Chapter 14

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“The ring, Charge Blade, and the Hextech Gauntlets…”

After Zhou Jie left, a hint of joy flashed across Lin Yu’s face as he began mumbling to himself

He had finally found the difference between all three items in his possession.

That ring was only a regular ring!

Although the Charge Blade was only a model prop, it still had the appearance of a Charge Blade. It could morph into a shield and a sword, and also transform into a double-edged axe that was capable of chopping and slashing. Although there was absolutely nothing for it to chop or slash, there was no doubt it could carry out the action of chopping something.

1The Hextech Gauntlets were also similar; the gauntlets could be worn, and even the fingers could move. This proved that after both the gauntlets and Charge Blade were upgraded, it only improved upon the foundation of its initial potential and functionality.

Perhaps it was his knowledge and sheer determination that had actually given both his Hextech Gauntlets and Charge Blade a direction and minor goal to achieve after upgrading. However, the first and most basic requirement would still be getting an item of the same category that would have a much better upgrade result.

Thus, the wooden ring’s obvious problem was the fact that it was only a regular ring. The most it could offer was its value or perhaps an added buff in whatever abilities it might gain upon leveling up. The first thing he understood was that for an upgrade to happen, he would require an actual physical item in his possession to do so; it would be illogical and impossible for him to forcefully imbue his intentions in the ring with an added impractical buff on it. It seemed that both the Charge Blade and the Hextech Gauntlets were upgraded out of luck.

“So if I want the Academic Genius Program to work, I will first need to create a ‘system’ and would want it to have the basic function of a ‘study assist program’ built in…. Isn’t this problem the same as before?”

3It seemed that Lin Yu was even more frustrating after fully figuring out his problem.

Unfortunately for him, even after such a detailed breakdown, he had made no progress. It seemed that his useless ability had too many limitations; not only was it complicated to use, it did not come with a manual. If he had a choice, he would rather prefer other random abilities like Firebending or Waterbending.

“The system would be a simple hurdle to overcome. By eliminating messy web articles and Biotechnology, the most common foundation a system was built upon was still simple software and operating systems. The problem now is, how can I solve the issue of making a study assist program? Should I make tags of bullet points with a simple click on whichever subject or topic one is unfamiliar with?”

Lin Yu unconsciously tapped on the spacebar on his laptop while thinking. However, he soon began to shake his head and said, “No, what I want is something to help me focus on my studies and get me interested in learning or improve my study skills. If I want a simple system that casually improves my learning abilities with minimal effort, I’m afraid I will have to level this thing up by several more levels.”

“Learning abilities. Focusing on my studies… I feel the need to consult an actual academic genius about this.”

As the ideas flashed across his mind, he instinctively glanced at the few roommates that were still asleep in his room, covering his face after doing so.

It would be completely hopeless if he were to depend on these complete wastes of space.

If he needed to pick an absolute failure, he would have no trouble finding any even with both of his eyes closed. However, he needed an academic genius… It seemed the only choice he had in the entirety of Changhai Vocational College was to pick a better idiot amongst an ocean of complete pushovers.

Since a high grade on a final exam could never accurately represent a person’s actual potential, it would still reflect amazingly on one’s report card. However, the truth was that if their SAT results were truly something spectacular, they would be studying in tier-one or two universities and not a specific program here.

Under more careful and detailed deliberation, finding an actual academic genius here would be quite a difficult task even though their college was still considered part of the academic district.

If he was to look for one from a different area… Lin Yu felt that before he would gain any actual abilities to fend for himself, he would much rather become a complete hermit within the walls of absolute guaranteed safety.

If this was not considered as an act of self-persuasion, then would superhuman-related matters be considered as such? No, doing so would only be an act of submission.

“We’ll see what happens in a few days. At the very least, we’ll have to wait for the Hextech Gauntlets to reach level two.”

A thin shred of determination flashed across Lin Yu’s eyes.

He was determined to not leave his front door and the absolute safety of his college. Nothing would be able to shake his unbending will!

…

A normal human response toward something they felt hopeless for would usually incite feelings of dread, anxiousness, and suffering.

The truth was that Lin Yu had felt like that on plenty of occasions. Every time he made an upload, he felt extremely nervous and worried; no matter how familiar or experienced he was, that feeling would always come for him.

In order to ease the dread, Lin Yu was an experienced veteran on being on edge and distracted himself with the method of playing video games and reading novels. After dinner, when he was completely exhausted, he would naturally fall asleep.

The instant he woke up, it was already late noon. Sadly, his habit of waking up early only lasted a day.

“Hey, Third Brother, are you awake yet? Wanna grab some takeout?”

