If You're Bad, Just Practice More

"This scene is so beautiful! I'm making it my desktop wallpaper!"

"The details are incredible—the clouds in the sky are even moving!"

"I believe we'll see blue skies again, with flowers covering the branches!"

"Waaah, seeing this makes all our efforts so far feel worth it!"

"They can finally breathe fresh air without rust dust in it!"

"We won!"

"This is the scent of freedom!"

"The development team is amazing! Even in reality, this shot would have been captured perfectly!"

"A perfect ending to a story!"

Seeing this scene aboard the train, March 7th recalled her experiences in Belobog, and for some reason, her nose stung.

"Geez, why is this game always so good at tugging at people's emotions? This shot was chosen so well! Why didn't I take this picture before? You could've reminded me!"

Himeko pointed at herself in confusion, then merely smiled helplessly at March 7th.

This scene also left Asta at the Space Station teary-eyed. She almost wanted to give the children a starship and bring them into space to see what the stars in the sky looked like!

Looking back over the whole journey from the perspective of an ordinary player, Lao Mu felt that Honkai: Star Rail's audiovisual storytelling experience was absolutely first-rate!

Being able to join the Trailblazing Journey of the Star Rail Express as the Trailblazer gave all the viewers a wonderful feeling that began to captivate them!

The children from the Underworld curiously examined everything around them. Hook even mistook the public tram on the street for some kind of man-eating metal monster. Her earnest, adorable tone won over countless viewers!

Then the scene shifted, and the poised, dignified Bronya began her speech.

[I, Bronya Rand, the nineteenth Supreme Guardian of Belobog, hereby swear—]

The story came to an end there. With the Stellaron resolved, the Star Rail Express was about to depart and begin a new journey.

As for Belobog's fate, it ultimately had to be held in the hands of its people.

[Farewell, friends. May the stars preserve your journey.]

After wandering around Belobog to bid farewell to their friends, the three decided to rest at the hotel for another day.

Then the screen changed.

Before the camera, Sampo was talking to himself.

[—Yeah, it really was a close call back then! Good thing I, Sampo, had a sudden flash of brilliance: Hey! There was no need for me to play the leading role, right? We just needed to be good little masked clowns.]

[The facts proved that the Star Rail Express crew was even more interesting than I thought! You liked it? Really? Hahaha, what a masterpiece.]

[...No, no, I don't want to leave yet. What, Apuseron? What fun is there to be found in a place that decadent?—This is what's interesting!]

[Alright, bye! Give my regards to the brothers and sisters at the Tavern, and don't forget to tell them—tell them to look forward to Old Sampo's next act! Now it's time for me to take my curtain call.]

As he spoke, Sampo turned toward the camera, his gaze meeting the screen as he gave a slight bow.

[This story is dedicated to you, dear audience—did you find a little Elation in it?]

[—If you say no, ah, Sampo will be very sad.]

The camera cut off there, but the shock it left in the viewers' hearts took a long time to settle!

"Holy crap, Old Sampo really was hiding something!"

"He really is from the Path of Elation! He mentioned the Tavern—he's a Masked Fool!"

"Didn't you notice Sampo looking into the camera at the end?!"

"Could he know he's appearing in a game?"

"My god, that's kind of scary when you think about it!"

"Could he be connected to the game's official developers?"

"Aha in the Simulated Universe could guess that he was fake, and now Sampo knows he's inside a game too. Don't tell me—"

"Fun fact: when the game character Sampo stood before the Rating Gun Curio at the Space Station, the result was unmeasurable!"

For a time, Sampo's true identity sparked heated discussion!

The Company had already been searching for information on the game's official developers. Upon seeing this scene with Sampo, they immediately contacted the Company employees responsible for reconstruction work in Belobog.

But Sampo had already left Belobog and was about to head to Penacony to find Sparkle.

For some reason, Sampo suddenly shivered and sneezed.

"Hm? Could the good people of Belobog be thinking about Old Sampo?"

After that little interlude, the Star Rail Express set off for its next stop.

In Kliperberg, Bronya and Seele were arguing over the resource allocation plan for reconstruction.

[Resources... allocation... Why do you keep throwing words like that in my face now?]

"The little couple's fighting!"

"This is way too much like married life!"

The content, like an ending Easter Egg, brought knowing smiles to everyone's faces. Then the screen returned to the Star Rail Express.

Himeko: [Welcome home, you three.]

After some small talk, Pam believed they should leave this region as soon as possible to avoid a recurrence of spatial anomalies.

The Belobog adventure was over, and they were about to head for the next stop.

The viewers began eagerly anticipating where the next Trailblazing Journey would take them, discussing it in the Barrage.

"I'm curious! Where will the next stop be?"

"It should be the Xianzhou! There were scenes of the Xianzhou in the earlier PV!"

"Wow! The Xianzhou characters in the PV were all so pretty too. I wonder which ones are limited five-stars!"

"Do you even need to ask? Divine General Jing Yuan is definitely a limited five-star Main DPS!"

"I've been waiting for General Jing Yuan's Gacha Pool since the eighth Amber Era!"

"My wallet isn't going to survive this!"

Belobog's Main Story ended there. Unlocking the Xianzhou Main Story required a certain level, so the game entered a period of progression grinding.

And from the livestream of a certain self-proclaimed technical streamer came an indescribable shriek!

"Hehehe, AAAAAAAAH! This Simulated Universe isn't made for humans to play!!!"

