In the virtual world, there is a character named Xiakong, whose growth depends on a bunch of seemingly messy but meticulous materials-low-frequency tidal erosion sail core, medium-frequency crystallized phlogiston, burning phosphorus bone, golden wool… These names have a sense of strangeness, but they are inexplicably fascinating. Like the blurred and realistic stories written by Haruki Murakami, Xiakong’s development process is not just a simple stacking of numbers, but like the secret growth trajectories in life, lonely, slow, but full of the poetic flow of time.
Xiakong’s growth path requires a lot of resource accumulation. This process reminds me of the long time that the characters in Haruki Murakami’s books spend alone. In order to train her from level 0 to the peak, game players need to repeatedly collect these “materials” in different maps, just like we repeatedly experience those seemingly meaningless waiting and persistence in reality. Those low-frequency to full-frequency tidal erosion sail cores, with a sense of time rhythm, seem to be the experience and perception accumulated in growth, slowly and profoundly affecting us.
The name “Fen Phosphorus Bone” sounds like a burning pain, just like the inner scars and struggles experienced by the characters in Haruki Murakami’s works. Growth is never an easy journey, but a purgatory with pain and loss. Defeating the Sighing Ancient Dragon and obtaining the Burning Phosphorus Bone is like facing the fear and pain deep in your heart. In those stories, lonely people try to reconcile with their own shadows. Xia Kong’s growth is also an inner journey, a process of finding himself in pain.
The collection and restrictions of the “Golden Fleece” are very similar to the unattainable dreams and hopes in life. The limited number of purchases symbolizes the limitations of reality, and players have to work hard again and again for the characters in their dreams. In Haruki Murakami’s writings, dreams are always vague and close, but real and far away. The characters in his works often wander between reality and fantasy, and Xia Kong’s development process is a game-like presentation of this situation.
The emergence of recharge discount codes seems to be a silent sigh in modern society. People use money to exchange for virtual satisfaction and short-term escape, but that is never the true appearance of freedom. In Haruki Murakami’s novels, modern people’s loneliness and anxiety are everywhere. Money and material can only temporarily heal the wounds, but cannot heal the soul. The discount code in the game can’t help but remind people of the loss and search of modern people in the material world.
The upgrade of the resonance loop material is like a ladder in life. Every step requires dedication, waiting and accumulation, but in the end it brings not only growth, but also a deep understanding of the meaning of life. Haruki Murakami often writes about the flow of time and the fragments of memory. Those fragments seem to be disordered, but they are connected into a river of life. Every material of Xia Kong’s growth, just like these fragments, connects our scattered years and experiences.
In the process of collecting materials and cultivating characters, players and games have a peculiar resonance, which is not only technical, but also emotional. The lonely characters in Haruki Murakami’s works are always looking for some kind of inner resonance and understanding. Xia Kong’s growth may also be a metaphor for the player’s inner desire for self-affirmation and spiritual freedom.
In the end, the material list of Xiakong is not cold numbers and props, but a poem full of time, loneliness and growth philosophy. Like the stories written by Haruki Murakami, it is both real and dreamy, leading us to find our own summer sky outside the hustle and bustle. Perhaps each of our lives is made up of these trivial “materials”, which grow little by little over the long years and eventually converge into a unique and rich self.