Playing Stat-Sticks in Honkai: Star Rail

"Smash! Jade Shatter! Grand Encore!: Who's afraid of whom? I'll obliterate you this time!"

"Your Gege: I don't know who, but in our 132 matches, you only won 9!"

"Smash! Jade Shatter! Grand Encore!: That was me going easy on you, a noob player!"

Liuge saw this and thought, "Wow, they're really tough-talking."

Just then, Liuge's terminal suddenly rang.

He picked it up and saw it was a message from Herta on Herta Space Station.

"Herta: Hey, the game you asked me to make is basically done, but it hasn't been debugged or tested for bugs yet. Come test it yourself."

With that, Herta sent over the game itself, "Kamen Rider Chronicle."

Reading Herta's message, Liuge suddenly had an idea: why not use this game to torment that guy in the game?

"Liuge: Herta, can I send this to other people to test with me?"

"Herta: You can, but it must be kept secret, as you've already handed the game over to the company for distribution."

"Liuge: No problem!"

After sending the message, Liuge connected his terminal to the virtual reality equipment and installed the game.

Going back online, Liuge sent a message to that noob player.

"Your Gege: Since you agreed to a one-on-one, I happen to have a brand new game that hasn't been released yet. If you have no objections, let's use this game for our duel. It'll be a good chance to see what bugs need fixing!"

"Smash! Jade Shatter! Grand Encore!: Send it over!"

Seeing this, Liuge directly sent over the game itself, "Kamen Rider Chronicle."

Not long after, the other party messaged back, saying they had finished installing it.

"Heh heh, don't blame me for this!"

017 Ahhhhh, you country bumpkin ahhhhh!!!

With a flash of light, Liuge, now equipped with the Stat-Stick Character Card "Haxxor Bunny" and transformed into Bronya, logged into "Kamen Rider Chronicle," the game Herta had made.

Because of the initial settings, this game didn't have character creation; it displayed bodies based on the user's actual condition. Therefore, Liuge had put on a skin before going online to face that noob.

On one hand, it was to prevent Blade from doxxing him using Haxxor Bunny's hacking abilities, and on the other hand, it was to avoid his real-life self being accidentally exposed in some unexpected way.

After going through a simple beginner's tutorial, Liuge chose to enter the game and created a battle city module.

In the game "Kamen Rider Chronicle," no matter what kind of map it was, all players on the map initially had no abilities. They had to find transformation items within the map to engage in battles.

This not only tested the players' searching skills but also their luck and reaction time.

Therefore, this game was fair. Whether you were a master or a noob, before finding the transformation item, you were just a weakling.

At the same time, all sorts of monsters from history existed within the map. Wasn't evasion also a skill?

Before long, another player entered the map Liuge had created.

When he saw that player, he was stunned.

"Huh? You're that Silver Wolf who claims to be the universe's number one hacker?"

"Huh? Country bumpkin?!"

The two met eyes and were both a little dumbfounded.

They had never expected that for so many days, the one tormenting (suffering) them was actually the other.

"Pfft! Hahaha, the so-called universe's number one hacker is actually a noob gamer, and one who cheats when they can't win!"

Liuge was dying of laughter. If he had known it was Silver Wolf earlier, he would have tormented her even more ruthlessly.

At this moment, he was covering his stomach in the image of Haxxor Bunny, laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face.

Silver Wolf, on the other hand, had a dark expression and remained silent.

She truly hadn't expected to be tormented to death by this country bumpkin in the game, and even resorted to cheating out of anger, only to be discovered by the other party.

Embarrassing, so embarrassing!

Now, Silver Wolf had the urge to log off immediately, yank out her internet cable, and never play the game again.

In the end, she held back, not only for revenge but also due to her anticipation for this new game and its fair competition.

It doesn't matter if you're a master or a noob; before transforming, everyone is weak.

This was Silver Wolf's confidence after accepting and understanding the tutorial.

"Hahahaha..." After laughing for a while, Liuge wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at Silver Wolf. "Since it's you, let's have a competition with the game."

"Exactly what I wanted!"

Silver Wolf gestured downwards with her left thumb, her expression full of arrogance.

"Don't lose too badly~"

With that, Liuge started the match.

As the countdown ended, a flash of light appeared before Liuge and Silver Wolf.

Meanwhile, aboard the Herta Space Station, Herta, who had been waiting for a long time, began to instruct her altered office staff.

"Everyone, pay attention. The test has begun. Start detecting game data and trial-and-error..."

"Yes!"

On the other side, the two individuals in the game appeared in an amusement park. The place was crowded with tourists, but they were all NPCs set up by Herta, so Liuge didn't think much of it and started wandering around the park.

Silver Wolf, on the other hand, twitched an eye at the scene before her.

While she didn't dislike crowds, a place like an amusement park brought back some unpleasant memories.

