Chapter 99: No.1 in Popularity!

Chapter 99: No.1 in Popularity!

【Stellaris: Embers Season 1 has finished airing】

【Season 1 settlement begins. Calculating popularity rankings…】

【Series Character · Masamune Tendou — Season 1 popularity rank: NO.1】

【Rewards obtained:】

【1. Guaranteed 35% minimum screen time next season】

【2. 1,000,000 bonus popularity points for character promotion】

【3. One chance to rewrite personal backstory】

As a crisp system notification sounded in Tendou’s mind, he slowly opened his eyes.

He swept his gaze around, quickly noticing that something was off.

Although he was still inside the familiar Quantum Central Control Room, the control platform not far away—where indicator lights should have been flashing nonstop—looked as though someone had pressed a pause button, completely frozen on a single frame.

At the same time, Tendou realized he seemed to be in a state similar to an “out-of-body experience.”

Because not only could he see his physical body inside the computation pod, he could also see the surrounding world—grayscale and utterly motionless.

【System Notice: You are currently in Creator Mode. Within the permitted range, you may move freely and are not subject to any time restrictions. When you choose to end Creator Mode, your consciousness will officially return to the series world, and time will—】

Seeing the system message, Tendou immediately understood.

Since there was no longer any concern about time, he leisurely opened his status panel.

【Name: Masamune Tendou (Starbearer Association · A-Class Wanted Criminal)】

【Age: 13】

【Rank: First Order】

【Base Star Energy: 999 (Cap Reached)】

【Star Origin: Vector Control (Development 100% · Awakening Conditions Not Yet Met)】

【Star Core: Star-Eclipse Eye (Awakening in Progress)】

【Attributes: Strength S, Agility S, Spirit S, Constitution S】

【Skills: …】

【Current Popularity Points: 3.4 million】

【Loaned Popularity Points: 1,000,000 (Maxed Out)】

An A-Class wanted criminal of the Starbearer Association?

So even though he’d gone down together with Embers, because the Starbearer Association never found his body, they hadn’t classified him as dead—but as missing.

As a result, the Association issued a full-scale wanted order for him across the entire Federation.

Honestly speaking, this A-Class wanted status only made his position as a Stellaris villain more and more solid.

That said, Tendou didn’t really care about being wanted.

Because he had no intention of appearing openly in Season 2 anyway.

At least until he reached the Third Order, he had no plans to show up publicly.

After all, the Children of the Stars ranked below him were already enough to shock major Starbearer organizations.

If he—the Children of the Stars, Sequence 001—were to expose himself too early to the public eye, he didn’t even dare imagine how complicated and troublesome things would become.

But not revealing himself didn’t mean Tendou had to keep a low profile.

As a born popularity magnet, Tendou could accept anything—except being low-key!

So even though he hadn’t yet redeemed the original content of Stellaris: Glimmer, he already had a rough idea and plan in mind.

And the name of that plan was—

【Above the Firmament】.

Of course, as for the specific popularity-harvesting details of Above the Firmament, Tendou only had a general direction and framework for now.

The detailed execution would have to wait until after he finished watching Stellaris: Glimmer.

Thinking of this, Tendou immediately took out one million popularity points and paid off his popularity debt to the system.

Ding!

【“Popularity Credit” has received your popularity repayment. In light of your excellent popularity credit record, as well as your first-place ranking in the Season 1 popularity settlement, “Popularity Credit” is re-evaluating your popularity loan limit…】

【Evaluation complete. Your current popularity loan limit is: 5,000,000】

【Loaned Popularity Points: 0 (Limit: 5,000,000)】

Oh? A free pie falling from the sky?

Seeing his suddenly and dramatically increased Popularity Credit limit, Tendou was genuinely surprised.

After all, even if he worked himself to the bone acting for an entire season, at best he’d only earned around three to four million popularity points.

Granted, part of that was because Stellaris had only just begun airing—its reputation and fanbase hadn’t fully taken shape yet.

But that alone was enough to show just how difficult popularity points were to come by.

As for how to spend this popularity credit, and how much to spend, Tendou decided to wait until after finishing the original story of Stellaris: Glimmer before making any decisions.

After all, money had to be spent where it mattered most if he wanted to maximize returns!

Although his unexpected involvement had caused many plot changes in Season 1—which would inevitably affect Season 2 and lead to significant deviations from the original Stellaris: Glimmer storyline—even so, Tendou still chose to redeem the original story without hesitation.

There was no other reason than this:

Aside from letting him grasp the general direction of the plot, the original story would also allow him to learn certain hidden settings of Stellaris ahead of time.

For example, what exactly each of the twelve Miraculous Stones represented.

Or where the legendary Seven Floating Cities were located, what their internal situations were like, and whether there were any loopholes he could exploit.

Therefore, no matter how much the actual Season 2 storyline might diverge—this original Season 2 script… he was definitely buying it!

【You have purchased all episodes of Stellaris: Glimmer. You may view them at any time.】

After spending a massive 500,000 popularity points, Tendou immediately began watching Stellaris: Glimmer in earnest—and not just once or twice.

He watched it over and over again.

Finally, after a relatively long stretch of time had passed, Tendou finished consuming the entirety of Stellaris: Glimmer.

“Hoo…”

Tendou let out a long breath.

Although he was still in that special out-of-body state, watching for such a long time still left him feeling a bit tired. 

He subconsciously stretched.

At the same time, he found himself somewhat surprised by the original content of Stellaris: Glimmer.

Because he had originally assumed that Glimmer’s main storyline would revolve around Chen Kong, building a classic “trash-to-hero” underdog narrative.

Who would have thought that the Stellaris production team was far better at following modern trends than he’d expected?

Underdog comeback?

Doesn’t exist!

Stellaris: Glimmer was blatantly a wish-fulfillment story about an overpowered protagonist returning to the city!

If someone hadn’t watched Season 1, Stellaris: Embers, and jumped straight into Season 2, Stellaris: Glimmer—who would ever guess that Chen Kong, the guy casually hiding his strength in daily life and slaughtering enemies when it really mattered, was once the dead-last Children of the Stars ranked who could only hide behind others in Season 1?

It really fit that old saying perfectly:

It wasn’t that Chen Kong was weak, it was just that everyone else was too strong.

And as Tendou looked at Chen Kong in the final episode of Season 2, successfully obtaining the Law Miraculous Stone, a slightly “evil” thought slowly began to sprout in his mind.

A moment later, Tendou—still in soul form—pushed up a pair of nonexistent sunglasses and said meaningfully,

“Kong, this second season really let you feast, huh.”

“But something like the Law Miraculous Stone, a treasure that basically lets you bend reality with your words… I don’t think you can quite handle it yet.”

“So how about you hand it over to your big bro for safekeeping first?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll just hold onto it for you. When you need it later, I’ll give it back—guaranteed, no lies.”

With that thought in mind, Tendou immediately began refining his Season 2 popularity-harvesting plan.

In the process, he continuously estimated the potential strength of enemies, number of enemies, and any possible unexpected plot twists he might face in the second season.

Before long, Tendou had finalized every detail.

“Done!”

【New Plan: Above the Firmament】

【Tentative Objective: Seize the ‘Law Miraculous Stone’】

With the plan complete, Tendou moved on to another matter he had long since prepared for.

That was using his reward for ranking first in Season 1 popularity—the right to rewrite his personal backstory.

And through it, he intended to obtain a special talent exclusive to Machina Type Starbearer:

Overclocked Computation.

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