[Honkai: Star Rail] On Raising an Emanator

You pick up a game, Honkai: Star Rail: Raising an Emanator.

1. You choose the Path of [Erudition].

Dr. Primitive, Genius Society #64, is devoted to an atavism experiment that will devolve humans into monkeys. Your creator is a fanatical admirer of Dr. Primitive. You were bred as experimental material for the sake of one of his atavism experiments.

2. Attribute Allocation

[Your initial talent points: 100]

[You can allocate points to stamina, intelligence, appearance, and other attributes. Please distribute your points wisely.]

[You allocate all your points to intelligence.]

[Intelligence: 100 (You have reached the pinnacle of wisdom.)]

At just one month old, you displayed extraordinary intelligence, effortlessly solving a mathematical problem that had confounded people for dozens of Amber Eras. The difficult problems that left researchers scratching their heads were as easy as elementary-school math to you.

They were so stupid that you contemptuously called them "monkeys."

The researchers worshipped Erudition. Because of your incredible intelligence, they put you on a pedestal, hoping you could discover a true method of atavism. They begged you, "Turn everyone into monkeys. The world's development has stagnated, which proves the path it's on is wrong! Only by turning all living beings back into primitive apes can we give them the chance to develop again..."

You agreed. So, two months later, you wobbled out of your cradle, walked through a group of monkeys in lab coats, and even greeted them.

"Hello, research apes," you said to the monkeys they'd become, shaking their furry hands.

You had just turned three months old, but you already knew exactly how to turn people into monkeys.

The righteous Galaxy Rangers soon found the research facility where the atavism experiments were being conducted. They opened the door and saw a group of apes in white lab coats and glasses, shrieking and swinging from the railings like actual monkeys.

2. Galaxy Rangers

The Galaxy Rangers tracked down information about you and soon found you after you'd escaped.

When they found you, you were sitting bored on the shoulder of a robot you'd built yourself. Seeing the unfamiliar Galaxy Rangers, you greeted them: "Hi. Want a banana?"

You became famous for turning people into monkeys. But because you were only a child, the Galaxy Rangers discussed it and sent you to the Xianzhou Alliance. After a heated debate, the Xianzhou Alliance sent you to Xianzhou Yaoqing.

Yaoqing was full of Foxians. Someone was assigned to look after you, so you got to know a Foxian named Baiheng. When you first met, she accidentally tripped you and made you fall, so you called her a stinky fox. Baiheng retaliated by calling you the Monkey King, since you'd turned people into monkeys.

She grinned and poked your cheek. You thought angrily that if someone weren't watching you from the shadows, you'd show her what for.

3. Enemies Meet Again

After that unpleasant first encounter, you saw Baiheng again. To your displeasure, you learned that from then on you had to live at her house. She would be responsible for taking care of you, and you had to cooperate, or your next stop would be the Prison of Deep Seclusion.

You were extremely dissatisfied.

Baiheng didn't seem to mind. She called you her little brother and introduced you to the other Foxians: "This is my sworn little brother."

Every time, you stared at Baiheng without expression and didn't reply. Baiheng would sigh, then good-naturedly lead you home and raise you like a parent... But whenever she was nice to you, you swore to yourself that one day you'd teach that fox a lesson. You'd never forget how she'd made you take a nasty tumble.

As she fed you a spoonful of porridge, you secretly vowed to kill the detestable fox who'd given you a nickname. When she bought you clothes, you thought you'd pluck every last bit of fur from her someday. Later, she took you to meet her new friends, a dragon named Dan Feng and a craftsman named Yingxing... Wait, there were several of them. Back then, they hadn't yet been given the title of the High-Cloud Quintet.

Baiheng introduced you, standing there expressionlessly, to her friends: "This is my sworn little brother. What do you think? Doesn't he look clever?"

You secretly thought: Don't think this means I've forgiven you. I'll still teach you a lesson, you stinky fox.

"Hello," Dan Feng and the others said, looking at you with various expressions. You gave them a stiff greeting in return.

Damn it! This was all Baiheng's fault. Now you had to deal with the socializing you were so bad at again.

You swore you'd teach Baiheng a lesson, but you never found the chance. You couldn't attack Baiheng right under the Xianzhou's nose and pluck all her fox fur.

You kept looking for an opportunity, while the days went by. Baiheng became an outstanding pilot and one of the High-Cloud Quintet, while you began your own legend, becoming a member of the Genius Society at the age of twelve.

4. The Shuhu Rebellion

You thought the future would stay as peaceful as the present.

Until one day, during the Shuhu Rebellion, you heard that Baiheng had died.

Note: I wanted to write an extreme protagonist, so for now I've imagined someone who's smart but has a terrible personality and a very weak body. In short, they're awful in every way except intelligence... But this is only the Erudition arc. Later there will also be the Paths of Abundance, Preservation, and others. Attribute allocation will differ too, instead of putting everything into intelligence. The common thread is that all the protagonists are extreme, either objectively brilliant or subjectively overwhelmed by intense emotions (gravity type).

Theme: Spread truth, goodness, and beauty.