He had just opened his eyes and was greeted by Xu Zhaoyang’s voice before he could even check how much EXP he had gained from yesterday’s upload of the Hextech Gauntlets.

“It’s rare to see you up so early, Elder Brother?”

Since the Hextech Gauntlets were not going anywhere and accumulating a total of 1000 EXP was not something that could be done in a day or two, Lin Yu was not too excited and proceeded to reply Xu Zhaoyang by ridiculing him.

“What do you mean early? I didn’t even go to bed last night and was busy binging videos, you know.”

Xu Zhaoyang snapped right back with a snarky response while pointing at his messy hair and said, “I have not moved for the entire night. I’ve spent way too long sitting in the same position and my back is killing me.”

“Wow, such hard work? You’re afraid of me getting better than you.”

Lin Yu chuckled while slowly putting his clothes on.

“I was busy recording some stuff recently and I’ve already edited enough material for a week, so I’ve decided to finish everything in a single go.”

Xu Zhaoyang took out his phone, glancing at it before shifting his gaze back at Lin Yu and said, “Are you eating out or getting takeout? If you’re going out then could you help me get some mixed rice and milk tea? If you aren’t then we’ll order takeout together so we can combine our orders.”

“Let’s just combine our orders then.”

Lin Yu nodded in response, proceeding to do some stretches after he got dressed. He casually asked, “Are you done editing your video yet since you’ve been editing it for the entire night? Do you need my help?”

“It’s done, I’m just waiting for it to upload. With the crappy Internet our dorm provides, who knows how long it’ll take to finish uploading.”

After Xu Zhaoyang was done complaining, he asked what Lin Yu would like to eat. After placing their orders online and uploading the video from his phone, he placed his phone down. Lin Yu, on the other hand, had gone to the washroom to freshen up.

“What the f*ck! Third Brother!!!”

The moment Lin Yu began brushing his teeth, he heard Xu Zhaoyang’s voice swearing from the outside. It startled him and almost made him swallow his toothpaste.

He reached for his mug to briefly gargle his mouth before heading out of the washroom. Lin Yu asked, “What’s going on?”

He was not alone. Even his remaining roommates were completely startled by it as they were all jolted awake and lamented, “What the hell, dude. Screaming this early in the morning!”

“What are you still sleeping for? We have a goddamn traitor in our group!”

Xu Zhaoyang was leering at Lin Yu. He had a finger pointed directly at the computer screen while glaring furiously at Lin Yu.

“Good lord!”

“Ones, tenth, hundredth, thousandth, ten-thousandth…thirty-six thousand? Ranked second on the technology viral board? Third Brother, were you botting?”

Zheng Wei, who was sleeping on the top bunk of the same bed as Xu Zhaoyang, peeked his head out after hearing his rant. The instant he glanced at the screen, his eyes shot wide open as if they were about to pop out their sockets.

“That’s not all. Look at the views. It’s already at 140,000 views without doing anything.”

Everyone rolled out of bed and proceeded to gather around as Xu Zhaoyang pointed at the top right corner of the screen.

2“The audacity that you have.”

“There is nothing you can or need to say about this. Our meals are on you today, Third Brother!”

“Time to slaughter the rich now! The prediction Elder Brother made was only at 500 views. You know what to do now!”

Now everyone would not stop talking about it.

The instant Lin Yu went to take a look, he was also startled by what he saw.

That video he made on his handmade Exo suit modified Gauntlets yesterday had exploded virally instantly, the total amount of views cracking at a startling 36,000 views.

2This sudden outburst could now be somewhat explained. Since the video on his handmade Exo suit was ranked on the technology viral board, it had gained him a significant amount of exposure. Hence, the only reason for the sudden increase in views was how much exposure his videos now had, especially since he was a lackluster creator that cared very little about his followers and uploaded his content in a very carefree manner.

The actual startling fact was the number of followers he gained as his previous videos had only increased by about 20,000 followers before this. Now in a single night, his follower count had increased to a total of 140,000 followers.

This was extremely terrifying since he remembered watching a previous video that had recently become viral. The original uploader had only gained 30,000 new followers.

The most unbelievable part was the rate of new followers he gained!

It was a normal thing for a single one-hit-wonder viral video to gain a brief amount of exposure as there were plenty of videos that gained a couple hundred thousand views for one video alone. However, the actual amount of followers ranged between a couple of thousand to tens of thousands. The usual works from those creators would never go viral.

He, however, seemed to have skyrocketed and gained more than a couple hundred thousand followers in a single night. It seemed the follower to view ratio was two to one and meant that for every two views he got, he would gain a new fan or follower. Analytics like that were unbelievably insane.