"Um, Mr. Welt?"
"What is it, Miss Kiana?"
Kiana, who had been lost in thought while listening to our conversation, directed a question at Mr. Welt.
"I forgot to ask earlier, but... is the Captain in this game too?"
"Naturally."
Huh? No, wait... why am I even in this game?
This is the first I've heard of them making a game like this, and I certainly never gave them my personal data!
More importantly, there's a male character?
Is that why there was a gender selection option for 'Female' earlier?!
"This is a masterpiece! You're saying I can finally be all lovey-dovey with the Captain in a game, too?!"
Uh, Kiana?
I don't recall us ever being 'lovey-dovey' in real life either?
"Hehehe... In that case, I'll do this and that to the Captain... Mr. Welt, do you have any more copies of the software?"
Senior Mei, are you serious?
Just what exactly do you plan on doing to the 'me' inside the game?
Why am I suddenly feeling a chill down my spine?
"Miss Mei, I'm afraid I've only produced the single copy the Captain is currently playing. For now, let's just observe his progress."
"Aww... well, it can't be helped. Then for the first 'Bond,' choose me! I was the one who met the Captain first, after all."
"No, you should choose me. I'm the one who is most compatible with the Captain in so many ways."
While the two of them locked eyes—smiling brightly while sparks of competitive lightning practically flew between them—I ignored the tension and selected Bronya, just as I had planned from the start.
"Whaaat?!"
"But why?"
"Look, even if you make those heartbroken faces like I've betrayed you..."
I'm a married man. I've already been 'sold out' to Bronya.
With that final word, I finished the setup and launched the game.
The core gameplay wasn't fundamentally different from the Honkai Impact 3rd I knew.
You progress through combat by controlling the character you've bonded with, but to be honest, it felt a bit... underwhelming.
Well, in the original, early-game Bronya was more of a support type, so it wasn't strange. However, in reality, she utilized the utility of Project Bunny and her childhood training as an assassin to technically 'Crush! Overcome! Pulverize!' her enemies. Compared to that, this felt a little stifling.
But there was something that genuinely surprised me: the voices of the characters in the game were fully voiced.
And it was their actual voices!
Startled, I asked them when they had recorded their lines. Contrary to my expectations, both of them looked puzzled and turned toward Mr. Welt, claiming they had never done any such thing.
"I used AI voice recognition to have the system learn and synthesize their voices for the dubbing," Welt explained.
"Please, make sure you're the only one using that technology, Mr. Welt."
When I warned him about the potential for such technology to be used for criminal activity, Mr. Welt chuckled and nodded, assuring me he was well aware.
...Is it really going to be okay?
Just in case, I should probably contact the Anti-Entropy doctors. He's a reliable person, but he can be a bit of a klutz sometimes.
For now, the story was completed up to Chapter 2 of the original.
You could obtain one character per chapter: Kiana in Chapter 1, and Senior Mei in Chapter 2.
The screen told me to look forward to future updates for the rest of the story, so I moved on to the 'Bond Story' section. This part was a bit headache-inducing; despite being a dating sim, your Affection only increased if you went out on missions together.
Once Affection reached a certain threshold and leveled up, you could unlock a 'Bond Story' to see events related to that character. Your choices during these events would cause Affection to either rise or fall.
"It really is a miracle that you managed to marry Bronya."
"Well, he is the Captain..."
"He's sharp in every other area, but his density in this department is a lost cause, even in a game."
As I wore a look of utter confusion whenever my Affection dropped after a choice, the people around me simply shook their heads.
Mr. Welt's comment in particular felt like a sharp stab to my heart.
No, but honestly, if my wife hadn't been the one to ask me out, I probably would have remained oblivious to her feelings forever. Marriage would have been a pipe dream.
To give you an idea of how bad it was: when I first brought my wife home to meet my parents and said, 'This is the person I'm going to marry,' their response was, 'Is this a hidden camera prank?' and 'April Fools' has already passed.'
Once they realized it was real, they took my wife's hands in theirs and cried tears of gratitude. I was honestly so offended by their reaction that I had to take a moment to reflect on my entire life, wondering, 'Was I really that hopeless?'
My mother, realizing my inner turmoil, dealt the finishing blow: 'With your lack of intuition, I thought you'd never manage to date, let alone get married.'
"Anyway, even with Bronya as the main focus, I can still work on the Affection levels for Kiana and Senior Mei."
"You can have up to three active at once. Aside from your chosen main, you can swap the other two slots with characters you own to grind their Affection as needed."
"I see... But Mr. Welt. I heard Stigmata can only be obtained through the Gacha, yet each character already has one equipped."
"Those are the default Stigmata. As you can see, you need to use three of the same type to fully activate the set bonus. Note that depending on the Stigmata set, the Valkyrie's outfit and armament will change. Collecting them all is part of the fun."
"Three... is it?"
This part is exactly like the original game.
"Well then, let's try a 10-pull."
*Whirrrr— Thump, thump!*
Accompanied by a familiar sound, a Supply Crate with a HOMU face on it descended. When I tapped it, it burst open, and a single Stigmata popped out.
[Bronya Zaychik: Valkyrie Chariot (T) B]
Oh, it's my wife's Stigmata.
"Huh? But this is the same Stigmata Bronya had on her back earlier. Mr. Welt, is there any benefit to getting duplicate Stigmata?"
"None."
"...Can you synthesize them or use them for Rank Up? Anything?"
"Combat is merely a secondary feature, after all."
"Then this is just—"
I desperately hold back the urge to say, 'Isn't this just trash?'
"How are we supposed to use these, then?"
"You salvage them for Gold and Honkai Cube Shards, then use those to upgrade their Signature Weapons."
So it comes down to Signature Weapons anyway!
"...Is there really no other use? Like giving it to another Valkyrie?"
"No. Oh, and keep in mind that if you change a Stigmata set, there's a specific piece of Signature Equipment tied to that set. To obtain it, you'll have to grind that set's Affection all over again."
"So, what you're saying is... the character body is shared, but I need a 3-piece Stigmata set to use them in battle. If I swap Stigmata, I can't use the previous Signature Equipment. Furthermore, Affection grinding isn't per character, but per Stigmata set...?"
"Exactly. Since the Bond Story differs based on the Stigmata, you'll find it refreshing to see new sides of them as you grind."
"...Excuse me, but is there a 'pity' system?"
"Pity? What is that?"
"..."
In summary: even if you work yourself to death to max out Affection and get Signature Equipment, that gear is only for that specific Stigmata set.
If you want to use a different Stigmata set, you have to complete the 3-piece set first, and then max out the Affection for that specific set all over again.
The Signature Equipment you earned for the old set is locked to that set; you can't use it with a different one.
And yet, Stigmata duplicates are a thing, and there's no pity system.
Just because the 'Main' genre is a dating sim.
"But there's a 'B' written here. Is this the Stigmata Rank?"
"As expected of the Captain, sharp as always. Indeed, that is the Rank."
"...Out of curiosity, how are the Ranks divided?"
"They are divided into B, A, and S. Naturally, S is the highest."
WOW! This really is a 'Masterpiece' of a game, just like Kiana said (not).