Chapter 2 - Ai-chan!!

"To change back into a man, you must complete the task I've set for you. It's very simple - just gather the seven Dragon Balls and summon the Dragon to make a wish."

Besuta said casually. The girl stared at the sky in surprise. Dragon Balls? Dragon? Wish? Are you treating me like a Saiyan?

"Of course, with your current strength, you're far from being able to gather the seven Dragon Balls. So work hard and get stronger, Kiana!"

Besuta arbitrarily gave the girl the name from the game, without asking for her consent.

"Oh, right. I promised to return your phone, and I will. The method to get stronger and clues about the Dragon Balls are all in it!"

Upon hearing this, the girl suddenly felt something additional on her chest. She took it out and saw it was the phone the sadistic goddess had previously taken from her.

"Are you playing with me? I'll definitely change back to a man and show you! Bastard!"

Kiana raised her phone and roared to the sky.

Boom!!!

A lightning bolt as thick as a water bucket struck, and Kiana instantly experienced what electrotherapy feels like.

"You should call me big sister, understood?"

"Yes, I understand, big sister!"

Kiana naturally cowered. What? You said I'm not tough? What a joke - I'm literally not tough right now!

——————————

The moon hung like a hook, and under the hazy moonlight, Kiana lay on a large tree trunk, staring intently at her phone.

If a familiar person were to see the phone screen, they would immediately recognize it as the Honkai Impact game interface. At the moment, besides the basic character, the Domain White Armor was radiating a colorful light, while other characters appeared dim, indicating that Kiana had not yet unlocked them.

"So I'm basically a level 1 account now? Starting from scratch, huh?"

Kiana muttered dejectedly. She knew that account had cost her quite a bit of money - all characters fully unlocked, equipment fully graduated, only lacking upgrade materials.

Now everything was back to square one, which undoubtedly crushed Kiana's confidence.

Kiana helplessly opened the Domain White Armor's armor pattern, and the attributes appeared before her eyes.

[ Status ]

Health: 300

Attack: 75

Defense: 36

Experience: 0

"...The attributes seem different."

Kiana recalled the initial attributes of the Domain Armor from when she used to play the game. The numbers seemed different, but she couldn't tell if they were higher or lower, because as an initial character, she had never paid much attention to the Domain Armor's details.

"Is this the initial weapon too? They're really not giving me any leeway!"

Kiana drew two pistols from her waist, carefully examining the patterns. As an initial weapon, she had to criticize its appearance - it was incredibly ugly.

"I wonder if it has unlimited ammo like in the game? Might as well test it out!"

Saying this, Kiana raised her guns and fired over a hundred shots towards the sea. Birds and beasts scattered in all directions, creating quite a spectacular scene.

"Looks like this is the same as the game. That bastard does have some conscience!"

Boom!!!

Lightning struck Kiana again.

"Eeeyaaayaawoowoo!"

After letting out a meaningless miserable cry, Kiana's entire body stood on end, looking like a puffed-up cat, pathetically falling from the tree to the ground.

"S-Sister, you're still awake so late? Work must be hard!"

Kiana quickly put on a flattering smile and looked up at the sky. The dark clouds that had gathered at some point gradually dispersed.

just you wait! One day, I'll tear you into a thousand pieces!

Kiana cursed in her heart. In an instant, the cloud cluster that was about to disappear regrouped, accompanied by intense thunder. A lightning bolt twice as thick as before suddenly struck down.

"Eeeyaaayaa!"

Kiana let out another miserable cry and fell to the ground, her life and death uncertain. Once again, she demonstrated the life philosophy of "don't do stupid things."

Half an hour later, Kiana finally awoke from her coma. The now-obedient Kiana silently shed tears, climbed back up the tree, and took out her phone to continue checking the interface.

The phone's quality was top-notch. Despite being struck by Besuta several times, it remained undamaged. Who knows if Besuta had done something to it.

Weapons checked, and as another major selling point of Honkai Impact, Stigmata was naturally indispensable. After all, the cute girl's back shoulders the mission of saving the world.

Kiana opened the Stigmata section and, as expected, her back was empty, not a single Stigmata in sight.

Alright, without good weapons and Stigmata, she could only rely on her own hands to fight. Kiana thought dejectedly.

