"My dear Kiana, what are you reading?" Elysia asked, carrying a bowl of milk salad and wearing her pink bunny slippers. She skipped over lightly, then bent down slightly to peek at the book cover with curiosity.
"'Video Editing: From Beginner to Master'?"
She sounded surprised.
"Kiana, you want to get into video editing?"
"Just browsing... because of the Sky Screen, well, you know. I'm a little curious..." Kiana smiled slightly and opened her mouth. Elysia deftly picked up a spoon and fed her a bite.
Unlike the busy Mobius, both Elysia and Kiana were currently unemployed.
Well, not exactly.
Elysia had never been to school at all—she was the true "unemployed" one.
As for Kiana, she was on an indefinite break from school because the campus was still under construction.
Neither Elysia nor Kiana's mother had any strong objections to Kiana reading up on video production. After all, if she was going to be idle at home anyway, reading was a good way to pass the time.
But what they didn't know was that Kiana wasn't just reading out of boredom. She genuinely wanted to learn something new and make the most of her free time.
Some things might seem simple at first glance, but only when you actually try your hand at them do you realize how much depth and nuance there really is.
Though Yuzu was the one in the spotlight as the uploader, it was Kiana pulling the strings behind the scenes.
The Sky Screen videos had reached their third episode by now, and across these three, you could clearly see how Kiana's production approach was gradually improving.
Think about it: In the first video, Kiana had just dryly revealed the concept of the Honkai, along with some bestiaries of Honkai beasts and zombies, then went on to explain that she was the Herrscher of Finality and detailed some related lore.
Beyond that, was there much else?
Well, maybe that was solid enough on its own.
But in her view, the reason her videos were so well-received and caused such a stir as intended was simply because she was revealing real secrets. Everything else was secondary.
By the second video, she'd started consciously adding fabricated photos, archival footage, books, and murals—all to make it seem like the history presented by the uploader from the future was genuine, traceable, and more convincing. That was a step forward.
Then came the third video.
Kiana reflected on it: when commentary uploaders talk about historical figures, they never focus solely on one person or a single event. History is always built by groups of people and clusters of events converging into an era.
So, focusing on just one character feels hollow.
That's why, building on the second video's inclusion of sharp commentary from other characters, she actually brought in additional figures as supporting characters, using them for description and contrast to create a sense of interconnection.
It wasn't just about profiling the main subject of the video—others were woven in too, making it more vivid and lifelike.
Kiana felt she could keep experimenting with more methods and approaches in the future.
Of course, the main focus should remain on the featured subject, but the content could be richer and more varied.
Not having enough material wasn't a big deal—it didn't need to be comprehensive or cover every angle. Sometimes, leaving intentional gaps could even work better.
But occasionally, the lives of characters beyond the main feature were also fascinating. Their presence could stir excitement in this era and bring emotional depth.
Heck, you didn't even need to rigidly define what each video had to include.
As long as the featured subject remained the core, she could branch out freely—anything related and interesting was fair game.
Take the third video's features on Kevin, Mei, Su, and the others—even if they'd already been introduced in some detail, did that mean they couldn't appear again in future videos?
Besides, while Kiana's main goal with this series was to "Recruit her Waifus," that didn't mean she couldn't, say, use Vtuber Yuzu's platform to casually drop info—like the details of the Third Honkai Eruption—in a laid-back, chatty style.
And to be honest?
Kiana wasn't aiming to become a full-time commentary uploader. Her goal wasn't to build this into some huge, impressive channel that left everyone in awe of her achievements.
Heck, she was the only one on this track!
Right now, whether they liked it or not, the whole world was watching—they'd all effectively hit the subscribe button. That alone was something most uploaders could only dream of.
She was already at the top, so why stress over the details?
Instead of worrying about that, what Kiana really needed to figure out was what to cover in the fourth video. She'd already decided to feature the Sakura-Rin sisters, but she still had to carefully plan how to blend that with reality and fabricate the necessary elements.
That said, reading up on video production had genuinely given her plenty of ideas—whether it was selecting and matching background music or controlling the pacing, all of it was useful.
"In the first three videos, even though we used chibi-style avatars to cover for the lack of future footage, it still felt a little odd sometimes... just a little figure standing there, waving its arms around goofily," Kiana mused silently.
She suddenly suggested to the system, "Why not take inspiration from Honkai: Star Rail's preview streams or Genshin's tea party events and spruce up the main interface? Then Yuzu could host in an interview style, with other characters making appearances as chibi avatars too. Wouldn't a back-and-forth dialogue work better?"
Though Yuzu would still be the main one revealing information, having a sidekick to play off of could actually be pretty fun.
[If that's what you'd like, it's no problem at all.]
The system, as always, never refused any of Kiana's requests.
Extra work?
Not an issue—it was a breeze.
"Then it's settled!" Kiana smiled faintly.
Her smile caught Elysia's attention. "Did something good happen?"
"Yep~, it did, Ellie," Kiana replied, now quite accustomed to using the nickname.
Habits really were scary things.
"Let me see too!" Elysia leaned in, her head almost resting on Kiana's shoulder. Her soft breaths tickled Kiana's neck, but unfortunately, Elysia couldn't spot anything in the book that would've made Kiana laugh.
She tilted her head, looking puzzled and adorably clueless.
Kiana didn't explain, just smiled and continued reading. Bored, Elysia went back to munching on her salad, eventually feeding Kiana another spoonful.
Their closeness was undeniably sweet and warm.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
20+ advanced chaps on my patreon.
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.