Honkai Impact: I, The Herrscher of Ice, Am Loved By Players-Chapter 194: Bad End, Players Break Down!

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On the screen appeared a simple animation, deviating from MiHoYo's usual style with a more abstract approach. However, this did not hinder recognizing the specific characters depicted.

The scene began with a gallows, where the black-and-white priestess once again ascended. Behind her, the silhouette of the young boy quietly vanished, and ultimately, the priestess met her death anew.

Subsequently, a series of text slowly appeared on the screen:

"After protecting her people, the priestess once again walked towards death. This time, however, she lacked the young man who tirelessly fought for her."

Though only a few words, they seemed painfully stark and difficult to accept in the eyes of the Captains.

The Captains had wished Otto well not just because he strove for five hundred years to save Kallen, but also because she was one of their ship's Valkyries. Although everyone knew that from now on... most likely, no, definitely there would be no new iterations of Kallen armor.

Yet, this couldn't diminish Kallen's standing in the hearts of the old Captains. Additionally, regardless of its current strength, Kallen's armor was genuinely enjoyable to use.

In truth, all Captains were aware that even if Otto created a world line where Kallen wouldn't die, ultimately, she still would meet her end.

Nevertheless, the Captains fervently hoped that Otto left something behind for Kallen, wishing for an open-ended conclusion, hoping that Kallen could lead that world line towards a bright future.

This was what the Captains hoped for; as long as MiHoYo didn't explicitly create content around it, no one would intentionally dwell on the negative aspects. However, now with this shocking revelation...

Instantly, the live stream fell into a brief silence, with only a few sparse bullet comments appearing.

Brother Cake showed no immediate reaction, taking a deep breath instead. He knew this was merely the calm before the storm.

In the next moment, a flood of bullet comments surged like a tidal wave, predominantly criticizing the content of this mini-event.

Rapidly scanning through the comments, Brother Cake shared similar sentiments but, as a positive-energy streamer, he couldn't propagate such negative emotions. At the same time, deep down, he still harbored hope for this event.

He could accept having one bad ending among several outcomes, but shouldn't there be at least one successful conclusion?

However, soon, he spotted a particular comment:

[Damn, I've seen all the endings, and they're ALL bad. Seriously, WTF?!]

"All bad endings?"

Brother Cake's body trembled; this time, even he found it hard to maintain his composure. However, aware that many trolls and provocateurs frequented his stream, he decided it was best to verify such claims himself.

Moreover, this could also be considered... part of the show's entertainment value.

"Guys, hang tight for a moment. Let's check out the other endings first."

Taking another deep breath, Brother Cake spoke and proceeded to open the remaining outcomes. Notably, one couldn't exit or skip until the entire storyline played through, but each ending viewed granted 20 crystals as compensation.

It seemed clear that the developers intended for players to watch all possible scenarios at least once.

Brother Cake stared intently at the screen, watching each outcome unfold. As time passed, his expression grew increasingly grim.

Indeed, just as that bullet comment had predicted, every single leftover ending turned out to be fucking bad ones!

Seriously, what bullshit! Honkai Impact 3 truly lives up to its reputation for extreme sweetness - even in a character's final moments, they still manage to twist the knife.

So, what was the point of saving Otto Apocalypse after all?

"Big Sister, if this is the case, what was the point of Otto's death?"

In the spacious mansion, Ana sat on a lounge chair at the terrace, her eyes slightly closed. Above her, the night sky twinkled with stars. The question naturally came from Sirin beside her, who, at that moment, wasn't watching the live stream but playing a game instead.

"What was the point?" Ana opened her eyes, looking at Sirin with a smile.

"All Otto truly sought was peace of mind. His guilt stemmed more from releasing the Honkai Beast during Kallen's trial, inadvertently leading to her demise." Ana paused briefly and took a sip of tea.

"He knew that it wasn't those individuals who killed Kallen, but rather, the era itself. To genuinely save Kallen, he had to change that era; there were no other possibilities."

"So, the true significance of this mini-event lies in... our Otto, or rather, Mr. Rakshasa, still has a long journey ahead." As Ana spoke, her eyes sparkled, reflecting the countless records of the Raksha and the world bubbles unfolding before her.

In this game called "Kallen's Fantasy," despite being a skilled player, Otto has yet to achieve any successful rescue endings.

This is not due to Otto himself or the difficulty of the game; rather, attempting to save Kallen from scratch, starting with no resources and without the aid of the Void Archives, proves to be an incredibly daunting task.

Although Otto possesses experience, on this world line, he is merely a commoner, devoid of assets or assistance. He must climb his way up entirely on his own, but time is rapidly running out.

Even achieving the simplest objective—preventing Kallen from facing the gallows again—has stumped the majority of players.

That's precisely why the first ending presented in the event was that particular outcome.

It reflects the most common conclusion. This cannot be attributed solely to Ana deliberately orchestrating it. In truth, Ana adheres strictly to rules while simultaneously seeking to challenge them—a paradoxical nature, making her quite intriguing indeed.

However, as expected of Raksha, he holds inherent advantages over other players. Familiarity with Schicksal's key figures, having even killed some of them before, grants him an edge, making alternative outcomes possible.

It was only after Raksha overcame a significant challenge that Ana considered using his successful first stage as a save point for other players to experience.

After all, if faced with an insurmountable obstacle, some players might simply give up.

For anyone other than Raksha, this first stage was indeed impossible.

Who could comprehend and understand Schicksal better than it knew itself? Only someone like Otto, both obsessive and intelligent, aided by Apocalypse's advantages, could achieve such insight.

"Sirin still doesn't quite understand..." Sirin blinked and whispered softly.

"It's alright not to understand; this matter isn't important for you," Ana replied leisurely.

