So you’ve just pulled Black Swan from a warp and now, in 2026, you’re staring at her level 1 portrait like it’s a blank canvas. Welcome to the club. I’ve been playing Honkai: Star Rail since before Penacony was even a whisper, and let me tell you, gathering all her ascension and trace materials feels less like a farming routine and more like assembling a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces are scattered across a galaxy – and half of them are locked behind a time-gated energy meter. Black Swan, for those who’ve been living under an asteroid, is a 5-star Wind Nihility character who paints enemies with DoT like a psychedelic Bob Ross, letting you watch health bars evaporate with the patience of a cat watching a laser pointer.

Her ascension demands you first descend into a pit of Extinguished Core, Glimmering Core, and Squirming Core. These things drop from an army of elemental spawns – Windspawn, Thunderspawn, Frostspawn, you name it. I’ve spent so many trailblaze power points beating up Mask of No Thought that I started to wonder which one of us had no thought. You can also snag them from assignments, world shops, and the Embers Exchange, which is like finding spare change in your couch cushions. But here’s a pro tip: as of 2.0, the Calyx (Golden) also tosses these cores into its reward pool, so you can now multitask your misery. Gathering hundreds of these things is the video game equivalent of trying to collect every single raindrop in a storm – except each raindrop occasionally turns into a slightly shinier raindrop.

Then comes the real bottleneck: Ascendant Debris. This Wind-only gated material can only be harvested from Stagnant Shadow: Shape of Celestial, and it’s guarded by a daily trailblaze power limit that makes you feel like a kid staring at a locked candy store. You need 65 copies. If you’re like me and forgot to pre-farm, you’ll spend days logging in just for this one activity, like a prisoner marking the days on a cell wall. Alternatively, the Synthesizer lets you transmute two spare ascension materials into one Debris, which is a fancy way of saying you get to trade two headaches for one migraine. And the credits! Oh, the credits. 308,000 to unlock level thresholds, plus another 580,100 if you’re leveling her with EXP materials. That’s almost a million credits – enough to make even a Stellaron Hunter develop frugal habits. If you’re broke, the Calyx (Golden): Bud of Treasure becomes your second home.

Now, for her traces, the core family revisits you with a vengeance, demanding exponentially more copies. It’s as if the game is saying, “Oh, you thought you were done? Cute.” Then we enter the Nihility-specific realm of Fiery Spirit, Starfire Essence, and Heaven Incinerator. These fiery little tornadoes are exclusive to Calyx (Crimson): Bud of Nihility on the Alchemy Commission map, arriving with 2.0 in a puff of exclusivity. Here’s the twist: other Nihility items like Obsidian of Dread, which drop from the same calyx, might as well be old pizza slices to Black Swan. She only dines on the gourmet fire-type stuff. Transforming lower-grade materials into higher ones via the Synthesizer becomes your new obsession, like an alchemist chasing the philosopher’s stone, except the stone is just more homework.

As you push her traces to the max, a weekly boss gatekeeper looms: Past Evils of the Borehole Planet Disaster. You earn this by challenging Echo of War: Borehole Planet’s Old Crater, tucked away in Herta Space Station’s Seclusion Zone. The weekly limit of three boss runs means farming 12 copies can stretch over a month. That’s a full lunar cycle of you, a cup of coffee, and Dr. Ratio’s materials gathering virtual dust while you desperately need the same thing for Black Swan. I started scheduling my real-life week around this boss, treating it like a recurring therapy session – except my therapist is a giant cosmic horror and my copay is 30 trailblaze power.

Finally, the cherry on top: Tracks of Destiny. These are the golden tickets, the hidden truffles of the endgame. You can snag one per week from the Simulated Universe, and maybe two from the Embers Exchange monthly reset, but expecting more is like trying to catch a celebrity at a music festival – you plan your schedule, stand in line, and still only get a brief glimpse. Combine all this with the previous credit sink, and fully decking out Black Swan feels like running a marathon where every mile marker is a resource check.

In the end, was it worth it? Watching Black Swan stack Arcana and detonate the enemy team into a firework display of purple numbers is deeply satisfying – like finally getting that stubborn jar open after a dozen attempts. So grab your cores, budget your power, and embrace the grind. She may be a Nihility character, but the only void you’ll feel is the one in your wallet.

While you navigate the intricate web of resources and materials required to optimize your characters in the game, it's always wise to find ways to save where you can. If the cost of in-game purchases and upgrades is starting to weigh down your wallet, consider exploring options beyond the game itself. This can include looking for PC game discounts to help ease the financial burden of gaming. Finding deals on the games you love can free up more of your budget for those necessary in-game purchases.

Sites like DealNest offer an avenue to explore a variety of discounts and offers on PC games, giving you a chance to enjoy the latest titles without breaking the bank. By taking advantage of these options, you can manage your gaming expenses more effectively, ensuring that your focus remains on building the ultimate team and mastering the art of gameplay, rather than worrying about financial constraints. It's just one more strategy to keep in mind as you dive deeper into the immersive and rewarding world of gaming.