: Such a despairing, suffocating backstory.
: After going through the most painful events, she becomes the most comforting, warm character!
: I'll support Acheron for life!
--------------------------------------
Looking at the audience's bullet comments, Rion happily said, "These two Myriad Celestia Trailer and PVs released today are packed with information, and they also explain many foreshadowed plot points."
"Be it the analysis of the Path of Elation, or the hints about Acheron's hometown,"
"They're all stories that make us fans feel excited!"
Beside her, Miss Yun nodded repeatedly like a pecking chick.
As both a streamer and a fan, these two PVs greatly satisfied Miss Yun's preferences.
They had depth, substance, and intense emotional tone.
The audience felt the same.
After watching, they were even more eager for the official release.
What kind of stunts will Sparkle pull off next? Will there be more Elation Walkers?
What about the story in Acheron's hometown, when will Mihoyo finally reveal something?
At this moment, as the album's heat began to stabilize, more people started flooding to the official website to watch the two PVs.
The view count kept rising steadily.
"Of course, our analysis is just one perspective. Mihoyo is free-spirited, whatever exciting things lie ahead, we hope everyone can look forward to it together with us."
"That's all for today's livestream!"
Rion and Miss Yun, one on each side, bid farewell to the audience.
The livestream ended.
...
At the same time…Inside MiHoYo's company,
A test was quietly underway…
"Huh?! Why can't I catch the VoidRanger?! Damn it! I'm only one short of completing my bond!"
Furina clutched her jellyfish-back cover phone, her little hands frantically tapping the screen, occasionally shaking it as if to determine direction.
On her phone screen, a special interface was displayed, with the title: Antimatter Legion.
In the illustrated book below, Furina had already acquired: Baryon, Antibaryon, Voidranger: Distorters.
These three "babies" made up Furina's current team.
On the left side, it showed the bond status:
[Antimatter Legion 2/3/6: Grants DEF / Chance to inflict debuff when attacked / Boosts evasion in specific terrains]
"Just one more and I can activate the second-stage bond, and get a solid defensive buff!"
"Hmph! With that debuff ability, I'll be able to take sweet revenge!"
Furina recalled how she had just started playing the game a day ago.
Back then, Xia Wen said there was a new game under the Honkai IP ready for testing. Everyone enthusiastically signed up, and she was no exception.
Just hearing the premise already intrigued Furina, a self-proclaimed gaming amateur.
For example, in the game, the background of The family is the Harmony faction's.
A group of people who rely on Akivili's trailblazing power and Xipe's resonance.
They can perceive special imaginary energy and form fragile bonds with monsters.
They use special Traps and Tuning Terminals to operate.
Trailblazing powers allows players to reach areas inaccessible to regular people, while Xipe's Resonance helps establish contact with monsters.
That's the in-game explanation.
In actual gameplay, as Furina experienced it: "Trailblazing" meant walking around the real world with your phone, constantly entering different locations to possibly trigger new area mechanics.
Once in a new area, the phone's GPS syncs with MiHoYo's server-assigned random zones, turning your real-world location into a designated in-game region.
For example, currently, The Mihoyo building and the nearby scenic area were all pre-set as Wailing Riftfield.
Here, you could catch pets related to the Antimatter Legion.
The theater preparing for a concert was a hidden zone: Swarm Disaster Zone.
So everyone rushed to the theater to catch their pets.
Only Furina stayed alone in the building.
"A region's pets are shared by all players."
"The more people there are, the lower your chances of catching one, and you even have to fight others. On the contrary, now I can quietly clear out the Rift's cracks."
Furina adorably lifted her little nose in pride, thinking smugly.
Although the Rifts were a common area, she had thoroughly read the setting manual.
Even ordinary zones could spawn boss-level pets, er, monsters.
Currently, drop rates were very low. Many players couldn't even gather three monsters, yet she had already formed a full bond set, showing her sharp judgment.
"Hmph-hmph-hmph~"
Feeling satisfied, Furina hummed a tune while strolling around the building.
The Rifts on her phone kept refreshing as she moved.
When she arrived at the lobby, her phone suddenly began vibrating intensely.
[Special monster has appeared!]
[High danger ahead!]
[Choose to flee or tune in!]
Furina's eyes widened in surprise. She hurriedly looked at her phone.
