In the vast, boundless universe, a space station named "Herta" stood firmly in the cosmos.
This place was a gathering hub for all kinds of scientists. Anyone who could come here was undoubtedly someone with unique expertise in their respective technological fields.
Today, however, a merchant named Ye Yun had quietly slipped in.
***
Inside the main control cabin.
A gray-haired girl was suddenly grabbed by Ye Yun.
"Hey friend, I've got some treasures here—want to take a look?"
This gray-haired girl was Stelle, the protagonist of the Astral Express.
Hearing that, Stelle became interested.
"Treasures? What kind? Let me see."
Ye Yun snapped his fingers. Three items wrapped in bubbles appeared in front of Star.
Stelle thought Ye Yun's snap looked pretty cool—like a magic trick.
Ye Yun began to explain:
"Let me introduce these to you.
These three items are: the Coin of Fate, the Space Ring, and a Body Constitution Fruit."
Stelle examined the items with curiosity, even trying to poke at the bubbles, but she realized she couldn't touch them.
She pointed at the Coin of Fate and asked:
"What's this? What does it do?"
Ye Yun replied:
"The Coin of Fate is simple to use—just toss it into the air.
If it lands heads up, the user fully recovers from all injuries, including curses, poisoning, and other negative effects.
If it lands tails… well, you get struck by lightning."
Stelle's eyes lit up after hearing this. Clearly, she wasn't worried about the lightning part—she just thought it sounded fun.
"This thing's awesome! How many credits?"
Ye Yun shook his finger.
"I don't accept credits."
Stelle shrugged.
"I don't have much on me—just a little over 10,000 credits I earned from working these past couple of days."
Ye Yun smiled.
"The currency I want—you have it."
He waved his hand, and a balance scale appeared between them.
"You've got Stellar Jades, right?"
Stelle nodded and dug a few out from her pocket.
"I've got a few. But these things are basically useless, right? I only collected them because they look pretty."
She had nothing else—those Stellar Jades were hard-earned from defeating a couple of Voidrangers and opening a treasure chest.
In the universe of Honkai: Star Rail, treasure chests are usually guarded by monsters. The moment you get near, they'll attack.
So aside from a few elite adventurers, most people aren't interested in treasure chests.
Ye Yun took the five Stellar Jades from Star and placed them on one side of the scale.
A white light flashed on the other side, and five 100-denomination banknotes appeared. The Stellar Jades were gone.
Ye Yun picked up the banknotes.
"These are Starcoins. I can exchange Stellar Jades for them. I only accept Star Coins."
"Here—your 500 Star Coins."
Stelle didn't take them yet. She pointed at the Coin of Fate:
"How much is that? Is 500 enough?"
Ye Yun replied:
"The Coin of Fate is only 300. You can keep the other 200."
Then he placed 300 Starcoins onto the bubble. Both the coins and the bubble vanished, and the Coin of Fate appeared in Ye Yun's hand.
He handed it and the remaining 200 Starcoins to Star.
Stelle excitedly took the Coin of Fate and examined it, wanting to test it immediately.
Thankfully, Ye Yun stopped her:
"Don't rush! Save it for an emergency. If it lands heads, it's like having an extra life."
Stelle thought about it and nodded, placing it in her bag.
She looked at the other two items.
Ye Yun explained:
"The Space Ring costs 1000 Star Coins. It has a 10-cubic-meter pocket dimension for storing items—but not living things.
The Body Constitution Fruit costs 600 Star Coins and boosts physical strength after consumption."
Stelle's eyes sparkled again—these were great items too!
But after checking her bag, her enthusiasm dimmed.
She was out of Stellar Jades.
"Let's exchange contact info so I can find you to buy stuff later."
Ye Yun agreed, and they exchanged contacts via phone.
Then, they went their separate ways.
***
After Star left, Ye Yun mentally communicated with his system.
"System, does that count as completing my newbie quest?"
