Playing Stat-Sticks in Honkai: Star Rail

"Cat got your tongue! Well then, hurry up and tell me... where is this?"

Haxxor Bunny looked around the clinic-like place with some confusion.

The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a man in front of her. Then, she found herself in an unfamiliar location, which made her quite puzzled.

"How should I put this, I need to prove something."

"Prove?"

Bronya looked at Liuge, who was about to demonstrate, with a puzzled expression.

In the next moment, Liuge reached out and touched a trash can beside him.

The trash can instantly changed its appearance, growing to be as tall as a person and sprouting thick, sturdy limbs.

At this, Bronya felt like her eyes were being burned by something.

"See, this is the ability I can summon."

Liuge stood to the side, introducing the muscular trash can with his arms crossed.

"This... is called King Trash Can!"

"King Trash Can..."

Bronya's lips twitched. She really wanted to just shoot this guy right now.

But a voice in her heart seemed to tell her not to, forcibly suppressing her thoughts.

The moment this thought was suppressed, Haxxor Bunny actually believed him. It was just that the King Trash Can in front of her was too much to bear.

It was a bit of an eyesore, ahhhhhh!

At this moment, Liuge saw Bronya stop moving and even the doubt in her eyes disappear. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He gave himself a mental pat on the back for his cleverness.

In the awkward silence, his thoughts raced, and he opened his Stat-Stick library. After quickly scanning through it, he selected a few Stat-Sticks and combined them.

They were [Trash Can], [Muscle Power], and [Trial]. He had actually directly combined them into the King Trash Can Stat-Stick Card.

However, in this situation, the appearance of King Trash Can could better showcase the extraordinary nature of Liuge's abilities.

As Liuge had expected, Bronya no longer doubted him.

Bronya, having calmed down, was about to open her editor when she was stunned to find that her abilities seemed to be unusable.

"What's wrong?"

"I found... my abilities don't seem to be working anymore."

Although she still didn't trust Liuge, Bronya still explained her situation.

"Your abilities aren't working?"

Liuge looked at the submachine gun in her hand and then at the two little guys floating nearby, with an expression that seemed to say, "Are you kidding me?"

But looking at Bronya's expression, it didn't seem like she was faking it, and Liuge was a bit bewildered.

He could normally use his abilities when he equipped Haxxor Bunny, so why...

Suddenly, Liuge's gaze fixed on the Aether Edit floating in mid-air.

A strange thought suddenly popped into his mind.

Could it be...

Thinking this, Liuge reached out and grabbed at the Aether Edit.

In the next moment, the Aether Edit flickered in front of him, and the entire panel seemed to shrink by about a third.

But in Liuge's hand, a brand new Stat-Stick appeared.

[Aether Edit]

Quality: Gold

Effect: Aether Edit, you know the drill.

"..." Liuge stared at the golden orb in his hand, remaining silent for a long time.

"Hey, how did you..."

"Damn it! Are you messing with me? Is there even such a thing?!"

Liuge's expression was one of utter disbelief.

He could bet his life that the Aether Edit ability he was currently using was actually a Stat-Stick, one that had been equipped on him since he transmigrated.

He had always thought that his ability after transmigrating was the Stat-Stick ability of Aether Edit, only to discover this now.

This wasn't the Stat-Stick ability of Aether Edit at all; it was the Aether Edit Stat-Stick itself being displayed through his abilities.

It was a complete reversal!

And Liuge believed that a certain Aeon was the most likely culprit for this kind of trickery.

At the same time, Liuge now deeply suspected...

My own Stat-Stick abilities… could they also be something a Stellaron Hunter cooked up just for kicks?

Taking a few deep breaths, Liuge calmed himself down.

After all, no matter how he thought about it, the situation was already like this. Were there any better options than this current predicament?

Clearly not. And since there weren't, wouldn't it be better to just enjoy the unfolding developments?

"Um..."

"Hm?"

Liuge turned his head to look at Bronya, then smacked his forehead.

"Ah, look at me getting all worked up. Just wait a moment."

With that said, Liuge opened Aether Edit and combined the Stat-Stick ability into the three-dimensional model of [Clone·Haxxor Bunny].

Just as Liuge was about to speak, his gaze fell upon another entry in the Stat-Stick library.

Liuge looked at Bronya before him. Although he no longer doubted her, she still appeared wary of him.

