The player stared at the dimmed screen and promptly tabbed out of the game.
Enough! No more today!
The monsters today were so bullshit that the player wanted to smash the keyboard. Why were there machine guns in the Academy? What the hell were those things?
The player opened Bilibili, and the first recommended video on the homepage was right in their face:
[In-depth analysis] What did the Lands Between's "little man"-Thops the "Graven Stone"-really represent?
The thumbnail was a screenshot of Thops sitting in a shabby room, with "Reform or revolution?" written beside him in stylized lettering.
The player said, "Whoa, even gaming uploaders are doing class analysis now?"
The player couldn't help clicking.
The video opened with an edited montage of Thops's cutscenes. The thin, bald man sat on a broken chair and said in a hoarse voice, ["I'm just a Graven Stone. I'm no threat."]
A wave of "Don't break my heart" and "Xiao Gao, you're heartless" scrolled across the screen.
The uploader's voice rang out:
"Has everyone noticed? Every ideological Rune in the game has a group and an ideology it represents. And their owners each have their own mistakes."
"Today, we're going to discuss the story of Thops the 'Graven Stone.'"
The player adjusted their posture and tilted the chair back a little.
"Thops is the 'smallest' hero in the game. He has none of Godwyn's grand ambitions, none of Radahn's martial might, none of Mohg's tragic heroism, not even Rykard's carefree flair. He's just an ordinary person who was crushed, crawled up out of the ruins, and did something he could do."
"But that is precisely where his significance lies."
The scene cut to a distant view of the True Magic Academy, the enormous complex floating above the lake gleaming coldly in the moonlight.