The reason Su Zhou didn’t imdiately choose to ascend to the Extraordinary Level was because he knew the Spiritual Power anomaly from his advancent had a high probability of... no, would *definitely* be discovered by others, especially the Zhengguo Governnt.
The Spiritual Qi fluctuations from his initial Awakening had caused the Dragon Species of an entire city to flee in disarray and driven away all Spirits within a one-kiloter radius.
If he ascended again, heaven knew how large the affected area would be. Within the city, at the very least, it would definitely affect the ordinary people around him, just as his Cultivation in the school’s Spiritual Energy Class had affected his classmates.
Especially now that the Spiritual Energy Revival had begun, many Daoist Techniques and Spiritual Artifacts were usable. It was probably fine for anyone below the Extraordinary Level, but the ergence of a brand-new Extraordinary Level being was major news for all the world’s great powers. Su Zhou was certain that within three minutes of his breakthrough to the Extraordinary Level, Transcendents from the Zhengguo Governnt would descend from the heavens. Within an hour, he might even be granted an audience with the Saints—or be completely surrounded by helicopters and ground troops within half an hour.
’So, rather than trying to ascend in secret, I’m better off reaching the Extraordinary Level in full public view.’
Su Zhou wasn’t entirely sure how the Zhengguo Governnt would react. After all, he was just a student who had turned eighteen not long ago. His birthday gifts had been a new phone and a complete hardcover set of the *Zizhi Tongjian*—it even had vertical typesetting, which made his eyes swim just looking at it.
’Rather than trying to guess the governnt’s reaction, it’s better to play it safe.’
’So professors from the Academy previously let it slip that before the Spring Festival, all students of the right age will have to take a large-scale aptitude test. It’s supposed to be a warm-up for the Holy Ascension Selection Test.’
Taking a strawberry sundae (422 kcal) from the refrigerator, Su Zhou wore a look of pure bliss. After taking a satisfying lick, he exclaid, "Eating ice cream on a snowy day—now *this* is living!" He then held up the cup, letting Yara have a comfortable lick as well. "But if you ask ," he said, "cocoa-flavored ice cream is still the best."
"They’re all good, all good. Anything but durian is fine."
Bantering with the Snake Spirit, he unlocked his phone with one hand and skillfully typed out a series of words and numbers that only he could understand into a docunt. ’During the school-wide exam,’ Su Zhou thought, ’I’ll reveal my aptitude and then break through to the Extraordinary Level. That will definitely count as being in the public eye. Not only is the danger minimal, but I might even get an admission exemption straight into the Extraordinary Academy.’
’Before that, I just need to forge an alibi and conceal the true nature of my abilities. For example, I’ll use my Thunder Technique when I take out the head of the Ghost Witch Family, but I’ll demonstrate Fire Spiritual Power and Dragon Blood during the test.’
’That way, as long as I don’t leave any traces, the plan will be flawless. No one will ever suspect !’
After so thought, Su Zhou felt the plan was basically flawless. There might be so minor loopholes, but they were inconsequential—as long as he could quickly take out the targets he needed to, without getting bogged down and surrounded by the governnt’s Transcendents.
Of course, there were risks, but Su Zhou had faith in his own abilities.
’As for right now, I just got back from the Otherworld. No need to rush. I’ll take a day off to rest!’
With that, Su Zhou humd a little tune, closed the docunt, and casually tapped on a forum app. ’Let’s see what kind of nonsense the internet trolls are spouting today!’
And just as Su Zhou, with a great cry in his living room, summoned his keyboard and reascended to the realm of internet giants...
「December 7, 2014. 11:27 AM, Fusang Ti.」
In a ga studio in Fusang East Capital, a slightly chubby, middle-aged man holding a manga was dozing in a massage chair.
The man had a slightly receding hairline and wore a pair of black-rimd glasses. The manga in his hands was *Sword Wind Legend*. A naplate on the studio door revealed his identity.
—Gong Qiying the Second.
Internationally renowned ga producer, Creator of the Dark Wolf series, the enemy of all gars, insidious, cunning, the old scoundrel...
He had countless nicknas, but they all boiled down to a few core concepts, from which even a total layman could understand one thing: the gas he made were *hard*.
Ever since AI-assisted programming systems appeared six years ago, ga developnt no longer required such large teams. The R&D process sped up dramatically, to the point where even a single person could create their own indie ga if they were willing to put in the ti.
