After dealing with the suicidal blond troublemaker and easing his financial burden, Chen Luo happily returned to the bar.
"You were gone for so long!" Venti waved at Chen Luo as he walked in.
"Blame fate for that. I was just going to grab you a music player, but then I ran into some guy looking for trouble. Spent some time burying him in the dirt—figured I'd dig him out tomorrow and teach him a lesson." As he spoke, Chen Luo tossed the MP3 player to Venti.
"Not sure why, but this bar has Wi-Fi too. You can browse trending songs—I've got a subscription, so you can download them. There's a manual too, if you need it."
Chen Luo wasn't worried about Venti not understanding the text on the device. If people from different worlds could communicate seamlessly, why would writing be a problem?
"Thanks!" Excited by his new gadget, Venti immediately started fiddling with the MP3 player.
While Venti was occupied, Chen Luo didn't idle either. It had been 20 minutes since he first listened to Venti's song, meaning his Blessing of the Anemo Archon only had 10 minutes left.
Using a Vision wasn't complicated, but mastering it was difficult. Without the buff, Chen Luo wouldn't have been able to jump from the second floor completely unharmed and silent.
Even while burying the blond, Chen Luo had been practicing with his Vision, trying to improve his proficiency. After all, this free 30-minute mastery period wouldn't come again.
Opportunities like this are rare.
So while Venti, the Anemo Archon himself, happily listened to music with headphones on, Chen Luo busied himself with training his Anemo Vision.
As he practiced, strange ideas kept popping into Chen Luo's head.
"Since it's all wind-based, could I replicate something like Wind Release techniques? Like the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken?"
He didn't expect a perfect copy—after all, he didn't have chakra—but something similar shouldn't be too hard, right?
And since I'm basically a 'happy wind man' now, could I use moves like Yasuo's from League of Legends? At the very least, Wind Wall should be easy to replicate.
These wild thoughts sparked all sorts of inspiration. Though Chen Luo hadn't watched much Naruto or played much Yasuo, a quick online search on Baidu could fill in the gaps.
At the same time, when Chen Luo experimented with his wonderful ideas, he didn't forget Venti, the tool man. After drinking my wine, you have to answer some questions for me.
Venti was Barbatos, the God of Anemo, with thousands of years of experience in wind manipulation. Even if Chen Luo wasn't a natural-born elemental user, some of that wisdom had to be useful.
"Alright, I should go. Stop asking me things!" Venti, annoyed by Chen Luo's constant interruptions when listening to songs, decided it was time to leave.
"Fine. The buff's worn off anyway. Take the MP3 player—and its charger. The battery lasts a full day, and it's durable. When it runs out, you can recharge and download more songs here." Chen Luo didn't press further.
"Got it. But how do I come back to this bar? Will it keep appearing at Windrise?" Venti asked.
"Once you've been here, returning is easy. Just close your eyes and focus. The stronger your concentration, the easier it is to summon the bar. Best to do it somewhere open and empty. You can bring friends too."
"You can come anytime, but I won't always be here. Evenings work best—assuming our worlds' time flows the same way."
The bar was always open, since it was essentially a commission hub, but Chen Luo wasn't worried about theft—there was nothing worth stealing. All the furniture and items were bound to the bar and couldn't be taken out.
"It's night time there too, our time zones match." Venti nodded thoughtfully.
"One last question—what's that bulletin board for?" He pointed to a sign near the entrance labeled [Commission Board].
"Oh, that? If you enter the bar with a strong enough desire, it'll form a commission and appear there. If I like it, I will help you complete it."
"Well, I roughly understand. So that free drink earlier was probably my commission, right?" Venti mused.
"You are very smart." Chen Luo didn't deny it.
"But what do you get out of it?" Venti asked curiously.
"Like I said when we met, I enjoy helping people—that wasn't a lie. My ability rewards me for it." Chen Luo materialized a Primogem and showed it to Venti.
"So… if I wanted another drink?" Venti tested.
"Commissions are optional. I don't have to accept them. And your wish isn't strong enough to form one yet. If you really want my help, you'll need to offer something extra."
"Like what?"
"Like your songs." Chen Luo twirled his Vision between his fingers.
"Then it's a deal. If I ask you for help in the future, don't refuse. By the way, I will keep it a secret for you."
With a playful wink, Venti hopped off his stool, grabbed his lyre, and skipped out of the bar.
"This guy…" Chen Luo chuckled as he noticed the single Mora left under Venti's glass.
"Was this his entire fortune?"
It was common knowledge that Venti was broke.
Chen Luo had once heard a joke: "The three Archons combined couldn't scrape together a single Mora."
Though he didn't play Genshin Impact much, meme lore like this was unavoidable.
"Hope he doesn't starve tomorrow." Chen Luo silently prayed for him.