Overwhelming every contestant and making them feel the pressure.
Who still remembered his mask of pain? Facts proved that it had all been an act.
Discussion of the topic skyrocketed. Those with traffic would only become more famous.
And this was merely Su Nian's starting point.
Now, with his peers serving as a contrast, the show's fame boosting him, and the excellence of his story...
Su Nian seemed to have gathered every factor needed to make a work explode in popularity.
At this very moment, Su Nian had transformed into a red-hot genius writer.
How could there be miserable college students who had classes all day and evening self-study afterward?
Sigh, there was even homework. I'll deal with miscellaneous matters first today and should have another burst of updates this weekend.
As always, love you all.
A Sudden Turn: The Power of the Blank Key
This was a massive recruitment effort.
Even though everyone knew Su Nian could not see right now and was still immersed in writing, they naturally had to make preparations while he was still unaware of the outside world, in order to show their sincerity.
Only then could they increase their chances of being chosen. The copyrights were entirely in Su Nian's hands, so they had to win his favor.
When someone was outstanding enough, everything had to make way for them.
The industry big shots who had once stood so high above others had now put aside their pride. He alone could rival an elite screenwriting team in the industry!
But Su Nian's most frightening quality was not merely the creativity displayed through his plot and presentation.
It was that he was too young, and his potential had yet to be fully tapped.
To have achieved this much at such an age... this young man was terrifying! His future was boundless!
In his studio, Su Nian could never have imagined that merely writing part of a story and making a name for himself in the competition would make him famous in less than a day.
Right now, he was still grinding away at the Previous Civilization storyline.
He had not even finished Kevin's part yet. After that came Snakey, Ai Li, Eden, Chijie... Their stories would take a long time to write.
He absolutely could not slack off.
Mei reported to the Moth of the Fire council that the unnumbered Divine Key—the Blank Key—was about to be successfully developed.
To prevent the Tenth Herrscher from discovering it, Dr. Mei proposed secretly relocating the Divine Key research facility to an isolated island in the Pacific Ocean, with Kevin leading a force to guard it.
Two days later, roughly two hundred Tenth Herrscher individuals were detected in the waters near the island.
Fifteen minutes later, Moth of the Fire's upper ranks ordered Kevin to lead most of the troops into battle.
But this was merely the Herrscher's ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain.
L10--997 led 540 Thousand-Man Herrschers into the research facility, intending to destroy the Divine Key laboratory.
Thinking of this, Su Nian added some details about the Blank Key to the page titled "Divine Key Arc."
Unnumbered Divine Key—the Blank Key.
It was a suit of armor capable of embedding Herrscher Cores. Unlike other Divine Keys, the Blank Key treated its user's body as part of its design.
It allowed humans to connect to Imaginary Space for a brief period, allowing them to become Herrschers for a short time.
It was one of Mei's trump cards reserved for herself.
The Valkyrie armor developed by Schicksal in the current civilization was also based on this prototype.
The Crimson Knight: Moonlit Eclipse armor Aunt Himeko wore during The Last Lesson had embedded the Plague Gem, granting her power comparable to a Herrscher's. That was how she defeated Sirin and saved Kiana.
The Previous Civilization's technology was truly far too advanced.
Although the Blank Key would inflict permanent damage on its user's body, it was undoubtedly a powerful trump card.
If research into this armor had not been temporarily shelved after the Thousand-Man Herrscher, perhaps Mei could have greatly reduced its side effects through optimization.
Sigh, Old Mi, Old Mi.
Every blade came so suddenly, yet made perfect sense.
During this incident, Mei's body suffered irreversible damage, practically making it clear that the story's later ending was destined not to be happy.
Given that background, even if Su Nian imagined that they defeated The End and overcame Honkai, Kevin still would not attain happiness.
The damage she suffered this time, coupled with years of overwork, had already broken her body before the battle against The End.
Kevin thus lost the love of his life.
This might have been the most tragic event of Kevin's life.
For his beloved, Kevin joined Moth of the Fire, fought Honkai, and endured far too much.
Every subsequent Honkai eruption... came at an unbearable cost to humanity and to Kevin alike.
Obsessed? Not obsessed enough!
Su Nian remembered how the players' attitudes toward him had shifted from questioning Kevin, to understanding Kevin, to nearly becoming Kevin and surpassing Kevin.
Fortunately, the ending of Honkai Impact 3rd's current civilization did contain some happiness.
Otherwise, Kevin's fan-made image would have become like Otto being dragged by the Trailblazer to charge at the Imaginary Tree when Fuwu got stabbed.
When the story reached that point, the big names in the art community produced countless hilarious fan illustrations.
The Trailblazer dragged Welt along and pointed at the Imaginary Tree.jpg
"Lord Bishop, take us to charge the tree one more time!"
Question Otto, understand Otto, become Otto, surpass Otto...
