Chapter 83: 4.1

"So class, as a fun assignment, I think we should dig into our old childhood memories and see if we can find a piece of artwork or maybe even a story we had written ourselves, and try to improve it." A beautiful and sweet-faced teacher declares.

Mu Yingxue pulls a face but obediently writes down the assignment in her notebook. AIyah, to look at their old stories… isn't that asking them for second-hand embarrassment ah?

Creative writing class was an elective that the university had recently added in order to encourage students' artistic side. it was also to act as a breather given how the education board finally caught on to the fact that there were many students committing suicide these past few years due to the stress and pressure of their academic studies and familial expectations overwhelming them. Now everyone must have at least one 'breather' class per year.

Many people were quite pleased by this. Who didn't like an easy class ah? You can slack off and most of the assignments don't even require much effort other than imagination and some literary wit. Even then, there wasn't even that many assignments making it a heaven for the busy students. 

Mu Yingxue also had felt this way when she first heard about this. Unfortunately, her teacher for this creative writing class was replaced last minute by a way too enthusiastic woman called Teacher Xi. Now there seemed to be a small assignment each fortnight. There was barely any critique or lessons about the best way to write a story or imagery or anything either. It was almost as if she only came solely to make them all write various stories.

She was so totally going to complain about this later.

Heading back to the dorms Mu Yingxue decides to get a head start on the creative writing assignment. It seemed to be a pretty big one given that Teacher Xi provided a fairly generous deadline of five weeks this time. Well, that was expected since she apparently expects a pretty generous amount of story to have been written by then. Teacher Xi had assured them the story doesn't necessarily have to be finished but it has to be over 25,000 words. 

Which was almost as long as a thesis ah. 

"What a pain," she mutters irritatedly, unfortunately she was a bad student that really needed this class to pull up her grade. 

Luckily for her, when she was younger she had written a story that was terrible- but was long enough to be over 25,000 words. If she just re-edited and added some new things in, she was sure to get a good mark.

However, she felt a little unwilling to dredge up her black history. It was embarrassing and the bad reviews really hit her sensitive teenage ego hard. It was something she has tried to desperately block from her memory. 

…Unfortunately her pride won't improve her grades so some sacrifices must be made.

Heaving a heavy sigh she enters a reading platform that she hadn't used for years. When she opened her old account there were quite a few messages that popped up. 

A lot of them though was just notifications for new reviews from her story, the latest one two years ago. 

Opening the story statistics, Mu Yingxue stared at the low rating given to her work with mixed feelings. On one hand, this was something she put a lot of effort and pride into when she was in middle schooler, even dreaming it could be picked up by a passing editor and making her the next big author for all teenage romance stories. 

On the other hand… well, at least it won't be too hard to improve it ah.

Big assignments like this always had small parts. This was partly to help guide the students and let them achieve better results, but to be frank it was mainly to forcibly teach them time management and prevent them from slacking off until the last minute. Mu Yingxue had to hand in both the link to her original story and the draft of what she has done so far as well as a basic idea of what she plans to do with the rest of the plot. 

Given Teacher Xi's style, she had half expected the damn woman to hand it back to her the next day with a generic mark, and some generic comments and critique. Maybe something on grammar and characterization or something.

Who knew....

Looking at the email with her feedback, Mu Yingxue's eye twitched. She was unsure whether to laugh or cry. 

Add more about Samotrelis? You mean that throwaway random country she made up? Also, why was there already background dot points about Samotrelis' history, royal family and political climate?

Make Prince Farrell a second male lead. Eh? Did you just make up a character and force him on me? Also, why does he sound like such scum???

Give Zheng Xin a foot fetish? What the fuck is this?!

Drop the amnesia events? That's- okay that's valid, she was going to do that anyway ah. 

Overall it was the strangest feedback she had gotten. Mu Yingxue couldn't help but wonder who exactly was writing the story here. She's heard of hands-on teachers but isn't Teacher Xi too weird??? 

Or maybe that's part of the assignment. To incorporate these strange points into the story as an exercise in creative flexibility.

She texts some of her acquaintances in the class just to make sure she wasn't being trolled. 