[System Notification]
Congratulations, Host, on completing the newbie quest: Complete a transaction.Reward: Shop Card ×1, High-level Imaginary Energy (Pathwalker class) ×1.
As the system finished speaking, Ye Yun suddenly felt a surge of powerful energy within his body.
This energy began reshaping him, making him stronger.
After more than ten minutes, the transformation settled. With a thought, Ye Yun conjured a dark gold energy sphere in his hand.
At last, he had some power to protect himself.
In the Honkai world, strength is everything. The weak have no voice.
Take the Interastral Peace Corporation for example—they could wipe out a planet without anyone objecting. No one would care about a lower civilization's fate.
After familiarizing himself with his new powers, Ye Yun checked the other reward:
[Shop Card]
Use this card to transform a room (up to 300 square meters) into a beautifully decorated shop.
[System Notification]
New mission: Open a shop!Please open a store.Rewards: Unlock special "Spirit" series items, Interdimensional Guest Invitation ×1.
Apparently, special items required completing certain missions.
But from Ye Yun's perspective, the current store catalog already looked more than profitable. He opened the interface—it was packed, with infinite pages.
Now he needed to decide where to open his shop.
After thinking for a while, Ye Yun figured the Astral Express was the best place.
If anywhere had the most access to Stellar Jades, it had to be the Astral Express. It traveled across the universe, visiting countless planets.
The Nameless passengers on the train could easily collect Stellar Jades.
And since he had a Shop Card, he could rent a train car and convert it.
The only challenge now was convincing the crew to let him rent one.
So, Ye Yun bought a soda, sat on a bench, and began brainstorming.
***
Meanwhile, with Stelle…
After parting ways with Ye Yun, she arrived at Herta's office.
Upon entering, she saw Herta busy calibrating the Simulated Universe.
The Simulated Universe had been jointly developed by Herta and three other geniuses—to research the secrets of the Aeons.
Stelle had tried it yesterday after waking up. She thought it was fun and even had rewards.
Today, she came to help Herta test it again.
"Hey Herta, I'm here!"
Herta turned around.
"You're late. You'd better have a good reason."
Stelle replied,
"I got held up by a merchant who sold me some stuff. Sorry, sorry!"
Stelle looked at Herta, and suddenly a lightbulb went off in her head—she might actually have a way to get some Stellar Jade!
Stelle grinned and pulled out the Coin of Fate.
"Herta, take a look at this thing for me."
Herta glanced at the coin with utter disdain.
"It's just a coin, what's so special about it?"
Stelle smirked confidently, hands on her hips.
"Oh, it's very special! This is the Coin of Fate. If you toss it into the air and it lands on heads, you heal. But if it lands on tails, you get struck by lightning. Pretty awesome, right?"
Herta raised an eyebrow, now slightly intrigued.
She took the Coin of Fate and tossed it into the air.
Stelle watched it spin midair, a gleam in her eye—her plan was working! Whether it landed heads or tails didn't matter—as long as the coin worked, she could squeeze some Stellar Jade out of Herta for "compensation."
The Coin of Fate spun wildly in the air before landing on the ground.
Stelle stretched her neck to see the result.
[Tails]!
The next moment, a shout came from Herta's puppet, as if it had just been hit by something.
Stelle scratched her head, confused, staring at the puppet.
Oddly enough, the puppet stood motionless, only the voice had reacted.
"What's wrong, Herta?"
What Stelle didn't know was that Herta's real body had just been struck by lightning at the exact moment the coin landed.
Fortunately, she had the Blessing of Erudition, so the damage wasn't too serious.
Now Herta was very interested. This Coin of Fate could actually locate her real body to inflict damage—this was no ordinary item.
She quickly controlled her puppet to pick up the coin.
But as soon as the puppet touched it, the Coin of Fate crumbled to dust.
"Interesting… very interesting! Stelle, where did you get this thing? Do you have any more?"
Stelle shook her head.
"Nope. That was my only one. You broke it—compensation time!"
