"Holiday happy time really passes so fast."
Jun Bai sipped his Snow King milk tea and let out a helpless sigh.
Version 1.3 preview is coming up—so how could Lantern Rite in Version 1.3 be far away?
Lantern Rite, Liyue's special event. As one of Liyue's high-popularity characters, Jun Bai undoubtedly has to appear.
So Jun Bai's holiday spanning the entire Version 1.2 Dragonspine is about to end~
(The system bursts into wild laughter in the real world)
Of course, what makes Jun Bai feel the most helpless is that he has to appear in today's preview livestream.
He's still on vacation!
Of course, even if he's inwardly dissatisfied, the work still has to be done. So Jun Bai skillfully opened the system panel and connected to the real world.
"The previous two previews were in Firefly and Silver Wolf's livestream rooms."
"Over there, Lunar New Year is coming soon. Since that's the case, let's pick an Xianzhou character."
"It's decided—you, Huohuo!"
Jun Bai logged into the system's boss account, then entered Huohuo's livestream room and started lurking.
As soon as he entered, he saw a delightful scene: Tail scolding Huohuo.
—Real World
Huohuo's livestream room.
Huohuo's super admin Tail was lecturing Huohuo over recent livestream traffic issues.
Using his virtual avatar to voice chat with Huohuo, Tail angrily said: "Little coward! Can you buck up a bit! Do you know that your performance makes me completely unable to raise my head in the company!"
Huohuo said aggrievedly: "I can't help it either. Streaming isn't like studying, where you can improve just by working hard."
Tail: "You still have the nerve! Can't you speak louder when streaming?"
Huohuo: "You know I can't talk in front of strangers."
Tail: "Hey—you little coward! You talk pretty fluently when you're retorting me, don't you? Why don't you bring that skill out during your streams!"
Tail: "Look, the view count when I'm arguing with you is higher than your usual stream viewership! Can you find the reason in yourself!"
Huohuo: "Haven't I already found it?"
Huohuo: "I can't talk in front of strangers…"
Tail: "You know it, so change it!"
Tail: "I—it's time for the stream? I haven't finished venting yet? Forget it, little coward, hurry up and get to work! If you don't hit the target tonight, you know the consequences!"
Then Tail disconnected the voice chat and started acting as super admin.
Huohuo sighed, rubbed her little ears that were ringing from Tail's voice, and only then opened the preview livestream.
"Based on the experience from the previous two preview livestreams, the opening should be a short skit." Huohuo said softly.
The people in the livestream room almost couldn't hear her.
Just as Huohuo said, today's preview livestream also started with a skit as per tradition.
"Eeya~"
The familiar Yiya language sounded. Yiya, transformed into little phoenix form, appeared in the Genshin Impact livestream room with the background of Guili Assembly.
[Ah! It's Yiya!]
[Yiya little cutie, let mama hug you!]
[Very good, today's first guest confirmed—Yiya!]
Chibi version Paimon and Chibi version Lumine were chasing behind. Lumine had the Geo element representing Liyue on her.
Chibi version Paimon: "Yiya slow down, we can't keep up."
Chibi version little phoenix transformed back into Chibi version Yiya and pointed at the simple Fengdeng Lou ahead: "Eeya~ Eeya!"
Chibi version Lumine: "You're in such a hurry to get to Fengdeng Lou—is there something very important?"
Chibi version Yiya nodded.
"Oh? Traveler and Paimon?" Chibi version Zhongli walked over. "You also received Jun Bai's invitation?"
[Zhongli master! Please hurry and rerun! I need your C2 to carry newbies!]
[The man who gives the greatest sense of security in all of Teyvat!]
[Second guest confirmed—Zhongli. Looking at this situation, feels like there will be Jun Bai too.]
"Huh? Zhongli?" Chibi version Paimon looked extremely happy upon seeing Zhongli. "You said Jun Bai's invitation? So that's why Yiya looks so nervous."
Chibi version Lumine: "So Zhongli also came to Fengdeng Lou because of Jun Bai's invitation?"
"It's not just Zhongli—there's me too."
From the nearby sea of Glaze Lilies, a Chibi version Guizhong jumped out and greeted Chibi version Lumine and Paimon.
[Guizhong! My respected Dust Lord!]
[Third guest born today! She is our wise god, Dust Lord Guizhong! And according to past patterns, she might enter the banner in the next version!]
"Yo! Looks like everyone's here."
Chibi version Jun Bai with wings descended from the sky, then stopped in mid-air on the screen and greeted everyone.
"Jun Bai!" ×4
"Hey, I'm here." Chibi version Jun Bai waved to everyone, then got to the point. "To make it short, the reason I invited everyone here is one thing—our Liyue's annual Lantern Rite."
"I want to ask Zhongli and Guizhong, as representatives of adepti and gods, to prepare gifts for all the hardworking people of Liyue this year."
"At the same time, I also invite Lumine and Paimon, as Liyue's great heroes, to attend the Lantern Rite grand event I've prepared."
"Everyone has no problem, right?"
"No problem!" ×4
Chibi version Jun Bai waved his hand grandly: "Then no time to waste—let's enter today's Liyue Salon and introduce to all Travelers the grand Lantern Rite event of Version 1.3—'Bright Firmament Rises Over the Sea'!"
The Version 1.3 showcase page appeared.
Then came the long-awaited Dragon Riding Mirror Shatter effect.
The showcase page shattered, revealing the Liyue Salon livestream background. The invited guests took their seats one by one.
Zhongli, Guizhong, Yiya, Lumine, Paimon formed the lineup for this preview livestream.
