Chat Group: My Multiverse Gacha System — Chapter 366

Chapter 366: Stelle: No! My Infinite Stamina…

As the glowing system text dissolved into the air, a sudden, invisible pressure crashed down upon the group. It wasn’t a physical weight, but rather a distinct, suffocating sense of “restriction” that seemed to bind their very souls, shackling the immense power they usually wielded.

Zhongli slowly closed his hand, his fingers curling into a fist. He tested the kinetic feedback of this unfamiliar, heavily suppressed state, acutely aware of the sheer frailty of his current vessel compared to his true draconic form. A fleeting trace of surprise rippled through his glowing golden eyes, though it rapidly smoothed out into a look of calm, analytical scrutiny.

“It has been a long time… since I experienced the feeling of such a mortal vessel,” he murmured softly, his deep voice carrying through the quiet air. There was not a single ounce of dissatisfaction in his tone; instead, it held a quiet serenity, as if he were fondly reminiscing about the grounding limitations of the mortal world. For the former Geo Archon, this sudden nerf was not a debilitating weakness, but rather a nostalgic return to simplicity.

Beside him, Venti blinked his bright green eyes and experimentally tried to mobilize his Anemo energy. A faint breeze fluttered around his fingertips, but he immediately realized that while his connection to the wind remained intact, the sheer volume and range of the elemental power he could command had been severely bottlenecked.

Far from being discouraged, the bard looked as though he had just stumbled upon a fascinating new game. A playful, nostalgic smile curled the corners of his lips. “It’s truly been a long time since I felt this ‘frail.’ The last time I was this weak and helpless was probably back when I was just a tiny, floating Wind Spirit, wasn’t it?”

Elsewhere, Stelle’s experience was far more pronounced—and infinitely more “painful.”

Acting on pure muscle memory, the Trailblazer instinctively dropped low to execute a high-intensity tactical roll. Instead of smoothly gliding across the terrain, her boots dragged heavily against the ground, as if invisible chains were wrapped tightly around her ankles. Her movements felt sluggish, devoid of their usual snappy momentum, and her breathing hitched, growing slightly ragged from the simple exertion.

The nearly infinite stamina and absurd regenerative power she usually relied on to run rampant across battlefields—courtesy of the Stellaron sealed within her chest—felt as though it had been slammed shut by a heavy iron vault door.

“This feeling… I’m really not used to it.” Stelle, who rarely ever lost her deadpan composure, actually furrowed her brows. She pondered her internal state, a bead of sweat forming on her temple. ‘It feels like my strength can actually run out now, and I can get tired… I can’t just mess around like I used to.’The mere thought of being forcibly ejected from the Hollow because she recklessly burned through her stamina was far too embarrassing to entertain. Taking a deep breath, she forced her chaotic mind to settle, immediately shifting gears to seriously calculate her tactical options and stamina allocation.’Stelle’s legendary reputation cannot be ruined here!’ she resolved silently, her golden eyes narrowing with determination. It was time to show off her rarely seen “wisdom” and tactical genius.

Yet, amidst this heavy atmosphere where everyone was actively adapting to their sudden suppression, there was one glaring, pint-sized exception.

Paimon floated in the air, imitating Lumine by squeezing her eyes shut and crossing her tiny arms to sense her own internal state. After a few seconds, she popped her eyes open and tilted her head, her face a mask of pure bewilderment.

“That’s strange,” Paimon muttered, scratching her cheek. “You all keep saying you feel suppressed and heavy, but why don’t I feel anything? I feel exactly the same as usual! Flying isn’t tiring at all.”

Lumine stared at Paimon’s genuinely confused, ignorant expression. The blonde Traveler pressed a hand tightly over her mouth, her shoulders shaking violently as she fought back a sudden burst of laughter.

After finally managing to suppress her giggles, Lumine cleared her throat, her golden eyes sparkling with amusement. “Paimon, is there a possibility… well… that your fundamental physical fitness is still far from reaching the minimum threshold required for this ‘Balance Mechanism’ to even bother activating?”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Paimon immediately puffed up her cheeks, floating several feet higher into the air like a startled cat whose tail had just been stepped on. She waved her tiny, stubby fists in furious protest. “Who said that?! I’m very strong! I’m your best guide and your absolute strongest escort! And don’t ask why I’m the strongest, because I’m the only one!”

“Is that so?” Lumine raised a skeptical eyebrow, watching her floating companion with leisurely amusement. “If you’re so strong, why don’t you try summoning your ‘Paimon Star’?”

“Fine! I’ll try it right now and show you!” Unwilling to concede an inch of her pride, Paimon scrunched up her face in deep concentration and thrust her small hand forward dramatically. “Come forth! Paimon Star!”

Following her commanding shout, the air rippled, and the muscular, exaggeratedly styled proxy known as “Paimon Star” indeed manifested in response.

