If you stare at Xiadie for long enough, you will realize that she is not a passionate character. Her quantum properties, memory fate, and even her name itself, all carry a certain silent silence and fading meaning. Even the materials she needs for growth – “Ethereal Omen”, “Dark Moonlight”, “Seeds of Thought” – these names do not seem like medals of growth for a passionate teenager, but rather like a series of dreams that happen quietly. She does not seem like a character born for battle, but like a soul you have met in the long night but have never really held.
In the world of Star Dome Railway, preparing materials for Xiadie is a trivial and long task. You need to search for basic breakthrough materials such as “Ethereal Omen” in one daily cleanup copy after another. They are bland, without exaggerated special effects, and no legendary descriptions, just like the daily necessities you have to face in life. If you want her to be stronger, you must endure this repetitive silence.
Going one step further, her high-level breakthrough material “Dark Moonlight” comes from the challenges of the weekly or deep enemies – it is no longer a place for people to have fun, but a trial field that forces you to face up to costs and efficiency. The drop is not necessarily stable, and the weekly limit constrains the rhythm, testing your patience bit by bit. If you are a player who is used to a fast pace, you will find that cultivating Xiadie is a tug-of-war with “waiting”. It’s like waiting for someone who never responds in love – you know that you may get nothing, but you still invest repeatedly, just because that persistence is too much like faith.
And the materials required for her trail skills: “Seeds of Thought”, “Magic Seedlings”, “Alayahua”, these three materials symbolizing spirit and will, look grand, but the reality is to repeatedly brush the teaching copy. In daily life, you have to go to a specific map, repeatedly face the enemies you have defeated dozens of times, and watch the reward interface gradually fill up again and again, which is very similar to the days in life when you work hard but are insignificant – you know they are necessary, but you will never have a real passion for these tasks.
The light cone is a metaphor for Xiadie’s journey. Her exclusive light cone “makes farewell more beautiful”, and the name itself is like a love letter that has never been delivered. In the process of upgrading it, you need to consume a huge amount of “travel guide”, “blessing shadow” and “transcendence materials”. Each breakthrough is like looking back at the past – you know that you must let go to become stronger, but all this does not mean that it will not hurt.
On this road of material preparation, you need to use credit points – this resource that is almost the only actual currency in the game world. Unfortunately, there is a daily limit for credit points, which is like the balance in your bank account, so you can’t squander it willfully. You have to calculate, plan, and even give up some less necessary things to leave room for her to grow. Suddenly, the game is no longer a feast of battle, but a simulator of financial management and life management.
This is the cultivation process of Xiadie. There is no passion of storms and rain, nor the pleasure of sweeping across the four directions. There are only countless silent moments of clicking buttons, watching animations, and confirming results. She doesn’t look like the one who wants to win applause on the field, but rather like the shadow hiding in the background quietly preparing props – when you don’t pay attention to her, she is completely invisible; but when you really cultivate her, you will find that she is stronger, more unique and more elegant than you ever imagined.
Zhang Ailing once said: “Life is a gorgeous robe, crawling with lice.” Xiadie’s material preparation is exactly that robe. In the process of pursuing strength, elegance and beauty, you must also endure countless trivial and unnoticed efforts. You know it is not dazzling, but you are willing to do it – because in a corner of your heart, you have identified her value.
Xingqiong Railway will not tell you all the hard work, nor will it calculate for you how much time, energy and rational points you have invested in a character. It just looks at you quietly – just like Xiadie standing quietly in the card pool, in the illustration, and next to your team – waiting for you to make a decision. She doesn’t speak, but she is always there.
And you have gone a long way.