A giant beast had already appeared onscreen.
[Doomsday beast]
[Faction: Riftcreature; Antimatter Legion; Vanguard of Destruction.]
[Riftcreature 2/3/6]
[Antimatter Legion 2/4/6/8]
[Vanguard of Destruction 1: Upon entering the field, inflicts Laceration on all enemies, adds Detonation effect to Voidranger: Distorter's attacks. When any synergy other than Vanguard of Destruction is activated, if only Doomsday Beast remains on the field, it will unleash a large-scale physical destruction AOE: Doomsday's Descent.]
Yes, it's an elite monster!
Furina's eyes were already filled with little stars.
Each faction's monsters have elites, and elites are extremely rare. So many people in the company have been capturing pets for so long, yet not a single one has caught an elite.
She didn't expect her luck to be so good! She actually encountered a rare monster just like that!
"And the effect is also powerful! I happen to have the monster Voidranger: Distorters in my hand, so I can fully benefit from Doomsday Beast's buff!"
At this moment.
Though the Doomsday Beast didn't match Furina's aesthetic at all, in Furina's eyes, it was now radiating golden light, becoming the most alluring existence.
"Should... should I really go for it?"
"If I lose, the Doomsday Beast will disappear…"
"And when facing elite monsters, it's very likely that my pet will suffer irreversible damage…"
Furina stared nervously at the Doomsday Beast.
She struggled and hesitated in her heart, but after a moment, she bit her lip.
The Doomsday Beast had completely clouded Furina's mind!
She had already fantasized about capturing the Doomsday Beast and receiving that cold, approving look from the aloof Xia Wen.
Just one phrase! All in!
On the phone screen, the time-limited challenge prompt appeared.
Furina chose to launch this attack with Voidranger: Distorter.
Amid the shattering visual effects, a physical icon flashed onto the screen.
Battle started.
The imposing form of the Doomsday Beast appeared, taking up nearly half the phone screen.
Below it were three pitiful little VoidRanger minions.
Among them, the Baryon and Antibaryon were just two round balls.
Furina suddenly regretted being so impulsive just now…
But it was already too late for regrets.
The Doomsday Beast acted first, instantly targeting the three enemies.
When it was Furina's turn, the three little minions took their turns, and each lost a third of their HP from the Laceration effect.
"It's over, we're doomed!"
Furina snapped out of it instantly, her little hand instinctively hitting the escape button.
[Cannot escape]
[Cannot escape]
[Cannot escape]
"How... how can this be! Aaaaah!"
Furina clutched her head with both hands!
She stared in despair as the countdown on the screen reached the final five seconds.
If she didn't act, she would lose this turn.
"Damn it! I still have to try!"
Furina stubbornly tapped on the Voidranger: Distorter, then clicked attack.
The Distorter hugged its cannon and launched a ricochet shot at the Doomsday Beast.
Since the Doomsday Beast had a weakness to physical damage, and the Distorter happened to be physical-type, it was able to deal a certain amount of durability damage.
If she could break the Doomsday Beast's toughness and delay a bit, reducing some HP, she might be able to attempt capture with Tuning.
Just as Furina's hope flared up, she watched helplessly as the tiny bullet bounced around the Doomsday Beast.
Dealing a whopping -1 -1 -1 damage.
"..."
The Doomsday Beast's toughness did drop, but as for its HP bar, rather than taking a noticeable hit, it didn't budge at all.
"Shua!"
The Doomsday Beast, upon being attacked, triggered a counterattack and slapped at the Distorter.
The screen shook violently, and the simulated vibration buzzed loudly.
When the Doomsday Beast raised its palm, the Distorter had already been reduced to 2D in the medical exclusion zone.
[Distorter is no longer able to fight.]
Furina said nothing, silently staring at the two remaining balls, then tapped one and selected attack.
The Baryon gave Antibaryon an attack buff.
Antibaryon started charging!
Antibaryon fired an Annihilation Beam at the Doomsday Beast!
It dealt -6 high quantum damage!
"Shua!"
Antibaryon turned 2D!
Baryon started buffing itself!
"Shua!"
The Doomsday Beast unleashed Doomsday's Descent!
Baryon was eliminated!
The battle ended as swiftly as a flowing stream.