Bright Little Snowflake (Yingxue means bright/lustrous snow): [Have you guys got your draft feedback yet? Teacher Xi gave me a lot of weird plot points I'm supposed to add in ah.]

Bright Little Snowflake: [Photo1.jpeg, Photo2.jpeg]

Dadadadan: [Eh? No way! ☚(ﾟヮﾟ☚) You too?! Heyo I thought I was the only one!]

Bright Little Snowflake: [I have to add a whole goddamn imaginary country with a slutty bisexual playboy prince who's gay as hell bodyguard is secretly part of the royal rebellion.]

Dadadadan: [Well Teacher Xi told me to bring in the concept of aliens in my fucking xianxia story!!! Aliens!!! ( ´༎ຶㅂ༎ຶ`) The Zerg kind with a hot Zerg king that ends up together with the gentle senior disciple character!!!! The MALE gentle senior disciple character!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

I wanna dance with somebody: [lolololol that's nothing, I was told I have to completely turn my bland high school romance story into a fantasy epic with elemental spirit kings and such ah. Like what even.]

Pretty and Beautiful XiXi: [Oh thank god! I was wondering if Teacher Xi secretly hated me ah. She told me to make my male lead a man-hating woman who owns a jaguar and bend my protagonist!] 

Looking for Love: [(∩╹□╹∩) You mean the car or the big wild cat?] 

Pretty and Beautiful XiXi: [Both! And the jaguar cat should apparently be in love with the Jaguar car! yingyingyingying]

Bright Little Snowflake: [...]

Dadadadan: [...]

Looking for Love: [...]

I wanna dance with somebody: [...Teacher X sure has some hardcore tastes ah.]

....

"Bebe, what's my score?" 

"The story Highclass Heartbreak has now changed it's title to, Dancing Through Life. The author has turned it into a romantic comedy with dramatic elements and has been decently well received by readers with a 4.1 star average. Some reviews for this are as follows:

Hahahahaha this is the first time I've seen such a funny MC and the fact that she's not a virgin who's remaining pure for her (not so) scum male lead is really refreshing ah~ I laughed so hard when it's revealed she wants to peg him hahahahaha!

Damn that Prince Farrell is so sexy lol. He's probably my favorite supporting male lead ever ah. (´▽`ʃƪ)♡ And probably the most successful one as well hehe (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

When I started this story I did not expect to get to a country's rebellion plot at the very end- and I did not expect it to be so funny, like damn Farrell keep it in your pants.

Nope. Can't deal with the secondary couple. Prince Farrell was great but I hate he was paired with such a rapey character. The story is still good if you can get past that but I can't. Dropped. 

Author is disgusting using black people in their story like this. Clearly, the author isn't African lol. The way you describe black people with words like 'exotic' or describe them like animals are offensive. One star. You should be ashamed.

Upstairs what is your problem? Nobody said Samotrelis is African, and not all black people are African either, if you read the AN then you would know places like Malaysia etc were strong influences of inspiration. Also, while it's not the best description, 'exotic' isn't offensive either. Asians to other races can also be considered 'exotic'. It's literally just a different way of saying foreign, seriously. Also which stories don't involve describing characters as animals as some way ah? That's a f*cking normal use of descriptive imagery you sensitive ****.

Lol author, I really do respect that you tried to put people of colour in here and I don't care at all about the so-called 'offensiveness' but given the amount of sh*t you're getting in the reviews you probs should have just stuck with the usual stuff ah. Still, it's really a great story, super fun and original (ignore those haters upstairs). Refuel!

The main character isn't stupid or naive, but she isn't cold and calculating either. I love that Song Chuntao seems to be more or less a normal person in some frankly weird ass and cliche situations (like that getting drugged and happening to meet and get together with Prince Farrell). Well, the whole secret identity honeypot thing was stupid but hey, it's to get the plot flowing and the antics were hilarious so I'll let that pass. Overall it's a solid and novel plot with interesting characters (male lead was a typical blah ML and the antagonist was meh but the side characters were great) 

I don't see why you had to make Prince Farrell gay. But other than that it's an okay story. I like the MC, but to want to fuck a guy up the ass is disgusting. I wish you didn't put that messed up sex crap in there. 

Hahaha is it weird that I wanted Zheng Jinhai, Song Chuntao and Prince Farrell as an endgame threesome relationship? 

