Speedrunning Worlds Starting with Firefly, Part 2

She was also the Firefly she liked most right now.

Firefly had been born as a weapon. Her homeland had been destroyed long ago, and she was later found by Elio, the "slave of destiny." She joined the Stellaron Hunters in search of life's meaning, constantly pursuing ways to defy fate.

None of that was the most important thing. The most important thing was... Firefly suffered from "Entropy Loss Syndrome." In the real world, she spent most of her time inside a cold medical pod.

Entropy Loss Syndrome was a strange phenomenon. Those afflicted by it would suffer irreversible chronic dissociation of their physical structures.

This meant that patients were slowly disappearing, yet this "disappearance" was difficult for others to notice—patients could still run, jump, and communicate with others.

Everything looked perfectly normal. You were just always a little slower than everyone else... then slower and slower, until the outlines of both yourself and the entire world became blurry and indistinct.

You could no longer tell dreams from reality, because both had become equally shattered.

Of course, Firefly's Entropy Loss Syndrome had not been congenital. She had suffered the pain of "entropy loss" because of genetic modification.

Because of Entropy Loss Syndrome, Firefly spent most of her time in reality inside the Sam armor, which functioned much like a "medical pod."

But after coming to this world, the girl had not felt any effects from Entropy Loss Syndrome at all, as though it did not exist.

She did not know whether it was because the Firefly she had transformed into did not have Entropy Loss Syndrome, or because of something special about this world.

From what the girl knew, the world of Geats had many problems.

This world could also be called the Desire Grand Prix world.

It was a program world created by people from the real world. Through the power of the Goddess of Creation statue, they had turned this world into a real game world.

Then, they created a Kamen Rider reality show called the Desire Grand Prix in this world.

Through the power of the Goddess of Creation, this world could be altered—or even reset—almost at will.

And that was the reward for the final winner of every Grand Prix: having their wish granted.

But all of it was merely a program meant to entertain people from reality. Or rather, those so-called real-world viewers were people from the future of the real world.

However, they had discarded their bodies and become data-based lifeforms.

So in some ways, this world felt similar to Penacony, yet completely different.

[Honkai: Star Rail System Loaded]

At that moment, an emotionless system voice rang out in the girl's mind, causing her to freeze.

"A system?"

Sure enough, every transmigrator had a system as their cheat!

She just did not know what faction this system belonged to.

If it was a Lu-type system, she would take off immediately. A points-type system would be fine too. But if it was a cat-type system... that would be hard to say.

After all, it was a system faction famous for being embarrassing.

"What can you do? My transmigration and turning into Firefly were because of you, weren't they?"

At the mention of that, the girl became a little annoyed.

She had never wanted to transmigrate. After all, she was not one of those novel protagonists who were dissatisfied with life.

There was no heartbreak, no being an orphan, no inability to find work...

She had already achieved financial freedom. Life held no troubles for her.

Yet she had suddenly transmigrated for no reason. Even though she had become Firefly, a character she liked, she was still in a bad mood. They had made her transmigrate without even asking for her consent.

And it was into such a dangerous world, too.

[Ah! Sorry, I originally intended to follow the proper procedure and arrange for a truck to send you off, Trailblazer. But the driver had to prioritize some business over at the points-type faction.]

[So we simply skipped that process.]

"A truck..."

The girl's face darkened. Good grief, they were not even trying to hide it!

If the driver had not been too busy handling other business first, would she have had to get hit by a truck before coming here?

No, thank you!

[As compensation, I have provided you with a Pro version of the beginner's gift pack on top of the original benefits.]

[Allow me to formally introduce myself. This system is a creation that was accidentally born from the game Honkai: Star Rail. Its primary function is to provide Trailblazers with characters and abilities from the game, allowing them to quickly clear world after world.]

"..."

"Can I refuse?"

It sounded interesting, but the risks involved definitely would not be low.

