A Person in Honkai, But Integrated Strategies Activated

[Warning, entering high-difficulty node, perilous path, fierce enemy—New Tribe.]

[A tribe without trees or names is thus formed. Those who once ruled all remain leaders; they are the vanguards of the Honkai.]

As soon as the node was entered, a spell carrying a chill and an ominous aura lunged towards Xia Ling.

However, Xia Ling was not the same as she was before. While she couldn't be called battle-hardened, she was certainly experienced. With prior warning, Xia Ling activated her acceleration to its limit, turning into an afterimage and narrowly dodging the attack.

In the distance, Fallen Snow Sacrifice, clad in loose robes and a black bodysuit, raised her staff once more.

Seeing that Xue Si had locked onto her as the target, Xia Ling turned and made a hand gesture before disappearing from Bronya's sight, drawing the barrage of attacks with her.

Bronya didn't hesitate. She immediately commanded the Guardians to enter the node. Just as Xia Ling had said, once they entered, she would distract the boss, while Bronya needed to quickly deal with the other enemies before lending Xia Ling a hand.

Therefore, Bronya immediately entered combat mode, even uncharacteristically separating her heavy-duty bunny robot from herself. After all, the sooner the enemies were dealt with, the sooner she could relieve the pressure on Xia Ling.

Bronya pursed her lips, her worries transforming into the practiced movements of reloading and charging her weapon as she eliminated enemies as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Xia Ling was facing a tough battle.

She had already approached Fallen Snow Sacrifice, close enough to see the patterns on Miss Xue Si's black bodysuit.

And the symbol of collapse on her eyes, which instantly extinguished any desire.

But the location where Xue Si was currently standing was impossible for Xia Ling to approach.

Every time she got close, an intense feeling of malice and dizziness would give Xia Ling goosebumps.

Xia Ling had no doubt that if she were to push forward recklessly, she might just experience what collapse felt like.

Damn it... does this mean I can only wait here until Xue Si comes out? Xia Ling pondered countermeasures with a headache.

It seemed the area Xue Si was in corresponded to an undeployable zone in the game. She had directly sealed off that area with collapse...

Xia Ling wasn't worried about Xue Si staying inside forever. After all, the trial wouldn't present her with such an unsolvable situation. Xia Ling's real headache was how to defeat Xue Si before "Ya Ya" arrived.

Chapter 29: Xia Ling: I'm Heavily Wounded

That's right, from the very beginning, Xia Ling hadn't intended for "Ya Ya" and the Guardians to join the fight.

This time, it wasn't because she was reluctant to see "Ya Ya" get hurt or anything, but due to a very practical issue.

This damn Xue Si had an area-of-effect attack that targeted three enemies. Currently, only Xia Ling was here, so she could still dodge. If more people stood there, especially the rather clumsy Guardians, it would be truly unplayable.

However, if she were to defeat Xue Si here, another problem would arise.

Xia Ling's Honkai Energy recovery speed was lagging behind, or rather, it was completely insufficient.

Whether it was using Honkai Energy to manifest a shield to block or activating acceleration to dodge spells, it was a significant drain on Xia Ling's Honkai Energy reserves.

Admittedly, reaching the third floor without taking any damage had provided Xia Ling with considerable self-healing and energy recovery speed due to the accumulated life point bonuses.

But ultimately, it couldn't keep up with the consumption of each skill.

To put it in a crude analogy, even if the recovery speed of a certain "Little Island's Pop-Pop Crow" was changed from +3 to +6, it still wouldn't change the dire situation where 100 is less than 175.

Xia Ling was facing this exact problem.

According to Xia Ling's estimation, even with the Leafy Greens Can's bonus, her Heart's Delight probably wouldn't be enough to kill Xue Si in one go. To be conservative, reserving enough Honkai Energy for two uses would be more appropriate.

If she couldn't instantly kill Xue Si, with Xue Si's ghost-like speed, she would be able to kite Xia Ling, leaving her with virtually no chance to accumulate enough Honkai Energy for her ultimate.

This meant that she could only allocate less than a third of her Honkai Energy to deal with Xue Si's spell attacks before she emerged.

"It's over. Thinking about it this way, I might have to tank it until Xue Si comes out."

Xia Ling dodged another attack, her small face immediately contorting in distress.

[It's alright. The accumulation of collapse value is calculated after passing the node. However, if the host intends to adopt this tactic, absolutely do not enter the fourth floor, otherwise, the instant accumulation of several Collapse Paradigms will be quite unpleasant.]

"Compared to that, I feel like I need to survive the present moment first."