(/▽＼*)｡o�����♡

Fuck! This is so good! So unique! Sort of wish Zheng Xin and Prince Farrell got together but that! Doesn't! Matter! Five stars! Five stars!"

Jia Hyson hums nonchalantly at the mixed reviews as he plays with a jagged shiny shard in his hand. 

The shard was vaguely trapezium shaped, with one side black and the other a light silver. Surprisingly the shard contained more black than silver. Though Jia Hyson supposed in retrospect Sefu did seem a little more like Monroe and Tian Shun than Drake and Li Guiren. 

Silently he regards the shard, before kissing it gently and placing it into the cupboard drawer where the other four shards were. All of them shined faintly as if in protests however Jia Hyson didn't notice, too caught up in his own thoughts. 

Overall the results were all more or less within his expectations. He didn't expect a bestseller after all given how controversial the sexual themes were. Homosexuality, bisexuality, promiscuity, and the fact that no one but the 'rapist' rebel bodyguard was a virgin... there was going to be a fair share amount of haters ah. "How many points and p do I get?" 

"Because the story is indeed improved but fails to grasp a strong popularity compared to your previous missions you earn only 5 points and 800p, however since this is a reward world, we will award you an extra 3000p. Your bonus points were mainly accumulated through introducing unique themes, providing character development and new interesting characters however most of these did not greatly affect the majority of the storyline and you lost 25 points for vulgarity and 3 points for ooc given that Farrell would not have accepted Sefu so happily after the kidnapping incident, giving us a total of 12 skill points on top of your base reward of 5."

"...I'll take it," Jia Hyson sighs. His expectations weren't too high in the first place. And in terms of p it's at least better than his first world rewards. Well, with the bonus added to it anyway. Besides, he didn't need to use any points or p in this reward world, and assumably not so much for the next reward world either.

Unfortunately, it also meant he had to tighten his purse strings and be much more stingy with his buying now. Still, basic necessities like food and material comforts don't cost much so he still wasn't feeling too much pain, just some annoyance.

"Ah, that's right," Bebe suddenly says before heaving a big sigh, "Bebe is obligated to give you this message."

"Hm? What message?"

Bebe heaves a bigger sigh before saying monotonously like it was reciting a script, "Congratulations Host for (somehow) surviving three worlds (despite being a mess of a human being)! You've (amazingly managed to) unlocked the following functions-"

Jia Hyson: '…Somehow I feel like I'm hearing a lot of insults between your words but for the sake of our friendship I'm going to ignore it ಠ_ಠ'

Bebe: '¯_(ツ)_/¯ It's probably for the best,'

"-First is System School which we've already talked about beforehand. Your White Lotus Acting Class will begin in two days. We can now also unlock Side Missions and Hostland."

Side Missions are exactly what it implies, you can choose to take them on but you won't lose out if you're unable to do it. 

Side Missions can vary but the most common one is fulfilling the wishes and solving the regrets of the original body- after all most Wish Fulfillment systems and similar types will only pick bodies with great regret values or a certain identity that is related to the plot storyline such as the vicious supporting lead- they wouldn't focus much on background characters and mobs. Still, unlike those system hosts who were hired to face-slap and solve problems, most other hosts have a stricter ooc restriction so depending on the request, this sort of mission was also quite hard. 

Honestly, for these types of side missions, Jia Hyson who only gets a point deduction for ooc-ing would probably have no problem succeeding in. 

In retrospect, he probably has inadvertently fulfilled a lot of his characters regrets without meaning to. Adrian most likely would have wanted their family to not have broken apart. Bai Li Wei would have wanted revenge. And Prince Farrell wouldn't have wanted his kingdom to fall and to die an awful death via octopus. It's really a pity that he couldn't reap any of those rewards though. 

Another type of side mission is one given by the world's consciousness. After all, the world's consciousness has to work very hard to try mold itself to the Author God's requirements and needs, however, it also has self-awareness and interests. In a zombie apocalypse story, one could commonly see a world requesting them to solve the zombies and eradicate them from the planet. After all, zombies were rotting piles of dead flesh that moved, if you imagine dirty half-dead ants crawling all over your skin you would want them gone too.

