With the character skill design resolved, next came the basic information and the illustration.
[Basic Information]
[Name: Jun Bai]
[Birthday: July 28]
[Affiliation: Liyue Qixing Thousand Rocks Army]
[Positioning: Pyro DPS character]
[Weapon Type: Polearm]
[Constellation: Nirvana Constellation]
[Title: Feather Crosses the Mortal World]
The basic information could be quickly prepared based on the background story Jun Bai had set. However, the following illustration…
Jun Bai's expression became solemn. First, he sketched the general appearance of his illustration in his mind, then looked at the illustration displayed on the system screen to find flaws and perfect it bit by bit.
Modeling is done according to the illustration, and character appearance is determined by the modeling, so the equation can be derived: character appearance = modeling = illustration, therefore character appearance = illustration.
Not to mention the impact of appearance on popularity, would anyone really control themselves from making themselves look a little better when they can design their own appearance?
In any case, Jun Bai had no way to accept that after becoming a playable character, he would still have an ordinary, or even possibly unattractive, face.
"In my previous life, I was ordinary for a lifetime. After transmigrating, do I still have to top it with a plain, or even possibly unattractive, face? Impossible! You might as well just let me pass away." — Jun Bai
Being handsome is a matter of a lifetime.
Therefore, Jun Bai devoted 120% of his concentration to creating his own illustration. He could even confidently say that this was his first time, and also his last time, being this focused.
Thus, an almost flawless illustration was completed. In any case, Jun Bai was very satisfied.
At this point, character background story, character skill design, character basic information, and character illustration the system's required preparation work was all completed.
...
At the same time, in the parallel world's Blue Star.
"There are only two days left until the official server launch, yet MiHoYo is still releasing a new character's illustration at this time?" The internet celebrity streamer Silver Wolf said while biting on a popsicle.
She had just opened her livestream, planning to first play a round of CS to warm up, when she saw the water friends in the livestream constantly saying that Genshin Impact had officially announced a new character's illustration again.
Genshin Impact—Silver Wolf knew it, and she was even a closed beta player. The water friends knew about this.
Moreover, she had watched the new PV "Footprints" that MiHoYo had first released on the MiHoYo community with the water friends not long ago.
So, the new character the water friends were talking about was a surprise-drop character that had not appeared in the closed beta and had not shown his face in the PV?
Releasing a new character's illustration two days before the official launch? And it was a surprise drop? Wasn't this a bit…
It wasn't that it couldn't be done, but Silver Wolf had a slight feeling that this was going through the back door.
Could it be a scrapped character that was rushed out temporarily and then didn't know how to handle?
Silver Wolf raised her own question, but the water friends in the livestream said they knew nothing when asked.
That was true. After all, the water friends only needed to watch the show, while the streamer had to consider many things.
Of course, there were also water friends who had gone to scout the enemy's situation and came back to report that the illustration was done very exquisitely and did not look like a rushed scrapped case.
But because they were water friends, Silver Wolf remained skeptical. She still had a fairly good understanding of the water friends in her livestream their ability to mess around was not ordinary. Last time, she had heard the enemy's footsteps on the right, but the water friends directly spammed the bullet screen with "It's on the left."
They even spammed the entire screen…
Thus, with this skeptical mindset, Silver Wolf clicked into the Genshin Impact community on the MiHoYo forums, and at first glance saw the new character illustration that the water friends had mentioned.
First glance: Handsome guy, who are you?
Second glance: Oh, it's my husband.
If not for considering her persona and image, the word "husband" would have really almost slipped out of Silver Wolf's mouth.
A youthful face with an adult body, snow-white hair spread out wildly behind him, scarlet red eyes staring back at the person viewing the illustration with a gaze that looked down upon the world. On his handsome face, there was a touch of heroic spirit between his brows, like a great general who had experienced hundreds of battles.
No, not like one who was exactly that.
