The Gamer who traveled to Honkai: Star Rail

Pei Guang stared at Herta's doll in front of him. The usually animated figure now showed no reaction. No matter how many times he called out to her, there was no response.

Stelle poked the doll's cheek. "Ah Guang, she was perfectly fine before we entered the simulated universe. Why does she look like she's frozen now?"

Pei Guang thought for a moment. "Maybe she's lagging? It's just a doll—network delay is normal."

March 7th nodded in agreement. "Makes sense, but what about our rewards? And if she's frozen, how do we start another round?"

March 7th was already a little addicted. Just like playing a video game, the simulated universe let her indulge in her preferences. If she wanted something, she only had to ask Pei Guang, whose omnipotent powers made anything possible.

This time, she wasn't just a bystander. Early on, she gathered resources. Mid-game, she used those resources to build fleets and unite various factions to save planets. Being able to play exactly how she wanted made the experience endlessly fun.

"Let's wait a bit," Pei Guang said. "By the way, every time I see one of Herta's dolls, they always give me a different impression."

Stelle raised an eyebrow. "What impressions? Isn't it just a doll? I mean, you've even sat on one of them before. It doesn't seem any different from the rest of us."

Pei Guang shook his head. "No, no, every doll has subtle differences. Their outfits, for instance—they're not all the same. Even their height and weight vary slightly."

March 7th's eyes widened. "Really? Hidden details like that? I never noticed!"

Pei Guang grinned. "That's because you didn't pay attention. Next time, I'll take you to play a little game—spot the differences! It's surprisingly fun."

Though Herta's dolls were undeniably beautiful and their skin felt smooth to the touch, Pei Guang's biggest joy came from these little games of observation. Whenever he was bored, they brought endless amusement.

"Yay!" Stelle clapped her hands. "When we have some downtime, Ah Guang, you've gotta show us how to play. But what should we do now?"

Pei Guang glanced at the time. "Let's wander around a bit while we wait for Herta to contact us. Maybe we'll find some new goodies here. I also need to clear out some junk—I've got way too much stuff from Xianzhou."

The Xianzhou trip had been incredibly rewarding; before the final battle, Pei Guang had been reluctant to sell or discard anything. But now that the battle was over, he decided it was time to clean house. As for selling it? He already had someone in mind—Asta. And if she wasn't interested, he'd find another way to dispose of the junk.

Although he could technically use nesting inventory methods to store items, even that required space. With only 100 slots available, the Xianzhou loot had pushed him to a critical point. He needed to offload the unnecessary stuff before heading to the next location.

Also, Pei Guang had a favorable impression of Asta. She was generous, her tasks were straightforward, and—most importantly—she was rich. Selling her valuable items could fetch an excellent price, or maybe even trade for something useful.

Take Condensed Aether, for instance. During his time in Belobog and the Xianzhou, he'd only managed to scavenge a few from crates in the Divination Commission. In contrast, Asta had freely handed out a decent supply of Condensed Aether and other goodies when they first met.

March 7th looked around the station. "Wandering sounds good! Last time, it was a mess here with the Legion attacking—and we didn't help by smashing everything. Maybe things are back to normal now?"

Pei Guang shrugged. "Could be. Plus, we just cleared a new dungeon. Let's see if there are any fresh quests here, or if we can snag anything useful for our next mission. Let's go!"

Stelle: "Let's go!"

March 7th: "Let's gooo~"

With that, Pei Guang, Stelle, and March 7th left Herta's office and headed to the control cabin, where they found Asta engrossed in her shopping.

Back when Herta had her face-off with Pei Guang, Asta had arranged for her mother to send a significant amount of resources to quickly make the space station look presentable again.

After the duel ended, most of the station's maintenance was completed. The areas Pei Guang had torn apart were repaired, the regions in disarray were cleaned, and missing equipment was either on order or already replaced. Thanks to Pei Guang's intervention, the station's losses were kept to a minimum. While there were casualties, the station's foundation remained intact.