Unfortunately for those worlds, that was also a difficult and commonly rejected mission.

Aiyah, aiyah, those worlds that request for side missions are very poor okay? The zombie apocalypse worlds have been tormented half to death by artificially induced zombie viruses, turning their babies into mutants and other strange things. They need a lot of energy just to keep everything going and do their best to maintain a semblance of order and balance to prevent the actual end of the world. 

In such a situation, do you think they can pay out such a good price while trying to live? No! Do you think hosts will do such hard difficult work with low success just for a relatively low amount of points?! No!! 

Other than gratitude what else could they get from that? It's really impossible ah. Only intelligent geniuses specializing in biological and chemical fields will take this, and possibly those who are skilled in cultivation and purification magic if applicable. Newbs will avoid them and experts may disdain the ratio of having to make big efforts in order to get small rewards. Unless it happens to match with their main mission, or if the hosts were eager to earn as many points and p as fast as possible, these sort of side missions were not especially popular.

Hostland was also quite a simple function to understand. Basically, it was a place to interact with other hosts.

"We are very considerate to our hosts," Bebe proudly shows off as it brings up a holographic screen which shows a video of several good looking people smiling and laughing in different scenes. If anyone had ever been to any good hotel ever, they would recognise it to be just like the default hotel advertisement slideshow videos one would get the moment you turn on the television in your room. "From the highest classes of restaurants to the simple nostalgic amusement parks, we even have cruises you can book, ranging from basic ship cruise to submarine cruise to interstellar."

"This.. this is quite amazing." Jia Hyson has to admit with wide eyes, "I can't believe you just let us enjoy ourselves like this."

"Hehe, of course," If Bebe had a face it would be smiling, however, it wouldn't necessarily be a nice smile, "for a price of course~~"

Jia Hyson's awed expression stiffened.

Capitalism. Even after death he still can't avoid it.

Hostland was indeed a paradise. Unfortunately, paradise came with a very, very large price tag. A one week stay on a basic room in a luxury cruise across the ocean was 7,000p, not including extra services like massages, hiring diving equipment and other packages. Generally most missions of Jia Hyson's current level as a newbie- not including the Skill Upgrade World- would give him around 1000 - 2000 p. This meant it would've taken him at least four basic worlds and at most seven basic worlds to earn himself a week of basic luxury. 

As for the interstellar trip… forget it, forget it, just looking at the number made him want to shed bloody tears.

Aiyah, as a person who used to be a rich and spoilt prince, facing poverty again really hurts his heart. _:(´ཀ`」∠):_

Luckily there were still places that one can access in Hostland that didn't require people to feel like they were cutting off their own flesh. Places such as night markets, food stalls, and cosy family restaurants and cafes had been simulated for their enjoyment. The prices were still relatively much more expensive compared to the things on Bebay but what they were paying for was also human interaction with fellow hosts. If they could exchange some stories and tips that may help them in the future wouldn't that be worth it?

Overall they were cliche but very useful functions. Jia Hyson would not complain about a free meal.

However Bebe was not done yet.

"Also.. After three worlds there is also an automatic download of two Unique Beta Host Skills: [Host Collaboration, Let me take you out to play baby~] and [God-given Gifts, darling you're my god given gift]." It announces.

Jia Hyson's eyebrows raise curiously. Most of the reward functions were more or less straightforward and easy to understand, or they were fairly common tropes of the Quick Transmigration genre. However, these two unique skills were something he's never heard before. The first skill, he has a little idea about, but the second one.... other than the slogan being smooth as hell there really wasn't any big clues there. 

Thankfully Bebe, for all it's faults, it's many, many faults, was still a professional who loves to plug it's company's benefits.

Bebe: '…' Bebe probably deserves that but Bebe will not forgive it either. 

Bebe is flawless and beautiful ( ◡‿◡ ♡)

Jia Hyson: '...' Don't know why but feels Disgusted.jpeg 

"Host Collaboration. It is a special Beta System exclusive skill that allows the host to look for other hosts, contact them, and bring them over to help the Beta system mission for the cost of 1000p per host. As a Beta system host who aims to improve the stability of the world, your mission will take precedence over most other system hosts. Those you contact will not be wronged however. Like with Worldbreakers, there will be a bonus reward and hosts will be allowed to ooc to a certain extent if required." Bebe seriously explains. 