After writing out the Blank Key's details, Su Nian returned to Kevin's storyline. Next came the part where the Blank Key's power would be displayed.
Mei had long planned the fastest way to eliminate the Tenth Herrscher, which was why she deliberately put on this act. In truth, the Blank Key had already been completed.
She intentionally leaked information to gather the previously scattered Thousand-Man Herrschers together and wipe them all out in one go.
But... most of the personnel and their strongest combatant, Kevin, had left. Who was supposed to protect the laboratory?
Everyone who saw this reached the same question.
A group of powerless researchers fighting more Herrschers than Kevin could handle?
What a joke. There were more than twice as many of them.
No one had the mind to look at the industry big shots fighting over Su Nian and throwing out olive branches anymore.
Su Nian's plot had raised another question.
The female lead was definitely going to get stabbed!
We've heard you say that so many times already. Who stabs the female lead for no reason?
I believe Kevin will definitely return as a hero, show off his divine might, save the damsel in distress, and marry her after the side effects are resolved.
Don't underestimate human wisdom. If she dared to make such a plan, then there definitely wouldn't be a problem.
With the plot progressing, who would care about those irrelevant matters anymore?
The audience eagerly discussed the new developments Su Nian had written. For a time, no one even mentioned the olive branches thrown his way.
The first core Mei embedded was the Herrscher of Thunder's. Within 201 seconds, she used the power of electromagnetic fields to bombard hundreds of Herrschers.
Su Nian remembered the Blank Key Arc manga. The illustration for Mei here looked so much like it.
Mei, wearing the Blank Key with the Herrscher of Thunder's core embedded within it, looked and fought almost exactly like Raiden Mei after she became the Third Herrscher in the current civilization.
It could not merely be called very similar.
It was exactly the same.
What Queen of Thunder?
Ten minutes later, Mei embedded the Herrscher of Wind's core. A single connection lasted only sixty-five seconds, but she still eliminated one hundred Tenth Herrschers.
Yet when only 120 Tenth Herrschers remained, Mei was brought down by the Blank Key's side effects.
The audience's emotions were like a roller coaster, rising and falling and falling and falling—
They had originally thought it would be a battle of wits against the Herrschers, with Kevin returning at the critical moment. But Mei was no ordinary person!
Watching Mei display her might, the only thought in their minds was that she was awesome.
The two had always been well matched, and now Mei had grown strong as well. Their hopes rose dramatically.
Then, in the very next second, Su Nian abruptly turned things around and piled more debuffs onto Mei!
The plot twisted and twisted again.
This state could only be used for less than five minutes.
Not very promising.
Know What You Are Fighting For
The time was too short. Though people said that the outcome between experts could be decided in seconds, this was a fatal flaw.
It was destined to be highly limiting.
And the unexpected part was...
The Blank Key had actually been made by Mei for Kevin from the beginning.
She believed Kevin could truly unleash the Blank Key's power, perhaps even surpass its limits.
But before that, Kevin needed to understand one thing...
Su Nian remembered Kevin mentioning this in the Sea of Old Tales portion of his recollections in The Past's Paradise.
And the scene described in Sea of Old Tales was undoubtedly the battle against the Thousand-Man Herrschers during the tenth Honkai eruption.
Unfortunately, the Blank Key project was suspended for some unknown reason.
Perhaps because... it was merely the prototype of Valkyrie armor?
That was what Su Nian thought. This time, it was also time to advance Kevin and Mei's relationship a little.
Although the two had known and accompanied each other for so long, who did not love some sweet romance?
That was the only way to make those who saw what came later hurt to the bone!
The harder they shipped them now, the faster their tears would fall later.
Su Nian's grin was nearly reaching the sun. Soon.
Let them be happy for a few more days. Su Nian was about to start handing out blades.
Fortunately, Kevin had already eliminated all the enemies at sea and rushed back.
But Kevin was not the one responsible for the cleanup afterward.
Although he was powerful, he had not yet undergone Chimera Surgery, and neither his condition nor his strength had reached their peak.
Kevin was not yet the all-powerful Patriarch Kevin.
Facing Thousand-Man Herrschers who could coordinate with one another and possessed diverse abilities, he was clearly at a severe disadvantage.
Moreover, Mei had not anticipated that L10--461 possessed other abilities. It was especially troublesome and drained much of Kevin's stamina.
In truth, neither of them had much strength left to deal with the remaining Herrschers before them.
These Herrschers posed no threat to their lives.
If Kevin focused only on protecting Mei, neither of them would face any danger.
But Kevin and Mei's thoughts seemed to have diverged somewhat.
What Mei wanted was to end the Tenth Herrscher completely, right here and now!
And Kevin... Su Nian could not fathom what he was thinking.
What he thought and what he did differed greatly.
Judge a hero by deeds, not by thoughts.
Before you continue