Tiandao's Moment in the Spotlight

The real world, Station 13.

Watching Tiandao find the final teammate for his three-man squad.

Everyone knew that the Final Assessment, which had been built up for nearly three episodes, was finally about to truly begin.

On paper, Tiandao's squad was undoubtedly the strongest team present.

This team had gathered the first-, third-, and fourth-ranked students together. It was an unbelievably lavish lineup.

And such a luxurious configuration naturally made Tiandao's team the first to challenge the Earth Dragon Lizard.

But what made the viewers laugh was this.

Jing Liuli, who had always acted cowardly and content to loaf around, immediately began to back out after hearing Tiandao say that this Earth Dragon Lizard might be on the verge of breaking through.

"Ti-Tiandao, I just remembered I have something to do. I'll be going now!"

"Where do you think you're going?" Tiandao grabbed Jing Liuli by the collar.

"Tiandao, can't you just let me leave first?"

"You wish. You're already here, so get moving!"

"Nooo!!!"

Watching Jing Liuli get forcibly dragged into the arena by Tiandao, like a duck driven onto a perch.

The comment feed erupted with laughter.

'Tiandao: Want to clock out? Get back to work!'

'You're already here, and you still want to run?'

'Help! Why does this feel like such a heartless corporation?'

'Sigh, capitalism.'

Amid the harmonious atmosphere of the comments, the battle between Tiandao's squad and the Earth Dragon Lizard officially began.

And right from the start, Tiandao's team displayed extremely high combat proficiency.

As a Mechanical type, Caroline positioned herself at the very rear of the team, using her Star Energy Data Network to connect Tiandao and Jing Liuli, perfectly fulfilling the role of the team's brain.

As a Special Trait type, Jing Liuli stood in the middle of the team, perfectly bringing her support and restraining abilities into play.

As for Tiandao, the strongest member of the team, he naturally took on the team's most arduous task without hesitation.

That was to confront the Earth Dragon Lizard head-on and keep it from interfering with his teammates as much as possible.

But even with such a perfect team composition, Tiandao's squad was completely suppressed by the Earth Dragon Lizard from the very beginning.

Even though Tiandao continually predicted the Earth Dragon Lizard's movements using the powerful ocular ability granted by his Stellar Eclipse Heavenly Eye.

He still could not find any opportunity to strike back, other than dodging.

As for Jing Liuli, though she wanted to step in and help several times, she never found a suitable opening. All she could do was keep harassing the Earth Dragon Lizard from all sides, reducing the pressure Tiandao faced as much as possible.

It could be said that if the battle continued in this manner.

Then Tiandao's team's defeat would merely be a matter of time.

'Wait, even a team as strong as Tiandao's has no ability to fight back. How are the others supposed to handle this?'

'What was the production team thinking? They actually want to use an opponent like this to give the protagonist Chen Kong a shining moment and a reversal? Wouldn't that completely shatter the power scaling? How could Chen Kong's team compare to Tiandao's?'

'Tiandao: Encountered a max-level boss in the beginner village, fought with everything he had, and still couldn't win.'

Watching Tiandao's team get suppressed across the board, everyone felt this battle was far too ridiculous.

After all, the two sides had never been on the same level from beginning to end. There was no suspense whatsoever as to who would win.

But just when everyone thought the production team intended to use Tiandao and the others' miserable defeat to establish the protagonist Chen Kong's strength later on.

An impassioned, blood-pumping BGM suddenly began to play.

Then, after Tiandao on the arena heard Caroline's words from behind him, he instantly abandoned the previous entanglement and proactively pulled away from the Earth Dragon Lizard.

Immediately afterward, Jing Liuli, who had been circling around and harassing it all along, promptly took on the task of restraining the Earth Dragon Lizard head-on, creating a precious opportunity for Tiandao to counterattack.

In an instant, the entire anime slowed down, the camera completely focusing on Tiandao as it moved in for a close-up.

Tousled silver-white hair, azure-blue eyes, features so exquisite they seemed like a work of art.

At that moment, Tiandao looked like a character who had stepped straight out of a shoujo manga.

Clearly, the production team had painstakingly refined this scene for a long time.

After all, the image quality of that close-up was so absurdly detailed that even the ceiling reflected on the distant arena floor could be seen clearly.

"Star Energy Technique—Azure!"

As Tiandao's calm words fell.

The sphere of energy hovering at his fingertips traced a perfect arc through the air and struck the Earth Dragon Lizard's left knee, where an old hidden injury remained.