From the news it received, this ability was a new and exclusive product made by Overlord Li Jun. Even though it's personality was a bit, meh, it's ability in skill research and development was top notch. Overlord Li Jun was also responsible for nearly singlehandedly programming the simulation worlds that make up Hostland which was no easy feat. Many people including Bebe had looked up to it with great admiration and awe, maybe a little desire. 

Overlord Li Jun was not only intelligent but handsome system okay? Someone took a photo of him once and many systems couldn't help but lick their screens at the beautiful row of data exposed. It was also revealed that he even had sixty-six consecutive 0s in his coding, making everyone's motherboards tremble in envy and arousal. This system was surely a winner in life. 

It's really unfortunate about his personality ah.

Just thinking about it makes Bebe click it's nonexistent tongue. That godawful personality. Like it's host but far more sleazier and unrestrained. Truly, terribly unfortunate. 

Overlord Li Jun: '....' Did you really have to say it thrice baby? QAQ 

However, Bebe doesn't voice out it's musings. It had no intention of letting this slag host meet that slag overlord system. For the sake of world peace if nothing else.

"Those hosts that help with your mission will also be able to live freely in the world with few restrictions. You should know host that this is an incredibly tempting offer in itself since most systems only have jobs that have a limited work visa. Once they finish their missions they only have so much time left before they're kicked out of the world by the world's consciousness."

Jia Hyson immediately understood. For those who had found compatible people to live with or a good family or a living situation they love, who wouldn't say no to being able to stay for a lifetime? The Safe Space was nice but for a lot of poor hosts who had to use their p to save their own lives and feed their stomachs, they can only be stingy with material items. 

Besides even a nicely decorated safe space will be lonely and boring after a while. Many people yearn to have a lifetime without having to worry about the pits their original bodies have them or working hard to faceslap or stay in character. Unfortunately easy Request Worlds require one to go through an excruciating Skill Upgrade world first and a Vacation World is only given after fifteen worlds were completed. 

So not only will [Host Collaboration] give the chosen hosts higher pay and better work conditions, they can also get a free vacation for the rest of their life there. No matter how it looks, unless the Beta system host is a slave-driving monster who asks you to die a heroic death on the battlefield, it's akin to a big pie falling from the sky.

"And the second one?" He questions, anticipation lacing his words. [Host Collaboration] was essentially hiring an assistant, it was immeasurably useful for his missions. Even if it cost some p, it really was quite cheap if one weighed the pros and cons ah.

"[God-given Gifts] allows you to act as a god and bestow a character a halo or to take a halo away."

Jia Hyson's face lights up in delight. As an author, who doesn't know the importance of choosing your main characters and supporting leads? They are the most pivotal roles in a story and, in terms of his missions, the hardest to improve.

For example, the male lead being an unrepentant rape-y bastard is a common problem for many female readers these days. Personally, Jia Hyson believes that as long as it's appropriately tagged and rated, who honestly cares ah, it's a fantasy. Fantasy. The people who actually believe that fictitious writings that involve r*pe and murder would actually encourage other people to also indulge in the same thing… Jia Hyson can't help but roll his eyes at them. 

Anyone with common sense and a decent grasp on morality will know and comprehend how bad rape is in real life okay? But who says it's wrong not to have a few dark kinks and depraved thoughts? Just because people like to occasionally read and write these sort of things doesn't make them promoters of murderers or r*pists or pedophiles. They certainly may glorify or romanticise it, it's certainly true but who would be interested in fantasising about getting pushed down by an ugly, mentally ill character like Leatherf*ce??

…Actually some people might. Rule 34 and all. (/ω＼)

However, Jia Hyson also understands there are times when the character's settings are really too bad to the point even more clearheaded people like himself can feel a little uncomfortable or hold a great amount of distaste whenever he reads about them. For example when a male lead is pushed past the more acceptable dub con stage like x getting drugged by cannon fodder and y pushing or getting pushed down by them, and even past the barely sort of acceptable old cliche non-con events like forcing another down due to ABO reasons, dog blooded level misunderstandings, etcetera. 