He wore dark red military armor that outlined his tall and straight figure. A Fangtian Huaji was held in his hand, full of killing intent. A lifelike fire phoenix guarded beside this commander, releasing blazing flames that served as the background.
It was clearly a static image, yet both Silver Wolf and the water friends in the livestream felt as if the blazing flames were really burning; if one did not look carefully, they could not tell the difference at all.
The bullet screen in the livestream went blank for a while, then the flood-like comments almost filled the entire screen.
[MiHoYo, quick quick quick! I want this one!]
[Artist, come out and eat chicken legs!]
[I'm a closed beta player and have never seen this character. It's most likely a surprise drop. But right now I want to say, since MiHoYo has already released the illustration, hurry up and bring this character to us!]
[Earlier I said this character doesn't look like a scrapped character, but Wolf Cub still didn't believe it. Now you've really changed your tune, haven't you.]
[Wolf Cub's reaction is already very good. The little Guizi next door directly called him husband.]
[The big pillow Li next door is drooling, just short of licking the screen.]
At this moment, Silver Wolf finally came back to her senses. Then, pretending to be calm, she said: "It really is quite good-looking. It's undoubtedly a surprise-drop character. I didn't see him during the closed beta, and the PV didn't feature this character either."
"Since everyone is interested in this mysterious character, let's take a look at how much information MiHoYo has released about him."
As she spoke, without waiting for the water friends to reply, Silver Wolf quickly clicked open the webpage with sharp eyes and quick hands.
["We"? Are you sure it's not just Wolf Cub yourself who wants to see it?]
[So obvious. Now everyone knows Wolf Cub is interested in this surprise-drop character.]
Silver Wolf's face remained calm on the surface, but in reality her heart was embarrassed. In the end, she chose not to respond.
The page loaded successfully. What appeared in the livestream was the illustration and the basic information about this character.
[Name: Jun Bai]
[Birthday: July 28]
[Affiliation: ???]
[Positioning: ???]
[Weapon Type: Polearm]
[Constellation: ??? Constellation]
Bang!
Table HP -1.
Silver Wolf slammed the table in anger and shouted: "MiHoYo, if you haven't finished the character information, don't release it to whet people's appetite!"
[6. Except for the name and birthday, there isn't a single useful piece of information.]
[The character is holding a Fangtian Huaji in his hand. There's no need to remind us of the weapon type.]
[It's like the artist finished early and performed exceptionally, then turned around and found that their colleague hadn't finished their work.]
Silver Wolf took several deep breaths, clenched her fists and then loosened them. It took quite a while before she calmed down.
This feeling of expectations being raised to the maximum and then falling through was really uncomfortable.
After barely calming her emotions, Silver Wolf began to extract useful information from the illustration: "During the closed beta, there were only two maps: Mondstadt and Liyue. Mondstadt's prototype is ancient Rome, and Liyue's prototype is the Dragon Nation."
"This character named Jun Bai, from his name, to the clothing on his body, and even the fire phoenix beside him, is full of Dragon Nation elements. This shows that he is most likely a character from the Liyue region."
"During the closed beta, the main storyline ended after Mondstadt. Then at this time, MiHoYo releases a Liyue character who did not appear in the closed beta. I predict that he will definitely participate in the main storyline of the Liyue region."
"The clothing is styled close to the armor worn by generals in ancient Dragon Nation times, so Jun Bai is very likely a soldier."
"Then there is the fire phoenix. This is almost a direct hint that Jun Bai's element is Pyro…"
Silver Wolf truly lived up to her reputation as a streamer proficient in all kinds of games. With just a single illustration, she had already analyzed quite a lot of information.
However, the more she analyzed, the more Silver Wolf and the water friends' curiosity about Jun Bai not only did not disappear, but instead grew even greater.
Because there was no way to confirm the truth of this information, the more they analyzed, the more they wanted to know the exact details.
In this way, Jun Bai's name and image were successfully remembered by many players, and this portion of players became more and more expectant toward the official server launch two days later.