In the old town northwest of Elidu City, there is a low-key game hall. The electronic screen in front of the door often flashes a girl with a stern face-Pokona. She is not a child in reality, but she attracts countless real eyes. In the world of “Zero”, she is the latest physical agent, with neat movements and a bold personality. Many players say that she is like the wind in the north, not talking much, but with the power to penetrate everything.
However, if you really want to “own” Pokona, it is like wanting to understand the growth process of a stubborn girl, which cannot be done by simply clicking to draw a card. Her development is like a material class about patience, persistence and gentleness. Behind each material, there is a long time that the player has spent with her.
Her road to breakthrough starts from the initial level 10 and climbs step by step. You need to collect stamps called “Break Cognition” for her. These seals are not glamorous, like the most basic but indispensable trivial props in life: beginner, advanced, and then the breaker certification seal representing the true identity. Each one is not easy to obtain, and you need to enter the VR combat simulation room again and again to fight with phantoms. You will fail and get tired, but you know that just like a teacher’s silent persistence in the face of students, it is worth waiting for her to grow.
And in the improvement of skills, you will experience a meticulous process. 25 basic physics chips, 75 advanced physics chips, 250 specialized physics chips, these names sound mechanical and boring, but in fact, each chip is like the thread button you sewed on her uniform by hand. You want her to stand in the center of the stage, not only beautiful, but also powerful.
Her skill level, from A to F, is like a young girl from literacy, to writing, to being able to write an emotionally sincere composition. You need to prepare 9 scarlet engines for her-a resource that can only be obtained by challenging the powerful enemy “Pompeii”. You don’t like Pompey because every battle is tense and oppressive, but you know that without these challenges, Pokona will never have the energy burning like a red engine.
Even more rare is “High Dimensional Data: Shallow Phantom”, which requires sixty copies. This name sounds like a scientific term, but you understand it as the memory fragments deep in her heart. You must go through the battle log mission of “Jane” to piece together these fragments bit by bit. That is a projection of her past, or perhaps a dream in her heart, and you are helping her find her complete self.
She also has a dedicated sound engine weapon. The process of developing this weapon from level zero to level sixty is like repairing a broken organ in an abandoned old music classroom. You have to find 4 smash components, 32 enhanced smash components, 30 specialized smash components, and finally, you have to collect 200 sound engine energy modules. While running, you record the source of the materials, like a boy in a small town quietly preparing a birthday gift for his beloved girl, without making a sound, but using all his thoughts.
What’s even more special is the “Hamster Cage Accessor” – five copies. This sounds like a joke, but it’s a truly scarce item that can only be obtained through specific tasks, activities, or rewards from the Eridu City Fund. It’s not like other materials that can be swiped directly, but it’s like an opportunity given by fate by chance. If you miss it, you have to wait; if you get it, cherish it.
Of course, everything ultimately depends on “Dini” – that’s the currency in the game, more like a symbol of time and energy in reality. From breakthroughs, skills, to sound engines, you need to spend at least 7 million Dingni. This number is huge in the virtual world, but you know, what’s really heavy is the daily time you invest in these Dingni, the repetitive operations, and the exhaustion of simulated battles in the middle of the night.
But when you really complete her full level, those materials are no longer simple numbers. You see a girl standing on the front line of the battle, no longer just a cold face, but the crystallization of your will carved by your own hands. Every move and every style of her is the echo of your efforts.
Pokona doesn’t belong to any era. She is like a child from the old times, placed in a high-tech combat system. You are not her creator, but you are the one who witnessed her transformation.
She has changed from a character picture to an indispensable core of your team. You light up every node of her skills, just like opening the curtains for a silent girl to let the sun in.
And you, in the process of all this, have quietly grown up a little bit. Maybe you are more patient, maybe you can accept delayed satisfaction, maybe you understand more that some waiting is for the little bit of uncompromising love in your heart.
Pokona didn’t speak, she just stood there, quietly. But you know, she understands.