Gritting his teeth, Liuge silently combined the [Childhood Sweetheart] Stat-Stick into [Clone·Haxxor Bunny] as well...

030 Damn it!

Just as Liuge was preparing to combine the Childhood Sweetheart Stat-Stick into the "Clone·Haxxor Bunny" Stat-Stick Character Card, similar to how he had done with Aether Edit, in order to increase the trust between himself and Haxxor Bunny.

Something unexpected happened.

The Aether Edit interface, which had been a clear, light blue, instantly turned a deep crimson, accompanied by constantly flashing exclamation marks.

"Wh-what's going on?" Liuge was completely bewildered. Before he could even react, another line of text appeared on the interface.

"Current operation violates Stat-Stick Rule Article 666."

"Your operation has touched upon the 'Rule of Unnatural Birth' within the 'Law of Women,' which prohibits the manipulation of any Stat-Sticks related to memory or emotions into female Stat-Stick characters with existing consciousness."

"This is a warning. According to the Stat-Stick Punishment Law, you will be randomly teleported to an unknown location in five minutes."

Liuge stared blankly at the series of pop-up prompts, a bad premonition dawning in his heart.

These lines looked intimidating, but in simple terms, they meant: "You've broken the rules, you idiot."

Immediately after, Liuge noticed a faint, almost imperceptible smiling mask icon in the bottom right corner of these prompts.

"Damn it!"

Liuge let out a curse. He finally understood what was going on.

Taking a deep breath, he closed Aether Edit.

He turned his gaze to Bronya in front of him.

"See if you can still use your abilities now."

"Hm?"

Bronya blinked slightly, then tried it out. To her astonishment, her abilities had not only returned but also felt subtly enhanced.

It was at this moment that Bronya felt a subtle connection forming between herself and Liuge.

In this instant, she was certain that, in a sense, she was indeed a clone character summoned by Liuge.

However, as she thought this, new doubts arose.

She now possessed self-awareness, so what exactly was their relationship?

"You..."

Bronya was about to ask when she suddenly noticed Liuge's figure in front of her gradually fading, as if... as if he were about to disappear.

Liuge also noticed his own condition at this time but didn't pay it much mind.

Being randomly teleported to an unknown location would likely still be on this planet.

If he got lucky, maybe he'd be teleported directly to Everwinter Hill?

Besides, this wasn't the first time he'd experienced such a situation.

Recalling how he'd woken up on the Herta Space Station, Liuge pursed his lips.

Then, he looked at Bronya.

"Later, if anyone asks who you are, just say you're my cousin Liuge, who's been lost for many years. Then, follow March 7th and the rest of the Astral Express crew."

Yes, Liuge didn't want to simply dismiss Bronya from her clone state. Keeping her like this seemed fine too.

"Tsk..."

Bronya could tell that Liuge was planning to run off and leave her here.

But she had no intention of objecting. Instead, she felt a bit excited.

Having been confined to Sky Dome City for so long, now that she had finally arrived somewhere new, it wouldn't be like her not to cause some trouble.

Moreover, she still didn't know how this situation would develop.

With that thought, she looked at Liuge.

But she found that Liuge's figure had already disappeared from her sight.

"Disappeared?"

Bronya fell silent for a moment, then began to operate her abilities, searching for information about her current situation.

She was astonished to discover that she wasn't in some enclosed city, but rather on an entire planet.

After a moment of thought, an idea suddenly popped into her head.

"Why not scan the entire planet?"

As soon as this thought arose, she couldn't suppress it at all.

Moreover, she had a feeling that her scan could accomplish this.

This feeling struck her as absurd.

However, Bronya still chose to proceed.

The next moment, an interface appeared before her, very similar to Aether Edit, and the terrain of various regions of the entire planet was clearly displayed on it.

But Bronya wasn't surprised by the screen in front of her; instead, she began to slide her finger across it.

As she looked, her gaze was drawn to a giant mechanical humanoid.

That was the Creation Engine of Everwinter Hill.

"What is this?"

Bronya's eyes lit up. Relying on her intuition, she felt that this massive thing seemed like it could still move.

She immediately began to operate it. Although remote connection was a bit troublesome, for a top hacker like Haxxor Bunny, it was a piece of cake.

The only troublesome part was that unlocking the main control program inside this behemoth was a bit complicated.

After operating like this for about half an hour, when Bronya felt the connection between herself and Liuge reappear, she had just finished cracking the Creation Engine's main control program.