Chapter 5

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Chapter 5: Never Has There Been Such a Wonderful Start

The explosion of messages in the live stream was exactly as Bai Fu had expected.

With such a cool entrance, plus the white hair buff she gave herself, if this couldn’t attract the players’ attention, then she might as well just go find some tofu to end her life.

But how much popularity she could actually gather would require some more time to see.

Bai Fu opened her game panel.

After killing the burly man, she gained 150 experience points, enough to level up.

[[Unemployed Wanderer] upgraded to Lv3, Strength +1, Constitution +1, Attribute Points +1]

Bai Fu’s attributes changed slightly.

[Template]: Ordinary

[Experience]: 71

[Main Class]: Unemployed Wanderer Lv3 (0/1000)

[Sub-Class]: None

[Health Points]: 60/60

[Attributes]: Strength 5, Agility 3, Constitution 6, Intelligence 3, Spirit 4, Inspiration 3

[Skills]: None

[Talents]: None

[Attribute Points]: 1

[Fame]: 1

Bai Fu allocated her free attribute point to Constitution. With 7 points in Constitution, her health bar doubled compared to ordinary grunts, making her almost an elite monster.

The bad news was that the limit for the Unemployed Wanderer class was only Lv5. To continue improving, she needed to learn new classes.

The good news was that there was no hard limit on the number of classes one could learn, so she could freely pick up new ones.

This was one of the differences between [Above the Stars] and other games. Players could unlock new main class slots with experience, allowing them to learn more classes.

However, it was generally not recommended to learn too many classes at once. Humans have limits; even someone like Holy Liver who practices many professions simultaneously will fall behind due to lack of experience and miss out on major events.

In the early stages, it’s best to specialize in one class, accumulate high-level skills and talents, and then consider combinations of classes.

Bai Fu had already planned her future upgrade path.

What she meant by “mixed learning” was a way to quickly advance through the ranks.

In terms of attribute allocation, she focused on Constitution while keeping Agility secondary. Her strategy was to run away when she couldn’t fight.

She had considered her main class the longest. Currently, [Above the Stars] has four streams: Technology, Physical Training, Spiritual Energy, and Mental Power. Each stream contains a vast array of main classes.

The planet she was on, Source Star, is a beginner planet themed around “Wasteland,” where she could only learn a limited number of classes from the Technology, Physical Training, and Spiritual Energy streams.

At present, Bai Fu leaned towards the latter two.

It wasn’t that the Technology stream was weak, but rather that the other two were more cost-effective.

First, she would learn a tank class or a support class that could give her buffs to increase her survivability.

Later, it would depend on how much gold the players could help her obtain from the Planner after her popularity rose.

After closing the game panel, Bai Fu opened the [Star Tour Society]’s Abandoned Cooling Plant section.

As soon as she entered, she saw players going wild.

[Big Sister with white hair, please use your ultimate humiliation on me!]

[Foot fetish freak, go die!]

[Actually taking photos? Where is morality, where is the bottom line, where is her home address?]

[I’ve been waiting for half an hour, where is Galio? Why isn’t he at level 6 yet?]

Looking around, a link popped up.

[A vote thread for female NPCs has been posted in the General Forum, everyone go vote! Click ↑]

[Damn it, it’s a phishing site. This is the real link: ***]

Bai Fu’s lips twitched.

She didn’t click the link but opened the General Forum herself.

The incident started when a player from the Abandoned Cooling Plant posted Bai Fu’s video on the General Forum, claiming she was the most beautiful female NPC in [Above the Stars], inviting others to debate.

This immediately attracted a flood of videos and photos.

Then, a player collected these videos and photos and started a voting thread —

[The First Most Popular Female NPC Contest in [Above the Stars]]

Once posted, it instantly drew the attention of countless players.

They immediately started cyber battles in the thread.

[All I can say is that cuteness is worthless in front of sexiness]

[Impossible, my wife Mary Rose is unbeatable!]

[I’m laughing, Tifa is heaven]

[Do you know how beautiful a rich woman can be?]

[Why wasn’t the giant mech from the promotional video included? How can you say its gender is not female?]

[I choose the mech girl, she is the most popular choice!]

When Bai Fu clicked in, the battle was still raging.

There were 43 participants, and after over an hour of competition, the top two spots were fixed.

The giant mech from the promotional video led the rankings, showing an overwhelming dominance.

Following closely was the NPC revived by the Planner during the beta test.

The third spot kept changing.

Bai Fu scrolled down and found herself at number 15.

[Mysterious Girl X, who doesn’t fight fair]

“There are quite a few skilled people.”

This ranking was pretty good because those ahead of her either appeared in the game trailer or had already gathered some popularity during the beta test.

Like her, a pure bystander, wouldn’t even have the qualification to participate.

But with a performance, she managed to break into the upper half of the rankings!

Bai Fu nodded lightly.

Too bad, if her entrance effect had been cooler, her ranking might have gone up further.

