The voiceover process for Honkai Impact 3rd ran into a few minor hiccups, but overall, it went smoothly.
"What happened, Bronya?!"
"VALKYRIE SYSTEM, biological chip anomaly detected... Forcing emergency control override—rebooting! Switching to purge mode. Eliminating all nearby enemies!"
"Alright, alright, let's call it a day."
Hokuto clapped his hands, signaling the end of the voice session. The girls, who had hesitated just moments ago, were now more fired up than ever.
Bronya turned her expressionless, delicate face slightly. "Is it over? But I was just about to go all-out."
"No, according to the script, you're just going to get beaten down by the player," Hokuto replied truthfully.
"Is that so?" Bronya took a step back.
"I've decided to secretly increase the difficulty of that stage when Honkai Impact 3rd goes into public beta."
Hokuto: ???
"Please refrain from doing unnecessary things."
Hokuto recalled that this stage had indeed been pretty difficult in the original game. What kind of bizarre timeline overlap was this?
"Rita." Theresa raised her hand and barely managed to pat Rita's waist. "Hokuto really is just like you said."
But Rita was completely on a different wavelength. "What a shame. I thought I'd get to say that line to Theresa today—'like a doll.' I was really looking forward to it."
Theresa's expression froze. "What on earth is going on in that head of yours?"
"Everything I think is written all over my face. After all, I'm an honest woman."
The short strands of hair covering Rita's left eye swayed slightly. She lowered her head just a little, looking completely sincere.
Theresa raised her head and looked at her, then fell silent.
"..."
"I don't want to talk about this. Let's go back to the topic of Hokuto."
"Don't you think it's strange? We've only known him for a few days, yet it feels like he's been with us for years."
While observing Hokuto chatting with the others, Theresa quietly said to Rita, "It's like he's an old friend."
"Getting along well is a good thing, isn't it?"
Rita responded seriously, "Besides, everyone here is an adult. It's normal to have your own secrets. As long as they don't affect others, there's no problem."
"Mm... When you put it that way, it kind of makes sense… Maybe I'm just overthinking things."
Theresa admitted her mistake honestly.
When all was said and done, ever since Hokuto arrived at miHoYo, the studio had visibly started thriving.
She really should be grateful to him.
Rita left Theresa's side and walked up to Hokuto, dutifully offering a suggestion.
"The development of Honkai Impact 3rd is progressing faster than expected. We might be able to participate in pilipili's Best Domestic Mobile Game of the Year award. If we win, it would really help our exposure…"
"Pilipili? Best Domestic Mobile Game?" Hokuto was puzzled.
"I know." Bronya picked up the conversation. "Even Penguin's new mobile game is entering the competition. The competition is fierce."
"So it's getting a lot of buzz?"
Hokuto didn't really care whether it was a fierce competition. He had Honkai Impact 3rd, now even more polished than it had been in his original world.
In this game-deprived industry, wasn't this basically a slaughter?
Unless Penguin could whip out a Genshin Impact out of nowhere.
But that was obviously impossible.
"Yes."
"Then of course we're going to participate!"
Hokuto made his decision.
And so, that afternoon—
He hurried to match the audio with the CG, made the final adjustments, and uploaded it to pilipili.
Meanwhile, downstairs at the miHoYo Studio...
"Where am I? I'm almost at your studio."
"Then I'll go inform the boss. Oh, and remember to watch the promo CG we posted on pilipili, so you don't end up clueless if the boss asks you…"
"Promo CG?"
A tall, elegant woman ended her call and curiously opened the pink-colored app on her phone.
She quickly found the game promo CG her friend had mentioned.
Somewhat intrigued, she tapped play.
The player launched, and a line of small text slowly appeared in the center.
[miHoYo]
A pleasant female voice followed.
"Helios, this is Hyperion. Report mission status!"
"Reporting, Major! Optical targets not visible. Mission risk level raised to A-rank. Requesting confirmation!"
"Mission continues!"
"Yes, Major! Closing hatch safety protocols. Manually opening the hatch!"
As the dialogue played—
Another line appeared on screen: "2 years, 5 months, 16 days, 2 hours, 34 minutes, and 22 seconds since the Third Eruption."
The timer continued to tick upward.
"Entering stable orbit."
"Air pressure normal."
"Observation unit confirmed. Awaiting Valkyrie landing."
The hatch slowly opened. The sound of high heels striking metal echoed.
A strong gust blew at the twin braids of the figure walking to the hatch—clearly a Valkyrie.
The camera cut to a side profile.
"Kiana?"
The woman watching the CG jolted. "Why is it Kiana?!"
The CG continued.
"Valkyrie ready for landing! Ten! Nine!"
Before the countdown could finish—
Kiana removed her headset and leapt from the hatch.
The woman's expression grew more complicated. That reckless personality... It was exactly the Kiana she knew.
As Kiana jumped—
The music instantly soared. Accompanied by her descent from the sky, the roar of the wind howled in the viewer's ears.
In the next moment—
The perspective shifted, pulling back from the close-up.
Kiana passed through the clouds, bathed in sunlight like a falling comet.
Any single frame could be used as a desktop wallpaper.
The sense of awe hit full force in that instant!
The title Honkai Impact 3rd appeared on screen.
And that's where the CG ended abruptly.
The comment section was already flooded with user reactions:
[This is a game I can actually play? As a keyboard warrior, I hereby declare miHoYo the GOAT!!]
[I was wrong. I was so wrong. I thought miHoYo only made trash, but they were secretly preparing a big bang.]
[So hyped! Honestly, I'm not even into anime games, but I want to play Honkai Impact 3rd. I've never seen gameplay like this before.]
[Guys, calm down. A full-fledged 3D mobile game appearing out of nowhere? Sounds suspicious. Probably a scam.]
[Y'all care about gameplay and graphics. I just want to know why it's called Honkai Impact 3rd. Where are Honkai Impact 1 and 2?]
...
"What the hell have they been working on lately?"
The woman felt a strange turbulence in her heart.
It wasn't just the shocking quality of the promo CG…
"Kiana, my sister."
"You're making a game, fine—but why did you put yourself into the game?"
As her voice trembled slightly, a few strands of pale golden hair slipped down onto the phone screen.