章 4: What a Lovely Novice!
While Nie Chang worked away at the notebook Su Yan started thinking about his next story again.
He had never written any original story since he feared that he might not be good enough. Writing an original would require him to craft everything on his own: The world, the characters, the storyline … He didn't feel up to this task even now, although he had written more than twenty fan-fics starting from his schooldays. After all, with a fan-fic, all those big questions had already been answered.
Though, he had been getting bolder with time. At first, he had only written some short fics, some new adventure for the heroes of his favorite novels. Now, he sometimes made some favorite side character of his into the new protagonist and let him have his own novel or he tried to imagine the future of the protagonist or something that had happened far in the past but was never mentioned in the original novel whatsoever.
This time, he actually didn't know what to write. He somehow wanted to try his hands on that reincarnation thing that had been getting popular recently. Wasn't it great? Somebody got a new chance at life, maybe reliving his own life and changing it for the better or waking up in a completely new world where he could cultivate and become immortal when he had been a normal human being before. There were so many possibilities to explore!
He had already read quite a few of such novels but at the moment he just didn't know for which of them to write a fan-fic.
Hm. Maybe I should pick a few of them and then let my readers choose? But what if they chose something he couldn't find inspiration for? Mn, no, it was still better to find something himself. He should just have a look at the synopsis' of his favorite reincarnation novels again.
He turned around and wanted to get his notebook when he remembered that Nie Chang was still working on it.
Ah, damn. So that's impossible. He drummed on the table with his fingers, thinking about what to do. Then, his gaze fell on Nie Chang's notebook.
"Heh, Ah Chang, you've found anything yet?"
"Mh-mh. Nothing yet."
"Then … can I use your notebook for a while? I want to look something up."
"Sure, go ahead. You know the password?"
"No. Tell me!" Su Yan pulled the notebook over and inserted the numbers Nie Chang told him.
Oh? That sequence seemed familiar somehow? He pondered but couldn't quite catch on. Might be something famous from a movie or something like that. Who knew Nie Chang would be this careless with a password? Isn't he supposed to be some expert with computers? Even I know you shouldn't take something like that as a password!
While Su Yan scolded his friend in his heart Nie Chang suddenly looked up, his expression a little taut. He observed Su Yan's face and finally sighed.
Ah, not even recognizing your own date of birth? Damn, that would have been a good opportunity to confess had Su Yan asked.
He could only sigh. Staying over the night … on one hand, it was great since he had many opportunities to finally get into Su Yan's head that he didn't only want to be friends with him but on the other hand it was utterly frustrating because Su Yan managed to misunderstand every single hint he gave.
How could one be so naive in this day and age? Then again, that was what he loved about him. Nie Chang gazed at him a while longer and finally shook his head before he concentrated on the notebook again. Until now, he still hadn't been able to find anything.
Meanwhile, Su Yan got the shock of his life. Just when he had opened up the browser, another window popped up. This time, no voice greeted him but instead a line of text appeared: [Welcome back, host! I am the Lovely Writing System, type Special System K81-3FA5-69, and I was allocated to you to help you gain experiences, further your skills and achieve greatness related to your targeted occupation 'author'.]
Uh … what?
As if the system had analyzed his expression, another line of text appeared: [You were granted a system that will issue tasks related to your chosen career path. Through accomplishing the tasks occupation-related skills will be trained and special missions will be unlocked that will help you achieve the next rank on your path to your targeted goal.]
Su Yan blinked. Eh? This sounded pretty good! Was this really the same strange program that had shocked him this much just an hour ago?
Wait, wait! How did he use this program? Was there some sort of FAQ? He had questions!
Su Yan looked around but he couldn't find anything. In fact, the whole program seemed to consist solely of the big textbox. Should he just start writing there and then those tasks would be issued?
The program once again answered his question: The explanation disappeared and the window was divided into different parts. In one of them, a gray '1' appeared and the word 'Novice' was displayed next to it.
Su Yan lifted his brows. This was …? It looked like some kind of leveling system from a game?
Indeed. An explanation popped up: [The host is currently assessed to be at rank '1 Novice'. Further information can be displayed by clicking on the current rank.]
Su Yan didn't really care about that. He wanted to see the first task! After all, that was probably what would help him gain a rank and — more importantly — further his skills. He just clicked the explanation away and waited for the other parts of the window to reveal themselves.
Soon, the thing he had waited for appeared: A task list occupied the middle part of the window. There was one task displayed there with the title of 'Getting Started' but before Su Yan could click it, another explanation popped up.
He grit his teeth and just clicked it away. He didn't really care for these explanations. Wasn't this just like a simple game? He would totally be able to figure out everything on his own! Thus, Su Yan did the same with the other explanations and finally clicked on the first task:
[Getting Started: To master a technique, basics are needed. To devise the best learning path for the host a test will be personally tailored for him. Please enter some basic information regarding your experiences to set it up.]
Oh! This program actually looked really good. Su Yan's eyes gleamed. Maybe this would really help him become a great author? He clicked on the [Accept]-button and was instantly dumbfounded.
This … What did this have to do with writing?!
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