In the empty hall, Furina clutched her phone, buried in her bed.
Her mind was filled with nothing but endless "Shua!"
Moments later, Furina's eyes welled up with tears, and her lips puckered.
"Wah!"
"Help!"
She watched helplessly as the three-synergy lineup she painstakingly built was smashed away like flies by the Doomsday Beast.
And on top of being brutally beaten by the Doomsday Beast, she also encountered a match loss while trying to catch a pet just now.
She was badly beaten by Sparkle's monster with the IPC synergy.
Now her hopes of revenge were gone, and she might even be laughed at by everyone.
Not to mention, her food buff had been eliminated!
She couldn't recover it anymore; it had completely disappeared from her phone.
The more she thought about it, the sadder she became, and Furina burst into tears with a loud cry.
[Friendly Reminder: Don't use the Antimatter Legion to counter the Antimatter Legion's doomsday weapons. Learn from the seniors' painful lessons.]
The friendly reminder on the screen deeply pierced Furina's heart.
"Eh! Furina, what's wrong? Why are you crying?!"
Just then, March 7th, who had just returned from catching pets outside, heard Furina crying and rushed over in shock.
"Wuwuwu, it hit me!"
Silly Furina tearfully raised her phone.
"Huh?" March 7th scratched her head and looked at the cute jellyfish phone case: "Your phone case hit you?"
"No, not that!"
"It was this!"
"This ugly, evil Doomsday Beast!"
March 7th leaned closer.
And saw the Doomsday Beast appearing on Furina's phone.
Due to the recent failed challenge, the remaining time for the Doomsday Beast had been reduced by an hour, leaving only ten minutes for capture.
If they didn't act now, it would soon disappear.
"Don't cry, don't cry! Furina."
"I'll help you!"
March 7th patted her chest.
"Help me? How?"
Furina wiped her tears and sobbed.
"Look, my babies are special!"
March 7th pulled out her phone and said with a happy smile: "They were all at the theater, and I couldn't compete with the others there, so I went to the creek to try instead, ended up unexpectedly running into a jackpot."
[Sequence Trotter · Guardian]
[At the start, grants a large shield to all allies and reduces all damage taken by 15%]
[Dimensional Trotter · Healer]
[When allies' HP drops, it consumes its own HP to heal all allies]
"What… what kind of pet is this? It doesn't even have a synergy."
The unusual pets made Furina forget her sadness for a moment. She curiously poked at the chubby Trotters on the screen: "So… so cute."
"Hehe, how's that? I'm lucky, right?"
"With these two around, the Doomsday Beast is nothing!"
March 7th comforted Furina.
"No, let's not fight anymore. If your pets get defeated, I'll feel even worse."
Furina quickly waved her hands. Even though she lost a pet, she could still catch it again slowly.
But if March 7th lost her pets because of helping her, she'd really feel awful.
"No way, I'm definitely helping you with this!"
"You have to believe in the bond between us beautiful girls!"
"That ugly freak is no match for us at all!"
March 7th leaned in and began explaining her plan to Furina.
And surprisingly, even though March 7th always seemed silly and cheerful, she actually had a solid grasp of the mechanics of this new game.
With two support units, although Voidranger · Distorter had low attack power, it could break the Doomsday Beast's toughness.
That meant there was hope of breaking its toughness and then relying on a tuning capture gamble.
To catch a pet, you first need to break its toughness. Then success is based on HP, the lower the HP, the higher the success rate. But even at full HP, there's still a tiny chance of success once toughness is broken.
And each player has a limited amount of tuning energy per day, at full state, you can attempt around thirty captures.
Furina had already used some on earlier captures, so she only had a few chances left.
This was a pure gamble. If she failed within 18 tries, the Doomsday Beast would slowly wear down the two Trotters and then pick them off.
"It's all up to you now~ Furina!"
"I already used up all my daily attempts betting on these two Trotters!"
March 7th showed no pressure, just laughed gleefully.
"Huh?"
"You caught both of those special pets with just thirty tries?"
Furina was shocked. When she caught that Voidranger: Distorters, its HP was down to 0.1, and she still had to try several times before catching it.
"Not thirty tries, it was the last two attempts! By then, all my pets had already been wiped out. But luckily, I broke the Trotter' toughness, gave it a shot, and surprisingly caught both!"