The Villain Is Too Popular

Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Star Source's Choice... Vector Control



[System Notification: Audience emotional fluctuation value detected to have exceeded threshold. 'Severe Sweet Tooth Dependency' officially added to 'Character Setting: Tendo Simei'.]

[Popularity +2000 (Moved Bonus)]

"Hmm? So I can gain extra character settings this way?"

Tendo was surprised by the sudden system notification. He liked sweets for no complex reason; he just enjoyed snacking.

However, through this 'flashback,' the audience seemed to have interpreted his sweet tooth as a hidden, poignant detail. While it was a misunderstanding, it wasn't a bad one for Tendo.

Meanwhile, in the real world, as Tendo's memory fragment ended, the long-silent bullet comments suddenly erupted.

Mommy Fans:

'This child is so sensible, it breaks my heart.'

'Suggest renaming it: About My Waifu Being a Beautiful, Strong, and Tragic Character.'

'His left hand is still bleeding, but he's more concerned about the price of chocolate... Just kill me now.'

Appearance Fans:

'He was already this cool as a child?Tendo, you bastard...'

'These eyelashes! This tear mole! This is the magnificent face a protagonist should have!'

'A romance manga style in a hot-blooded manga (My art style... is above yours!)'

Casual Fans:

'Pain? There's no such word in Tendo Simei's dictionary! (Compared to a certain good-for-nothing who doesn't even dare to fight back when bullied).'

'Tendo: Three against one and you still got wiped out, do you even know how to play?!'

'If you eat more sweets, life won't be bitter. No wonder Tendo is a severe sweet tooth. I originally thought this was just an ordinary character setting, but now it seems there's a hidden sorrow here.'

'Tendo: You're just trying to get stronger, and I... I was born strong! (Record 3/0, verifiable).'

'Tendo Simei? Sweet till death!'

With the appearance of Tendo's memory interlude, his 'naturally strong' character setting became even more deeply ingrained in the audience's minds. This also made Tendo's suppression of Chen Xing in the plot seem more reasonable.

After all, Tendo was capable of single-handedly killing three mutated wolf beasts at the age of eight.

Although the current Prequel of the Stars: Embers had only aired two episodes, leaving the audience unaware of the strength level of these three exotic beasts, the audience could clearly see the difficulty of Tendo's feat by comparing his size to the mutated wolf beasts at that time.

However, this made Chen Kong's position as the protagonist in the first two episodes quite awkward. Without Tendo as a comparison, it wouldn't have been so bad. But once Chen Kong and Tendo were compared, Chen Kong's weakness became even more unacceptable to the audience.

But just as many seemingly weak protagonists in anime always have something extraordinary about them, Prequel of the Stars: Embers' second episode also hinted at this.

"For two years, he hasn't even been able to sense star energy. How can such trash..."

"Hey, hey, I can pretend I didn't hear the rest, but speaking of your own brother like that, isn't that a bit much?"

"Was I wrong?"

"Out of the 36 students in the Stars Project, he's the only one who hasn't even awakened his star core..."

"That's because his star core is special."

Hearing Tendo say that the protagonist Chen Kong's star core was special, the audience immediately smelled something amiss.

'Something's wrong, very wrong. I knew there was a reason why this gloomy guy could be the protagonist. He has a cheat!'

'So what if he has a cheat? With his personality, he's still trash even with a cheat.'

'Fake protagonist: Chen Kong, Real protagonist: Tendo Simei!'

Amidst the audience's discussions, the second episode of Prequel of the Stars: Embers finally concluded with Tendo and Chen Xing's bet and the appearance of Instructor Yun Meng.

At the same time, the audience also learned about the upcoming final assessment and its importance to the Stars Children from the earlier conversations.

Although the first two episodes of Prequel of the Stars: Embers didn't feature any explosive plotlines or dazzling visual effects, the incredibly high production quality and the vibrant, distinctive characters (except for the protagonist) still left the audience on Station 13 with strong anticipation for this new anime.

