Chapter 7: First Supply

"Look, Ai-chan, I've washed my hands thoroughly now," Kiana pleaded.

"Even if they're clean, it's still a no," Ai-chan replied firmly.

Kiana sighed, disheartened. Ai-chan doesn't care about me anymore... She sniffed and wiped away a fake tear, putting on a sad, heartbroken look.

"...Don't… cry, okay? Even if you cry, I… I still won't let you touch me," Ai-chan's voice wavered, and upon hearing it, Kiana only cried louder.

"Uwaaaah!"

"Fine, fine! I'll forgive you this time, Captain! But if you try anything again, I'll go straight to report to Elder Sister," Ai-chan relented, sighing.

"Hehehe, I knew Ai-chan cared for me the most!" Kiana immediately perked up, beaming as she picked up the phone where Ai-chan was projected.

Ai-chan could only sigh. This Captain… even though I know she's fake-crying, why can't I ignore her? Ai-chan thought, feeling helpless. Indeed, a girl's tears were a powerful weapon.

Now that Kiana had 285 crystals, she quickly entered the supply section of the shop.

"Please let it be available… Let me do a supply draw!" Kiana closed her eyes and clasped her hands together, hoping that the system would allow her to use her crystals despite her low Commander level of only two.

She opened her eyes slowly.

"Just as I thought!" she sighed, somewhat disappointed.

On the screen, only three types of supply draws were available. The "Friendship Supply," requiring friendship points, was grayed out, unusable. However, Kiana didn't feel too disappointed about this, as Friendship Supply rarely yielded anything valuable.

The other two were the Precision Supply, which focused on weapons, and the Standard Supply for Valkyrie battlesuits. After some thought, Kiana decided on the Standard Supply. Right now, she only had two melee-focused battlesuits, but she had always preferred the ranged prowess of the Moonlight battlesuit. Besides, B-rank Valkyries had low base stats, making them weaker overall. As for drawing weapons, without the resources to upgrade them, most drawn weapons would be less useful over time unless they were initial four-star gear.

Once she decided on the Standard Supply, she initiated the draw. A huge crate fell from the sky on the screen, radiating a brilliant glow. Kiana instinctively shielded the screen, leaving just a small gap, a habit she'd developed over time.

Through that tiny sliver of the screen, Kiana checked the color of the glow. In supply draws, rewards usually appeared in either blue, indicating common materials and gear, or purple, signifying rarer items. Friendship Supplies also had a green glow for lesser items.

But Kiana had often been fooled by purple glows, only to find they were advanced upgrade materials or items to be sold for coins.

Seeing no purple hue from the crate, Kiana resigned herself to the outcome. Guess I'm still destined for unlucky draws, she sighed, her hopes of drawing something exceptional fading.

With her hand fully removed, the screen revealed two items. Supply draws typically yielded two rewards. This time, Kiana had drawn a three-star starter weapon and a three-star upgrade material.

"A Pulse Katana Type-17? Not bad!" Kiana thought, feeling pleased despite not getting a Valkyrie. At least she had a decent weapon to equip on her Crimson Armor suit. She immediately equipped it, and a sleek, black katana with a green accent on the hilt appeared in her hand. She examined it closely.

Though the katana didn't increase her critical hit rate, it had a powerful skill that would greatly assist her in the early stages. Kiana had relied on this very weapon to progress through the early game in the past.

Its skill consumed 14 SP, firing six energy blades, each dealing 218 ice-elemental damage while reducing the enemy's movement and attack speed by 70% for 2.5 seconds. The skill had a cooldown of 12 seconds.

SP, or Stamina Points, functioned as energy for the Valkyrie's attacks—similar to a power gauge in a fighting game like The King of Fighters. Her Crimson Armor suit currently had an SP gauge of 51 points, with her ultimate skill requiring 50 SP to activate. As Valkyries leveled up, their SP gauges expanded. Higher-grade battlesuits gained more SP, attack, and health per level compared to lower-grade ones.

"I can't wait to go into battle!" Kiana cheered, gripping her new katana. She was excited to dive back into the thrill of combat she'd once enjoyed when she first started playing Honkai Impact.

"Captain, don't you think it's time to rest?" Ai-chan suggested.

"No need! I'm full of energy right now!" Kiana replied, her tone brimming with excitement. The faster she grew stronger, the sooner she could find the Dragon Balls and return to being a man.

Holding the Pulse Katana Type-17, Kiana opened her map to locate the next red marker, aiming to complete the combo achievements for more crystals. Her plan was to accumulate enough for a healing-based battlesuit, like the Saint Armor or Shadow Armor—both excellent support suits. Given her experience climbing in-game towers, Kiana knew just how valuable a support suit could be.

"Oh, Ai-chan, I just remembered something. Is there a way to climb towers here?"

"Towers? Ai-chan doesn't quite understand what the Captain means," Ai-chan replied, puzzled.

"Um, you know, the Endless Abyss—can I access that level?"

"Sorry, Captain, but all stages from the original Honkai system are inaccessible here. You can only engage in battles in this world."

"Ah, got it. But… how do I gather Valkyrie shards then?"

"After defeating enemies in this world, they'll occasionally drop shards, so there's no need for the Captain to worry," Ai-chan explained.

"Phew, that's a relief."

Although Kiana was disappointed about the lack of tower climbing—a significant source of crystals—she felt reassured by the option to gather Valkyrie shards.

Suddenly, a thought struck her. Raising her phone, she asked, "Ai-chan, does that mean I can also collect shards for Moonlight and Ghost Armor?"

"Of course, Captain!"

The news was a surprise, and Kiana could barely contain her joy. In the original game, S-rank suits like Moonlight could only be obtained through supply draws—there was no other way to acquire them. Hearing that she could now earn shards for these coveted battlesuits left Kiana ecstatic. After all, her favorite battlesuit was the Moonlight, a powerful ranged suit.