"Why hasn't everyone at the Space Station cleared the Cleft Realm Instance yet? Liuge really can't take this anymore!"
With a sorrowful sigh, Liuge confirmed that all his various Stat-Sticks were where they belonged. Amid the lingering smoke, he judged the Eraser's position and advance route, then crouched low and rolled out.
Even without the benefit of invincibility frames, Liuge boldly rolled behind the Eraser. His boosted hand strike chopped into the back of its knee. As it was about to topple from the heavy blow, he planted his left hand on the ground and leaned back slightly, dodging the heavy cannon swung at him. His fist clenched—
"Inch Punch: Mountain Crash!"
He shouted out a nonsensical move name as if it were the real deal. His suddenly unleashed fist struck the Eraser squarely in the back, and the full-force blow smashed it hard into the ground. Without hesitation, Liuge lunged forward, mounted the Eraser, and threw several more punches at its head.
"Damn, that hurt..."
Looking at the blue orb of light left behind after the particles dispersed, Liuge leaned against the wall. His heart raced, and even his body temperature had risen. While gasping for breath, he vigorously shook his reddened right hand and reached out with his left to grab the Eraser's drop.
Though blue was only marginally better than white, it was still an instance drop... Anyway, anything was better than getting nothing from an instance.
Stat-Stick: Firearm
"Huh?"
Frowning slightly, Liuge activated his earth-shattering wisdom and began to think. Unlike the previous attribute-type Stat-Sticks for strength and speed, and unlike transformation-type Character Stat-Sticks, this so-called Firearm should count as a skill-type one?
Like turning a firearms novice into a perfect marksman?
After all, it couldn't possibly merge into his hand and let him fire his fingernails, right? As for something like blood-fueled gun kata, using HP to create guns before launching into melee combat, that was even less likely.
Opening the Stat-Stick Library, Liuge rubbed his chin and could not resist opening the Stat-Stick combination menu...
"Generally speaking, a character needs both personal attributes and personal skills to be considered complete..."
So, Liuge added the golden Stat-Stick · Genius Hacker (Female) to the combination menu, then added the removed blue Stat-Stick: Stealth, and finally the new blue Stat-Stick: Firearm = ???
"A very scientific equation."
He confirmed the submission.
Ordinary-looking text overlapped and burst into light. A few seconds later, a brand-new golden Stat-Stick appeared before him, though it was covered in cracks—
Stat-Stick: Haxxor Bunny (Incomplete) Description: Using this Stat-Stick Character Card allows the user to transform into this character and inherit all of her abilities. (As the current Stat-Stick is incomplete, only 70% of her abilities can be used. Please work hard to complete the Stat-Stick.)
"...Very good, very strong! Time to transform and go play with Silver Wolf!"
The Stat-Stick combination had indeed gone as expected, so Liuge spoke calmly. But a character from a Honkai Impact 3rd world bubble appearing in Honkai: Star Rail... Was this Stat-Stick combination really—
Oh, Old Yang had already come to the Honkai: Star Rail set.
Kiana had also ridden the train for her graduation trip. Maybe she would come to Honkai: Star Rail someday too. It did fit the universe setting.
Still, Liuge was somewhat bothered by transformations within this range. After all, it was not an armored transformation, and the incomplete version also meant insufficient power.
Beauty without that kind of strength was no beauty at all!
So what kind of Stat-Sticks would he need to combine a Herrscher Core?
Shaking his head, Liuge suppressed that wandering train of thought.
A Herrscher Core and the like should at least require golden Stat-Sticks, right?
So, it was better to peacefully remain a scavenger.
As for those things, he would wait until things settled down before thinking about them. Going to sleep sounded much more reassuring.
With those thoughts in mind, Liuge continued his work with dogged devotion.
While constantly avoiding Voidrangers, Liuge rummaged through trash and unexpectedly came across one of Herta's damaged puppets.
The discovery caught Liuge somewhat off guard.
He remembered the game mentioning that during the Antimatter Legion's attack, Herta had happened to be away on a visit. Logically speaking, Herta's puppets should not have been scattered throughout the Space Station.
Yet before Liuge now stood a Herta puppet whose lower body had been completely destroyed, leaving only its upper half.
Liuge squatted before the Herta puppet, wearing an expression like an invincible loser and Red Dad mockingly watching some genius.
"What are you looking at!"
Suddenly, the Herta puppet's eyes moved and turned directly toward Liuge, who was squatting beside her. She spoke in a cold, clear voice.
The sudden voice startled Liuge so badly that he froze, staring wide-eyed as the Herta puppet began moving her arms and straightening her damaged clothes to conceal her ruined body.
"No, you're this wrecked and you can still control it?!"
Maybe I should transform?
"Making a fuss over nothing!"
Herta glanced at Liuge, then began inspecting the surroundings and the extent of damage to her current puppet body.
After a moment, she sighed.
"Another body for the scrap heap."