They looked forward to the so-called final assessment, wondering if Chen Kong would achieve a small-time character's reversal as they expected, changing everyone's perception of him.

Of course, what the audience anticipated the most was whether Tendo, this 'naturally strong' character, would continue to shine in the upcoming story as he did in the first two episodes.

After all, if he were to suddenly exit like a clown after two episodes of being 'cool,' it would undoubtedly be a character collapse.

But no matter what, judging by the audience's reaction to the first two episodes of Prequel of the Stars: Embers, Tendo's plan to dominate the popularity charts had undoubtedly achieved a perfect start.

This result was clearly reflected in his current popularity value and ranking.

[Name: Tendo Simei]

[Current Popularity Value: 1.2W]

[Current Popularity Ranking: First]

12,000 popularity points—this was the amount of popularity Tendo had gained after two episodes of Prequel of the Stars: Embers aired. Tendo couldn't judge whether this amount was high or low.

After all, he currently didn't know the actual viewership of Prequel of the Stars: Embers in the real world, nor how many people would choose to continue watching this interdimensional anime.

But putting aside the specific popularity value, just being ranked first on the current popularity list was enough to somewhat reassure Tendo that he wouldn't be forcibly written out of the story.

Furthermore, Tendo clearly remembered that as long as he ranked first on the popularity list by the end of the current season's broadcast, he would not only significantly increase his screen time in the next season and gain character promotion worth millions of popularity points, but also receive a one-time exclusive character story background modification privilege. While Tendo cared about the first two popularity rewards, they paled in comparison to the last one.

[Exclusive Character Story Background Modification Privilege: Can freely modify character background once, including adding specific exclusive stories and additionally adding up to one talent setting.]

In Tendo's own words, the 'background modification privilege' was an extra cheat. Because Tendo could, upon receiving this privilege, immediately add a BUG-level setting similar to 'innate combat talent maxed out.' This would greatly enhance his potential and further solidify his 'naturally strong' character setting.

However, Tendo had long since decided how to use this 'background modification privilege.' After all, what was the most important thing in the Stars world? This question was like asking what was the most important thing in One Piece. The answer was clear: the most important thing in the Stars world was the 'Star Source,' similar to the 'Devil Fruits.'

Why did Ember organize the final assessment, and why did they invite so many important figures? The reason was simply to allow all 36 Stars Children to obtain a Star Source suitable for them.

After all, relying solely on Ember's organization, they couldn't possibly provide 36 incredibly precious 'Star Sources,' nor could they ensure that all 36 Stars Children would receive a 'Star Source' highly compatible with their own Star Core.

Hence, the current final assessment and the presence of those important figures. The former was to select the most outstanding Stars Children in the Stars Project and give them the suitable Star Sources currently available within the organization, thus maximizing resource utilization.

The latter was to use the Stars Project as a 'carrot,' allowing the important figures to see the value of the plan and willingly join in, providing suitable 'Star Sources' for the remaining Stars Children.

After understanding the importance of the Star Source in the Stars world, Tendo naturally decided to use his precious future 'background modification privilege' on building his Star Source system, which meant setting an additional talent for himself.

After all, the Star Source he was about to choose was 'Vector Control,' a little-known special type of Star Source within the Ember organization. And if he wanted to unleash the full potential of 'Vector Control,' this special type of fruit, he would need a top-tier Machina-type talent: 'Hyper-computation.'

Because only when Tendo possessed both the Machina-type 'Hyper-computation' and the Stars Eye's star energy observation could he form a nearly invincible 'Vector System' that currently only existed in his imagination.

Tendo had already obtained the 'Stars Eye' and would soon acquire his desired Star Source, 'Vector Control,' after passing the final assessment. Thus, he was only missing 'Hyper-computation,' the final piece of the puzzle.

Once this piece was in place, Tendo would no longer just be 'naturally strong.' He would be a... truly strong individual living in the Stars world!


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