I often wonder, what is growth? It is a choice after choice, and an answer that is repeatedly deduced at night. In the world of “Zero Zone”, Pokona gave her response. The growth of this new physical agent does not lie in what she has, but in how much she has given up.
She is like a silent child, standing quietly in the shadows, carrying responsibilities on her shoulders. We can’t read too many emotions from her eyes, because she has learned to bury her emotions. Her breakthrough materials-basic physics chips, advanced physics chips, and specialized physics chips, are like pieces of stone on her growth path, paving her way to the distance bit by bit. It was not an easy journey, but a life rhythm that she gritted her teeth and stepped out step by step.
Four primary breaking cognitions, thirty-two high-level breaking cognitions, and thirty breaker certification badges, these sound like just cold numbers, but in my opinion, they are the marks she exchanged for loneliness. In the game, she has to go through the test of simulated combat rooms again and again. Those simulated battlefields are her training grounds and her purgatory. Every impact, every fall and stand-up, is part of her growth. No one can fight for her, she can only do it again and again.
Her skill upgrade is not an easy journey. Basic chips, advanced chips, specialized chips, these chips are like pages of a book, recording her growth trajectory. From Lv1 to Lv12, her skills are like her mind, from immature to sophisticated. Especially when upgrading core skills, she needs higher-dimensional materials-the sixty high-dimensional data: Shallow Phantom, is the fragment she took back from the enemy named “Jane”, and is the spoils left after she challenged the complex task alone. Every collection is exchanged for her sweat and persistence.
Scarlet Engine is the silent but surging power in her body. There are nine in total. They are not the halo given by the outside world, but the medals she won after defeating “Hegemon Corrosion Body Pompey”. This leader is not easy to deal with, but Pokona never backs down. She walked out of the battle with stubbornness and a glimmer of light after being burned.
There is also the item called the “Hamster Cage” access device. It is not easy to obtain, but it is necessary for Pokona to upgrade to a higher skill level. This is something she can only have after entering the Eridu City Fund and unlocking some unknown corners. Perhaps, this is just like people in reality, who must experience the baptism of the city and the test of power before they can truly obtain a pass to move forward.
And her exclusive sound engine, the upgrade from level 0 to level 60, is also a silent practice. Four breaking components, thirty-two enhanced components, thirty specialized components, and the 200 sound engine energy modules are not things that can be easily collected. Pokona must devote herself to the actual combat simulation room, constantly complete challenges, and move forward against the enemy’s guns again and again. She has no dependence, no backup, only calm judgment and firm will.
In her, I saw the shadow of the youth of the old times – silent, unassuming, but never yielding in adversity. She is silent, but not weak; she is lonely, but never gives up.
The “Dini” we are familiar with, the currency in this game, is the time and tempering she has accumulated for Pokona. From skill upgrades and breakthroughs to the cultivation of Yinqing, a total of more than seven million Dingni is required. That is not easy money, but the blood and sweat she has earned.
I remember reading Lu Xun when I was young, and I felt that “silent resistance” is the most powerful weapon. Today I see Pokona, and I see the same thing. She does not need to use words to prove herself. Her breakthrough materials, her skill list, and her rising growth line are her most powerful answers.
Maybe players will think that this is just a role, a product of a string of numbers. But I think her image has far exceeded the boundaries of the game. She is like those who struggle in the cracks of the times, forbearing, sober, and not moved by vanity. Her materials, like heavy letters, record her growth, her difficulties, and her awakening.
She is not eye-catching, but awe-inspiring. She is not as high-profile as other characters, but she tells us with her achievements that every step she takes is real and steady. She may be the self in our hearts who insists on practicing late at night, and the back that is unwilling to look back in the wind and snow.
Growth is not a frivolous moment, but countless days and nights of gritting teeth and persisting. Pokona, she tells us in her own way: in this cold and lonely world, the only answer is to move forward.