Vought International, top floor.
Homelander's room was still as bright as day.
The enormous high-definition screen was showing footage from the interview that had just ended.
He had stood here alone and watched it many times.
But every time it reached the end—when he spoke from the heart and the audience below applauded without end—he couldn't help bursting into laughter.
Then he would pause the footage and pull up the trending posts that the risk-control team had been pushing nonstop at his command.
#Shocking—Homelander Admits His Mistake!!!
#Homelander—Please, Mother, Don't Cry Anymore
#Vought International—Our Hero Wasn't the One in the Wrong
#Homelander—Please Keep Protecting Us; We're Your Lambs
Comment after comment kept refreshing. Wave after wave of praise, likes, and encouragement rolled by, climbing higher.
"95%..."
Homelander furrowed his brow, somewhat dissatisfied. "Why is my approval rating rising so slowly?"
Suddenly, a screenshot with a title caught his eye. Its popularity was bucking the trend and rising, and it instantly seized his attention.
The image had been deliberately color-graded.
A soft glow bathed him as he stood with his eyes closed, while the stage around him had faded into a hazy, indistinct backdrop.
It was as if the stage had shed all its noise, leaving him alone in that small patch of light and shadow.
The image evoked a distinct sense of loneliness, along with an unusual, haunting beauty.
If Homelander had been the only person in the image, then its title would have been woefully misleading.
But when the view pulled back from Homelander, another small figure appeared at the edge of that soft, warm glow.
It was... Ryan!
The afterglow fell across one side of his face as he looked up at his father.
Title: Above the Throne—Father and Son Together
Meanwhile, the son above the throne had already scurried into the warmth of his blankets.
Then Ryan eagerly opened the Best Actor System.
His gaze sharpened. He stared blankly for a couple of seconds, then let out an excited whisper. "Yes! I knew it..."
He didn't say what he knew. Walls had ears, so he kept the thought to himself and quietly savored it, weighing things up.
More than a month of immersive acting alongside Homelander, last night's explosive performance when he left his mother, and his flawless performance throughout tonight's broadcast—all those different scenes and emotions had piled up, bringing him a massive experience-point windfall.
[After all that hardship, wasn't it all for these damn acting experience points?]
[Seriously, why did I get a Best Actor System? Even a basic proficiency panel would've done the job.]
[Then I would've kept my head down until I reached Superboy-Prime before coming out.]
Ryan grumbled inwardly.
He really couldn't make sense of it. He'd died in an accident while shooting on set, without triggering any of the bizarre, standard transmigration conditions before his death.
Then he'd opened his eyes and found himself not only in The Boys Universe but also bound to a Best Actor System without his consent.
What kind of jerk designed this thing? These were all his own superpowers, yet the system still made him unlock them level by level with experience points.
If the Best Actor System couldn't let his skills break past Homelander's limit, he wouldn't have bothered with it at all.
Shaking his head, unable to make sense of it, Ryan cast those thoughts aside.
Then he turned his attention back to the system.
[Experience: 72500]
[One, ten... over seventy thousand!!!]
A single live interview broadcast around the world had earned him over forty thousand experience points.
That was a lot—a huge windfall.
Before this, Ryan had spent over a month with Homelander, and even with last night's burst of acting skill, he had only earned nearly twenty thousand experience points in total.
That included the little he'd saved up over the previous eight years, too.
After carefully thinking it through, Ryan realized he had just enough to unlock all his remaining superpowers, then upgrade Steel Body by another four levels.
[Super Smell: 1,000. Super Strength: 5,000. Weak Bio-Field: 15,000.]
[And finally, Level Four Steel Body: 50,000!]
[Remaining experience... 1,500.]
In the end, Ryan made upgrading Steel Body his top priority.
After all, a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush!
Even though his upgraded Steel Body would be limited by his low-level Super Stamina, and the duration of its maximum defense would shrink drastically again as his stamina drained rapidly...
Ryan didn't consider any of that a real problem.
If he ever faced a life-or-death crisis, he only had to rely on his Level Four Steel Body to endure the most dangerous opening stage of the fight.
After all, he still had an "ultimate finishing move" to use.
Besides, he had another trump card he'd been looking forward to for a long time. Now that all his superpowers were unlocked, he finally met the conditions to use it.
Heat Vision!!!
Though Heat Vision was a superpower he'd awakened naturally, its subsequent upgrades had been folded into the system. Even so, it had its own special properties.
Ryan looked at his skill panel.
[Heat Vision • Level One] (Naturally Awakened)
Experience required to upgrade: 1/5000
Level One Effect: Controllable low-temperature burning // Minimum power: heating milk. Maximum: pierces walls up to ten centimeters thick; effective against carbon-based life forms.
Awakened State—Berserk!!!
Berserk: All skill levels temporarily decrease by 1; power increases without limit. The greater the power, the shorter the duration.
Ryan studied Heat Vision's awakened state, also known as Berserk.
[The greater the power, the shorter it lasts. I get that, but just how short is "short"? What if I crank it straight up to planet-busting levels?]
[Wait, could Homelander's Heat Vision bust a planet?]
Ryan glanced again at the Berserk description, at the words "increases without limit."
Just as his skills could break through the ceiling once they reached max level, Berserk removed all limits on Heat Vision outright. He didn't even need to spend experience points to upgrade it.
Maybe it really could.
Then came the question: could he reach that level of power right now?
[I need to find somewhere to test it. Even if I can't, the description also says "all skill levels temporarily decrease by 1."]
[If there's a -1, then there can be a -2.]
[At -2, it'll definitely last longer. And a longer duration is basically the same as greater power. One day, I'll be able to blow up a star with a glance.]
With his trump card explored for now, Ryan could feel his mind growing foggy.
He was still very young, after all. He'd been performing one high-intensity act after another since last night, and the strain was starting to wear him out.
[I can check the skills I unlocked and upgraded tomorrow. There's no rush to use them.]
Thinking this, he wriggled around under the covers to adjust his sleeping position.
He liked to bend one leg, pin half the blanket beneath himself, and sleep on his stomach.
A bad habit he'd brought with him from his previous life.
I'd heard sleeping like this was bad for you, but I have Steel Body.
Just before falling asleep, he couldn't resist mentally running through all his superpowers again, then grumbling resentfully.
Could someone please tell me where to collect my gear?
Before you continue