"If you don't mind, I could take this body off your hands."
Liuge rubbed his hands beside her, looking embarrassed yet eager to give it a try.
I wouldn't dare touch a normal Herta puppet, but this body is damaged, and its owner just said she was going to discard it. It should be fine if I take it, right?
And more importantly—
The moment Herta said she would discard it, he had clearly seen a golden orb float out of the Herta puppet's body.
Stat-Stick: Puppet
Tsk, tsk, tsk. As expected of someone from the Genius Society.
One sentence, and she directly tossed out a Golden Legend.
A Puppet Stat-Stick?
There were plenty of ways to combine that.
If he remembered correctly, the Herrscher of Domination had also been puppets.
Following that line of thought, puppets had extremely high potential for development.
"Leaving aside whether I can give you this body, could you answer me one question? Who are you, sir?"
Herta looked at the shameless Liuge. She fell silent for a moment, then studied the young man before slowly speaking.
"Uh..."
"So, sir? I don't recall anyone like you being on Herta Space Station."
"Well, is there a possibility that I'm new here?"
Liuge answered cautiously. By now, he had completely put the matter of obtaining Herta's heavily damaged puppet out of his mind.
"Sir, while I do not manage the Space Station much, do not underestimate the memory of a Genius Society member."
Herta saw through Liuge's lie at a glance and stated it plainly.
In her view, this man might be connected to the Antimatter Legion's invasion of the Space Station.
Of course, the probability was small, but it could not be ruled out.
"Cough, cough, um... Herta, isn't this not the time to discuss that?"
As he spoke, Liuge casually stored the Puppet Stat-Stick in the Stat-Stick Library, laughing awkwardly as he brushed the matter aside.
Herta also knew this was not the time for such matters, so she did not continue questioning him. Once the Space Station's current crisis was resolved, she could investigate him at leisure.
After all, the Antimatter Legion sought to destroy everything. They could not possibly cooperate with anyone.
"In that case..."
Herta pondered for a moment and looked at Liuge.
Though she found Liuge's earlier motion, which had seemed like he was picking something up, rather strange, Herta felt she could temporarily trust the man before her.
"Is there anything you need my help with? Although this body is severely damaged, I can still be of use within the Space Station."
Hearing that, Liuge, who had been worrying about not knowing the way, immediately brightened up.
That's right!
Instead of wandering around blindly, didn't he have a guide right in front of him?!
Liuge scooped up Herta's upper body and tucked her under his arm, his face full of excitement.
"If possible, please show me the way to the Curio Storage!"
"In your dreams!"
Herta struggled free from beneath Liuge's arm. Her upper body fell to the ground, her eyes blazing with fury.
She immediately withdrew the trust she had placed in Liuge just moments ago.
This man really was no good.
The first thing he asked for was to get his hands on those Curios!
"Hey, no! Don't misunderstand!"
Liuge seemed to realize that he had phrased things badly and immediately explained.
"I just thought the Curio Storage should be relatively saf—"
Before he could finish, a golden object resembling a tree branch suddenly emerged from the ground beside them.
The branch rapidly grew and slowly unfolded into rippling streams of light resembling a rift.
"Get away from there."
The instant Herta saw it, she shouted at Liuge.
Of course, she did not need to warn him. The moment the branch appeared, Liuge had already darted away.
Scavengers cherished their lives. Even without invincibility frames, he wanted his little life to be worth something.
"That is..."
"A Cleft Realm Fissure!"
Herta answered directly.
Liuge's heart sank at her words. If a Cleft Realm Fissure had opened here, that meant... there were monsters!
In almost an instant, six or seven Voidrangers densely filled the entire corridor.
Oh ho, I'm screwed!
"Hey. Stop standing there and run!"
At some point, Herta had produced a massive hammer in her hand.
Though she was only half a body, she appeared incredibly imposing to Liuge.
"Herta, I'll leave this place to you—retreat!"
Without any politeness, Liuge turned and ran.
As for staying behind to fight alongside her, forget it.
Herta's puppet body was expendable, but he was made of flesh and blood. Their ability to take losses was not remotely comparable!
After running for several minutes, Liuge repeatedly dodged the attacks of several Voidrangers and killed them in return.
Naturally, he obtained two white Stat-Sticks.
However, while fleeing, he had no time to check what they were.
"Whatever, I can look at them later."
Thinking that, Liuge looked behind him. Once he confirmed that no Voidrangers were pursuing him, he crouched against a corner wall and began resting while catching his breath.
But the next moment, Liuge's eyes widened!
He discovered a hall not far ahead. At its center was a golden pig wandering about aimlessly, sniffing here and nudging there with its snout. It looked truly adorable.
But it was not the pig's cuteness that caught Liuge's attention. He saw five orbs continuously circling around its body.
The orbs also seemed random, appearing in sequence as gold, purple, blue, green, and white.
Ah, as expected of the most valuable pig in the entire game.
Before you continue