She refreshed the post casually. Then, something miraculous happened. Her votes increased by 108, jumping from 15th to 14th.

Huh?

Bai Fu thought she was seeing things and refreshed the post again.

It turned out she hadn’t been mistaken, as her votes increased by another 30 or so.

Strange.

A moment ago, her votes were increasing by one or two at a time. Could it be someone accidentally cast their votes on her?

Bai Fu looked through the post and finally understood the situation.

It turned out that Jiujiao had teleported in and used a skill.

Jiujiao had been quietly voting when she saw a player comment that Bai Fu would soon fade into obscurity despite her looks. She immediately got angry.

No one should insult my favorite mysterious girl X!

Jiujiao used the skill [Overinterpretation].

[I bet you, Mysterious Girl X must be a very important plot NPC!]

Although Bai Fu had only appeared for a few minutes and spoken only a few lines, Jiujiao wrote a 2000-word essay explaining why Bai Fu was no ordinary character.

[From what I can tell, she is most likely a spy sent by an organization to the Wildfire Gang. Whether she is related to the main story remains to be seen.]

Players who didn’t know Jiujiao were stunned by the post.

Especially those who had been tortured by essays were almost kneeling in admiration.

How can you write so well?

Those who knew Jiujiao directly dismissed her claims.

[Everyone, disperse, Jiujiao is having another episode]

[Jiujiao might be right, but it’s unlikely]

Facing the doubts, Jiujiao remained calm.

Whatever.

A storm cannot topple a tree that has already fallen!

[Let’s wait and see]

If she was wrong, she would keep pretending to be dead. If she was right, she would jump out and celebrate!

Jiujiao’s [Overinterpretation] skill brought in a large amount of attention for Bai Fu.

Some were true fans.

Others were just looking for entertainment.

Regardless of their motives, they all voted for Bai Fu.

You vote, I vote, Bai Fu rises.

15, 14, 12!

[10th place, damn, in the top ten!]

[Damn, why aren’t you voting? Vote, everyone, vote for her!]

Supporters of other NPCs panicked when they saw this.

Referee, someone is cheating!

They didn’t care anymore and quickly sought reinforcements.

Nobody expected this originally low-profile voting event to become the hottest activity since the server launch.

[6th place, everyone, lend me your chi!

[The power of unity, roar and destroy all obstacles!]

In just 20 minutes, Bai Fu climbed from 15th to 7th!

But this wasn’t her limit.

30 minutes, 6th!

47 minutes, 5th!

On her way to 4th place, she encountered strong resistance.

So what?

[We unite!]

After a 30-minute tug-of-war, Bai Fu exhausted her opponent’s votes and secured 4th place before the voting ended.

Yes, 4th place!

This wasn’t about four people taking an exam and placing fourth. It was about being 4th out of 43!

If the voting hadn’t ended, Bai Fu felt she might have even surpassed the big sister playing the piano in a cool outfit.

The pianist’s skillful play built a wall of sighs, but the troublemaker’s sword was also formidable!

Seeing the final results, all supporters of Bai Fu cheered.

[We are the champions!]

[Damn, amazing!]

Of course, some players were still不服 (discontent). They argued endlessly about the third and fourth places.

[Just fourth place, still far from third]

[What did Mysterious Girl X do to you?]

[Typical]

[Are you getting triggered?]

[Filial piety]

After arguing for a long time without reaching a conclusion, they agreed to settle the score in the next contest.

[Pianist is the best!]

[Nonsense, Mysterious Girl X is the best!]

This round of arguments unexpectedly brought Bai Fu even more attention.

Bai Fu: “6.”

Jiujiao is truly a woman of great wisdom.

She never imagined her appearance would generate such high popularity. It was truly a wonderful start.

However, she knew this popularity was fragile.

Troublemakers come and go.

Now, she was like a child in kindergarten getting fourth place. As the game progresses, she will encounter more skilled players.

Even in version 1.0 [Dark Star Stirring], [Above the Stars] opened up many beginner planets with different themes for players to choose from freely.

These beginner planets each have their own main storyline, and beyond that, many exciting side quests hide. Just imagine how many high-popularity NPCs will emerge from these stories?

Moreover, the number of habitable planets controlled by cosmic-level forces like the Rebirth Empire, Super Nova Task Force, and Titan Industries listed on the game’s official website is countless. In so many planets, how many heroes will emerge?

Countless, simply countless!

Bai Fu clenched her fists.

Damn it, let’s blow it up!

She didn’t believe she couldn’t rise.

Next, she would focus on improving her strength while consolidating her rapidly growing popularity.

Bai Fu thought of Jiujiao’s post.

Spy?

A decent way to clear her name.

To thank Jiujiao, she copied it.

As she thought, Bai Fu arrived near her home.

She looked up. Under the glow of the setting sun, a person stood under the signboard of the [Lingqu Factory], which was covered with patches and marks.

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