Luming: Cloud Benediction
Designer’s Reflection: Cloud Benediction
Obtained: Chinese New Year 2022 hell event
Rarity: UR
Attribute: Blue/Cool
Awakened Suit: Deer Benediction
Story - transcripts from Designer’s Reflection
Chapter 1 - Lake in the Sea
Chapter 2 - Lanterns on the Lake
Chapter 3 - Wishes in Lanterns
Chapter 4 - Glowing Wishes
Chapter 5 - Brilliant Lake
Story - summarized
Luming feels memories swirl around him as he comes into consciousness. He opens his eyes to find a golden lake. Memories of wishes make the lake glow, so he decides to name this place the Lake of Wishes.
Every time a new wish is made, it appears as a lantern on the lake’s surface. Luming collects all of these and places them on an antler stand in his home. The one that takes the spot of honor is a brilliant lantern from a boy named Lin En.
The brightness of a wish’s lantern is tied to how strong the wish is. But whereas the other lanterns show happy wishes, Lin En is crying in his. How could a wish be sad?
Luming keeps an eye on the lantern as he himself tries to find a way out of the Lake of Wishes. However, a mist surrounds the lake, and when he enters the mist to try to pass through, he reemerges into the Lake of Wishes. He is trapped here. He can’t fulfill anyone’s wishes.
Over time, he meets Yexiao, a girl from Miraland. They spend a day together, and she shows him some of Cloudcrest’s cooking. Yexiao notices Lin En’s lantern. She comments on how bright it is. Luming tells her that Lin En is working hard to make his own wish come true, that the young man no longer wants to rely on the God of Wishes for help.
Yexiao then suggests that maybe he needs help from an outside source. She tells him that there must be a way for him to leave and fulfill his own wish. Luming wonders about this, even after Yexiao has left.
Finally, when the New Year comes again, a girl named Nikki and a cat named Momo appear at the Lake of Wishes. And just like that, the border of mist is gone.
Luming can finally visit Miraland.
Connections
-During the events for the CNY 2022 hell event, Luming says that he already met Yexiao. She likes to wander, as shown in her Reflection for Thousand Wishes.
-When Luming sees Lin En making the wish, the boy looks cold and sad. We find out from Qin Yi’s Reflection for Pollia Mist Silk that he had an impoverished childhood and would often go cold or hungry. That’s how Qin Yi/Lin En met the deer that would become Luming. They took care of each other.
-Luming tells us that Lin En “reunited with his family.” This is not quite true. We learn that Lin En is actually Qin Yi (see the Fun Fact below for more), and the “reunion” with the Qin family is actually the final events of Mind Maze 3.
Fun Facts
-Lin En’s family name (lin) translates to “jade.” In other Reflections, you meet a boy/young man who went by Jade while he was serving an abusive actor/mentor. And while Luming was right that “Jade” found a family, it actually was the Qin family. He only saw Jade become Qin Yi and join the Qin family, but he never learned the name change.
-The Chinese word for deer is “lu.” So the name “Luming” is a play on the words for “deer” and “illuminate.”
-Deer are considered lucky in Chinese mythology, as their Chinese word “lu” can also mean “wealth, success” depending on intonation.
-This is the first time that Yexiao makes something without adding too much spice. She tells Luming the dumplings he made should be salty.