For a while, the world was swept up in a video ga boom. Many large ga companies—like a certain one, EA, for example—were shattered by the disruption, with their various subsidiary studios breaking off to beco independent.
But the quality of these indie gas varied wildly. In fact, it could be said that the vast majority were utter garbage, with only a tiny fraction deserving to be called excellent. The video ga boom was followed by a great industry depression, a market flooded with shovelware where good gas were hard to find.
Gong Qiying the Second’s team, however, was one of the well-known studios that had weathered those difficult years, their reputation tried and proven.
Early this year, the sixth installnt of the Dark Wolf series, *Undying Benevolent King*, based on the history of ancient Fusang, was released. It sold like hotcakes, as expected, drawing rave reviews from players both at ho and abroad. Even the notoriously stingy ga-rating organizations generously gave it exceptionally high scores.
Gong Qiying the Second was, of course, quite satisfied with this. But it is difficult for a ga producer to rest on their laurels. All creators have sothing in their hearts they want to express, a world they want to paint for others to see—and he was a master of the craft.
The release of *Undying Benevolent King* sent the entire company and studio into several days of wild celebration. But soon enough, everyone, including Gong Qiying the Second, was back to the intense process of planning and discussing a new ga.
One group suggested putting the Dark Wolf series on hold for a while. They could keep up with the tis and create a modern, urban ga related to the ’Spiritual Energy Revival.’
Another group felt that the Spiritual Energy Revival had only just begun. Blindly chasing the hot new trend could make them miss the mark on where things were really headed. They argued that they should wait until the global player base had fully accepted the reality of the Spiritual Energy Revival before they could create the best and most authentic work.
Until then, they might as well continue to enrich the world of Dark Wolf and milk the series’ fans for a little more cash.
Of course, as the head of the studio, Gong Qiying the Second’s own opinion was the most important. And he himself was actually quite torn.
Originally, Gong Qiying the Second had been leaning toward a new ga in the Spiritual Energy Revival vein. It wasn’t really about chasing a hot topic; it was because they had never actually made a ga with a modern setting. It would be novel and challenging. Even if it turned out poorly, it would serve as a learning experience and build up a reserve of art assets to pave the way for future gas—they had the capital to take that kind of risk.
That was what he thought, but he hadn’t voiced his opinion in the eting, preferring to let the two sides continue their discussion. After all, many of the world’s best ideas only began to sparkle after being shaped by opposition and support.
But today, for so unknown reason, the dozing Gong Qiying the Second’s eyes suddenly snapped open. He shot up from the massage chair, his eyes shining with a brilliant light of inspiration!
"I’ve got it! I’ve got it! This is the feeling!"
At that mont, a ceaseless torrent of inspiration was bursting forth in his mind, as if the information of an entire world were impatiently waiting to erupt!
"eting, eting!"
He put down his manga and shouted to everyone, "I have a new idea!"
「A few days later.」
「Late at night, December 10, 2014.」
Shao Family Mansion.
In a certain room on the second floor, two ’Undying Benevolent King Collector’s Edition’ Fusang Samurai Blades had been added to a display cabinet, raising the room’s Exorcism Power to a staggering 185.
Her sleep schedule completely flipped, Shao Shuangyue, who had just woken up, had casually tied her hair into a high ponytail. Bored out of her mind, she was scrolling through Weibo and the Steam ga store on her dual-monitor setup.
"Yaaawn... There’s no big news lately. Weibo’s been quiet too. It’s snowing heavily outside. So different from how the end of the year used to be."
She let out a very unladylike stretch and yawned. With sleepy eyes, Shao Shuangyue browsed every ga that was on sale and looked even remotely fun, adding them all to her wishlist in one go before buying every single one!
The life of a whale needs no explanation. As for whether she had ti to play all these gas...
What a ridiculous question! She already spent money on them, so why should she have to spend ti playing them too?!
But just as Shao Shuangyue was controlling her mouse with one hand and fixing her hair with the other, a chat notification suddenly popped up in the bottom right corner of her screen.
[Happy Birthday Brother Bao: u there? check this out!]
Since the ssage was from a gaming teammate, the extrely bored Shao Shuangyue casually clicked open the chat box. Below the ssage was a link.
"Let’s see what this is... Huh, this URL looks a bit familiar," she muttered to herself. She copied the link, pasted it into her browser, and was taken to the official website of a certain Japanese studio.
It was a short CG concept trailer.
From—the Gong Qiying the Second Studio.
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