Tears of Themis – Romantic Rail Getaway (I) Marius’ Route

This event starts from 12th November and will last till 28th November and will be split over two parts. Part 1 of your adventure railroad trip will be accompanied by Luke to the vast Amma Savanna or Marius to the lush Imana Rainforest. You can choose to start on either route first but completing both will earn you the Romantic Rail Badge and other S-chips rewards. Completing the respective route also entitles you to buy their dynamic invitations at a discounted price of S$16.98 instead of S$21.98 to deck up your home screen.

Unlike other events where you get to interact with all the four characters either as a teambuilding event or NXX case, the content in this fully voiced event will focus on you going on a trip with just one of them. Your relationship with them has certainly progressed much in this last 100 days! Once you’ve chosen a route, you cannot switch until you completed the current route you’re on. Each trip spans over 5 days, with new content released daily. Each day contains 6 parts, during which you perform debate battles with irresponsible tourists, touts and unreasonable tour operators, so be prepared to consume quite a bit of AP. You can only use Luke or Marius’ cards for these battles.

There are also event-limited visions and naturally they will only comprise these two guys. I only have enough S-chips to only make a maximum of 60 rolls at this point so I really hope I will be able to get Marius’ SSR with this… Well I did get a SSR card after 30 pulls but I got Luke instead. I’m trying hard not to be disappointed for the sake of Luke stans… I guess I’ll go on the trip with Marius another time. =(

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12 Nov – Day 1 Shanya Resort – Indigenous Arts Area – Rainforest Food Court – Rainforest EcoPark (Power level 22051)

You’re on long leave so Marius propose that you join him on a rail travel tour to Tambyani, a small developing country located in the tropics, near the equator. (This is not a real place but I believe it’s loosely based off a country in Africa.) This will be a first-rate, high-end, self-service luxury tour put together by Pax president himself. Actually it’s a work trip as Pax is investing to develop a nature reserve in the Imana Rainforest and would like to go visit the place himself. What’s more his team had also discovered a rare plant with medicinal value known as parrot flowers.

After private jetting off from Stellis City to Tambyani, you arrive at the railway station awaiting your train which will bring you to your first stop of Shanya to meet the local Pax representative. Marius checks in with you on your preferred menu for lunch – western buffet or local specialties which you read includes an assortment of bugs. I picked the latter of course since I’m an avid traveller myself. I guess even though I won’t be able to leave this country this year, I can try and let this capture my imagination.

Upon arrival at Shanya, you are greeted by Akha, a local rainforest expert that Pax hired to take charge of the Rainforest Program. The purpose of the project is boost the rainforest economy through sustainable tourism while conserving the native ecology. The discovery of the parrot flowers was particularly exciting as they thought it had gone extinct after rampant theft. You hope to be able to catch of a glimpse of these rare flowers during your trip.

Akha accompanies both of you to the beach. He explains that it is an artificial beach build especially to attract visitors. He shared you can also consider visiting the Rainforest EcoPark, a microcosm of the Imana Rainforest, and the Indigenous Arts Museum which displays excavated works of the ancient people as well as modern handicraft of the local people. He also recommended local specialties like coconut friend shrimp and hearts of palm salad – a dish cooked with the core of a palm fruit with olive oil and fish. (Mihoyo certainly put a lot of effort into creating their own in-game food!). Sadly he has to return to the resort for work so Marius and you visited these attractions without him.

You ended your first day with a stroll in the resort’s rainforest ecological park. Marius shared that the Imana Rainforest is known as the green pearl of Tambyani and is the most beautiful place in the country. When you asked if this was a big investment that he had to come personally, Marius admitted that he just wanted to create a fun holiday with you. You chided him for his playfulness and how he is opening himself to be scolded by his board when he returns.

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13 Nov – Day 2 Mangrove Park (Power level 23588)

The next day you head to the mangrove park with Marius. You decided to try out the canoeing and ziplining activities. After getting information on those, the tour guide also suggested checking out the Enchanted Trail where the mangrove trees were specially grown to given a fairy tale feel, and the Root Carving Art Museum which houses over 100 root carvings by local artists and conducts such workshops for tourists. Another special experience to consider is the mangrove worm barbeque, which Marius seemed to be particularly interested in.

After completing your tour of the Enchanted Trail and the Root Carving Art Museum, both of you headed towards the canoeing starting point. However you were held back when a sudden plume of smoke burst out in front of you. After informing the staff of a suspected fire, both of you ventured forward to investigate the cause. You spotted a group of indigenous people cutting down and burning the mangrove trees. You tried to reason with them to stop but they refused, instead telling you, as an outsider, to stay out of their business.

While trying to stall for time, you engaged in a conversation with the group leader. He told you it was a waste to leave the mangrove park as it is as the land could be better used to cultivate and grow parrot flowers. He said that eating its petals would cure one of all their disease and grant lifelong health. When Marius expressed interest in trying the flowers, the leader offered to bring him to their own flower field. Before long, the staff whom you had contacted arrived to put a stop to their actions, much to the leader’s annoyance.

Having settled the matter with the fire, both of you were no longer in the mood for fun, opting to sit down and have a quick bite by the river instead. You are concerned that despite stopping the group today, there is nothing you can do to prevent them from returning another time. What’s more, as the economy is still developing, these people could have thought that growing parrot flowers would be a means to pay for their livelihood, ignoring the long term effects of deforestation on the environment. Marius suggested visiting the parrot flower field when the train passes by Imana Rainforest Village the next day.