Estimating the Honkai Energy within her, Xia Ling looked at the incoming spell before her and sighed. She no longer used acceleration or a shield, but instead held Crescent Rose horizontally in front of her, taking the hit head-on.

Before she could even savor the chilling cold of the spell explosion on her arm, a piercing pain made Xia Ling's calf go weak, almost causing her to collapse.

Of course, the pain quickly stimulated Xia Ling's nerves, making her react immediately.

"Fucking hell, this damn Collapse Paradigm! I forgot I was still carrying Convergence Consumption!"

Convergence Consumption: As long as the equipment is damaged, its owner will suffer the same damage.

"I'm screwed. Now my weapon is more precious than I am. It's better for it to take the residual blast than for me to take the damage directly."

Looking at Crescent Rose, which was as smooth as ever, Xia Ling didn't know what to say for a moment and could only sheath it at her waist.

"First, getting used to death, and now I can't fight back when I'm attacked. I strongly suspect your system is some kind of masochistic training system."

[My evaluation is: there are no lewd systems, only lewd hosts. It's a talent that anyone would find the cruel training method you describe so strange.]

"It's fine, my mental state is excellent." Xia Ling, who had just dodged a spell using the terrain, responded in the brief moment she had: "At least the one whipping me now is a big sister in black stockings. Even though looking at her face will cause an explosion, from my current position, I can only see her legs."

[...]

Fallen Snow Sacrifice's stationary period didn't last long. Just as Xia Ling was covered in blood and contemplating which arm to abandon next, she suddenly noticed that Fallen Snow Sacrifice seemed to have disappeared from her previous location.

"Alright, alright, you're finally out." Xia Ling gritted her teeth, wiping away blood that blurred her vision, and focused her attention on her surroundings.

Finally, a blue spell shot out from the shadows within the bushes.

"Now's the time, Miss Xue Si, the tables have turned!"

A blue spell passed through Xia Ling's chest, but no blood was drawn. Clearly, the Xia Ling here was just an afterimage left behind after her accelerated burst.

Xia Ling's true body had already appeared behind Xue Si. Not knowing if Xue Si could react in time, Xia Ling, uncharacteristically, didn't hold back on the boost from her acceleration talent, instead striking with all her might.

Feeling the air instantly thicken around her, Xia Ling infused Honkai Energy into her scythe. Crescent Rose was raised high, and with a crimson glow, it descended upon Xue Si's shoulder.

"You must have had fun fighting for so long," Xia Ling said with a chilling smile. "Then let me give you some physical fun!"

Without waiting for the first burst of Heart's Delight, empowered by Swift Hands, Xia Ling swept her scythe horizontally, a second strike landing on Xue Si.

After two clean, decisive skills, Xia Ling, enduring the protests from her body, forcefully activated her acceleration talent again, propelling herself away from the center of the explosion.

However, because she had used Heart's Delight twice in quick succession, her escape was a bit too late. With a deafening roar, the shockwaves from both explosions caught up to Xia Ling, pushing her forward several meters.

Xia Ling didn't feel like getting up. Exhausted both physically and of Honkai Energy, with aches from various injuries, all Xia Ling wanted now was to be a quiet, lazy lump on the ground.

"Sister Xia Ling? Sister Xia Ling?" A few minutes later, Bronya, having dealt with the remaining enemies, finally arrived at the battlefield.

However, besides a large crater caused by an explosion and the pockmarked traces of magical bombardment, there was nothing else.

Bronya's movements became noticeably flustered. While continuing to search for Xia Ling, she summoned a Guardian to help her.

"Stop calling, I'm here."

Amidst Bronya's continuous calls, a dizzy Xia Ling finally heard someone calling her name and responded weakly.

"Sister Xia Ling, wh-why did you get yourself into this state? Didn't you say you'd wait for Bronya to deal with them together?"

Upon hearing the response, Bronya "floated" to Xia Ling with incredible speed. Seeing Xia Ling's battered and injured state, she was so startled that her voice trembled. She quickly took out bandages and water from her backpack to clean Xia Ling's wounds.

"Stop, stop, stop..." Xia Ling's wounds, already sensitive due to her self-healing ability, became unbearable after Bronya's vigorous cleaning, causing her face to contort in pain. She hastily stopped Bronya's actions and looked up with difficulty, asking, "Did you finish clearing out the enemies on your end?"

"Of course. Those two Guardian uncles personally confirmed it, and they left afterward." Although she didn't understand why Xia Ling was suddenly asking, Bronya immediately answered to keep Xia Ling cooperating with her treatment.

"That's good. Then I don't have to suffer here anymore. Bye-bye, Duck Duck."

