After uploading the video to various sites, Ian Song and his friends left the internet cafe, treated Zhang Ziran and the others to dinner, and then everyone went home.
Back at the dorm, Ian brought up the system interface.
To his surprise, his Fame Points had increased by over forty thousand, breaking past eight hundred thousand in total.
"Did one of the video platforms recommend our upload?" Ian was pleasantly surprised and quickly turned on his computer. To gain tens of thousands of Fame Points in such a short time, he must've gotten seventy or eighty thousand views—most likely, his video was featured by a major site.
So, he started checking each of the big video platforms one by one.
GraceView had nothing.
WorldCast Video had nothing either.
FunHub had nothing as well.
BeanTube also had nothing.
Finally, when he opened JoyStream Video, Ian spotted his clip—and to his surprise, JoyStream had actually placed it in the homepage banner slot.
Ian clicked on the video and saw that, in just over an hour, it had racked up more than eighty-five thousand views.
Seeing this, Ian breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he wouldn't have to worry about reaching a million Fame Points.
JoyStream Video was one of the top ten video platforms in the country, with insane traffic. He was sure his video would hit a million views in no time.
After monitoring the stats for a while, Ian closed JoyStream and activated Photographic Memory, starting to copy medical classics online.
Two hours flew by, and Ian had memorized nearly four full medical texts.
With a thought, the system interface appeared, and his gaze landed on the Fame Points section.
To his delight, his Fame Points had broken through the one-million mark, soaring to an incredible 1.2 million!
"JoyStream really deserves its reputation as one of the top ten sites—it's awesome!" Ian praised JoyStream inwardly, then calmed his mind.
"Meow-Meow, upgrade the Origin-Nurturing Scripture to the Pre-Heaven realm!"
"Are you ready?" Meow-Meow asked.
"I'm ready," Ian replied.
In the next moment, an indescribable pain erupted inside him—far worse than when he advanced to Post-Heaven Great Perfection last time.
"Ugh!"
Ian clenched his teeth, sweat dripping in big beads from his skin. In just two minutes, his clothes were soaked through.
Finally, by the fifth minute, he couldn't take the pain anymore and blacked out.
He had no idea how long he'd been out, but eventually Ian slowly woke up.
With a thought, his mind sank into his dantian. He found his true essence had grown more than tenfold in strength and was several times purer than before. At the same time, Ian noticed his mind felt much clearer.
He knew he had broken through to the Pre-Heaven realm.
He pulled up the system interface:
Host: Ian Song
Level: 2
Physical Strength: 1800
Spiritual Power: 180
Skills: Body Arts, Piano Master
Divine Abilities: Photographic Memory, Mastery Insight, Clairvoyant Vision, Radiance of Life
Cultivation Method: Origin-Nurturing Scripture (Early Pre-Heaven)
Fame Points: 224,763
Leveling up to 2 increased his physical strength by 800 and spiritual power by 83, and his cultivation method broke through to Pre-Heaven.
Closing the system panel, Ian was filled with anticipation for the National Martial League assessment in three days.
Even though he'd reached the Pre-Heaven realm, Ian didn't slack off. He used Mastery Insight to fully digest the medical texts he'd memorized, then finally went to bed.
The next morning, Ian woke up and pulled up the system interface.
JoyStream Video's influence was truly massive. After just one night, his Fame Points had risen to over eight hundred thousand again.
"Meow-Meow, I want to draw a lottery!" Ian shouted.
"Host level has reached 2. You are rewarded with one lottery draw."
As soon as Meow-Meow finished speaking, a giant lottery wheel appeared before his eyes.
He hadn't expected a lottery reward for breaking through to level two. Ian was delighted and reached out to tap the "Prize" character.
The lottery pointer spun and finally stopped on a red square.
"Damn, it’s actually the red square!" Ian was a bit disappointed.
Four golden characters—"Super Chef"—emerged from the red square, then melted into light and shot into Ian's brow.
After a few minutes of fusion, Ian found his mind filled with countless cooking techniques.
Although the Super Chef skill was a bit underwhelming, since he’d drawn it, Ian could only accept it.
"Meow-Meow, spend 660,000 Fame Points for another lottery draw!"
The pointer spun again and landed on a yellow square. Four golden characters—"Raging Waves"—appeared on it.
When the golden characters melted and flew into Ian’s brow, he instantly understood—it was a martial art with seven moves.
"Meow-Meow, how many Fame Points do I need to fully master Raging Waves?" Ian asked.
"Five hundred thousand."
Hearing the number, Ian could just barely accept it. So he spent 500,000 Fame Points to master the Raging Waves palm technique.
After washing up and getting dressed, he went to the school cafeteria for breakfast. Then Ian headed to the Riverstone City Conservatory of Music. The PK Round had ended yesterday, with 100 contestants advancing.
Today's competition rules were simple: the organizers provided a theme, and the contestants had one hour to compose a piece. After submitting their work, each would perform in turn.
Only 20 contestants would make it to the finals today; the other 80 would be eliminated.
"Big brother, you're here!"
As soon as he entered backstage, Shelly Song spotted him and came running over.
"Good morning, Shelly." Ian greeted her, then also said hello to Yvonne Yang. However, Yvonne's complexion didn't look good today; her face was a bit dark.
Ian knew it was because his uncle hadn’t succeeded in getting promoted, and she was still upset about it.
Ian couldn’t help but sigh inwardly—it was all his fault his uncle got dragged into this. If he guessed right, Justin Nangong’s revenge wouldn’t stop here; there were probably more tricks to come. Ian glanced deeply at his aunt and Shelly, feeling very worried...
Just then, a staff member led a beautiful female reporter with a microphone and a cameraman into the backstage area.
The staffer scanned the room, then walked over to Ian, excitedly pointing to the reporter: "Ian Song, this is Miss Shen Ci, anchor of State TV Network's 'Entertainment 40 Minutes.' She wants to interview you."
'Entertainment 40 Minutes' is an entertainment program, mainly covering celebrity gossip, movie and TV press conferences, and similar news. Nearly every State TV Network has a show like this.
Although 'Entertainment 40 Minutes' was just an ordinary program, it had the backing of State TV Network, so its ratings were much higher than Riverstone City TV Channel 4.
Naturally, Ian wouldn't refuse such a chance to get famous—this was prime news for earning Fame Points. So he gladly agreed.
Seeing Ian being interviewed, the other contestants all looked on with envy and jealousy.
The interview lasted about twenty minutes. Shen Ci's questions were gentle and never tricky.
After Ian's interview, Shen Ci spoke with several other contestants before leaving.
The competition began.
Under the staff's direction, all one hundred contestants took the stage in turn. After their introductions, each drew a theme card. Over the next hour, every contestant had to compose a piece that matched their card.