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14 Nov – Day 3 Imana Rainforest Village (Power level 24984)

Finally after braving multiple debate battles with unreasonable tourists (some of these battles seem to suggest how righteous and quarrelsome the MC is though), you finally arrive at the Rainforest Village. You were surprised to see Akha in a heated debate with the village leader, trying to convince the latter that the flowers they are growing are not parrot flowers. The leader on the other hand refused to listen as he thinks Akha is trying to destroy their only means to earn a living (enters Marius with his deep pockets. Though he might just say, what, I don’t solve all my problems with money…)

When Akha notices both of you, you asked him about his presence in the village. He explained that a colleague from Shanya had asked him to come to the village to investigate some vines they had discovered. Upon arriving, they were horrified to see that the villagers had already hacked away at the vines which were marked for research. He added that the flowers they are growing is called the parrot plant and holds no medicinal value. What’s worse is that they are indiscriminately clearing the forest just to grow these flowers.

While mulling over the dilemma at a campfire that evening, Marius speaks.

“This cycle will keep continuing unless we find a more lucrative and environmentally sustainable solution… I saw this quote on a lunar calendar once ‘if a problem can be solved with money, then it isn’t a problem.’ Everything’s fixed if we just think of a way to help them make more money, right?”

Marius suggested checking out the Pax Biological Research Station at the next train stop out of Napo Jungle the following day. He wanted to see for himself how valuable these parrot flowers are, before putting into action a plan that could be both economically and environmentally sustainable for the local people.

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15 Nov – Day 4 Napo Jungle – Napo Indigenous Village – Napo Bio-Research Station (Power level 25964)

The next day, Marius arranges for a visit to the research station at Napo Jungle. You were greeted by Leyla, one of Pax’s researcher. She updated that they had recently conducted a successful experiment to germinate and grow parrot flowers. As you walk along with her, Leyla shared that there is an indigenous village in the southern part of the jungle with interesting traditional customs – such as drinking juice of a sour fruit and fish catching, both of which were activities designed to seek deities’ blessings. She also shared one of their delicious local delicacy is pork wrapped in banana leaf and roasted over charcoal fire.

After passing through the village, you finally arrive at the research station. Leyla shows you the plot of land where young shoots can be seen. She explains that these are experimental efforts to grow the parrot flowers using stem cuttings of the original plant. To successfully germinate the plant, certain conditions need to be met and it would thus be possible to grow them at scale, with the help of an improved nutrient solution that would improve the efficiency in growing these flowers. Based on their studies, parrot flowers have an alkaloid that has antagonistic effect against autoimmune diseases, which would prove to have economic value when produced en masse.

With the information on hand, it helped to put the finishing touches to Marius’ Project Growth Support. Just then, the indigenous people returned again to pester the research team to give them seeds of the parrot flowers. Marius smirks with confidence as he prepares to deliver his speech. The leader was initially skeptical upon hearing Marius’ proposal to support their efforts to grow parrot flowers.

“Well… I should probably talk about things like environmental protection and preserving ecological balance. But I’m too lazy to talk about such serious topics. I just want to tell you all one thing… It’s not wrong for us to want to live a good life, but we need to work together to leave something for future generations, too.”

His plan is simple – to combine local know-how with modern science to grow parrot flowers more effectively. After some discussion amongst themselves, the leader agrees to trust Marius. He hands the discussions off to the research station head then turns to you fishing for praise and compliment. Despite your attempts to reward him, he finally settles for you to try a local specialty with him – fried fish with grilled ant sauce. The ants used are native to Napo Jungle and supposedly tastes like ginger and lemongrass… Sure, if that’s all you want Mr. CEO.

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16 Nov – Day 5 Rainforest Reserve (Power level 25964)

On the final day of your trip, the train pulls up at the rainforest reserve. Marius introduces the place with much familiarity as both of you walk. This reserve was built by Pax about 6-7 years ago. It is a smaller scale version of the one Pax is building but nonetheless still houses 400 species of rare plants. This reserve’s focus is on academic and scientific research, while the new project would be focused on ecotourism. Marius hopes to make these reserves the best in the world.

When Marius boasts about his knowledge of the reserve, you could not resist asking him to introduce you the different species of plants in the reserve. He quickly sidesteps the question saying it is best to leave those to the professionals. <grin>

Though you meant it as a joke, Marius took your request seriously and pulled a professional to answer your questions. You asked about the blue-winged butterflies you saw in the reserve. The staff explained that they are called Menelaus blue morpho and it is precisely because of their wings that almost got them endangered. You also showed him photos of some monkeys you took and he explained that they were spider monkeys, aptly named by their long spindly limbs. When you asked about the flowers growing in the reserve, the staff explained that the Purple Joy water lily is probably the most beautiful one, but they only bloom 7 days during summer. Your line of questioning continued and the local staff answered them all patiently.

After that Marius leads you away from the main path into the depths of the rainforest reserve where soon the only footsteps that could be heard belonged to both of you. Marius shares that he wants to bring you to the experimental growing area of the reserve which is a restricted zone. At the end of journey, Marius presents you the lone tree with the rare parrot flowers in bloom. You take in its beauty as Marius shares his vision to make parrot flowers more easily accessible to everyone, so that they can learn to appreciate and invest in the beauty of the rainforest.

As you tried to take a photo of the parrot flowers, you realised that Marius was sneaking a photo of you. In retaliation, you decided to snap a shot of him first. After he saw your handiwork, he decided to pay you back by taking a shot of you near the parrot flowers. The happy memories created with Marius on this trip with always be etched in your memories. How not to love a guy who loves nature and wants to do his best to live it with in a sustainable way. It was interesting that Mihoyo built a motion sensor into the gameplay requiring you to fan the polaroid, thus turning it into your free R card.