In the boundless expanse of the universe, a Space Station known as "Herta" stands tall.
This place is a gathering ground for all kinds of scientists; anyone who manages to come here must possess some unique expertise in their respective technological fields.
Today, however, a merchant named Ye Yun has sneaked inside.
In the Master Control Zone.
A grey-haired girl is stopped by Ye Yun.
"My friend, I have some treasures here. Care to take a look?"
The grey-haired girl is named Stelle, the protagonist of the Astral Express.
Stelle perks up at this.
"Treasure? What kind of treasure? Let me see."
Ye Yun snaps his fingers, and three items enclosed in "bubbles" appear before Stelle's eyes.
Stelle watches Ye Yun's finger-snap, finding it extremely cool, like performing magic.
Ye Yun introduces them:
"Let me introduce these to you. The three items are the Coin of the Pantheon, a spatial ring, and a constitution fruit."
Stelle examines the three items, curiously reaching out to poke the bubbles wrapping them.
However, she finds that she cannot touch any of the three items at all.
Pointing at the Coin of the Pantheon, Stelle asks, "What is this thing? What does it do?"
Ye Yun explains:
"The method to use this Coin of the Pantheon is simple—just toss it into the air. If it lands heads up, it heals all the user's injuries, including curses, poisoning, and other negative statuses. If it lands tails up, it's no big deal—you just get struck by lightning."
Hearing this, Stelle's eyes light up. It is quite obvious that Stelle's attention is not on the prospect of being struck by lightning, but rather on how fun this seems.
"This thing is nice. How many Credits?"
Ye Yun holds up his index finger and wags it. "I don't accept Credits here."
Hearing this, Stelle spreads her hands. "I don't have anything on me, just the 10,000-plus Credits I earned from odd jobs over the last couple of days."
Ye Yun smiles. "The currency I want is something you do have."
With a casual wave of his hand, a scale materializes between them.
"You should have some Stellar Jades on you, right?"
Stelle nods at this, pulling a few Stellar Jades from her pocket.
"I happen to have a few. Do you accept these Stellar Jades? Aren't these things pretty useless anyway? I just collected a few because they looked nice."
She has no choice—she is dirt poor, and these Stellar Jades are at least spoils of war obtained after defeating two Legion echoes and opening treasure chests.
In the reality of the Honkai: Star Rail universe, treasure chests are guarded by monsters.
The moment you approach, these monsters will manifest and attack you.
Therefore, apart from Pathstriders, no one else pays the slightest attention to treasure chests.
Ye Yun takes the Stellar Jades from Stelle's hand—a total of five—and places them on one pan of the scale.
The next second, a flash of white light sweeps across the other pan, and five banknotes with a denomination of 100 suddenly appear, while the five Stellar Jades vanish into thin air.
Ye Yun picks up the five banknotes.
"These are Credits. You can convert them here using Stellar Jades; I only accept this currency. Here you go, your 500 Credits."
Stelle doesn't take them, instead pointing at the Coin of the Pantheon and asking, "How many Credits for this thing? Is my 500 enough?"
Ye Yun says, "This Coin of the Pantheon only costs 300; you keep the other 200."
With that, Ye Yun presses 300 Credits against the bubble enveloping the Coin of the Pantheon.
The 300 Credits and the bubble vanish simultaneously, and the Coin of the Pantheon materializes solidly in Ye Yun's hand.
Ye Yun hands the Coin of the Pantheon and the remaining 200 Credits to Stelle.
Stelle takes the Coin of the Pantheon with eager anticipation, examines it closely, and immediately wants to test its effect.
Fortunately, Ye Yun stops her.
"Don't be impatient! Save this coin for a critical moment. If this thing lands heads, it's practically equivalent to an extra life."
Stelle thinks about it and agrees, promptly putting the Coin of the Pantheon into her bag.
Stelle looks at the other two items.
Ye Yun introduces them:
"Spatial ring, valued at 1,000 Credits. It contains 10 cubic meters of extradimensional space, which can store items, but cannot store living creatures."
"Constitution fruit, valued at 600 Credits. Eating it enhances your physical constitution."
Hearing this, Stelle's eyes light up. These two items are great too!
Feeling her pockets, Stelle instantly calms down.
*Emph*... she has no Stellar Jades left.
"Let's add each other on comms, so it's easier for me to find you to buy things later."
Hearing this, Ye Yun takes out his phone and adds Stelle on comms.
Afterwards, the two part ways and bid farewell.
After Stelle leaves, Ye Yun communicates with the system internally.
"System, can my newbie quest be considered complete now?"
[Notice! Congratulations to the host for completing the newbie quest: Complete a transaction. Reward obtained: Shop Card x1, High-level Pathstrider-tier Imaginary Energy x1.]
As the system's voice fades, Ye Yun feels a surge of overwhelming power suddenly well up inside his body.
This power continuously reshapes Ye Yun's body, making him much stronger.
Ten minutes or so later, this energy begins to settle down. With a thought from Ye Yun, a dark-golden energy orb appears in his palm.
Good, now he finally has some self-preservation strength.
In this Honkai: Star Rail universe, powerhouses are countless, and ordinary people have no voice at all.
Just like the Interastral Peace Corporation—if they want to wipe out a planet, they just go ahead and do it; no one is going to speak ill of the Corporation for the sake of a low-level civilization.
After familiarizing himself with the power he has acquired, Ye Yun looks at the other prize.
[Shop Card: After use, can transform a room no larger than 300 square meters into an exquisitely decorated shop.]
[Notice! New quest issued: Open a shop! Please open a shop, host. Reward: Special merchandise Spirit-series items unlocked, Otherworld Guest Invitation Letter x1.]
According to the system, these special goods must have certain quests completed before they can be unlocked.
In Ye Yun's view, however, the items currently available in the system are already more than enough to sell; opening the interface reveals densely packed items, with the pages marked as [Infinite].
After reading the new quest issued by the system, Ye Yun ponders where to open the shop.
After much consideration, Ye Yun still feels the Astral Express is the best place.
If you want to know where to get the most Stellar Jades, it has to be the Astral Express.
The Astral Express sails across the cosmos, passing from one planet to another.
It will be very convenient for the Nameless on the Astral Express to acquire Stellar Jades.
Since he happens to have a shop card, renting a carriage out of the many on the train would fit his needs perfectly.
However, he needs to figure out a way to make the Crew willing to rent a carriage to him.
Immediately after, Ye Yun buys a cup of soda, sipping it as he sits on a bench, pondering how to lease a carriage.
*********
Over on Stelle's side.
After parting ways with Ye Yun, she arrives at Herta's office.
As soon as she steps inside, she sees Herta busily debugging the Simulated Universe.
The Simulated Universe was jointly built by Herta and three other geniuses.
Its purpose is to study the mysteries of the Aeons.
As for Stelle, she tried it once yesterday after waking up, and reported that it was quite fun, plus there are rewards to be claimed.
Stelle has come here today to help Herta test the Simulated Universe.
"Herta, I'm here."
Herta turns around. "You're late. You'd better give me a reasonable explanation."
Stelle says, "I was stopped by someone selling things on the way and bought a few things, which delayed me a bit. Sorry, sorry."