Then Kiana exited the Valkyrie interface and went to the main interface. Unlike before, the friend icon was gray - well, who in the One Piece world would play Honkai? Kiana wasn't surprised at all and casually opened the skill interface.

Since only the Domain White Armor was currently unlocked, naturally only this skill was lit up. Without thinking, Kiana tapped on it.

Immediately, all of the Domain White Armor's skills flooded the phone screen - normal attacks, branch attacks, ultimate moves, and passive skills were all displayed before Kiana's eyes.

In the top right corner, the skill points needed to learn skills were full, with twenty points available.

"I'll learn some skills. Slowly getting stronger. One day, I'll turn back into a man," Kiana said with determination.

But very quickly, the cruel reality gave Kiana a wake-up call.

"Gold coins? Seriously? I need gold coins?"

Kiana stared wide-eyed at the gold coin column required to learn skills, instantly feeling helpless. As a hardcore player, Kiana naturally knew that learning skills required gold coins. Moreover, as skill levels increased, the required gold coin amount would grow larger. In the late phase of the game, it could easily be tens of thousands of gold coins. Kiana couldn't help but recall how she used to spend money to buy gold coins.

Originally, Kiana thought the goddess might kindly remove the gold coin requirement, but the world is cruel, and human hearts are vicious.

"...Where am I supposed to get gold coins?"

Kiana wore an expression of total despair. Well, she thought, maybe I should just become a woman? She slowly imagined a handsome man, gently caressing her own face, deeply gazing at herself.

"Woo!"

Suddenly, a chill ran down her spine. Kiana quickly shook her head, throwing those thoughts away.

"No, I definitely want to be a man. This is disgusting."

Kiana quickly rallied, continuing to check her phone. Since there was a gold coin option, as a typical gacha game, crystals (or diamonds) were also essential for quick character and equipment draws.

Kiana opened the top-up interface and, as expected, crystals were available. Besuta hadn't removed this element.

However, with just one glance, Kiana was in despair. While she could indeed top up using the universal currency of the One Piece world - Berry - the exchange rate was ridiculous. Three million Berries would only get her 200 crystals? A single character draw required 280 crystals, which was still 80 short.

"Is this how they try to squeeze money out of players?"

Kiana felt like crying. What brutal conditions were these? I'm so desperate!

Kiana quietly tucked her phone back into her chest, remembering a phrase she'd often heard: Life is life... since you can't resist, just lie down and enjoy it.

Just as Kiana was about to give up on turning back into a man, her phone vibrated in her chest, causing her chest to shake like tofu.

"Hey, don't go too far. Thinking about such things is one thing, but why are you transforming into... what is this?"

Kiana angrily pulled out her phone to see what was happening.

The moment the phone was out, a virtual projection appeared above the screen.

"Captain, are you giving up so quickly?"

A tiny figure stood on the screen, with green hair tied into two round cabbage-like buns, and a pink, adorable little face.

The moment Kiana saw this figure, she was shocked speechless.

"...Ai, Ai-chan?"

"Am I making you excited, Captain? Ai-chan is super excited too!"

Kiana was speechless. For this character who played the role of a newbie guide in the Honkai Impact game, Kiana was extremely familiar.

"Hehe, 2D girls are indeed awesome. Ai-chan, give me a kiss!"

Kiana pursed her lips, about to lick the screen. A flash of disgust crossed Ai-chan's eyes, and the phone automatically started to discharge electricity, guiding it through Kiana's body. Instantly, Kiana's previously smoothed hair exploded again.

"Cough cough, puff!"

Kiana coughed out a cloud of black smoke, her body convulsing. Ah, Ai-chan's love is so deep, I've deeply felt it.

"No licking the screen, Captain!"

"Woo woo woo, Ai-chan doesn't love me anymore!"

Finally, after ten minutes, Kiana had returned to normal and began communicating with Ai-chan.

"Well, Captain, don't you think this game is too difficult?"

"Yeah, it actually requires at least 30 million Berries to recharge, and you only get 200 crystals. It's not enough at all!"

Kiana muttered complaints under her breath, and a glint of insight flashed in Ai-chan's eyes.

"Captain, you have to think about it: if you don't spend money, can you get stronger?"