The Worse You Are, the More You Should Practice

With Belobog's Main Story concluded, players began entering the progression-grinding phase.

Some ran side quests to level up, some rummaged through trash cans all over the world, and some spent heavily to pull from the Gacha Pool.

Meanwhile, a certain well-known "technical streamer" chose a different path—the Simulated Universe!

As Sweet Potato Pigeon, who had received a promotional streaming assignment for Honkai: Star Rail on the very first day, benefited from the game's popularity, the viewership in his stream kept rising!

Later, while doing quests, he discovered the Simulated Universe, a permanent Roguelike mode. Some viewers who had tried it complained that the difficulty was too high.

That made Sweet Potato Pigeon feel that it was time to show off his superb understanding of the game!

So he began tackling the Simulated Universe. At first, relying on his fully Eidoloned Seele, he slaughtered his way through everything smoothly. He could clear stages easily even while leaving the game on auto.

This further convinced Sweet Potato Pigeon that Honkai: Star Rail was merely a simple turn-based stat game with no operational skill involved at all.

Then he reached Difficulty 1 of the Third World in the Simulated Universe.

"This ends now!"

The stage's final BOSS, Gepard, leaped high into the air with a violin case in hand, then brought his massive weapon crashing down!

"Ah, Gepard, no!"

Sweet Potato Pigeon watched as Seele's HP was reduced to nothing. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Bailu appear in the center of the screen, rubbing her hands together.

"I think she can still be saved!"

Bailu's Talent, Swift Rescue: Healing the World, had triggered.

When Bailu's ally received a fatal attack, they would not enter an incapacitated state. Bailu would immediately provide healing and restore their HP. This effect could trigger once per battle.

"Oh, Bailu saved her. Then it's fine."

But before Sweet Potato Pigeon's expression could improve, the several Silvermane Guards summoned by Gepard immediately followed up with another attack!

"Hey, hey, hey! My Seele!"

Just as Seele was about to fall, Sweet Potato Pigeon rapidly ended the battle and settled the results!

The Barrage instantly offered the streamer some heartwarming encouragement!

"Can you even play, streamer? Why are you struggling this much with Simulated Universe World 3?"

"Yeah, and that's a fully Eidoloned Seele. How many restarts has this been already?"

"And you call yourself a technical streamer? There's not even any technique left!"

Facing a screen full of doubts, Sweet Potato Pigeon wanted to turn off auto-battle and play seriously, but then he remembered the conclusion he had made before.

So Sweet Potato Pigeon decided to try again. The Path Blessings he got last round must have included too many useless ones!

As long as he got a little luckier and picked up more Blessings from The Hunt to increase his damage, he would definitely clear the Simulated Universe on auto!

Then, a piercing shriek rang out from the livestream.

"Hehehe, AAAAAAAAH! This Simulated Universe isn't made for humans to play!!!"

On the verge of a breakdown, Sweet Potato Pigeon began criticizing the game's design.

"The system's recommended level is clearly level 40, and my characters are level 40 too! I even have a fully Eidoloned Seele! Why can't I clear it? There has to be something wrong with this game's design!"

Yet the Barrage continued to mercilessly rub salt in the wound.

"If you're bad, practice more. If you can't handle losing, don't play!"

"I've already seen tons of people online posting clear videos for Simulated Universe World 3. Why is the streamer the only one who can't beat it?"

"Turn up the pressure! We have to put this streamer under some serious pressure!"

"At the end of the day, the streamer keeps using auto. There were plenty of times he could've saved his Ultimate to trigger Seele's Reprise!"

"Hey, the streamer can't listen to that. A technical streamer can't play Seele—he only knows how to idle on auto!"

The mockery in the Barrage made Sweet Potato Pigeon feel like the veins in his forehead were about to burst. He immediately fired back.

"Who says I can't clear it? It's just a tiny Simulated Universe. Next round, I'll play manually and show you some high-level techniques!"

With that, he entered the Simulated Universe again. This time, Sweet Potato Pigeon's luck was exceptionally good. He picked up six key Blessings from The Hunt and obtained the Hunt Echo: Starfall.

Hunt Echo: Starfall: [After using Path Resonance, the ally with the highest ATK immediately takes action and gains the Light Skyward Arrow state, lasting until that character uses a Skill.]

It was a key ability that could advance the Main DPS's action. This run was in the bag!

When he arrived before BOSS Gepard, Sweet Potato Pigeon even turned off 2x speed and began playing seriously!

This time, Gepard once again summoned Silvermane Guard minions during the battle.

And unlike when he used auto before, Sweet Potato Pigeon did not choose to use his Ultimate on Gepard. Instead, he targeted a Silvermane Guard at the side!

From the experience of the past few battles, Sweet Potato Pigeon understood that fighting Gepard was more about survival pressure.

With multiple Iron Guard minions attacking in succession, Bailu simply could not keep everyone's HP up in time.

And Gepard's three health bars, combined with the shields he cast from time to time, made it impossible to quickly kill the BOSS.

Then he would start with the minions!

An Ultimate killed one, triggering Reprise!

During the Reprise turn, he used a Skill and killed another Iron Guard!

It was Seele's turn again. She used another Skill to kill one and trigger Reprise!

During the Reprise turn, she used a basic attack on Gepard, then filled her Ultimate energy!

She immediately used her Ultimate to kill the last Iron Guard, triggering another Reprise!