This would be a more normal way of doing it. Don't change $from but close over $value.

#
# My fixed counter()
#
sub counter {
    my ($from, $to, $step) = @_;
    $step //= 1;
    my $value = $from;

    return sub {
        return if $value > $to;
        $value += $step;
    };
}
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