The patch cycle in ZZZ is about to end, so I’ve entered full rushing mode trying to clear out all the events and side stories before the next wave of content hits in 10-ish days. Today was finally the time to dive into Lucia’s side story.

Back when her design was first revealed (even before the later adjustments), I honestly didn’t know what to expect from her. But I have to say, she completely surprised me in the best way. Lucia turned out to be such a quirky and fun character. Her sheer enthusiasm, or maybe obsession, with the Ethereals is both hilarious and endearing, and after reading her story, I can finally understand where that passion comes from.

She’s been entrusted with the "magical" staff by the leader of her people, and her goal is to build a future where humans and Ethereals can somehow coexist. Her own innate power to manipulate ether and create Ethereals copies is also what makes her the best choice for this. 

Considering how little we still know about the true origin of the Ethereals, I’m really curious to see how her story ties into the main narrative in future patches. This will probably only be focus of the story only once we move past the current 2.x arc which overall has been quite weak in my opinion. 

But that raises some big questions: what exactly caused the Ethereals to appear in the first place? Their existence seems to predate not just the foundation of New Eridu, but even the incident involving the sibling protagonists, they’ve been mentioned as being around long before that. 

And then there’s the moon, which in-game looks like it’s partially hollow or maybe filled with a Hollow itself? Why would the moon have Hollows, too? Just what kind of catastrophe reshaped this world’s history?

For now, I’ll get back to finishing the Dream Event with Yidhari while waiting for the upcoming patch that introduces Dialyn and Banyue. I’m also wondering what’s going to happen with Sarah, will we finally get closure on her story in this update, or is it going to stretch across a few more patches? Either way, it’s shaping up to be an interesting transition into whatever’s coming next.