After that one strike, the powerful Earth Dragon Lizard actually dropped to one knee, blood flowing from its wound.

At the sight of this astonishing scene, a strange silence fell both inside and outside the screen.

Because the more oppressive the Earth Dragon Lizard had seemed before.

The more shocking Tiandao's feat of injuring it now became.

And to highlight the shock Tiandao's move had brought everyone.

The scene fittingly cut to the protagonist, Chen Kong.

Chen Kong's pupils had constricted, his mouth slightly open. He clearly could not believe what Tiandao had accomplished.

And just like him, the viewers outside the screen were stunned.

'Checking in for this legendary scene!'

'That strike pierced through the stars!'

'Mom asked me why I was watching anime on my knees!'

Amid the astonished cries in the comments, the camera shifted away from the protagonist Chen Kong and ultimately focused on the Earth Dragon Lizard in the Final Assessment arena.

The Earth Dragon Lizard, which Tiandao had just injured with a single Star Energy Technique, had now completely risen to its feet, an intimidating aura pouring from its entire body.

Clearly, Tiandao had thoroughly enraged the Earth Dragon Lizard.

It threw back its head and roared. The sound was so thunderous that many viewers watching the anime under their blankets were so frightened they flung their phones away.

But in stark contrast to the furious Earth Dragon Lizard, Tiandao, having already gained the upper hand, had long since left the arena with Caroline and Jing Liuli.

He had even put his little sunglasses back on and was teasing the Earth Dragon Lizard in the arena with a smugly irritating grin.

"Yo, big guy, still sulking over there? The assessment's already over!"

Hearing Tiandao's words.

The Earth Dragon Lizard on-screen immediately flew into helpless rage.

Meanwhile, the viewers off-screen burst into laughter.

'Hahaha, now that's how a protagonist should act. Who's that extra in the audience?'

'Stellaris? No, where's the crowd? All I see is one big star named Tiandao!'

'I've figured it out. If you put yourself in Tiandao's shoes, this is a standard power fantasy anime!'

'"The Truth About the True Protagonist Actually Being a Background Character"'

'The False Protagonist: trembling in fear'

'The True Protagonist: facing a powerful enemy head-on'

While the comments sang Tiandao's praises because of his brilliant performance.

Tiandao, half-reclined on the large bed in his dorm room, leisurely watched the translucent light screen floating in midair that only he could see.

Popularity Points +1

Popularity Points +1

Popularity Points +1

"Perfect~"

Tiandao took a bite of the strawberry cake in his hand, extremely satisfied with the "production team's" work on this episode.

After all, not only had he occupied nearly eighty percent of the episode's screen time.

The plot had also perfectly showcased his strength as the Stellar Apex.

It could be said that under the production team's meticulous work, his moment in the spotlight had erupted with visual impact far beyond anything he had imagined.

After all, when he had designed this segment himself, there had been no way for him to add so many "visual effects" to it.

But although the audience response to this shining scene had been extremely gratifying, Tiandao knew that his leisurely days were more or less about to end.

Because once the Final Assessment arc ended, everyone would obtain a Star Source suited to them.

At that point, the gap between him and the others would shrink in a short time.

After all, once they had Star Sources, what everyone competed in would no longer be merely stats, but also "mechanics."

And for certain popular characters predetermined by the production team.

The combinations of their Star Cores and Star Sources would all be BUG-level existences.

Therefore, if Tiandao still wanted to maintain his current invincible position, he had to make good use of this precious window of opportunity.

Because after the Final Assessment ended, what followed Stellaris Prequel: Ember would be a major arc far fiercer and more brutal than the Final Assessment.

In this major arc, not only would the Ember Organization suffer large-scale devastation.

All the Starborn would also be scattered throughout the New Federation, laying the groundwork for season two, Stellaris: Glimmer.

And thinking of the brutal battle soon to come, as well as the "grand vision" in his heart.

Tiandao immediately rolled out of bed, sat up, and opened his Popularity System.

"Though I'm still carrying a debt of one million Popularity Points, if I want to keep up my shining performance in the coming major arc, I'll have to take a bigger risk."

Tiandao's gaze swept across the Popularity Mall before finally settling on a special item.

Name: Death-Replacing Bracelet

Effect: Can block one fatal injury, placing the host in a feigned-death state and awakening them one natural day later

Purchase Price: 100,000 Popularity Points

Purchase Limit: 2/2