["Prequel of the Stars: Embers" Season One Playback Concluded]
[Season Playback Settlement Initiated, Popularity Ranking Calculating…]
[Anime Character: Tendo Simei, Season Popularity Ranking Settled as… NO.1]
[Your Rewards are as follows:]
[1. Guaranteed 35% minimum screen time in the next season.]
[2. One character promotion worth 1 million popularity points.]
[3. One exclusive character background modification privilege.]
A clear system prompt echoed in Tendo's mind, and he slowly opened his eyes.
Tendo looked around and quickly noticed something amiss.
Though he was still in the familiar Quantum Core Control Room, the control platform, which should have been continuously flashing indicator lights, now seemed to be frozen, as if something had pressed a pause button, completely still on a specific scene.
At the same time, Tendo also realized he was in a state similar to an 'out-of-body experience'.
Not only could he see his own body within the computational cabin, but he also saw the nearby world, black-and-white and motionless.
[System Prompt: You are currently in Creator Mode. You can move freely within the designated area and are not subject to any time constraints. When you choose to end Creator Mode, your consciousness will formally return to the anime world, and time will resume.]
Seeing the system prompt, Tendo immediately understood.
Since time was no longer a concern, Tendo unhurriedly began to examine his own panel.
[Name: Tendo Simei (Star Envoy Association – A-Rank Fugitive)]
[Age: 13]
[Level: Level One Star Envoy]
[Basic Star Energy Value: 999 (Maxed)]
[Star Source: Vector Control (Development: 100% - Awakening conditions not yet met)]
[Star Core: Star Eclipse Heaven's Eye (Awakening)]
[Attributes: Strength S, Agility S, Spirit S, Constitution S]
[Skills: …]
[Current Popularity Points: 3.4 million]
[Popularity Points Loaned: 1 million (Maxed)]
'Star Envoy Association A-Rank Fugitive?'
So, even though he had been buried with Ember, it seemed the Star Envoy Association hadn't found his body.
As a result, the Association didn't consider him, the one who had killed numerous Association Star Envoys, as dead, but rather as 'missing'.
And so, they issued a 'wanted order' for him throughout the entire Federation.
Honestly, this A-rank fugitive status really solidified his role as a Stars villain.
However, Tendo wasn't too concerned about being wanted or not.
Because he never intended to appear openly in the second season.
At least until he reached 'Level 3', he wouldn't consider showing himself easily in public.
After all, the Children of Stars below him were already enough to shock various Star Envoy organizations.
If he, the NO.1 of Stars, were to be exposed to the public eye too early, he couldn't even imagine how complicated and troublesome things would become.
However, not easily revealing his identity didn't mean Tendo had to be low-key.
As a popularity specialist, Tendo could accept anything except being low-key!
Therefore, although he hadn't yet redeemed the original content of "Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer", he already had a rough idea and plan in mind.
And the name of this plan was—[Above the Heavens].
Of course, as for the specific popularity-plundering content of [Above the Heavens], Tendo currently only had a rough direction and framework.
The detailed plan would require him to read "Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer" before he could make a decision.
Thinking of this, Tendo immediately took out one million popularity points and repaid his system loan.
[Ding! 'Popularity-Pay' has received your popularity repayment. Given your excellent popularity credit and your top ranking in the season's popularity settlement, 'Popularity-Pay' is re-evaluating your popularity loan limit…]
[Evaluation complete. Your current single-season popularity loan limit is 5 million.]
Oh? A windfall from the sky?
The limit increased so much.
Tendo was quite surprised, looking at his suddenly much higher 'Popularity-Pay limit'.
He had worked tirelessly for a whole season, and at most, he had only earned three to four million popularity points.
While this was also due to "Prequel of the Stars: Embers" having just started airing, with its fame and fan base not yet fully established, it was enough to show how difficult it was to earn 'popularity points'.
As for how to spend this popularity limit and how much to spend, Tendo decided to wait until he finished reading the original plot of "Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer".
After all, this money had to be spent where it mattered most to maximize profit!
Although his unexpected appearance had caused quite a few plot changes in the first season, which would then affect the subsequent second season, resulting in the actual content of "Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer" Season Two inevitably having many discrepancies from the original plot.
Even so, Tendo still decided to redeem the original plot without hesitation.
No other reason than that the original plot, besides letting him know the general direction of the story, could also let him know some hidden settings of "Prequel of the Stars: Embers" in advance.
For instance, what exactly the Twelve Miracle Stones represented.
Or where the legendary Seven Floating Cities were located, what the situation was like inside them, and if there were any loopholes he could exploit.
Therefore, no matter how much the actual Season Two plot changed, he was absolutely buying this Season Two original script!
[You have purchased all episodes of "Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer". You can watch them at any time.]
After spending a hefty 500,000 popularity points, Tendo immediately began to seriously watch "Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer", and not just once or twice.
He watched it repeatedly many times.
Finally, after a relatively long period of time, Tendo finished watching all the content of "Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer".
"Whew."
Tendo let out a long breath.
Although he was still in a special out-of-body state, the prolonged viewing still left him a bit fatigued, and he instinctively stretched.
At the same time, he was also somewhat surprised by the original content of
"Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer".
He had originally thought that the main plot of 'Glimmer' would revolve around Chen Kong, creating a traditional anime story about a weakling rising to power.
He never expected the Stars production team to be much more in tune with contemporary trends than he thought.
A weakling rising to power?
No such thing!
"Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer" was clearly a thrilling story about a super-powerful protagonist returning to the city and pretending to be weak while secretly dominating!
If one hadn't watched Season One of "Prequel of the Stars: Ember" and directly watched Season Two of "Prequel of the Stars: Glimmer", who would have thought that Chen Kong, who acted meek in daily life but constantly slaughtered his opponents at critical moments in Season Two, would be the bottom-ranked, always-hiding-behind-others character in Season One?
This truly affirmed the saying: it wasn't that Kong was weak; it was just that everyone else in Stars was too strong.
And looking at Chen Kong, who successfully obtained the 'Miracle Stone: Law' in the final episode of the second season, a slightly 'evil' thought began to slowly sprout in Tendo's mind.
A moment later, Tendo, in his soul state, adjusted his non-existent sunglasses and said meaningfully, "Kong, this second season... it really was a feast for you, kid."
"But the [Miracle Stone: Law], such a good item that allows for 'words becoming reality', I feel you can't grasp it for now. How about you let me keep it for you first?"
"Don't worry, brother's just keeping it safe for you. When you need it later, I'll give it back to you, no tricks, I promise."
With this idea in mind, Tendo immediately began to refine his 'popularity-plundering plan' for the second season.
In the process, he continuously estimated the 'enemy strength', 'enemy numbers', and 'unexpected plot twists' that might occur in the second season.
A moment later, Tendo finally finalized all the details.
"Done!"
[New Plan: Above the Heavens]
[Tentative Goal: Seize the 'Miracle Stone: Law']
With the plan complete, Tendo then began to work on another matter he had long since planned.
That was to use his reward for being the most popular character of the season—the exclusive character background modification privilege.
And through this, he would gain a special talent exclusive to automatons… Overclocked Computation.