"However, if Raksha truly succeeds, perhaps here, you may see him again." Ana chuckled lightly.

If Otto—no, Raksha can flawlessly complete the mission of saving Kallen and rescuing that world line, Ana wouldn't mind extracting him and Kallen, creating an opportunity for their reunion in this world.

As for whether Kallen chooses lilyship or Otto at that time, it's not something Ana concerns herself with.

If even in this world, Otto fails to win over Kallen, then Ana can only conclude they truly lack destiny together.

Hmm, should such a scenario occur, she'll ask Otto if he wants to explore the 'Miss Otto' route instead. After all, gender transformation is effortlessly achievable for Divine Self like Herself.

Indeed, even Otto could manage it himself, considering Soulium bodies inherently lack a specific gender, making them adaptable to any gender identity.

"Oh."

Sirin nodded. Having lived in this world for so long, she now largely viewed the Second Herrscher Sirin from the Honkai universe as her past life.

Her present self is simply this ordinary Sirin, and there's no need to dwell on the past. To her now, Otto is just a deceased character from a game.

Additionally, the True Self Sirin possesses an abundance of compassion. Upon learning Otto's story, she naturally became engrossed in it, gradually forgetting those previous memories.

Of course, this wasn't entirely positive. Without intervention and left unchecked, Sirin's development might have led her to become some misguided, morally skewed xxn. However, fortunately for her, Bella, her loyal servant, remained constantly by her side.

Otherwise, relying on Ana?

Come on, the current Ana no longer devotes significant attention specifically to Sirin. Her focus extends far and wide, which is quite natural given her position.

After all, she—or rather, It—now occupies such a unique role.

Additionally, Ana genuinely has too many people to care for.

In Brother Cake's stream, although it's been some time since the incident, the chatroom still feels like a Powder Keg, with viewers venting their emotions freely.

Honestly, the streamers can only express themselves here at Brother Cake's channel. Outside this circle, they often transform into Ships of Possession, painting everything as sweet and perfect, luring others into the trap.

To put it simply, one must never indulge subjective opinions and biases within games or reviews. Let's not even mention Genshin Impact's notorious simplicity; consider Bronya's game Arahato in the future, which partially alienated its audience due to Kia constantly claiming it was "very easy" during beta testing.

Hey, hey, Kia is clearly an exceptional case—a special outlier. Her feedback should not be taken seriously, let alone considered as a significant benchmark. It seems inevitable that Bronya's game faced failure.

However, on the current world line, whether Bronya will develop Arahato remains uncertain.

After all, the planned open-world setting for Honkai Chronicles, originally envisioned for the game, no longer exists. But this time, Ana plans to incorporate Kallen's Fantasy into the open world as a new expansion.

New novel 𝓬hapters are published on ƒreewebɳovel.com.

Additionally, she intends to establish some connectivity between the game data and the world bubble, allowing Captains from our reality to assist players in the Honkai World to some extent.

After all... even if Ana herself, the developer, were to play Kallen's Fantasy, she couldn't guarantee successfully completing it.

Time flew swiftly, and soon it was time for the preview of Version 5.5, "Awakening Heavenly Origin." As expected, this New Year update promised abundant rewards alongside numerous opportunities to entice players with microtransactions.

Perhaps due to the positive reception of Himeko's armor and Stigmata giveaway previously, this version also included Rita's weapon and a selectable Stigmata set as freebies. Consequently, despite being a double S-rank release, it had minimal impact on player engagement.

The highly anticipated storyline had already concluded earlier, but that didn't hinder the explosive popularity of the New Year update, thanks to the introduction of the latest open-world scenario—Kallen's Fantasy.

In fact, Kallen's Fantasy was briefly mentioned in the previous Kallen Chronicle event; however, it was portrayed as a game developed by Otto, featuring Kallen as the main protagonist.

Contrary to that, the new open-world did not center around Kallen. Instead, it introduced two fictional protagonists: Bai Chen and Bai Zi, differing only in gender, allowing players to freely switch between them within the game.

In the original timeline, MiHoYo conducted a survey regarding the inclusion of male valkyries, causing quite a stir at the time. Now, they found their solution—a seamless gender-switching feature tied directly to the protagonist themselves.

This approach allows players to shift their perspective from Honkai Impact 3's original gameplay experience. Honestly, as a gacha game, the player POV in Honkai Impact 3 was quite peculiar, especially if we disregard the Captain storyline entirely.

Within the realm of gacha games, it stands out uniquely. In a sense, MiHoYo's design choices here aren't particularly replicable; one can only observe and appreciate them for what they are.

Worth mentioning is that due to Ana's involvement, the current open-world Kallen's Fantasy now closely resembles the Elysian Realm. The rewards have been enhanced, incorporating fixed crystals and additional open-ended storylines.

Ana aimed to replicate the true essence of Kallen's Fantasy, providing extensive narrative content. Naturally, much of it had to be trimmed down eventually.

After all—Honkai Impact 3 already has a vast scope, although compared to its neighbor Little Sister, it still pales in size.

One can foresee that not too far into the future, many PC gamers will likely resort to using cloud gaming services for Genshin Impact.

In terms of design and concept, Kallen's Fantasy leans slightly towards puzzle-solving elements. Similar to daily quests in the original open world, new tasks refresh each day. However, unlike the mostly static missions before, these tasks are now completely randomized.

This development was naturally due to Kallen's Fantasy itself. After all, each player approaches and perceives the game differently, leading to varying needs and consequently triggering distinct dialogues.

Given that reality often surpasses even the most absurd aspects of games, it results in some truly abstract quests. Discovering these unconventional missions and sharing them becomes one of the great joys in exploring the open world.