Evan was the sole occupant of the massive male dormitory. Perhaps because there hadn't been any male students before him, the building didn't even have a security guard. He swiped his key card to open the main door, hurried down the relatively clean hallway, and swiped his card again to unlock his room. Stepping inside, his eyes scanned the spacious dorm—over thirty square meters, complete with a separate bedroom and study. After confirming there were no surveillance cameras, he took a deep breath and tapped the "10x Supply" button.
In the game, the Friendship Supply could grant B-rank character fragments, gold, and low-level universal materials. In reality, none of these things were particularly valuable to Evan.
Gold might be equivalent to this world's currency, and the universal materials were for upgrading weapons and Stigmata. Without compatible gear, they were useless.
As for B-rank character fragments, Evan didn't think he could synthesize a Valkyrie from them in this real world. This meant the Friendship Supply must have changed in some way. That unknown change was the very reason he couldn't calm his racing heart.
He wanted to become strong. He wanted to board the Hyperion. He wanted to hear those Valkyries call him "Captain" for real. At the very least, after arriving in the world of Honkai, he refused to be an ordinary person who couldn't even face the disaster.
In the game, four-star and higher equipment had a purple background; seeing purple in a supply drop was considered a good pull. Three-star and two-star items were blue, and getting a stream of blue from the crystal-based gacha pools meant you had bad luck.
But now, spread out before Evan, were ten green icons.
Green represented one-star items.
He knew the Friendship Supply wouldn't yield anything great, but seeing this, Evan could only manage a wry, helpless smile.
Nine one-star "HOMU's Treasures" transformed into a golden light and flowed into the top of the virtual interface. A gold coin icon appeared out of thin air, with the number 9,000 next to it. The only item that wasn't a treasure was a Stigma.
"Shigure Kira (T)? I never would have thought I'd be so happy to get this Stigma."
As Evan murmured to himself, the one-star Stigma, which could be upgraded to a maximum of two stars, didn't materialize into a physical object as he had imagined. Instead, it transformed into a stream of green light and shot directly into his body.
A sharp pain followed, the feeling of his body being invaded by a foreign object. Perhaps because Shigure Kira (T) wasn't a particularly powerful Stigma, or perhaps because Evan's body had some latent aptitude, the pain wasn't unbearable. He merely frowned, enduring it without crying out or struggling. He even managed a trembling smile—a smile of pure joy.
Evan could feel it. He had become stronger.
Getting back on his feet, Evan left his dorm and went to the communal washroom, which only he used. He looked at his back in the mirror.
There was no foreign mark, just his normal skin.
He had definitely gained power. It wasn't much, but it was real.
After a moment of silence, Evan grinned. The absence of a Stigma mark like a Valkyrie's might mean he could absorb their power indefinitely, without the three-Stigmata limit.
He only had Shigure Kira (T) for now, so he couldn't be certain, but the possibility was high.
With the Stigma's power absorbed, the ten-pull was complete. Evan noticed the once-barren interface now displayed his gold total at the top, a friendship point counter in the middle, and a new "Stigmata" button on the side. He intended to tap it, but as soon as the thought formed, the interface changed automatically, displaying Shigure Kira (T), his only Stigma, along with an "Enhance" button.
Enhancing didn't require the various materials he remembered from the game, nor did it need EXP items—just gold. Maxing out the one-star Shigure Kira (T) cost one thousand gold. With nine thousand in his possession, Evan didn't hesitate and maxed it out immediately. The "Enhance" button then changed to "Evolve," which cost a staggering five thousand gold.
The steep increase made Evan frown. How much gold did it take to evolve a one-star Stigma in the game? It was definitely not this much. Even without needing materials, this cost progression... Evan could already foresee a future plagued by a lack of gold.
Despite his reservations, he chose to evolve it. When he tried to enhance the Stigma to its new max level, he found he didn't have enough gold.
Maxing out a two-star Stigma required a full ten thousand gold, ten times the cost of a one-star. Furthermore, there was no halfway; it was either level one or max level. With only three thousand gold left, Evan had no choice but to give up, leaving Shigure Kira (T) at two stars, level one.
Fearing the interface would vanish forever if he closed it, Evan had been enduring the discomfort of double vision. But now, the moment he thought of giving up, the entire interface disappeared, and his vision returned to normal.
He didn't feel happy; instead, his heart tightened. It wasn't until he willed the interface to reappear and found that it did so freely, following his thoughts, that he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The Shigure Kira set was a basic Stigma in the game, and Evan had only obtained the top piece. Without any systematic combat training, his combat power was surely weaker than even a B-rank Valkyrie's. Even so, the immense pressure he felt from knowing he was in the world of Honkai began to ease slightly.
"I hope I still have enough time."
Evan glanced at the year displayed on his phone—2013—and whispered softly.