Xianzhou Luofu.
Central Starskiff Haven.
A white-haired youth dressed in blue sat among the audience, listening to Mr. Xiyan tell his stories.
His name was Jiang Yu, a born-and-raised Xianzhou native-in this life, and in his previous one, too.
In his previous life, Jiang Yu had gotten three five-stars in a single ten-pull on Sparkle's banner. He had been so excited that he blacked out. When he woke again, he was in a new world. Three days had passed since then.
Although he had neither money nor influence, Jiang Yu possessed good looks he had never had in his previous life. Mengming had taken a liking to him and hired him as a mascot at the Evernight Marquis.
Occasionally, he also served as the model for Mr. Xiyan's newly written story, "Cosmic Sword Immortal."
The Evernight Marquis provided Jiang Yu with food and lodging, so his life after transmigrating had not been too much of a struggle.
After spending three days wandering the streets, Jiang Yu had also confirmed one thing: he had fucking ended up in Honkai: Star Rail!
Needless to say, this had to be Aha's handiwork!
Following the principle of making the best of things, Jiang Yu had accepted his new world fairly quickly. Still, he could not quite feel happy about it.
Yesterday, Jiang Yu had gone near the Sky-Faring Commission to take a look from a distance and spotted Tingyun, the chief representative of the Minghuo Merchant Group.
That meant the Stellaron Gremlin and her gang had not visited the Luofu yet. The coming Ambrosial Arbor disaster would definitely drag him into it!
With his scrawny little limbs, he would probably end up a casualty. He wanted to get out ahead of time, but he had no money.
His hand trembled slightly around his teacup. Jiang Yu sighed, overwhelmed with worry.
He could not run, and he could not fight.
His new life had skipped the whole process of growing from a toddler into a teenager, and it was already looking painfully short.
Just as Jiang Yu was fretting over his predictably brief new life, a crisp electronic voice rang out beside his ear.
[Ding! Congratulations on surviving until the system awakened. The Popular Character System is at your service.]
Jiang Yu's hand instantly tightened, and his eyes widened!
Only after experiencing it firsthand could someone understand just how thrilling that little "ding" was!
After a brief burst of excitement, Jiang Yu composed himself and asked inwardly, "What can you do?"
[Ding! This system is dedicated to developing the host into the most popular character in the game. The host can use the system to influence game-related content and increase his screen time. The greater the host's popularity, the stronger he becomes. This function uses the host's highest recorded popularity as its benchmark. Furthermore, the host need not worry about miHoYo employees noticing anything amiss with the system's interference. The system will make every change seem reasonable.]
"That impressive, huh... Show me what you've got first."
[Ding! Honkai: Star Rail will officially launch its open beta on Blue Star tomorrow. The opening video, Interstellar Journey, will be released today. Please make your intervention...]
Blue Star, in the real world.
At seven thirty that evening, a well-known HoYoverse content creator named "Siberian Duck" was helping viewers clear the Spiral Abyss in Genshin Impact.
This girl streamed with a virtual avatar and was known among her viewers for being one of the bros, easily saying things that got her stream penalized, and her infectious laughter.
The chat suddenly began scrolling rapidly:
[Genshin Impact launched: Streamer, leave the Spiral Abyss for now! Honkai: Star Rail just released its opening video!]
[Tang Seng Washes His Hair with Rejoice: The opening looks amazing. The production quality is insane, and the song's great too!]
[My Pee Is Yellow: There are bare feet in the opening, stepping in the snow... Hehehehe... Slurp...]
Noticing the flood of messages, Siberian Duck immediately paused her Spiral Abyss run and said excitedly:
"Really? Then forget the Spiral Abyss! Let's watch it first! I've been looking forward to this game's Open Beta for ages. I'm definitely starting my stream right on time tomorrow to dive in. Forget my day off this week."
As she spoke, Siberian Duck deftly switched screens, opened the official Honkai: Star Rail account, and clicked on "Interstellar Journey."
In the video, Kafka toyed with a deck of Tarot Cards.
Suddenly, powerful music kicked in.
"Quack, quack-quack-quack-quack-quack, quack-quack-quack-quack-quack..."
The moment she heard the music, Siberian Duck could not help swaying along. Onscreen, Kafka tossed out a Tarot Card, and the Honkai: Star Rail logo appeared.
First to appear were, of course, the protagonists, Stelle and Caelus. Next came close-ups of several members of the Astral Express Crew-Himeko, Dan Heng, March 7th... Then came close-ups of other characters, some seen during the closed beta and some entirely new.
