Amidst the kaleidoscopic aftermath of Penacony's dreamscape, the Astral Express carved its silver trail back to the Xianzhou Luofu in 2024's Version 2.4 update – a homecoming painted in stardust and steel. There, amidst the floating armada's ancient grandeur, Yunli emerged like a unsheathed sword catching starlight. Her arrival resonated through the Luofu's jade corridors, a five-star Destruction vessel sculpted for physical combat, her essence woven into the very fabric of counter-strikes and calculated taunts. She moved with the predatory grace of a ink-wash panther, her presence both shield and spear, turning aggression into art. To witness her dance was to see time fracture – each parry a suspended raindrop, each riposte a thunderclap in miniature. Yet beneath this lethal ballet lay a labyrinth of growth, demanding tributes of gears and permits that transformed the player's journey into an odyssey of bureaucratic poetry.
The Alchemy of Ascension: Forging a Vessel
To unlock the constellations within Yunli required ascending through six celestial thresholds, each demanding sacrifices from the Luofu's mechanical underbelly. The path unfurled like an origami crane revealing its secrets:
| Ascension Phase | Required Level | Mob Drops 🌟 | Stagnant Shadow Drops 🔒 | Credits 💰 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | 5x Artifex's Module | - | 4,000 |
| 2 | 30 | 10x Artifex's Module | - | 8,000 |
| 3 | 40 | 6x Artifex's Cogwheel | 3x IPC Work Permit | 16,000 |
| 4 | 50 | 9x Artifex's Cogwheel | 7x IPC Work Permit | 40,000 |
| 5 | 60 | 6x Artifex's Gyreheart | 20x IPC Work Permit | 80,000 |
| 6 | 70 | 9x Artifex's Gyreheart | 35x IPC Work Permit | 160,000 |
| Total | - | 15x Module, 15x Cogwheel, 15x Gyreheart | 65x IPC Work Permit | 308,000 |
The Artifex modules scattered across the Luofu like clockwork fireflies – elusive clusters of Entranced Ingenia humming in shadowed alcoves. Farming them felt like gathering whispers from forgotten machines, Acheron's blade cutting through their formations like scissors through silk. Conversely, the IPC Work Permits demanded pilgrimages to Penacony's Clock Studios Theme Park – a dissonant carnival where the Shape of Duty Stagnant Shadow loomed. Securing these permits was akin to negotiating with ghosts in a filing cabinet, each drop a stamped approval from spectral clerks.
Traces: Embroidering the Combat Tapestry
Yunli's true mastery unfolded in her Traces – intricate constellations of skill requiring crimson blossoms and war-torn echoes. Her Basic Attack evolved separately, a solitary sonnet amidst symphonies:
| Trace Level | Crimson Calyx Drops 🌺 | Mob Drops ⚙️ | Credits 💎 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 3x Borisin Teeth | 6x Artifex's Module | 5,000 |
| 3 | 3x Lupitoxin Sawteeth | 3x Artifex's Cogwheel | 10,000 |
| 4 | 5x Lupitoxin Sawteeth | 4x Artifex's Cogwheel | 20,000 |
| 5 | 3x Moon Rage Fang | 3x Artifex's Gyreheart | 45,000 |
| 6 | 8x Moon Rage Fang | 4x Artifex's Gyreheart | 160,000 |
| Total | 3x Teeth, 8x Sawteeth, 11x Fang | 6x Module, 7x Cogwheel, 7x Gyreheart | 240,000 |
Her Skill, Ultimate, and Talent formed a more complex mosaic, demanding echoes of divine sorrow:
| Level | Crimson Drops 🩸 | Mob Drops ⚙️ | Echo of War Drops 🥀 | Tracks of Destiny 📜 | Credits 💰 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-7 | Borisin→Moon Rage | Module→Gyreheart | - | - | 2,500-45k |
| 8-10 | 5x→14x Moon Rage | - | 1x Regret of Infinite Ochema | 1 (each) | 80k-300k |
| Total | 3x Teeth, 15x Sawteeth, 30x Fang | 9x Module, 13x Cogwheel, 7x Gyreheart | 3x Regret | 2x Tracks | 652,500 |
The Regret of Infinite Ochema dripped like crystallized melancholy from Scalegorge Waterscape's Divine Seed Echo of War – battles fought in drowned cathedrals where every victory tasted of salt and sacrifice. Farming crimson calyxes there was like plucking roses from a volcano's rim, each petal seared with primordial energy.
Even now in 2025, the scent of ozone and old gears clings to Yunli mains. They remember the grind as a meditative ritual – each Artifex module collected feeling like reassembling a shattered music box, each IPC permit a puzzle piece in a corporate sonnet. Her counter-attacks, when fully realized, became gears meshing in a celestial clockwork – precise, inevitable, beautiful. Yet the true cost? More than credits or drops. It demanded patience thick as nebula dust, transforming players into archivists of combat algorithms. As the Luofu's sails billow against newer stars, one wonders: do we forge warriors, or do their material odysseys forge us? When blades finally rest, what echoes linger in the spaces between duty and desire?