[Ah? (Sword Demon Sound)]
[I must have guided too much; my eyes are seeing things.]
[Then I've done too much and see the same as everyone else, what do you say?]
[My butt just hurt; it's not a dream, it's real!!]
[Holy crap, really giving it for free ah!!]
[Six hundred sixty-six, Father above, please accept this child's bow!]
[Even after being stabbed, still doesn't forget to give the Trailblazer a free big gift, Haki Leon you guy...]
[This time it's real Father.]
[May I ask if you acknowledge that the Salvation Emissary Lord Leon's beauty and personality... forget it, no more pretending, blow it up!]
Under the impact of such explosive news, Leon giving gifts, Honkai Star Rail free limited 5-star and other hot topics rushed to the top of the trending searches at an extremely fast speed.
The welfare activities and other content introductions in the second half of the 1.3 preview felt somewhat boring to the players.
No way around it, the threshold had been raised.
A simple screenshot of doing tasks to get a limited 5-star for free was spread by players telling each other, one passing to ten, ten passing to a hundred, stirring up heated discussions in countless communities.
The days suddenly had something to look forward to.
But the more anticipation there was, the more agonizing the wait became.
Not only the excitement of getting a limited 5-star for free, but also curiosity about Leon's aftermath of taking the stab.
If before, some players were indifferent to the death and exit of four-star characters.
Then now, with the free-to-obtain five-star Leon out, indifference turned into extreme concern.
A few days after the preview, on the second day after Dan Heng's character PV was released, the five-star Leon character PV followed closely.
Another knife, at most it didn't hurt as much when stabbing people.
Like Dan Heng, the five-star Leon's PV was also related to the battle with Phantylia.
Using a God's perspective, it restored the process of Leon silently sacrificing for his companions.
But even so, the knife that was once experienced becoming concrete was enough to make the fans feel heartbroken.
Too much, Mihoyo!
How can you keep targeting Father and pulling hard?
Can't you pull Tingyun's big tail fur instead?
Tingyun fans have something to say too; all are four-star characters that got stabbed, when will my pushed five-star fox come?
Aside from the character PV, there were also Myriad Celestia Trailer and animated short film releases.
What was puzzling was that Dan Heng had both, but Leon had neither.
Regarding this, players could only attribute it to the statement during the 1.1 preview.
Some PVs would be delayed until the version update day, or even the second day.
That meant Leon's Myriad Celestia Trailer or animated short film involved major spoilers.
Fortunately, there was the Enter the Star-dome program released the day before the version update.
But the introduced guest was jaw-droppingly surprising—
The most suitable person to introduce would surely be Dan Heng, who has understanding of the Sky Haven Clan and knows the cost of Leon's abilities.
Himeko or Old Yang wouldn't be bad either; after all, they were the ones who invited him aboard the train.
If not, little March, star treasure Stelle, would also be reasonable.
Nest grass, what the hell is Sampo?
And the way of introducing Leon's skills was weird too; it sounded just like... reading a script.
The most hilarious was at the end of the program, Owlbert couldn't help but ask if the program script wasn't prepared.
Sampo answered: Counting a sum of money from the pits... no no, when counting the gains from doing business, discovered an extra program script.
It also said that not participating would lead to something extremely terrifying happening.
So Sampo came to participate.
Then Sampo also asked the program team why they invited him.
As a result, Owlbert broke into cold sweat, confirmed the invitation sender, and panickedly flew away, suspected of a big work blunder.
Leon's Enter the Star-dome program ended just like that.
The cheerful program atmosphere eased many depressed fans' moods a lot.
...
The next day, countless players updated the game, eagerly awaiting, finally welcoming the server opening.
Many people's first thing upon entering the game was to press F3 to open the panel, directly starting to draw one of the two new characters.
Or, all of them.
Five-star Leon could be obtained for free, not delaying fans from first drawing the main body, even drawing to 5 eidolon.
There were also some players who couldn't wait to test and calculate Leon's support capabilities.
In version 1.3, Bronya was still the most popular, and the only five-star Harmony.
Not to mention permanent Harmony, even four-star Harmony Tingyun was so useful; as a limited Harmony, how strong would Leon be?
The composition of Leon's draw card illustration was not complex.
Like Dan Heng, both had dragon elements.
But the styles differed greatly.
Leon descended from the sky, feet touching the earth, in a pose about to retract his wings, appearing ethereal and immortal.
And the giant dragon appearing in his ultimate coiled up from the ground into the sky, protecting Leon in the center, highlighting that he was the main perspective of the composition.
Additionally, Dan Heng's azure dragon had no foot claws.
While Leon's giant dragon had four feet, with five claws on each foot.
Why Leon, as a Sky Haven Clan member unrelated to dragons, could summon a giant dragon—players had long had lore examinations.
Related to the Candle Dragon mentioned in his skill lines, it could explain the origin of the ultimate ability.
Leon's breakthrough materials didn't require the new weekly boss Phantylia; all could be prepared in advance.
Katiya was the first to draw full eidolon Leon, level and skills maxed, starting a live stream to explain actual testing.
[Salvation Emissary]
Combat Attribute: Wind
Path: Harmony
Faction: Sky Haven Saint
Level: 80/80
Base HP: 999
Base ATK: 287
Base DEF: 893
Speed: 120
Taunt: 100
Energy Cap: 130
Character Introduction:
Leon's past identity, as well as duty and destiny.
But if faith departs from him, can the old destiny and duty still guide him to what kind of future?
"Oh my god, Lord Leon!!"
"120 base speed, 5 points higher than the current fastest Seele! Is this the paiza of the Sky Haven Clan skilled in manipulating wind elements?"
"But his base HP is so low so low, even lower than his four-star version, ATK although not 4, but far from reaching normal standards."
"Defense... defense is definitely the highest among all characters, no, a Harmony with base defense nearly nine hundred?"
"Is this normal?"
Katiya widened her eyes.
Five-star Leon's base attributes were extremely high where high, extremely low where low.
Such biased distribution really surprised her.
"Next, let's strip Father layer by layer, properly appreciate him cough cough... his powerful skills."
Basic Attack (Diffusion) (Level 6)
[Drifting Wind Twin Towers]
Deals Wind DMG equal to 75% of Leon's DEF to a designated enemy single target, and deals Wind DMG equal to 38% of Leon's DEF to adjacent targets.
Energy Restoration: 20
Weakness Break: Single Attack: 10 / Diffusion: 5
"Eh?"
"Basic attack actually hits three, and scales with defense!"
Thinking about it, in Genshin Impact, Geo characters also scale defense for output, so it doesn't feel strange.
"Wind diffusion, hitting three targets is very reasonable, next let's look at battle... uh skill..."
Battle Skill (Support) (Level 10)
[Gale Summon Cloud Order]
Increases the Speed of allies except himself by 60 points, lasting 3 turns, with the duration decreasing by 1 at the start of each of Leon's turns.
Energy Restoration: 30
"Isn't that wait a minute, how much?!"