"There's... a strange mirror..."
Guinaifen answered truthfully.
"Wah! Pom-Pom knew there was something weird going on!"
"Hurry and think of something, Trailblazer!"
Earlier, after discovering the mirror, Guinaifen had already spoken to Mr. Yang and Himeko. But neither of them could see it—only the protagonist could.
This thing had become the only visible anomaly to her.
Guinaifen knew the Astral Express had its share of bizarre phenomena, but this was the first time she'd encountered something that created such a stark difference in perception among people.
She stepped forward and examined the fragmented mirror again.
[You approach the mirror and see a figure slowly materializing inside—but it looks nothing like you. The reflection shows a girl in a hood, her face obscured by a strange mask.]
Before she could react, the girl stepped out of the mirror.
"Heh, so this is the Astral Express?"
Guinaifen narrowed her eyes and began conversing with this suddenly appearing girl.
A few minutes later—
"The Forgotten Hall?"
"A Messenger of Remembrance?"
"You want to preserve my memories?"
Pursing her lips, Guinaifen slowly processed the information.
"Do you wish to enter the Forgotten Hall?" the Messenger girl asked.
---
What appeared before her now was an interface composed of multiple challenge stages.
[The Last Vestiges of the Towering Citadel I]
Reading the description on the screen, Guinaifen suddenly understood.
"Oh, so this is just a combat dungeon!"
"All that mystery, but it's just a fancy way to fight!"
"The system really dressed it up!"
Since it was already unlocked, she might as well try it out.
Guinaifen had full confidence in her Jing Yuan.
Her current best team consisted of Jing Yuan, Tingyun, Asta, and Natasha—a well-balanced setup she'd refined.
With Jing Yuan as the core, this team was practically unstoppable!
[Battle Start!]
The opponent was a Level 32 Decaying Shadow.
Though it had no Lightning weakness, Jing Yuan's raw damage was more than enough—it was wiped out in a single turn.
Her Jing Yuan was already Level 60.
Next—
Recollection II, Recollection III, Recollection IV… all the way to Recollection X!
She steamrolled through every stage!
Guinaifen was invigorated—this was the high-level combat challenge she'd been craving!
After clearing the tenth stage, she was pumped, her hands practically burning with excitement.
"Aside from the Simulated Universe, this Forgotten Hall must be the hardest dungeon in the game, right?"
"Ever since that big shot gave me advice, I've been unstoppable!"
"Clearing ten stages in one go—who else can do that?!"
But the chat had other opinions.
"Xiao Guizi, you just discovered this now? I cleared Stage X ages ago!"
"Ever since I pulled Seele, I've been dominating the Forgotten Hall!"
"I cleared the first eight stages with only 4-star characters!"
"Gotta admit, the rewards from the Forgotten Hall are insane!"
Seeing how familiar everyone else was with the Forgotten Hall, Guinaifen smirked.
"But I bet no one's fully cleared it yet!"
There were 15 stages in total—she had only reached the tenth.
When she tried to challenge Stage XI, she hit a wall—from here, the stages split into two paths, requiring two separate teams.
Her Jing Yuan, Tingyun, Asta, Natasha squad was strong, but her other characters were severely underleveled.
Only Himeko was at Level 50.
The rest—March 7th, and the protagonist—were stuck at Level 40, lacking ascension materials.
Raising even one full team was already a struggle!
She attempted it anyway—and was promptly annihilated by the Outerworld Fire's flaming meteors.
"Looks like I can't progress without a second built team..."
Turning to the camera, she ruthlessly exposed the reality for most players:
"Now I get why no one's fully cleared it—who has the resources to build two teams right now?!"
"No wonder you all claim to be 'dominating'—everyone's breezing through the first ten stages!"
"Ask anyone about clearing it fully, and they'll just cough awkwardly!"
The chat erupted.
"Xiao Guizi, too ruthless! Exposing us like this!"
"Wait, fifteen stages?! I thought there were only five!"
"Buddy, try swiping to the right..."
"I thought reaching Stage VIII was impressive, but now you need two teams?!"
"This is brutal!"
Returning to the Forgotten Hall's main screen, Guinaifen tapped the rewards section.
[+200 Stellar Jade]
She did some quick math.
"One normal clear gives 200... I three-starred all ten stages, so that's 2,000 Stellar Jade!"
"The rewards here are insane!"
"The devs are as generous as ever!"
After converting all the Stellar Jade into Special Passes, she couldn't resist—she opened the gacha screen.
The gambling addiction struck again.
She had 70 pulls saved up.
"Should I go for Jing Yuan's Eidolon?"
After checking Eidolon 1's effect, she hesitated.
She decided to check the forums for advice from veteran players.
Guinaifen trusted that there were hardcore theorycrafters who had already crunched the numbers.
Like that "Zhao Camera" guy who got banned in her stream—if he posted guides, she'd follow him immediately!
The Honkai: Star Rail player base was growing fast, and so were the number of in-depth guides.
- [Current Meta's Strongest Jing Yuan Team!]
- [Seele Ultimate One-Page Guide]
- [Tingyun: The 4-Star Harmony MVP!]
- [Luocha is Jing Yuan's Best Support!]
"Hmm... maybe I should save for Luocha!"
"The power spike seems more consistent!"
Guinaifen felt this was the smarter choice.
As a light spender, she couldn't afford to waste pulls!
There were still Silver Wolf and Kafka's banners coming up—Stellaron Hunters were a must-pull!
With so many characters she wanted, she had to plan carefully.
Otherwise, how could she keep up?
To be continued…
Advance 100 Chapters are up on my Patreon!
pat reon.com/AlphaSenatus