As the true "female lead" of the second season, Vivian's initial appearance was a spectacle that captivated audiences. Her strong personality, beautiful looks, and her unwavering pursuit of "justice" even while in darkness. One could say that Vivian possessed all the qualities of an excellent female lead, making her a perfect template for the genre in the eyes of most viewers.
But as the second season's plot progressed to the mid-to-late stages, her identity as a First-Order Starmancer proved to be especially awkward in front of the Stars of the Collective, who were all at least Second-Order and possessed a unique "Dual-Star System."
Not to mention that every one of the Stars of the Collective had undergone rigorous Starmancer training since childhood, their basic Star Energy values far exceeded those of an ordinary person, and they all had at least one "Outstanding Attribute" of A-rank or higher. Out of the 36 Stars of the Collective, even the lowest-ranked Chen Kong and Liu Ma could easily defeat Vivian, a "late-bloomer" female lead.
This undoubtedly limited the audience's acceptance of Vivian. In the eyes of the audience, female characters in the series, such as Chen Xing and Caroline, had to meet extremely high standards. The most important requirement was that they could not be a "trophy wife." And if she continued on her current trajectory, Vivian was bound to be left behind by the protagonist group in a very short amount of time, becoming a true burden.
Therefore, in order for Vivian to "reasonably" keep up with the protagonist group, the production team had to give her a "special advantage" that could rival the "Dual-Star System." This gave birth to a plotline in the original work called "The Forge." It was a special storyline where Vivian underwent a crucial "evolution," a trial by fire.
Tendo looked at Vivian inside the steam forge and at Chen Kong outside, who was doing everything he could to save her. He couldn't help but feel emotional. The production team of Stars really showed a malicious intent to "toy with fate" when it came to their protagonist, Chen Kong. Out of his inherent kindness and his desire to repay William's life-saving grace, Chen Kong gave it his all in the second half of the season.
But what was regrettable was that, both in the original work and now, this unlucky kid's actions were a failure. Because even if Tendo hadn't interfered, Vivian would have still been sent into this steam forge. The only difference was that in the original work, the people who appeared in the quantum space and sent her in were Bishop Cleve and Saintess Euphemia.
But just like a certain monkey who was thrown into a cauldron and forged into one with fiery golden eyes, Vivian was also "coincidentally" blessed by this misfortune. In the original work, she didn't die after entering the steam forge. Instead, she was tempered in the forge and gained a special innate ability—the "Seed of All Machinery."
Name: Seed of All Machinery
Effect 1. Soul of Machinery Containment: Can store the souls of machinery within one's own quantum space and dominate them to a certain extent (Current limit: 100)
Effect 2. Soul of Machinery Adaptation: When in contact with cybernetic equipment, can summon the souls of machinery in one's quantum space to descend upon the cybernetic machine, greatly enhancing the equipment's effectiveness (When certain conditions are met, can activate an "Overclocked" state)
Effect 3. Communication with All Machinery: Can establish a mental connection with any cybernetic machine, regardless of whether it has a soul of machinery, and communicate with it to a certain extent
Current Number of Contained Souls of Machinery: 85
If the greatest advantage of the Stars of the Collective was their unique "Dual-Star System," then the capital for Vivian's rise from being a "minor female lead" was this soon-to-be-acquired Seed of All Machinery.
This ability not only had the potential for infinite growth, similar to a "Thousand Soul Banner," but it also made Vivian the only Starmancer in the current Stars story to complete a unique "Soul of Machinery Transformation."
That's right. Most people, including Tendo himself, once thought that the cybernetic transformation in the Stars world only involved a Starmancer's physical body. But in reality, in a spiritualistic fantasy world like Stars, the soul was never a vague concept, and machines were not just cold, lifeless objects.
Therefore, a soul-level cybernetic transformation not only existed but was also the "path to divinity" that countless cybernetic Starmancers dreamed of. To put it simply, for a cybernetic Starmancer, their physical body was their "hardware," and their soul was the "system program" that ran that hardware.
For a truly powerful, high-level cybernetic Starmancer, they not only needed top-of-the-line hardware but also a high-level system that could perfectly drive that hardware. In this regard, Vivian's soul, which was about to be forged by the steam forge, was the perfect, acquired mechanical soul that countless cybernetic Starmancers had dreamed of, a soul that walked in the real world.
It was from this plotline onwards that Vivian, the minor female lead, truly gained the qualifications to compete on the Star-Dome Stairway in the third season's Martial-Arts Tournament with the Stars of the Collective and other prodigies from the New Federation.
However, Tendo went to such great lengths to help Vivian not out of any "gentleness" or "kindness." He had his own plan. He needed Vivian to absorb the energy of the steam forge to the fullest, until she had completely drained the last bit of residual heat from it.
Only then could he rightfully take this special quantum space and create the perfect technique he had envisioned countless times in his mind—the Purgatory Rashomon. Therefore, in a sense, the one preventing Vivian from moving towards a better tomorrow was not Tendo, but Chen Kong, who was outside.
One was doing a good deed with bad intentions, and the other was doing a bad deed with good intentions. Even Tendo himself found this reversal to be quite fascinating.
If Tendo's "Above the Heavens" only stayed as a behind-the-scenes manipulator and the final reveal of the truth, then his so-called "Above the Heavens" would just be a clumsy imitation of a classic anime plot from his previous life.
But if he were to add some "special things" into the process, everything would be different. Because his plan would have a brand new, stunning reversal.
For this, Tendo was willing to be briefly labeled as "cold-blooded," a "butcher," and someone "who would trample on others' lives for the sake of his plan." All for the true reversal that only the audience would know about in the end.
This "good intention" of Tendo's—his "gentleness" hidden behind his cold eyes—would make the audience truly feel his hidden kindness. It would make them feel like their favorite character was being misunderstood by the whole world, and only they, with their godlike perspective, could see and understand the truth.
This would be the completion of a "true fan purification."
Thinking of this, Tendo turned his head towards the direction Chen Xing was guarding and said something that the audience found to be intentional.
"Are they... here already?"
The moment Tendo finished speaking, a disturbance suddenly came from the distant quantum space. Soon after, a large number of Starmancers from the Steam Faction arrived in this special quantum space in their physical bodies, using a special method and without the "Quantum Key" as a medium.
And the first person to arrive among them was none other than the protagonist of Stars—Chen Kong.