Her name is Ai Kefei. Like a piece of candy wrapped in poison, the name is sweet and sticky, as if it was given to a pampered woman – but in fact, she has never been pampered. She lives in a set of rules called “Teyvat”, which is just a colorful panel: level, talent, equipment, constellation… All the rules and regulations frame the words “cultivable”.
Zhang Ailing said: “Be famous as early as possible.” Ai Kefei understands it more deeply, she knows that it is also necessary to be strong as early as possible. In this world, every bit of the brilliance of the strong is the knuckles she grinds when she brushes materials alone in the secret realm in the dead of night.
At first, she was just a four-star character.
Four stars are like a concubine in a second-class boudoir. They are not bad-looking and have some talent, but unfortunately they were born at the wrong time and their lives are not strong. You have to try your best to please and perform well, so that you can stand closer to the front at the dance, and you may occasionally get a glance from others, or even be arranged to join the main C team, instead of being a “tool man” or “warehouse manager” forever.
She is sensible, extremely sensible.
When she just reached full life, she just smiled silently with her head down, and a light flashed across her eyes: “Finally, someone still wants me.”
She didn’t dare to expect all the constellations to light up, but she knew that the level could be raised by herself.
So, she started her “character development” journey.
She needed 168 beryl conchs. That was the starting point of her destiny and the first hard labor.
She wore a sea-blue light armor, walked repeatedly on the beach, lowered her head to pick up shells, and her figure was like a painting wrinkled by the wind. At night, when everyone else turned off the game, she was on the deserted coastline, her footsteps clear and lonely.
Do you know how many Mora and experience books a character needs to reach level 90? 1,672,000 experience points, 7.05 million Mora. To put it bluntly, she had to sacrifice herself through six complete self-decompositions, and then get a little “combat power evaluation” from the system.
She never asked why, but only what to do next. If fate is an auction, she is willing to put every inch of her skin on the auction table.
She played the weekly game, brushed the game, and brushed it day after day. Every time a monster fell, it was a small step in improving her combat power, but it also wore away a little of her luster. She was originally a bright character with colors specially adjusted by the artist, but that little bit of bright color had long been worn out in the repeated collisions with gears, polluted water, and the philosophy of justice.
To upgrade her skills, she needs “just teaching”, “just philosophy”, “just guidance”, and “Crown of Wisdom”.
She smiled and said, “It’s really interesting. If a character wants to level up to ‘good-looking’, he has to study, take exams, and make sacrifices.”
We see that her eyes become colder every time she levels up. That’s not aloofness, but fatigue.
Her favorite weapon is called “Fragrant Music Player”. It is a magic weapon, but it is like an old dream of hers. She said that the magic weapon is like a piano, but it is more expensive than a piano. The price is that you have to die many times before you can hold it.
She is like a down-and-out celebrity, wearing faded clothes, fighting on the battlefield with blood, but still holding the Fragrance Music Player in her hand – as if it is the only part of her that still has her identity.
She almost died in the secret realm several times, with only a little blood left, and the screen was as red as the rouge on her face that was not wiped off. But she didn’t retreat, she said: “I won’t retreat, I still need two books of philosophy of justice.”
She didn’t want to become a god, she was afraid that she would always be just a “useless character”.
People say “I like Ai Kefei”, but only a few people can really bring her into the team. Liking is one thing, being practical is another. Zhang Ailing said: “What people fear most is not being disliked, but not being needed enough.” Ai Kefei agrees with this.
She finally reached the maximum level later, and her talents were upgraded to three levels.
She stood under Mond’s windmill, and the wind blew up her skirt, as if she could finally be seen.
But she didn’t smile. She didn’t even speak.
Because she knew that no matter how perfect she was, she was just one item in the character list. Others needed her because she was strong. But in order to be strong, she lost herself.
Her skills were gorgeous like an illusion. At that moment, she stood there, like the heroine in Zhang Ailing’s novel, dressed in gorgeous clothes, hopelessly lonely.
She completed her training.
But she was no longer herself.