I got Cheats.

"Come over, and place your hands here. Show me your levels."

I wonder just how many cheats I got.

**

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Author’s Note: This is a side project. The updates won’t be daily, not yet at least, but since the idea was lingering in my head for a while now, I decided it was time.

Also, if you have any better title in mind (other than that certain one), then throw it at me!