[Where's Boss Jun? Just showed his face at the beginning?]
[Is it because there's no seat? Someone kick Paimon out and let Boss Jun come back!]
Jun Bai: Who have you seen take passive overtime seriously? Anyway, I won't—the less screen time, the less workload.
Zhongli, Lumine, and Paimon are all old friends, so no need for introductions. Let's focus on the two new friends—Guizhong and Yiya.
Chibi version Yiya stretched out her hand and acted cute: "Eeya~ Happy New Year to all Travelers! I'm Yiya, and also the voice actress you're familiar with for Klee—Hua Ling~"
(Among miHoYo's current voice actors, I feel like the only one I know who can handle Yiya is Hua Ling.)
Chibi version Guizhong covered her mouth and chuckled lightly: "Hello everyone, I'm Guizhong's voice actress, Jin Na."
(Yae Miko big sister in god form makes her entrance!)
Guest introductions complete. Then came the traditional preview livestream segments: new story, new events, new characters.
New story: In addition to the Archon Quest involving Dainsleif going live, the focus is on the Lantern Rite limited-time story.
The first half is the original Xiao Lantern story, while the second half is the Lantern Rite grand event story added by Jun Bai.
In addition, Xiao's Story Quest—Chapter of the Golden Peng, Keqing's Story Quest—Chapter of Yuheng, Hu Tao's Story Quest—Chapter of Guiding Butterflies will also go live one after another after the Version 1.3 update.
Then new characters.
This time it's an unprecedented four banners, and all four characters are brand new.
They are:
Golden Peng General—Xiao
Swift Thunder and Sudden Rain—Keqing
Snow-Cleared Plum Fragrance—Hu Tao
Dust-Calamity Fate-Born—Guizhong
(Because there are now five Yakshas protecting the land, Xiao's title is his general name. And Guizhong's title is something I made up—no other meaning, just thought it sounded nice.)
(Guizhong's skills are on the way—need some adjustments. I had a friend design them, but they're way too broken and need changes.)
[Four new characters? This is coming for my kidneys?]
[Wallet, bank card, credit card: Brothers, this is a high-stakes game!]
[After Keqing's banner ends she'll go to standard and can be obtained through Fengdeng Lou, so she can be skipped, but even then there are still three new characters. Want them all—this is the hardest episode for monthly card players.]
[I can only say, trust Boss Jun—this banner arrangement must have Boss Jun's approval.]
And Jun Bai indeed didn't disappoint the audience—he put in full effort on the new events.
New events:
Wealth Comes Knocking: Players can get 10 Intertwined Fates through check-in, and this event opens once in both halves, for a total of 20 Intertwined Fates reward.
Bright Firmament Shared Appreciation: Lantern Rite limited-time grand event. Opens after completing the Lantern Rite prerequisite quests. Can obtain a total of 1500 Primogems, Intertwined Fates, and a series of other rewards.
Then there are two small events providing 500 Primogems each, plus a seven-day Ley Line Overflow.
This made some players feel the pressure lighten a lot—because these people are only pulling for one character.
But players wanting two or more characters still furrowed their brows tightly.
If there's no backup hidden energy source, wanting to get two characters without spending money can only depend on lifespan luck.
However, all events have already been introduced. The preview is about to end. Most players could only start weighing which character's cost-effectiveness is higher.
Jun Bai saw the moment had come.
Chibi version Zhongli was about to announce the end of this preview livestream, when a familiar thing appeared in the livestream room.
The Chibi version Scarlet Plume from the last preview skit!
[Hm? A twist? Boss Jun has another message?]
[Suddenly feel my heart racing.]
[Could Boss Jun be giving away another character?]
Before the livestream room could react further, Scarlet Plume's eyes lit up on their own. Chibi version Jun Bai's projection appeared in the livestream room and greeted everyone:
"Hello to all the teachers, and Travelers in front of the screens. Good evening, I'm Jun Bai."
"Good evening, Boss!" ×5
Chibi version Zhongli: "Boss, your sudden appearance—do you have other instructions?"
Chibi version Jun Bai: "Of course I do. I'm not satisfied with this Version 1.3 event arrangement."
Chibi version Jun Bai: "Version 1.3—four new characters debuting for the first time, and it's right during Lunar New Year. What would other game companies think of us with this level of event strength?"
Chibi version Zhongli: "But even if you say that, it's not something we can decide."
Chibi version Jun Bai: "I know, so I came only after notifying the operations team."
[What a classic "I've already notified the operations team."]
[Boss speaks so domineeringly!]
[So Boss Jun is giving away good stuff again?]
Chibi version Jun Bai: "I've temporarily decided to add two events to Version 1.3."
Chibi version Jun Bai: "First is the Lantern Rite grand event I mentioned in the skit."
Chibi version Jun Bai: "During Lantern Rite, Guili Assembly will open the Lantern Rite Grand Celebration event that lasts the entire Version 1.3. Travelers can obtain 2000 Primogems, a large amount of Mora, and forging ores in this event."
Chibi version Jun Bai: "After completing all event targets, you can even claim a mysterious character and their weapon via mail."
Chibi version Jun Bai: "Second, Holiday Compensation."
Chibi version Jun Bai: "Throughout the entire Version 1.3, after completing Daily Commissions, Travelers can additionally claim 40 Primogems per day at Fengdeng Lou."
Chibi version Jun Bai: "This is my New Year gift prepared for everyone. I hope you'll like it."
Chibi version Jun Bai: "At the same time, on behalf of miHoYo and the Genshin Impact project team, I wish all Travelers a happy New Year in advance!"