However, the imposing entity that materialized was a far cry from the majestic, three-meter-tall behemoth it usually was. Instead, it had violently reverted to its absolute initial state—a miniaturized version standing barely 1.5 meters tall. While it still possessed clearly defined, bulging muscles, its visual impact was hilariously diminished compared to the terrifying giant Paimon usually paraded around.

“Eh?! Why did it get so small?!” Paimon shrieked, staring dumbfounded at her shrunken proxy.

Lumine crossed her arms, analyzing the situation with a serious nod. “It seems the Chat Group’s Balance System is quite ‘fair’after all. Paimon, the reason your own body wasn’t suppressed is because your baseline physical value is indeed… well,’in need of severe improvement’.”

She paused, gesturing to the miniature muscle-bound spirit. “But your ‘Paimon Star’ability is incredibly strong. The system clearly judged it as an overpowered asset that needed’balancing,’ so it temporarily nerfed it back to its initial state.”

Stepping forward, Lumine gently patted Paimon’s tiny shoulder, her tone shifting to one of earnest advice. “So, Paimon, you still need to properly train yourself. Relying on cheats is fine, but your own physical strength and combat experience are your true, reliable assets.”

Paimon instantly wilted like an unwatered flower. Her small face flushed a deep shade of red, and her eyes darted nervously away, completely avoiding Lumine’s gaze. “I’ll train, I’ll train…” she mumbled, her voice dropping to a pitch as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. “Just don’t make it sound like I’m lazy…”

Her intense guilt actually stemmed from a very real place. Previously, inside the Chat Group’s Cultivation Room, Paimon had genuinely worked her heart out for several days. She had felt her mental connection with Paimon Star growing tighter, allowing her to control the muscular proxy as easily as breathing, while simultaneously increasing the duration of her time-stop ability.

That intoxicating feeling of abundant, overwhelming power had unconsciously made her a little conceited. She had started to view herself as a powerful, independent warrior capable of standing alone. Naturally, because of this newfound arrogance, she had completely slacked off on the grueling, sweaty physical training of her actual main body.

Who could have guessed that the Hollow’s “Balance Mechanism” would be so utterly merciless? It used the simplest, most direct method to expose her weakness, reverting her to her original state and proving that the foundation of her main body was far weaker than she ever imagined—so weak, in fact, that she didn’t even qualify to be “equally” suppressed by the environmental mechanics.

Just as Paimon’s cheeks were burning with absolute shame over her disappointing physical fitness, a new development occurred that caught her completely off guard.

The summoned Paimon Star, already drastically shrunken to 1.5 meters, suddenly began to flicker. Its muscular form distorted violently during the brief ten seconds of their conversation, glitching out like a cheap holographic projection struggling with a poor signal.

Finally, with a pathetic, soft poof, the proxy completely dissipated into the thin air without a single word of warning, leaving absolutely no trace behind.

“Eh—?! It d-disappeared?!” Paimon shrieked, stumbling clumsily in the air out of sheer shock. She quickly flailed her arms to stabilize her flight, held her breath, and squeezed her eyes shut, desperately trying to re-establish the mental connection.

“Paimon Star! Come out quickly! Get ready to fight!”

However, her frantic attempts at summoning ended in complete failure. Paimon could feel that the mental tether between herself and her proxy hadn’t been severed, but the “energy” required to sustain its physical existence in the real world seemed to have been instantly drained dry. It now required a slow, agonizing process of re-accumulation.

A clear, unmistakable “cooldown” signal beamed directly into her consciousness through that mysterious tether—it would take at least ten more seconds before she could even attempt to summon her all-important combat partner again.

“It’s over, it’s over! Lumine! Something terrible has happened!” Paimon frantically flew toward the Traveler, waving her arms in pure panic.

“Paimon Star… it can’t stay out all the time anymore! Once it’s summoned, I have to wait a whole cooldown period before I can call it again! What should I do?!” For the little guide, who had foolishly entrusted almost 100% of her combat power to her proxy, this restriction was undoubtedly a devastating, world-ending blow.

Lumine, having witnessed the entire pathetic process of Paimon Star glitching out and dissipating, felt her brows furrow tightly together.

She reached out and gently rubbed Paimon’s back to reassure the hyperventilating fairy, her tone grave and focused. “Don’t panic just yet. Let me try something too.”

Lumine took a deep, centering breath and concentrated her focus inward. Instantly, brilliant sparks of elemental energy flared to life at her fingertips. Anemo, Geo, Electro, Dendro, and Hydro—five distinct, vibrant elemental lights illuminated her hand in rapid sequence, flowing continuously into one another without a single stutter.

This smooth transition proved that while her overall output might be capped, her complex control over her fundamental powers had not been stripped away. Her elemental switching remained as flawless as ever.

Immediately after confirming her internal state, Lumine pivoted on her heel. She locked her golden eyes onto a jagged piece of mechanical wreckage half-buried in the dirt nearby, pointed her fingers forward like a drawn sword, and violently slashed out a razor-sharp Anemo Blade.