The world before her was already dangerous enough, and now she was supposed to quickly clear one world after another.

[Hey, Trailblazer, don't be so quick to refuse. Let me finish! As a reward, although you can no longer return to your original world, after clearing seven worlds, you can bring along the characters and abilities you have obtained and choose one world to settle down in permanently.]

[After successfully speedrunning twelve worlds, you can receive the ultimate grand prize: the power to customize a Path's Aeon.]

"An Aeon?!"

After hearing the system's grand promise, the girl's eyes widened instantly.

She could actually gain the power to customize a Path and Aeon? Even the powers of Terminus or Equilibrium?

For real?!

[Correct. Whether it is an Aeon that already exists or one that has yet to appear, either is possible. If the Trailblazer has no objections, then let us officially begin clearing this world!]

"Quick! Hurry up and start!"

"I'm going to speedrun this world. I want the ultimate grand prize."

The girl admitted that the system's grand promise had successfully hooked her.

She did not think too deeply about where this system had come from or how it could grant her the power of an Aeon. She simply could not refuse it.

She was already growing impatient.

That was the power of an Aeon. Even a sliver of hope was enough.

When the time came to settle down somewhere, she would choose the Honkai: Star Rail universe...

She would definitely be happy there.

"Cancer of All Worlds" Stellarons

[Core clearance condition: Completely alter or destroy the Desire Grand Prix.]

"Completely alter or destroy the Desire Grand Prix? That's asking the impossible."

To go against the Desire Grand Prix, she would inevitably have to face those future people and the God of Creation.

Even future Geats—the true culprit behind this competition—had, for the sake of becoming a god himself, sent a future person into the past to invent the Grand Prix.

The more she thought about it, the more the girl felt that Geats's main cast was truly in a league of its own among Reiwa Riders.

There was not a single normal person among them. Aside from Keiwa, who was slightly more normal, everyone in that world had something wrong with them.

And even Keiwa, that overly kind guy, changed later on.

Still, the girl was not as panicked as one might imagine. If she had been her ordinary self at the start, she naturally would have been unable to accomplish any of this.

Even living in this world would have been a headache. At any moment, she might have become some nameless cannon fodder in those Kamen Rider reality-show games.

Those people had never treated ordinary people as human. To them, this world was merely a game, and in a game... irrelevant NPC bystanders could die without consequence.

Although the world would be recreated and people revived whenever a Desire Grand Prix ended, it was not guaranteed to happen one hundred percent of the time.

Especially if there was no relevant data.

"Sam..."

With the power of Sam's armor, the vast majority of enemies and Kamen Riders would be no match for her. Even among the Stellaron Hunters, Sam's combat strength stood at the very top.

Just as Silver Wolf had said, "With Sam around, missions can be wrapped up in no time."

What was more, she also had the system's abilities.

For such a massive system, even if it had been made by a cat, it should not have contained only Firefly's original powers, right?

With that thought in mind, Firefly carefully studied this Honkai: Star Rail system.

Just as she had expected, the system was not so rudimentary. Though it could not grant world-destroying power right from the start like those Lu-style systems, it was not utterly useless either.

Besides the original strength of the transformed character, it also had a point system.

Completing certain achievements and missions, as well as defeating or killing specific enemies, could earn points. These points had two uses.

One was to directly exchange them for Path power.

With enough points, she could even directly obtain Emanator-level strength for the corresponding Path.

However, the exchange ratios were not the same.

Destruction: 1:100

Nihility: 1:50

Harmony: 1:30

Trailblaze: 1:20

Preservation: 1:10

The Hunt: 1:5

Abundance: 1:1

As displayed by the system, Destruction offered the best value. Perhaps that was because Firefly's in-game kit belonged to the Path of Destruction?

But that was fine. In this world... the power of Destruction was more important to her.

Besides exchanging points for Paths, their other use was similar to Stellar Jade: warping.

This included, but was not limited to, relics, Light Cones, curios...