Kongwai Tao

Kongwai Tao (コンウェイ・タオ) is a newly-introduced character in Tales of Innocence R. He claims to have come from another world for the salvation of two souls in this world.

History
In the world to which Kongwai and QQ Selezneva belongs, the adventure of Ruca Milda is well known as a legend. It is believed, however, that the world to which Ruca belongs actually exists. Many have attempted traveling to this world, but no one ever came back. Kongwai and QQ later become the first to return to this world alive.

Naturally, Kongwai had already known all about the journey he would take along with Ruca and the others. Yet he neither reveals this to them nor interferes in the outcomes of the events that are sure to happen. His only aim in this journey is to salve, or rather, to obtain two souls which turn out to be that of Chitose's and Hasta's.

Kongwai is first seen in the very beginning of the game when Ruca bumps into him in Regnum, the Imperial Capital. He briefly introduces himself and talks about his objective to salve two souls, although Ruca does not understand what he is saying. He says that Ruca's soul is not one of them and leaves. Later in the game, he saves Ruca's party from a monster in the Forest of Grief and joins them after the battle, offering to help them in their journey afterwards. At the end of the game, Kongwai, having obtained the souls he wanted, leaves the party without informing them and returns to his world. No explanation for his objective has been given in the game, but it is hinted that the players can wait until the next re-imagination of a previous game to find out the truth.

Appearance and Personality
Kongwai has a rather feminine look that frequently gets himself mistaken for a female, which he utterly hates. He never hesitates to punish whoever it is that confuses his gender, even it is one of the party members. Apart from these outbursts he is usually calm and quiet and speaks in a gentle and deliberate way. But he also has a calculative nature that is revealed in the talks he holds with QQ in the Triverse language that none other but the two understands. Throughout the journey, he only voluntarily involves himself in the events when his sole aim is concerned.

Fighting Style
Kongwai is a pure offensive mage who doesn't have a single arte or healing spell. He uses a book as his weapon, but he doesn't deal damage with the book itself. For his normal attacks he generates energy that takes the shape of swords or spears around where the enemy stands and then penetrates them with it. This virtually gives him a limitless normal attack range that is never seen before in the series.

Kongwai is also the first mage in the series to possess the learning system that enables him to learn spells from enemies simply by getting hit by the spell for once. Thanks to this system, he is able to master almost all the offensive spells in the game. Apart from the spells learned in this way, he gets several of his own ones as he upgrades.

Relationships
Considering himself an outsider, Kongwai seldom interacts with other members of the party except QQ, with whom he shares a seemingly friendly relationship just like everybody else. In fact, when their talks in the Triverse language are translated into Japanese in the second playthrough of the game, it is shown that strong enmity exists between the two, who belong respectively to two countries that are at war with each other back in their own world. Possessing sufficient knowledge of Ruca's world, Kongwai is usually the more confident of the two.

Before returning to their own world, Kongwai declares the end of the 'friendship game' with QQ, to which the latter responds with a resolution to kill him the next time they meet.

Other Appearances
Kongwai hasn't appeared in any other Tales games yet, for he is in one of the latest. It is heavily implied though that he will make an appearance in the next re-imagination of a previous game with more of his stories told.

Trivia

 * Kongwai remarks sometimes in the game that things are going a little differently from how he knew they would. This may refer to the differences between the remake and the original version of Tales of Innocence.
 * Kongwai is extremely fond of cats. Quite a few of his sub events concern cats, from which he eventually receives a present.