Chapter 6: Stormterror's Appearance
The youth looked toward the grass where Lumine and Paimon were hiding with a puzzled expression, as if about to speak.
Lumine instantly realized she and Paimon had been exposed. Her grip on the Dull Blade tightened. Her expression grew grave; if the youth showed even the slightest sign of aggression, she would retaliate immediately.
But before the youth could utter a word, an uninvited guest arrived, interrupting Lumine and the youth's first meeting.
A dragon's roar startled the flock of birds surrounding the youth, causing them to scatter in panic, wings flapping wildly.
A cyan-blue dragon flew over the forest, the airflow from its wingbeats causing the entire forest to sway.
Green leaves flew everywhere. The youth's gaze shifted from the grass to the dragon. A trace of worry flickered across his brow as he muttered to himself, "So something really did happen? Dvalin."
With that, the youth retracted the fiery wing behind him and chased after the direction the dragon had flown.
Only when the youth's figure had disappeared did Paimon, who had been covering her mouth, finally fly out of the grass: "Whew, that person's presence was so intense just now, it scared me into silence."
"First someone causing a bird frenzy, and then a giant dragon flying over the forest… I distinctly remember Mondstadt not being such a dangerous place?"
Paimon was feeling apprehensive, while Lumine recalled the youth she had just encountered.
On the youth, she sensed a faintly familiar feeling — somewhat similar to the unknown god she had encountered before.
This made Lumine want to learn more about the youth. She wanted to know the relationship between him and that unknown god.
"Paimon, let's follow them. I'm a bit curious about that person from earlier."
"Curious? Is he the god who attacked you?"
"No." Lumine shook her head. "I just feel he and that god are somewhat similar. He might know some related information. I don't want to overlook any possibility."
"Oh!" Paimon nodded, showing understanding. "Then let's hurry and catch up."
Lumine and Paimon followed the trail left behind.
But by the time they arrived, they could only see the flying dragon and a crimson crystal on the ground emitting an ominous aura.
Lumine felt this crystal might be useful later, so she picked it up and placed it into her随身空间.
…
"It seems miHoYo's planners have been taking lessons recently. This new storyline is more interesting than the kiddie bedtime story from the closed beta." Silver Wolf controlled Lumine to pick up the Tear Crystal, then commented on the new plot.
For veteran gamers like Silver Wolf, the Mondstadt storyline during the closed beta lacked freshness.
The Mondstadt plot was very mediocre and formulaic.
Basically, you could infer the entire subsequent content with just one glance — that's what formulaic means.
The original plot was: the Traveler and Paimon, on their way to Mondstadt City, encounter a green-clad youth communicating with Stormterror. Stormterror retreats due to the Traveler's appearance, and the green-clad youth shows hostility toward the Traveler.
Only after that does the Traveler pick up the Tear Crystal.
Frankly, the original plot was really formulaic. Silver Wolf and most closed beta testers could basically guess that the boss of the Mondstadt chapter was Stormterror, or the person controlling Stormterror.
And it was also easy to guess that the green-clad youth was an important clue character; at least Silver Wolf guessed that much.
But the plot was so simple that Silver Wolf could guess the general storyline with her eyes closed. It was nothing more than the traditional "hero slays the dragon" adventure story.
This new storyline in the official launch provided Silver Wolf with a bit of freshness.
The appearance of the new character Jun Bai, who only had an illustration and incomplete basic info, basically announced that the official storyline would diverge from the closed beta.
Otherwise, changing just one segment of the plot and letting a character with no prior setup appear would mean the planners had way too much free time.
"It seems the closed beta storyline can only be used for reference now." Silver Wolf's interest was piqued. "This kind of storyline, where I can't guess the subsequent direction, is what's interesting."
[Just asking, this plot feels pretty average, so what aspect is the streamer interested in?]
[A closed beta player here, feeling the same as the streamer. Although the plot is average, compared to the predictable plot from the closed beta, it's already quite impressive.]
[Speaking of impressive, the illustrator should come out and accept another chicken dinner! The cutscene earlier was absolutely killer.]
[After Jun Bai appeared, every frame was wallpaper material.]
[Full disclosure, I'm male and have no homosexual tendencies. But I still want to say, the scene where Jun Bai was at the boundary between light and dark was really handsome — so handsome I want to go crazy! Ahegao! Ahegao! Jun Bai! Jun Bai!!!]
Silver Wolf was just about to explain what she found good about the new plot when a scream loud enough to make her lose her hearing blasted through her headphones:
"HUSBAND, SO HANDSOME!!!"
…It was Guinaifen.
Perhaps because it was her first time experiencing open-world gameplay, her journey so far could be described as bandit-like: picking flowers and plants by the roadside, swinging her sword to chop wood; climbing trees to pick fruit, diving into water to catch fish.
As a result, while the other connected streamers were already on their way to Mondstadt City, she had just entered the cutscene.
That was her reaction upon seeing Jun Bai's appearance…
Silver Wolf glanced at Guinaifen's stream and realized that was only her initial reaction to seeing Jun Bai. She promptly decided to take off her headphones.
As expected, two even louder screams followed afterward.
After Guinaifen finished watching the cutscene, everyone in the voice chat began complaining.
Su Shang: "Xiao Guizi! You almost scared me to death!"
Xing: "My eardrums nearly burst — you have to compensate me!"
Huohuo (who hid under the blankets after Guinaifen's scream and still hadn't come out yet.)
Kafka: "Remember to control your volume next time, or you'll scare the children."
Listening to the complaints through her headphones, the flushed and panting Guinaifen quickly clasped her hands together and apologized to the group: "Sorry, sorry, girls, I got a bit too excited for a moment."
"Remember to mute next time you lose it; think about the viewers in your stream too," Silver Wolf said, putting her headphones back on. "Learn to control yourself no matter how excited you are. You almost broke my train of thought just now."
Grabbing a bottle of cola and taking a couple gulps to moisten her throat, Silver Wolf began explaining the Mondstadt storyline from the closed beta to her stream viewers.
Then she said: "Actually, the overall tone of both the new and original storylines is the traditional 'hero slays the dragon' adventure story. But for me, the new storyline feels better than the original."
"Both are plots used to introduce the 'evil dragon.' Where I think the new storyline excels is in its ambiguous handling of the evil dragon's information."
"In the original plot, Stormterror displays its power right from its first appearance, and it's directed at a character suspected to be friendly. We players would preconceive that Stormterror is the evil dragon."
"But in this new plot, for players who didn't participate in the closed beta, Stormterror is just a passing dragon. It doesn't leave any negative impression on us."
"And that final line from Jun Bai, in the eyes of attentive players, is a sign confirming Stormterror's innocence."
"This is the ambiguous handling of the evil dragon's information. The benefit of this approach is that later, when players realize Stormterror is the evil dragon they need to defeat, they will ponder whether Stormterror is innocent, rather than simply accepting the premise that Stormterror is a dragon that must be eliminated."
"Although it's not vastly better, compared to the original formulaic plot, I'm willing to give the new storyline a decent evaluation."
Note: I'm new to translating so please be kind and tell me any mistakes you all find, I will try to release a chapter a day but don't expect much
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Raw:宝可梦:我的冠军老婆沙奈朵