"It's the Astral Express Crew! Ah! I think some of these characters weren't in the closed beta! Dan Heng is so handsome!"
Siberian Duck's reactions came right on cue, while viewers who had already watched Interstellar Journey assumed the air of seasoned veterans.
[Kamisato Ayaka's Dog: Keep watching. There's someone even hotter coming up!]
[Forever Faithful to Dan Heng: Dan Heng is handsome, but that white-haired sword immortal is so hot my little brother can't bend at the waist!]
[Hero Guo: What a turnoff!]
The video continued, flashing through several characters before settling on an icy, snow-covered landscape.
Onscreen, Seele, Yanqing, Xueyi, and the other characters unleashed their respective abilities as they charged toward the enormous robot, the Engine of Creation.
The Engine of Creation faced them head-on, its eye blasting out a crimson laser. Combined with the shaking shot, it created an overwhelming sense of menace.
At that moment, a silver streak of sword light slashed across the center of the screen, instantly splitting the image in two. A seamless transition brought the scene to the Herta Space Station.
A Herta Puppet stood on the platform, watching the Doomsday Beast charge through space toward the station. At the same time, a blazing meteor shot up from behind the Blue Planet at an even greater speed, instantly setting the screen ablaze!
Another transition showed Welt staring fixedly at the Engine of Creation. The protagonist began a charge with the Flaming Lance, then finally stood before Nanook with the lance in hand.
The next instant, the image dissolved like ink in water. Amid thick fog, the Ebon Deer of Abundance replaced Nanook, and the Astral Express Crew appeared behind the protagonist. A blue-clad figure stood before the Ebon Deer with his hands behind his back, shielding everyone behind him.
The camera gave the white-haired youth a close-up. He formed a sword gesture with one hand and flicked it upward. Sword light identical to the earlier slash instantly split the screen in two!
The scene returned to Kafka. Tarot Cards lay scattered across the ground as she turned and walked away.
With that, the video ended.
Jiang Yu's appearance at the very end of the video had certainly left plenty of intrigue.
Siberian Duck sat before her computer, her virtual avatar in the bottom-right corner of the screen staring open-mouthed.
"Holy shit! Huh? Isn't this basically an anime? That was way too cool! HoYo's cooked up something huge again! Seriously, who's that white-haired guy? I didn't see him in the closed beta!"
As Siberian Duck "came back to life," the chat started scrolling again:
[China Jerk-Off Fan: White hair! Hah... Hah...]
[Tang Seng Washes His Hair with Rejoice: Verdict's in. This character was designed to attack my exact weakness!]
[Power Scaling Is Fun Too: The screen got sliced apart twice in that video. That white-haired guy must be a real powerhouse!]
[My Pee Is Yellow: Screw it, bros. His face only got a split-second close-up, but I can't hold back. I'm going for it!]
[jz1099: Wanna go for mine?]
Inside the game.
[Ding! The opening video has been released. The host has successfully gained a wave of attention. Over two thousand people have repeatedly watched and savored the host's scenes after finishing the video. The host's strength has increased. Skill awarded: Pure as the Wind.]
As the system's voice faded, a wave of pleasure spread through Jiang Yu from the inside out, making him involuntarily let out an "Ah~"
His strength was increasing. Jiang Yu could feel it with extraordinary clarity.
Only after the sensation of his hollow body being filled slowly faded did Jiang Yu realize that the other audience members were all giving him strange looks.
His face reddened, and he lowered his head.
It was all Aha's fault for making him embarrass himself like this!
After inwardly cursing Aha, who had absolutely nothing to do with this, Jiang Yu examined his new skill, Pure as the Wind. The system's description amounted to only a few words:
Wield the wind as a sword, follow like a shadow, lightly skim the water and shear the crimson leaves.
He could not understand it, but it sounded pretty damn awesome.
After a brief silence, Jiang Yu decided to test his new skill later.
To keep gathering popularity and gain enough strength to protect himself in Honkai: Star Rail, he figured he should get more screen time. He could not wait until the Stellaron Gremlin reached the Luofu to make his proper debut.
So he asked the system whether he could enter the story ahead of time.
[Ding! Of course. An exceptionally stylish entrance has already been arranged for the host.]
"Yes, yes, yes! Stylish is just what I like."
Jiang Yu grinned like an idiot.
Before you continue