This classic wisdom from her previous life came out of Ai-chan's mouth, and Kiana felt utterly helpless. I want to spend money too, but I'm just too poor.

"Actually, Captain, you feel poor right now simply because you're not strong enough. If you had sufficient strength, you could just catch a few high-bounty pirates in this world and never worry about money again."

Easier said than done. The problem is that right now, not even a single coin is available, so how can one get stronger? Unable to get stronger means no money, creating a vicious cycle.

"Captain, don't be discouraged. You should know that besides recharging, there's also a mission system where you can obtain crystals!"

"...Oh right, I remember now."

In the past, when Kiana had no crystals, she would directly recharge without ever doing missions, almost forgetting that missions could earn crystals.

"Moreover, Captain can obtain coins in the home system. Although it's only a small amount, it's enough for you right now."

Reminded by Ai-chan, Kiana recalled that there was indeed a refinery in the home system where she could earn coins. Because the amount was usually so small, she had never paid much attention. So she quickly opened the home system icon on her phone.

"Phew, fortunately that mix... big sister isn't completely heartless and still has some humanity."

The home system, which normally required reaching a certain level to unlock, was surprisingly open at level one. It must be Besta who made an exception. What surprised Kiana even more was that the Honkai Furnace, the core of the home system, was already at max level.

"Woo... thank you, big sister, for showing mercy!"

Kiana was almost moved to tears. Although she still remembered who put her in this situation, she quickly activated the refinery function and started generating coins. Watching the coin amount continuously rise, Kiana smiled happily. Well, she'd check again in a few hours, and the coins for learning skills should be sufficient by then.

"Next, it's the mission system!"

Kiana nervously opened the mission system, initially afraid to look, worried the mission might be beyond her capabilities. She peeked through her fingers bit by bit.

Mission One: Use Domain White Practice Armor to defeat an enemy. Mission rewards: 1,000 coins and Pulse Crimson Armor, ten mission points.

"...Doesn't seem too difficult."

Kiana looked at the mission. A thousand coins was straightforward, and the Pulse Crimson Armor was a basic character armor like Domain White Practice, along with Battle Armor. These three were called the "Big Three" by players, being the earliest B-grade armors players encounter. Valkyrie armors were ranked from B, A, S, SS, to SSS grade.

The ten mission points could be used to exchange for treasure boxes, which could contain materials and crystals.

"Ai-chan, why is there only one mission?"

"Based on the Captain's current strength, one mission is enough. You couldn't handle more."

"..."

Don't discourage me like that. I'm strong too, Kiana thought slightly dejected, then realized a serious problem.

"Ai-chan, who is my enemy?"

No wonder Kiana was confused. The mission only said to defeat an enemy, without specifying the enemy's strength. The difference between crushing an ant and fighting an elephant is quite significant.

"The enemy is already shown on the map, Captain!"

Kiana looked down at her phone. The mission system interface had transformed into a map, with her position marked as a green dot. Based on the surrounding trees, the map's range was about 100 meters. Currently, aside from her green dot, there were no enemy traces.

"I don't see anything."

"Captain, you need to zoom in on the map!"

"Oh oh!"

Kiana swiped her finger on the screen, and the map that originally encompassed a 100-meter range instantly expanded to cover the entire island. Countless red dots emerged, so densely packed they could frighten someone with trypophobia. Even Kiana, being normal, was thoroughly shocked.

"Are there this many enemies?"

"Captain, calm down. The mission only requires one."

"That's true. Also, how does the system determine my enemies?"

"Any organism capable of killing you is considered an enemy."

"..."

Kiana silently gazed at thousands of red dots on the island, wanting to cry. What kind of island have I arrived at? Are they too strong or am I too weak?

"Well, Captain, don't be discouraged. For the Captain's safety, Ai-chan has thoughtfully divided the enemies' strength levels. Darker colors represent greater threat to the Captain, while lighter colors indicate lesser threat."

Looking at her phone, Kiana indeed noticed subtle color differences between the red dots. Red dots on the island's periphery were almost fading to white, while the most vivid, nearly black blood-red dots were deep in the island's center, at least ten kilometers from Kiana. This was good news - as long as she didn't foolishly venture into the island's interior, her life should be safe.

"Then Ai-chan will await the Captain's performance. Good luck!"