Chapter 46: Game Update, Returning to the Elysian Realm!
"Another one? And anonymous, again."
Rovel's eyebrow arched in amusement as he read the system notification. He still had no intention of revealing his identity.
A cascade of golden text blared across the sky for every player in the world to see.
[Server-wide Announcement: Congratulations to the anonymous player for becoming the first to break through Level 10. Reward: One spin on the Random Lucky Wheel!]
[Server-wide Announcement: Congratulations to the anonymous player for becoming the first to break through Level 10. Reward: One spin on the Random Lucky Wheel!]
[Server-wide Announcement: Congratulations to the anonymous player for becoming the first to break through Level 10. Reward: One spin on the Random Lucky Wheel!]
The world forums, which had just been enjoying a period of relative calm, instantly detonated.
"What the hell? It's only the seventh day of the server and someone's already hit Level 10? And it looks like they even cleared the breakthrough quest?!"
"Anonymous again! Don't tell me it's the same beast who got that Legendary title last time?"
"With millions of people playing Honkai? Surely not... By the way, is the average player level even at 6 yet?"
"You'd probably only be Level 6 if you're one of those nerds who attends every single theory class. Skills are everything in this game. If you split your time evenly, the average is still stuck around Level 5."
"So this anonymous big shot is literally double the average level? And the experience needed scales exponentially... No matter how you crunch the numbers, this speed is just ridiculous!"
"Apollo from the North American server just hit Level 8, and the grind from 8 to 9 alone is 7,500 experience! I'm calling it, this anonymous player has to be cheating. There's no other way to level up this fast, right?"
"To the guy above me: maybe you're just that weak."
The server-wide announcement set the community ablaze, and this time, the inferno of discussion burned far hotter than before. The last time, most players didn't understand the significance of a Legendary title, so the hype died down relatively quickly.
But this... this was different. The brutal, unforgiving difficulty of leveling up in this game was something every single player understood intimately.
Even Apollo, the universally acknowledged top player in North America, was grinding for over sixteen hours a day with a professional team dedicated to locating and hunting Death Soldiers for him. And with all that support, he had only just scraped his way to Level 8.
It was simply impossible for anyone to fathom what kind of monster could surpass a player like Apollo by such an enormous margin, this early in the game's life.
Aside from hacking, they couldn't conceive of any other possibility.
...
[System Notification: You have one chance to use the Random Lucky Wheel. Would you like to use it?]
"Use it," Rovel confirmed without hesitation.
A colossal, ornate wheel materialized from particles of light before him. It began to spin at a dizzying speed, the symbols on its panels blurring into a vortex of color. Having gone through this once before, Rovel didn't even bother trying to discern the prizes. He leaned back casually and, after a moment, called out.
"Stop."
The Random Lucky Wheel shuddered to an immediate halt.
[Congratulations, you have obtained the item: Taiyi.]
[Taiyi: An unknown Honkai Beast factor.]
The item description was shockingly brief. There was no flowery language, no hint of its purpose—just a single, cryptic word: 'Unknown'.
Even with his extensive knowledge of the game's plot, Rovel couldn't recall any Honkai Beast named 'Taiyi'. Most were named after deities from Indian mythology, a clear design choice by the developers. Any Honkai Beast that possessed a unique name was, at the very least, an Emperor-class threat.
The three fearsome Judgment-class Honkai Beasts corresponded to the three main gods of the Hindu pantheon: Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheswara.
This pattern extended to the beasts associated with the Flame-Chasers: Eden's Varuna, Mobius's Shesa, Kalpas's Asura, Sakura's Yaksha, Hua's Garuda... all their names were derived from the same mythological source.
The name 'Taiyi', however, immediately brought to Rovel's mind the 'Celestial Thearch Taiyi'from the Shenzhou mythological system. And thanks to a certain popular anime and the massive success of Honor of Kings, that entity had an even more famous name.'Donghuang Taiyi'!
If a creature of that caliber had ever appeared in the main plot of Honkai Impact 3rd, Rovel was certain he would have remembered it. But he drew a complete blank.
"Well, I'll just leave it for Snake to research." Rovel instantly decided on the item's destination. With a flick of his wrist, he stored it away in his inventory.
Just as he did, another announcement echoed through the world.
[Server-wide Announcement: 'Honkai' will undergo maintenance and a major update tonight at midnight. The estimated downtime is 7 days.]
[Server-wide Announcement: 'Honkai' will undergo maintenance and a major update tonight at midnight. The estimated downtime is 7 days.]
[Server-wide Announcement: 'Honkai' will undergo maintenance and a major update tonight at midnight. The estimated downtime is 7 days.]
Before the firestorm of discussion from the previous announcement could even begin to die down, this new one poured gasoline on the flames.
"What? The game has only been out for a week and it's shutting down for a week-long update? Are you serious?"
"I think... I think it's highly likely the anonymous big shot hitting Level 10 triggered this. Based on Apollo's progress, the devs probably thought they had at least another week or two before anyone got close. And that's just reaching the level, not even counting the breakthrough quest."
"So, let me get this straight. According to the guy above, our anonymous god-player just burned through a month's worth of a top professional's progress... in a single week?"
"All hail the anonymous big shot. I'm not worthy."
...
"A seven-day update?" Rovel was stunned. He hadn't expected his progress to trigger such a drastic response from the system.
Beside him, Bronya glanced over, her small fingers dancing across her controller with practiced ease. A flurry of attacks flashed on the screen, and Rovel's character was effortlessly locked into a combo, his health bar vanishing in an instant.
"Bronya versus Rovel: 151 wins, 0 losses," she stated, her tone perfectly flat.
"...Again!" Rovel gritted his teeth, refusing to admit defeat. He snatched up his controller, determined to break his losing streak.
It was, however, a futile effort.
The two played until the in-game clock showed 11:55 PM, at which point Rovel finally set down his controller with a sigh.
"Sorry for dragging you into playing games for so long today."
"Bronya did not feel any pressure," she replied. A tiny, almost imperceptible arc formed at the corner of her lips. Paired with her doll-like, porcelain face, it carried a faint, teasing quality.
"...The main reason is, I probably won't be able to come online for the next week," Rovel explained. "Um... not just me. None of the Descenders will be able to."
Bronya blinked her large, placid eyes, then gave a slow nod of understanding.
"When does it start?" she asked.
"Soon. Four minutes left," Rovel said, glancing at the time.
"There is time for one more round." Bronya decisively stuffed the controller back into Rovel's hands.
"...Alright." Rovel managed a weary smile and focused, determined to put up a good fight in his final battle with Bronya before the shutdown.
As the clock ticked over to precisely 12:00, Rovel's vision plunged into darkness, the familiar sensation of being logged out.
But when his sight returned moments later, he wasn't greeted by the transparent canopy of his gaming pod.
He looked around, a wave of disorienting déjà vu washing over him. This feeling, this place...
[You have entered the Elysian Realm! (High Danger)]
[Recommended Level:???]
'The Elysian Realm?'
How in the world did he end up here again? And the entry point was completely different from last time! If he had landed in the same spot, Rovel was confident he could have found Mobius's laboratory from memory.
But now... now he was utterly lost.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over him. A colossal Honkai Beast, easily twenty meters tall, lumbered into his field of vision.
[Chariot-class Honkai Beast, Level: 50!]
The mechanical behemoth seemed to notice his presence. Its metallic head swiveled towards him, and a deafening, sky-shaking roar erupted from its core.
"Che~ Che~!"
...
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