Things like purposely drugging his future lover and taking them in bed then lying about it afterwards or blaming the other person, or maybe abusing their overpowered powers to corner the other person to live with them or even doing that stupid 'replacing their white moonlight with a substitute, then refusing to let go of the substitute later on because he realised he fell in love with the substitute too late and then somehow managing to get a happy end'. Not all of those was necessarily a heinous crime but it made a very important character incredibly unlikeable to the audience. Especially if this character does not manage to suffer enough to their satisfaction. This sort of thing will make a lot of people drop the story faster than dropping a handful of baby cockroaches. 

Of course, the ratings will also reflect this.

Unfortunately, given Jia Hyson's abilities as a Beta system host, he couldn't just play god and tweak someone's personality. 

After all, even though he gave the main character Maddy Fenwick from the first world a more financially stable and supportive family to grow up in, the main core of her personality- happy, optimistic, persevering and a touch rebellious and cheeky- was still present and unchanged. Not to mention, improving a personality is also much harder than corrupting them, especially with his fucking [Corrupter of Children] skill stuck on his soul. 

So rehabilitating terrible male leads is not only quite the impossible task, it's also a little, ah, hypocritical.

Bebe: '…It's very hypocritical actually.' 

After all, those people may be scummy but how could someone who was only slightly less scummy be able to preach to them without being struck by lightening ah? ╮(╯∀╰)╭

Jia Hyson: 'Shush, quiet you.' 

There's also unlikeable characters like the tsundere who may come off as idiotic and violent even to the most hardcore fans of those loli twin-tail stereotypes, the oblivious to the point of mental ret*rdation female lead white lotus types, and even the socially incompetent and possibly even psychotic male leads who only have one OP skill that may or may not be provided by a system. Even though Jia Hyson would love to change them to at least be more bearable and human, it's no longer as easy as pushing the backspace button on his keyboard and rewriting them again.

So having this [God-Given Gift] unique skill is very good. If we hate the male lead? Give his halo to the nicer and more pitiful supporting male lead! If we think the white lotus is beyond saving? Pass it to that sweet girl at the cashier of his favourite coffee shop! Do you think this person needs more screen time? Hand over the gift of a supporting character halo! Hate the guy who bumped into you and didn't apologise? Throw out a cannon fodder halo.

Bebe: 'Why is it the more you continue the more despotic you sound?'

Jia Hyson: 'Hehehe.. so… much….. power.....'ψ(｀∇´)ψ ψ(｀∇´)ψ ψ(｀∇´)ψ

Bebe: '…' 눈_눈 Someone should take away this guy's main character halo ah.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

"Even though it's very useful, it's a limited skill since it relies on the world's consciousness and even this world's heavenly will to help you. If the world and heaven is weak and poor, obviously they may not be able to even generate a supporting lead halo for you to pass on to someone much less produce enough excess energy to pull out a main character's halo." Bebe coldly pours water on his dreams, "Not to mention, no matter what, these characters will originally be favoured or hated by the heavens, you will need to fill in the revelant forms which will include an essay portion explaining why you have chosen to take away or give away a halo. If the heavens are not satisfied with the application they are allowed to reject it."

Jia Hyson: '…' Such a fantastical concept is ruined by this reality-crushing office work talk.

Still, even with it's many restrictions, Jia Hyson was fairly happy with his new unique skills. 

With this happiness bubbling in his heart, he decides to visit one of the cheaper places in Hostland. Maybe because he was recently still a Samotrelian, he couldn't help but crave for similar foods like Indonesian and Indian curries and other delicacies. 

Jia Hyson, in a good mood, dresses himself up nicely for his small 'outing'. Absentmindedly he touches his nose thoughtfully. Not only does he miss Samotrelian food, he also misses Sefu quite a lot ah. Maybe he might get lucky and meet a tall, dark and villainously handsome rebound? (∩❛ڡ❛∩)

Jia Hyson: 'Hehe wish me luck Bebe,' ExcitedDoge.gif 

Bebe: 'Peh. What a disgusting slag you are.' Sefu Shard must be crying right now.

Sefu Shard: '.....' 

Other Shards: 'Heh, welcome comrade. Have a green hat.' 

Sefu Shard: '....' He wants a refund on life.