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Designer's Reflection: Virescent Mountain

Obtained: top-up for Grand Obsession hell event

Rarity: SR

Attribute: Gold/Elegant

Awakened Suit: Mountain Visitor

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Night Stories on the Mountain

Chapter 2 - Trouble in the Woods

Chapter 3 - Moonlit Strings

Story - summarized

Chi Xiaoyu loves romance novels. Her latest fixation is a book written by the famed playwright Yueniang. It's about a young woman who meets an immortal lord on Black Mount, and she joins his sect to get closer to him.

Xiaoyu wonders if she could join the sect, or meet the young immortal. So, she travels to Black Mount, hoping to try out for the group. However, she gets lost. She can't find the place everyone is supposed to meet at. Strange noises echo around her, and she runs into some parasites.

Instead of panicking, Xiaoyu marvels at the creature. The parasite returns to its home - right with the young immortal lord. He asks Xiaoyu how she knows so much about parasites. She tells him all about the book and how she wants to join his sect.

The young immortal tells her all spots are full. But before she can leave, he adds that he still needs an assistant, and that he thinks she is the perfect candidate.

Connections

-Chi Xiaoyu loves fantasy books, and when Baishuo came to Cloudcrest during the Autumn Moon event, she gives him some that he could take back to Qingyue as gifts.

-Yueniang shows how he came up with the story of Grand Obsession in his memories for Red Maiden. Half of each of the transcripts covers the story of Aloe, a "companion" to Qin Yi's character, and the other half is Yueniang writing in a café.

-For Qin Yi's side of the story, he reveals in Cloud-Water Visitor that his character in the play is based after his childhood and upbringing. He explains that he has an inner demon that, whenever he's upset or vulnerable, will twist his memories and make him think of things that aren't real. So, the story of Grand Obsession really is an alternate take on real events; and Chi Xiaoyu made her own ending within the story.

Fun Facts

-The transcripts are only half of the story. The rest is told in the Index, where it's revealed Xiaoyu knows the story of the immortal and the girl is made up. Still, she dreams of an alternate universe where the story is real and she could be the young heroine.

Designer's Reflection: Benthic Surge

Obtained: top-up for Depths of Evernight

Rarity: SR

Attribute: Blue/Cool

Awakened Suit: Tide Boundary

Story - transcripts from Designer's Reflection

Chapter 1 - Black Tide

Chapter 2 - Dancing Notes

Chapter 3 - Clear Tides

Story - summarized

Aeon stays on the Ark, watching over Miraland as the power of Arionus floods back. It's not the first time they all had to fight the Abyss' power, but he can't figure out why these things keep happening or how.

He puts aside these questions as Marina comes back from her boating trip. She found memories that took on shapes of fish or shells and took them home with her. But she also has something new: a soft black stone. Neither of them knows what it is, but Aeon promises to examine it thoroughly for anything harmful before Marina plays with it.

When the stone submerges in water, it grows tentacles and thrashes around. It radiates power from the Abyss, nearly destroying the lab and infecting Aeon's mind. Before anything bad happens, he snatches a diving mask and puts it on; he's surrounded by heavy metal music. The intense sounds block the Abyss' power, but he's exhausted by the physical and mental strain and faints.

In his dreams, Aeon remembers the first time he heard heavy metal: he was trying to find a hobby that let him vent all his feelings and insecurities. Marina always found a way to have fun, but he couldn't get the hang of it. So, one of the Designer's Reflections offered Aeon a music album with all kinds of genres. The songs were beautiful, but none of them resonated.

Until the last song. The chaotic but structured heavy metal sounded like how Aeon's thoughts: upholding order but also feeling lost. From then on, he started playing music and later branched into other genres.

Aeon wakes up to find Marina taking care of him and the lab. They decide to take care of this strange stone together. Since the stone came from the Abyss, and the Abyss was full of chaotic thoughts and feelings, they play soft music to purify the pollution. Now, Aeon plays his music all the time while he works.

Connections

-The first time Aeon directly encountered the power of the Abyss and the Ocean was back in Vaporwave Dream. The Heart was acting haywire, so he had to find a way to fix it before the Ark fractured.

-Aeon always felt like the orderly, proper sibling, while Marina was a bundle of energy. You learn more about their pasts during the Whales Fall, Flowers Bloom event, and why one is drawn more to order and the other to whimsy.

Fun Facts

-The chapters call the stone "Marshponge Stone," but in the Index, it's called a "Swamp Sponge Stone."