“I’ll make you fly!”
A-Xian’s eyes shone.
She instinctively praised him.
“So handsome!”
“But he really does refuse to use his wings for acceleration.”
“Why are you so obsessed with Lingzhou’s wings?”
“Can’t you imagine the romantic image?”
“A lovestruck maiden lying in her beloved’s arms while he carries her into the sky and they soar freely together?”
“How romantic~~”
“Also, men with wings are seriously sexy.”
“They give you this weird sense of security.”
[Tsk tsk. I think A-Xian is about to fly too. Just a different kind of flying.]
“Thanks for the Super Chat from Elementary School Akane—”
“Thanks for the SC.”
“You have excellent taste.”
A-Xian’s lips curled upward.
Her face remained completely calm.
“How about I end stream right now and go finish my draft?”
“I can’t wait to have a wonderful time with husband inside the world of my drawings…”
[Please don’t.]
[If you end stream, who provides the spiritual nourishment the bros are missing today?]
“Enough nonsense.”
“Back to business.”
“I found a problem.”
“I can’t unlock Lingzhou’s key debuff Trace yet.”
“Looks like we can’t properly trigger his follow-up.”
“Whatever.”
“We can at least watch his Ultimate.”
Soon, she filled Lingzhou’s Energy.
“Here it comes~~”
At first, however, the Ultimate animation caused slight disappointment.
Not because it wasn’t handsome or flashy.
They had simply already seen it during the Doomsday Beast fight.
It was almost identical to his field support move.
The only difference was that this time they could see the process of him taking off.
However—
The audience’s disappointment lasted less than one second.
What Lingzhou did immediately after landing made everyone’s eyes widen.
“The Dao follows nature.”
The instant his Ultimate ended and his feet touched the ground—
Lingzhou suddenly pulled out two guns.
Then—
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Five rapid shots flew toward the enemies while he muttered under his breath.
It was completely unexpected.
Utterly nonsensical.
And overwhelmingly funny.
Who could possibly have predicted that a character whose Basic, Skill, and Ultimate animations were all elegant, serious, and handsome—
Would perform his follow-up attack like this?
Then again—
His gunplay was still ridiculously cool.
He didn’t simply stand still and pull the triggers.
His entire body moved with the shots.
His movements were fluid and stylish.
Finally, he spun the pistols, holstered them, and blew away imaginary smoke.
The swagger was off the charts.
A-Xian stared blankly.
The audience completely lost it.
[MAMMA MIA. So THAT’S what “the Dao follows nature” means.]
[What? Ballistics are still a Dao!]
[That’s actually sick. A turn-based game has animation quality this good?]
[As expected of a doctor. The bullets must be poisoned, otherwise how does a follow-up inflict debuffs?]
[At least right now, Lingzhou hasn’t actually poisoned the bullets.]
[We can’t unlock his key Trace until weekly boss mats. LMAO.]
[His Ultimate’s Illusory Dream counts as a debuff too. The internal synergy is really strong.]
“I finally understand why his follow-up is categorized as Bounce.”
“That freestyle gunplay is too cool.”
“Pure freedom.”
“Shoot whoever he feels like shooting.”
“I also want Lingzhou husband to shoot me right through the heart with the gun in his hand…”
[Please specify. The actual heart?]
[You know A-Xian has two hearts. One’s up top. As for the other… those who know, know.]
[Snake. All of you.]
A-Xian opened the battle status panel.
Sure enough—
Every character had gained a flat eight Speed.
After finishing the Simulated Universe run, she immediately opened the Warp screen.
[What are you doing? Seele is already E6!]
“No special reason.”
“The earlier I get E6 Lingzhou, the earlier I get to enjoy E6 Lingzhou.”
Another two hundred pulls disappeared.
Good news:
The last two Lingzhou Eidolons arrived.
Bad news:
She pulled four additional copies of Seele.
Since Seele was already E6, all four were converted into Undying Starlight.
Using luck in the wrong place was itself a kind of comedy.
The content practically created itself.
It wouldn’t be long before clips spread everywhere—
8K SIS ALREADY HAS E6 SEELE, KEEPS PULLING FOR FOUR-STAR LINGZHOU BECAUSE OF PURE THIRST—GETS FIVE-STAR AFTER FIVE-STAR WITHOUT LOSING 50/50
Speaking of spreading—
Information about the new character Lingzhou was already racing through the community.
His Path.
His element.
How to obtain him for free.
Countless players were turning the process into guide videos.
Even people who couldn’t play immediately were being informed by friends and social circles about how to acquire him.
Katya’s extremely high evaluation had also become a major factor driving the hype.
His intervention during the Doomsday Beast battle was flashy and cool.
Yes, the heroic rescue was cliché.
But clichés survived for a reason.
There would always be people who loved them.
He was a new member of the Astral Express.
A character players would constantly encounter in the story.
His personality was likable enough.
He possessed both strength and looks.
Even male players generally had little reason to hate a normally handsome male character unless they carried some very specific psychological baggage.
Thus—
Despite the game having launched only a short while ago, Lingzhou had already gained a noticeable following.
And once players liked a character— This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Fans followed.
For Lingzhou himself—
That meant faith.
Unfortunately, the actual progress remained completely invisible.
He only received messages showing faith increasing by hundreds or thousands.
What did it matter if the number reached one million?
He still had no idea what the total requirement was.
At the moment, this lifetime had accumulated roughly fourteen thousand faith.
And the number continued rising slowly.
Lingzhou had only one评价.
Scam System.
Still—
At least this time he didn’t need to spend his life playing savior to every disaster-stricken world.
He only needed to take care of his companions on the Astral Express.
Everyone else?
Depends on his mood.
And whenever something truly catastrophic happened—
He might not even have the strength to interfere.
Every lifetime’s acquired power disappeared when that lifetime ended.
The only thing that persisted was the power from his very first life.
A remnant power possessed by nobody else in the entire cosmos.
The stronger Lingzhou became, the deeper his control over that force grew.
And the more combat power he could draw from it.
When he had told Welt earlier that less than thirty percent of his abilities had recovered—
That wasn’t a lie.
In reality—
He hadn’t even reached one percent.
After all…
What he possessed was the entirety of what remained from a fallen Path.
Without the status of an Aeon, trying to wield it was like asking a one-year-old infant to lift a mountain.
There was only one outcome.
The infant would be crushed into dust.
So how did he become stronger?
Simple.
The more faith he collected during his current life—
The stronger he became.
For Lingzhou, the path ahead was extremely clear.
In the players’ eyes, the protagonist was Stelle or Caelus.
All he needed to do was treat the protagonist well, maintain his characterization, and keep things stable.
Player self-insertion was important.
He couldn’t ruin that.
[Your son is here. Dad, please speak.]
“Can you generate rewards?”
“Stellar Jade.”
“Special Passes.”
“Stuff like that.”
[Yes, but doing so consumes this lifetime’s faith as an exchange resource.]
[Please review the list.]
A huge catalog of game resources appeared.
Lingzhou’s expression darkened.
“You rebellious son.”
“You’re taking a commission?”
A single Star Rail Special Pass—
Equivalent to 160 Stellar Jade—
Cost one thousand Faith?
[I’M INNOCENT, DEAR DAD!]
[Your son cannot generate game resources from nothing without paying some form of equivalent cost…]