Playing Stat-Sticks in Honkai: Star Rail

"Can you go check out the Mechanical Tribe area for me?"

"You mean, March 7th and the others are over there too?"

"Yes!"

Hearing this, Liuge lowered his head.

Natasha looked at him and sighed, assuming he wouldn't go.

But the next moment, Liuge spoke again.

"You asked me to go check it out, but I don't know the way!"

"Ah, this… my bad, I forgot you just came down."

At this moment, March 7th and the others on the other side had already arrived at the entrance to Medulla Mining.

And there, two groups were locked in a struggle.

No, perhaps it was one group against a wave of robots.

"Hey, Uncle Oleg, we're here!"

Seeing the situation over there, March 7th and the others immediately rushed over.

"Hm?"

Oleg looked at them with some surprise as they arrived.

"Why are you guys here?"

"Huh? Didn't you send someone to call us over?"

"Nonsense, we can handle these little bookkeeping robots ourselves!"

Oleg turned his head and said dismissively, looking at the robots in front of him.

"Then why haven't you dealt with them after we arrived?"

Stelle interjected, calling him out.

In an instant, Oleg's expression froze.

While they could deal with these robots, it was inevitable that some of his own people would get injured.

Seeing Oleg looking a bit flustered, Seele, who had been silently observing, almost burst out laughing.

"Alright, leave this to us."

With that, March 7th summoned her Six-Phase Ice bow and arrows, Seele raised her large scythe, and Bronya, who had been silently brought to the lower levels with them, lifted her long-barreled gun.

In less than a minute, these insignificant little robots were dealt with by March 7th and the others.

"Uncle Oleg, what happened? Why did you get into a conflict with these robots?"

"About that, we're a bit confused ourselves. We don't usually interact with them, but today they suddenly drove us out of the mine."

Oleg himself was a bit bewildered.

We were just mining peacefully, and suddenly we were driven out of the mine by some non-living entities. What can you even say about that?

"Did the machines achieve divinity?"

Stelle blurted out unexpectedly, and the next moment, March 7th shot her a glare.

"What divinity? How did you get influenced by that game otaku Liuge?"

March 7th helplessly rubbed her forehead, then looked at the small robots, her clever little brain starting to whir rapidly.

Then, under Stelle's surprised and bewildered gaze, wisps of white smoke began to rise from her head.

After a short while, March 7th's eyes suddenly lit up. She made a gesture of realization, holding her left fist in her right palm.

"I know! They've gained self-awareness!"

In an instant, March 7th, feeling like she had found the key point, placed her hands on her hips with a smug expression.

Her demeanor seemed to say, Praise me, praise me quickly!

025 Stat-Stick: Summon

Meanwhile, Liuge, on his way to the mine, continued to pick up everything he saw, fully embracing his role as a scavenger.

He collected all the Stat-Stick Light Orbs within his sight.

Putting aside the basic stat attributes of Strength, Speed, and Stamina, these three attributes, being of no higher than blue quality, barely offered any significant improvement to Liuge anymore.

What Liuge was interested in were the good stat-sticks he had picked up this time.

[Phantom]

Quality: Purple

Effect: Upon equipping this Stat-Stick, you will have special effects when you run away.

[Character Stat-Stick · Brat]

Quality: Purple

Effect: A high-quality combination of Stat-Sticks, you know what I mean!

[Silver Tongue]

Quality: Blue

Effect: Your words easily sway people's hearts.

[Trash Can]

Quality: Blue

Effect: Trash can

[Muscle Power]

Quality: Blue

Effect: Who doesn't love the special effect appearance of a big… well, you know?

That's right, these were the new Stat-Sticks Liuge had found along the way.

Of course, Liuge was most satisfied with Phantom and the Character Stat-Sticks.

While on the move, he pondered the combination recipes in the Stat-Stick Library.

When Liuge saw Phantom, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he managed to capture it.

Don't let Phantom fool you into thinking it's just a special effect Stat-Stick; with a little combination, it can be much more.

Thinking this, Liuge disassembled the Battle-Ready Bodyguard Stat-Stick.

He obtained five new Stat-Sticks: [Puppet], [Physics Holy Sword], [Guardian], [Strength], and [Speed].

Next, Liuge began the combination process again.

First, using the synthesis enhancement method, he upgraded the many Speed Stat-Sticks he had just picked up to blue quality.

Then, Liuge combined this blue-quality [Speed] with [Phantom] and [Puppet].

He obtained the brand-new Stat-Stick, [Clone].

Seeing this, Liuge let out a smile.

It was exactly as he had imagined.

[Clone] (Imperfect)

Quality: Pseudo-Gold

Effect: Upon equipping this Stat-Stick, a clone will condense beside you.

However, as he examined the Stat-Stick more closely, Liuge frowned slightly.

Liuge understood perfectly what the "Imperfect" meant.

It signified that the Stat-Stick was still missing crucial components. While it could be combined now, it was merely a simplified version, much like Haxxor Bunny.

"What exactly is missing?"

Liuge frowned and pondered for a while before giving up. Liuge's current thought was whether he could use the Clone Stat-Stick to enhance their strength.

For example, could the clone that appeared be equipped with Stelle's Character Stat-Stick?

Acting on his thought, Liuge directly equipped the Clone Stat-Stick.

The next moment, he saw a three-dimensional rendering of the clone appear on the Aether Editor's screen.

Seeing this, he knew his method… was viable!

Excited, Liuge managed to calm himself down, as he had already arrived at the mine entrance.

He immediately spotted March 7th, standing with her hands on her hips, waiting for praise.

Liuge quietly walked up to her.

Stelle and Dan Heng by her side also noticed Liuge's arrival and were about to speak when Liuge silenced them with a finger held to his lips.

They looked in Liuge's direction, then back at the still self-satisfied March 7th, and immediately understood what Liuge was planning.

Both of them found it quite amusing.

Meanwhile, Seele and Bronya, seeing an unfamiliar person approaching March 7th, tightened their grips on their weapons, looking wary.

But then they saw Stelle's slightly mischievous expression and immediately knew he was an acquaintance.

Liuge quietly leaned in close to March 7th's ear, blew gently into it, and then crouched down.

"Ah!"

The warm breath in March 7th's ear made her jolt violently. She raised a hand to cover her ear and spun around abruptly.

But there was no one behind her.

Before March 7th could react, Liuge quietly poked her waist from behind.

An itch made her turn her head again, but she refused to look down.

No one was behind her, which made March 7th a little flustered. She looked over at Stelle.

But Stelle's expression was one of pure surprise.

"What's wrong, March?"

Though she really wanted to laugh, Stelle held back.

"Um... um, I think there's a ghost here."

"A ghost?"

Stelle looked bewildered.

Just then, March 7th felt a touch on her thigh, as if someone had grabbed it.

"Eek!"

March 7th jumped up, then quickly looked down, tears almost springing to her eyes.

But when she saw Liuge squatting on the ground, holding up a hand to her and opening his mouth with a smile, "Yo, March!"

Her frightened expression immediately froze, then quickly turned to anger.

"Stupid Liuge, bad Liuge, you're bullying me!"

Saying that, she raised her fist and started raining blows down on Liuge.

Meanwhile, seeing that the fun was finally over, Stelle could no longer hold back and burst into laughter, clutching her sides.

Even Dan Heng couldn't help but chuckle. As for Seele and Bronya, they turned their heads away, but their shaking shoulders fully betrayed the fact that they were stifling laughter.

And Liuge, the instigator, naturally didn't dare to fight back. He just squatted there, covering his head, taking March 7th's barrage of little pink fists.