Gone with the Wind

Magical Girl Albatross.

In Rongcheng more than twenty years ago, this name was a household word; everyone knew the magical girl who fought side by side with Scarlet Snow to protect the city, and her sacred, noble demeanor had attracted quite a few supporters and fans.

Yet Hyacinth had always known only of this senior by reputation rather than in person, having only ever caught glimpses of her back on television programs.

This was perhaps related to the scale of the fan culture at the time:

Back then, the magical girl merchandise industry had not emerged for long, and types of merch were nowhere near as developed or rich as they were today. At most, there were posters, wall scrolls, and small plastic cards, making the selection rather scarce.

Things like standees, laser tickets, badge sets, or even BJD dolls simply did not exist. Fans of over twenty years ago mostly provided whatever support they could spare to their beloved magical girls by purchasing posters.

Yet limited by the conditions of the era, the production volume of merchandise was not high, and quite a few pirated goods took advantage of the void. Though slightly lower in quality, their prices were attractive, and they carved out a place for themselves in the market of that time.

Looking at today, related merchandise of Albatross remained hot on the secondhand market, and as out-of-print goods, their prices naturally remained high. Even obvious pirated items could sell for prices akin to financial investment products.

Albatross's most famous trait was her unique combat and movement style: as a firepower-focused magical girl with diverse magic, her flight capability was exceptionally outstanding, allowing her to hover in the air for long periods with extremely low mana consumption to obtain the optimal support field of vision.

Aerial hovering