Now, with a fresh allowance from her mother, she was determined to spend it all quickly. Otherwise, her mother would start worrying aloud again: "Are you living too frugally? Are you eating properly? Sleeping enough? Do you need more money?"

Asta appreciated her mother's concern, but it could get exhausting. Better to spend the money now and avoid the lecture altogether.

As she mulled over what else to buy, Pei Guang's familiar voice called out.

"Asta~~"

Hearing his cheerful tone, she turned around with a bright smile. "You're here! What's up? Are you looking for me to assign you a mission? Hmm~ I do have a few things that need doing…"

She did have tasks that required help, ones that her station staff couldn't quite handle. The more logical types lacked emotional intelligence, and the emotionally savvy ones weren't aligned with her goals.

Pei Guang, however, was a rarity—a pure and straightforward individual. And she also had a particularly high opinion of him; not just because of the critical help he had given the station, but also because of her collection of seven Herta dolls.

Through her interactions with him, Asta had confirmed that while Pei Guang might be intrigued by her background and even leverage it at times, he had no interest in exploiting her wealth.

Still, she knew he wasn't exactly "poor." His Herta doll crafting skills alone or his playful betting with Silver Wolf could easily net him jaw-dropping amounts of money if he ever wanted to cash in.

Pei Guang noticed Asta's enthusiasm and shook his head. "We'll talk about missions later. We're here to ask if you're interested in buying a few things."

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow. "You think of me as a merchant now? Ahem! No problem. If it interests me or benefits the station, I'll take as much as you have!"

She had picked up quite a few gaming terms to better communicate with Pei Guang and his team. She had even tried out some games anonymously and found them surprisingly enjoyable.

Because of this, she understood the language of gamers well—and, in turn, had a good grasp of his likely intentions.

In her eyes, gamers were refreshingly simple to deal with—no complicated power plays or hidden agendas.

Pei Guang smiled. "Of course. I've got plenty of good stuff. Take a look!"

"Let's see it!" Asta's excitement grew, but the moment he pulled out a bizarre plant embodying both abundance and destruction, her eyes widened.

And that was just the start!

Pei Guang continued unloading item after item.

None of it was from the Xianzhou habitants; those items were either too useful to part with or earmarked for boosting his reputation with the Xianzhou locals. Instead, he laid out loot from his battles against the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, the Abundant Ebon Deer, and the Lord Ravager.

Among them were random trinkets synthesized from Ebon Deer materials: anything with lackluster effects was on display, ready for Asta's consideration.

Pei Guang didn't waste time and continued taking out items to sell. The materials and items he displayed were not things he found useful—low-tier consumables that restored 1% health or stamina, which were redundant when he could just use advanced restoration items made from Phantylia's body for better effects.

Even though these materials could be crafted into high-level consumables using the crafting system, Pei Guang found it tedious. The crafting process was slow, and even working non-stop for a minute would only scratch the surface of the materials he'd amassed—enough to keep crafting for several months.

For the sake of efficiency, Pei Guang decided to sell these items.

Asta, however, was taken aback as she examined the items. Just the fact that some of them contained traces of Abundance's power was surprising enough. But materials that fused both Abundance and Destruction? That was something truly rare.

Even if they weren't consumable, Asta thought, they would be exceptional collectibles—something to showcase one's refined taste.

She hesitated briefly before asking, "Do you have a lot of these?"

Pei Guang replied casually, "Not too many. Just a few hundred crates. I'm in a bit of a storage crisis and need to clear them out."

Asta's eyes sparkled with excitement as she saw crate after crate being laid out. She grinned. "No problem! I'll take all of them. But these aren't just for display, right?"

Pei Guang nodded. "Of course not. Look at this one—it restores 5% of your total attributes when consumed. But honestly, we have much better items, so this is just wasting space in my inventory. And this? It's charred remains from a failed cooking experiment with Phantylia's flesh. Ugly, but it's durable as hell—you could clobber someone with it and leave a dent. And this one…"

As he explained each item, Asta listened attentively, intrigued by the bizarre assortment. Twenty inventory slots' worth of materials were on display, but for her, it still wasn't enough.

"Do you have more? Bring out more!"