Xia Ling laboriously raised her hand, summoned the system interface, and directly chose to exit the trial.

Bronya's worried gaze froze, and the surrounding environment gradually dissipated like fragments, returning to the initial Research Team Camp.

[Wind and Snow Obscure Eyes]

[Rebuilding Research Team Camp...]

[164:27:04]

Chapter 30: An Exciting Gacha Session

"Congratulations, host, you have successfully completed the objective and cleared the third floor."

"Stop with the 'congratulations' for now..." Xia Ling said weakly. "Hurry up and fix my body, I feel like I'm about to bleed out."

[It's fine, host. In the system space, death is just death. At worst, you'll revive once.]

Although the system said so, it quickly healed Xia Ling's body.

"Alright, full health resurrection!"

Xia Ling immediately perked up.

"System, quickly let me claim my rewards, I want to draw!"

[Uh, alright. Normally, clearing the third floor allows you to draw a collectible, but it seems the host isn't very interested in that right now, so we'll talk about it later.]

With that, the system interface automatically opened before Xia Ling, displaying the system store page.

Xia Ling saw that her current balance had been updated to 5 Hope and 16 Originium Ingots.

And before her eyes, a purchase prompt had already popped up.

[Purchase Six-Star Random Recruitment Voucher (Half Price)?]

"Buy it directly," Xia Ling said grandly. Her balance quickly decreased to 2 Hope and 1 Originium Ingot.

Accompanying the decrease in assets was a black shoulder bag.

"Tsk, such a familiar Operator Recruitment Pack."

Xia Ling pulled the zipper of the bag, habitually sliding it back and forth, while admiring the colorful light leaking from inside.

"Right," Xia Ling's hand paused on the zipper, and she looked up. "System, what if I draw a male Operator? Will I have to control them too?"

[Rest assured, host, the system's mechanisms are quite comprehensive in this regard.]

[If you draw a male Operator, you generally have two options.]

[One is to directly transfer the Operator's abilities to your main body or a specific character card, along with how to use their abilities and talents. You can do this regardless of whether you draw a male Operator or not.]

[The other option is that you can pay an additional fee to create a feminized body for that character card for your own use.]

"Creating an extra body and all, let's just forget about that..." Looking at her meager assets, Xia Ling sighed. "Transferring the abilities to myself isn't too bad."

[Don't rush, host, you haven't drawn it yet!]

The system said with a playful smile.

"You're right, so," Xia Ling placed her hand on the zipper of the black Operator Recruitment Pack. "My turn, draw!"

With the zipper fully opened, a dazzling burst of colorful light erupted from the package.

A character card slowly emerged from the bag.

As the colorful light gradually faded, the first thing Xia Ling saw was the large medical profession symbol on the character card.

"What the heck, no!" Xia Ling exclaimed in shock. "What kind of nonsense is starting with a Medic Operator? I survived my previous life with Qiqi and later with Barbara, and now I've transmigrated only to be stuck with a Medic Operator for the start?"

However, Xia Ling's heart-pounding anxiety didn't last long, as she soon saw a familiar and reassuring face on the character card.

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Six-Star Character Card - Medic Operator Flame Shadow Reed Grass.]

"I'm sorry, I guess I spoke too loudly just now."

Xia Ling immediately transformed into a chameleon. After all, this operator's strength was incomparable to other medics. Flame Shadow Reed Grass, who was more like a Caster than a Medic, was also one of the most common Medic picks in Sami's Integrated Strategies, possessing unimaginable dominance in clearing the first ending.

[Seeing how satisfied the host is, you probably don't plan on transferring this character card to your main body, right? In that case, I'll let the host use it directly?]

"Of course, I can't imagine how wonderful it would be to have a Promoted-to-Elite 2 Flame Shadow Reed Grass at this stage."

[Alright, the sensation of using a character card for the first time might be a bit peculiar. Host, please be mentally prepared.]

As the system's voice faded, the character card floating in the air immediately turned into a stream of light and burrowed into Xia Ling's body. Simultaneously, a graceful figure began to slowly materialize in the space.

However, Xia Ling probably didn't have the presence of mind to appreciate this beautiful sight at the moment, because she felt like her head was about to explode.

"System... You jerk, you didn't warn me it would hurt this much?"

[Uh, I actually didn't know. But since your soul form needs to be altered, pain should be normal, right?]

After a while, the dull ache, as if someone was drilling into her head with an awl, finally subsided.

Xia Ling was now sprawled on the soft snow like a dried-up salted fish, not even wanting to move.

"Uh, do you need any help?"