The moonlight curved like a silver hook. Under its hazy glow, Kiana lay sprawled across the thick trunk of a large tree, her eyes fixed on the phone in her hands.
Anyone familiar with the device would immediately recognize the interface: the Valkyrie menu from Honkai Impact 3rd. At the moment, only one character was lit up — Domain Outfit: White Comet, radiating its signature soft, colorful glow. Every other character icon was dim and grayed out… a painful reminder that nothing else had been unlocked.
"So I'm basically a brand-new rookie now? Everything starts from zero, huh…?"
Kiana muttered helplessly. He remembered clearly — this account had once been fully unlocked only because he'd poured mountains of cash into it. Every character obtained. Every equipment set maxed. Only upgrade materials remained.
And now?Everything had been wiped clean.
The setback was brutal.
With a heavy sigh, Kiana tapped on White Comet's stat panel. Numbers popped up:
300 HP, 75 ATK, 36 DEF, 0 EXP.
"…These stats don't look right."
He tried to recall the White Comet's starting values back in the game, but he had never paid much attention to beginner characters. Were these higher? Lower? No idea.
"And the weapon is the basic starter one too? They're really not giving me a break."
Kiana pulled out a pair of pistols from her waist, grimacing at the plain design.
"As expected of a starter weapon… the looks are actually painful."
He spun the pistols around in his hands, a thought suddenly popping into his mind.
"Does it have unlimited ammo like in the game? Gotta test this!"
He aimed toward the open sea and squeezed the triggers.
Hundreds of bullets poured out like a torrential storm. Birds and beasts across the forest shrieked and scattered, causing a surprisingly massive commotion.
"Well, at least this is the same as the game. That bastard still has some conscience!"
BOOM!!!
A lightning bolt slammed straight down onto Kiana's head.
"YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH—!"
His hair instantly puffed up like a fried kitten's as his body fell off the tree and smacked the ground miserably.
"Ah—hahah… Sister… Elder Sister, still awake this late? You've worked so hard…"
Kiana forced the sweetest, most obedient smile toward the sky.The dark storm clouds overhead slowly began to fade.
You wait, you wretched old hag. Someday I'll tear you into ten thousand pieces.
He cursed silently in his heart.
Instantly — the clouds snapped back, gathering into an even thicker mass. A deafening thunderclap followed, and a bolt twice as thick as the previous one shot down.
"YAAAHHHH—!"
Kiana ate the second strike head-on and collapsed like a burnt offering.Once again, he demonstrated the universal truth of survival:
Never provoke the heavens.
Half an hour later, he finally regained consciousness. With teary eyes and the expression of someone who had truly suffered, he crawled back to the tree trunk and opened the phone again.
The phone had survived both divine bombardments without a single crack.
"…Did BESTA reinforce this thing or something?"
Weapons were one thing. But the stigmata, the cornerstone of any strong build in Honkai, were equally important.
Kiana tapped the stigmata tab — only to find three empty slots.
Not even a single piece.
"Well… without weapons or stigmata, I guess everything depends on my own hard work now…"
He sighed, switching back to the main interface.The "Friends" button was greyed out.
No surprise — it wasn't like anyone in the One Piece world would be playing Honkai.
He shifted to the skill menu.Only White Comet's skill tree was lit up. Normal attacks, branch attacks, ultimates, passives — everything neatly listed. At the top-right corner:
Skill Points: 20
"Alright… learn the skills, get stronger…One day… I'll turn back into a man."
Kiana's expression hardened with resolve.
Then the world slapped him in the face.
"Gold coins? Seriously? You still need gold coins to learn skills!?"
His eye twitched violently.
As a veteran player, he knew this system inside out. Skill upgrades cost gold — and the higher the level, the more it demanded. In late-game, the requirements skyrocketed to tens of thousands.
He remembered the countless times he had paid real money for gold coin packs.
He had hoped the mysterious goddess had at least removed that requirement.Nope.
Reality was cruel, and the goddess even crueler.
"…Where am I supposed to get gold coins?"
Kiana stared blankly into space.Maybe… being a woman wasn't that bad…?
His mind drifted off into a fantasy of a handsome man cupping his face tenderly—
"W-W-WOOO!"
A cold shiver hit him so hard he nearly rolled off the tree again.
"Nope! Nope! Being a man is better! That was disgusting!"
Shaking the thoughts away, he continued browsing.
Gold coins meant one thing: crystals had to be next.
Sure enough, the recharge tab contained:
Crystals — the lifeblood of gacha.
Besta hadn't removed them.
But the moment he saw the price list… his soul left his body.
30,000,000 Berries → 200 crystals
And a single character pull cost 280 crystals.
"…They're robbing me blind."
"Is this how they expect me to make money…?"
His eyes watered.Life was pain.Hope was a myth.
He stuffed the phone into his chest and recalled an old saying:
"Life is like ○○. If you can't resist… just lie down and enjoy it."
Just as he resigned himself to womanhood,—his phone vibrated.
And so did his "other part," trembling like soft tofu.
"Don't push it! I only thought about it! Why are you reacting!?"
Annoyed, he yanked the phone back out.
A small virtual projection flickered above the screen.
"Captain, are you giving up already?"
A tiny figure appeared, sporting twin round cabbage-like pigtails and a cute pink face.
Kiana froze.
"…A-Ai-chan…? Ai-chan!?"