She held out her hand boldly, demanding repayment.
Herta said nothing. A few seconds later, Stelle's phone pinged.
[Company Vault: 100,000 Credits received!]
Stelle looked at the extra credits on her phone with satisfaction.
She planned to use part of it to buy some Stellar Jade, then go find Ye Yun to purchase those two other items. Heh heh.
And even after buying everything, she'd still have lots of credits left. Genius!
Satisfied with her money, Star didn't want to linger with Herta.
"So, Herta, I've got stuff to do today. Let's skip the Simulated Universe test."
To her surprise, Herta agreed without protest.
She had already given up on today's test after realizing how valuable that coin was. She gave Stelle the compensation hoping she'd go back to the seller—anyone who could produce such an item was bound to have more.
All she had to do now was monitor Stelle closely.
"Go ahead. I'm not in the mood to test today anyway. Tomorrow, then."
With that, the puppet powered down, standing completely still.
Stelle raised an eyebrow and walked out of Herta's office.
***
As she went, she asked everyone she saw whether they had any Stellar Jade.
And to her surprise, the tactic actually worked—she managed to trade for quite a few.
She offered 500 credits per piece. To most, Stellar Jade was just a shiny rock, so the deal was a no-brainer.
After asking around the main control cabin, her pouch now held 20 pieces of Stellar Jade.
Just as she was heading to see Ye Yun, a voice called out behind her.
"Stelle, what are you up to?"
She turned to see March 7th.
"Oh hey, March! I'm trading for Stellar Jade. Got any? I'll pay 500 credits per piece."
March 7th eyed her suspiciously.
"You're spending money to collect Stellar Jade? What are you up to?"
Stelle looked around, then leaned in with a mysterious grin.
"I've got big plans."
March raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Sounds fun. Tell me!"
Stelle giggled and whispered in March's ear.
As March listened, she gasped and exclaimed every few seconds.
"This is amazing! Stelle, I want in! Take me with you!"
Stelle nodded proudly.
"Let's go! Keep up!"
With that, she led March 7th toward Ye Yun's location, which he had sent her earlier.
Ye Yun, at the time, was taking a walk near the small garden beside the control cabin.
It had to be said—Asta really was a proper heiress of the Interastral Peace Corporation. The amount spent on even just this garden must be enormous.
The flowers inside were vibrant, diverse in color and shape.
Soon, Stelle and March arrived.
Seeing Ye Yun, they quickened their pace.
Ye Yun smiled and waved.
"Stelle! Over here."
Stelle and March came closer.
Stelle looked around beside Ye Yun.
"What are you looking for?" March asked.
"I'm looking for the scale. Quick, Ye Yun, take out your scale—I need to exchange for Star Coins!"
Ye Yun chuckled and brought it out.
"You brought a friend too? Introduce us?"
Stelle realized she hadn't made the introductions yet.
"Ye Yun, this is March 7th, my best friend and fellow Trailblazer."
"March, this is Ye Yun—the merchant I told you about."
With that, Stelle excitedly placed her 20 Stellar Jades on one side of the scale.
The jades vanished instantly, and the other side produced 20 Star Coins, each worth 100.
Stelle gleefully scooped up her 2,000 Star Coins and even dipped her fingers into a nearby fountain to count them with wet hands—counting money never felt so good!
March curiously eyed the coins.
"So these are the Star Coins you mentioned?"
Stelle nodded.
"That's right! Quick, exchange yours—then you can buy things from Ye Yun too!"
March followed her lead, placing her 10 jades on the scale.
In no time, she received 10 coins.
She picked them up and examined each one carefully.
Ye Yun smiled and handed them his phone.
"My shop isn't officially open yet, so for now, just use my phone. I've listed all the items I sell on it."
He had spent some time earlier inputting product info into his phone—names, prices, and effects—all neatly recorded for easy browsing.
In just a short while, he had written down over 500 items.
This was the best option available at the moment.