Shaking her head vigorously, she casually walked towards the arcade in the amusement park.

Before the duel, she wanted to see if the game machines in the game could be played.

Then, to her surprise, she discovered that she could actually play arcade games within the game. This realization significantly increased her favorability towards this new game.

After achieving ten consecutive wins, the NPC manager walked over with a tray.

"Miss, as the first player to achieve ten consecutive wins, you are eligible to receive this reward."

"Reward?"

Silver Wolf blinked and looked at the tray in the NPC's hand.

On it was something yellow and toy-like, with a purple plug-in card resembling a game cartridge next to it.

Having gone through the beginner tutorial, Silver Wolf immediately recognized it as the game Driver, also known as the player driver, and the transformation cassette next to it.

Silver Wolf happily took it into her hands, never expecting to obtain a transformation item just by playing games out of interest.

She snapped the player driver onto her waist, watching as it automatically extended a belt to secure it. Silver Wolf then looked at the cassette in her hand.

[Prototyping Extraordinary Action X Turning Play Cassette]. If Liuge saw this, he would naturally recognize this cassette as the black Ex-Aid from Shagou.

"You just wait! You country bumpkin, I'm going to crush you this time!"

On the other side, Liuge, who was wandering aimlessly, suddenly spotted a photo studio.

Puzzled as to why there would be a photo studio in an amusement park, he walked inside.

Then, he encountered an NPC who wanted a photo taken but couldn't find the shop owner, so they pleaded with Liuge to take the picture.

Liuge's expression turned dark at this.

Herta's plot setting is too lazy.

However, he still helped the NPC take the photo. The moment the photo was taken, the camera in his hand inexplicably transformed into a magenta belt, and the NPC player turned into a white card box.

"???"

Liuge was stunned for three seconds. He looked at the magenta belt in his hand, then at the card box over there, and couldn't suppress the smile on his lips.

Well, they're making me play as the strongest poser of the new and old twenty years right from the start!

Picking up the card box, Liuge opened it to find transformation cards and driver cards, a complete gift package.

At this moment, his smile became twisted, giving off a strong vibe of Kohei Imamura possessing him.

"Hehehe, Silver Wolf, you little noob, let's see how you can compete with me..."

Five minutes later, in the crowded plaza of the amusement park, Liuge and Silver Wolf met.

The moment they saw each other, they immediately put on their belts and took out their transformation items.

"She found it?"

"She found it?"

The same question popped into their minds simultaneously, but in the next moment, they were captivated by the light of each other's transformations.

Silver Wolf directly transformed into the appearance of a chubby little man, while Liuge transformed into a slender Rider with his signature magenta color.

"This isn't right, why does this transformation come with a chubby little guy!"

"Are you going to mess around, little noob!"

Liuge lunged forward and kicked Silver Wolf, sending her flying a considerable distance. While Silver Wolf was still bewildered, Liuge proceeded to beat her soundly, giving the impression of an invincible player beating up a brat.

In a moment of panic, Silver Wolf's hand happened to flick the trigger on her belt.

The next moment, the chubby little man slimmed down, transforming into a slender figure.

"Hehehe, now... let's have a pleasant duel~~~"

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Liuge's expression suddenly change, as if something had appeared. He then clasped his hands together in an apologetic gesture.

"Ahem, sorry, I have to go offline for a moment..."

Immediately after, Liuge's figure vanished before Silver Wolf's eyes, and a game notification sound reached her ears.

[Your opponent has surrendered. You have won!]

Silver Wolf stared blankly at the word "Victory" floating in front of her.

A feeling of frustration welled up in her chest, making her want to go crazy.

"Aaaaaaaahhh... you country bumpkin!!!!!!!!!!"

Old Yang: I'm really getting on in years!

Actually, Liuge didn't want to log off just yet.

After all, it was a newly developed game, and he hadn't even reached the game's sweet spot yet. Being forced to log off like this felt awful.

What felt even worse was that he was just about to start tormenting Silver Wolf when this happened.

The reason was simple: Pom-Pom had notified him that they were about to begin a space jump.

Pom-Pom had previously stated that during space jumps, all activities had to be stopped, and everyone had to wait in the public carriage. This was partly to prevent any abnormal conditions in passengers after the jump, allowing for timely rescue, and partly because it was better to be together.

Liuge silently put down his virtual game console, opened the door to the recreation room, and headed towards the public carriage.

Along the way, he ran into March 7th and Stelle, and they walked to the public carriage together.

"Liuge, when we jump later, want to try standing?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Although Liuge knew that in the story, March 7th wanted to see if she could complete the jump while standing.

He didn't want to try it himself.

"March means trying to challenge your limits by standing, to see how stable your foundation is!"

"Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what I mean!"

March 7th gave Stelle an appreciative glance, then looked at Liuge with a smile.

"So, want to give it a try?"

"I must respectfully decline!"

Liuge read out with a blank expression.