"And what about you? Are you thinking of me? Are you unable to sleep, clutching the covers and secretly crying because you miss me? Do you like me the way I like you?"
"You can easily brag to other girls about my infatuation with you as spoils of war, claiming how cheap and shameless I am, and then hold that girl and say, ’I’m glad I met you.’"
"Don’t worry, I won’t cry, nor will I make a scene, because I know—"
"I’m no longer your exception."
Miracle·Blood Flower Moon Reflection!
Countless strands of silk sliced through the air, blood flowers blooming like curtains. The red-haired Sword Maiden stood amidst the blood curtain, droplets of blood falling onto the young girl’s face, sliding down like traces of tears.
"Good! That’s a wrap!"
The tense atmosphere on set immediately relaxed. Sonia let out a long sigh and walked to a folding chair to rest. A young assistant quickly came over to wipe the prop blood off her face and handed her a lemonade. The Illusionist and wood technique mage from the crew immediately started altering the terrain as per the blueprint. The rumbling sound of the earth stretching and rolling served as a backdrop to the actors’ rest time.
"Miss Sevi, that was an excellent performance," the director approached, his gaze obscured by his six-lensed glasses, but his admiration was unmistakable: "I was worried that you, without any formal acting training or life experience, would feel a bit stiff playing a part that requires a transformation from love to hatred and hysterical madness. But you’ve gotten into character so quickly."
"While you’re still not quite at the level of a top Shadow Actress, for a newcomer, your acting will certainly make the audience take notice. You were the right choice for this role... By the way, are you actually in a state of unrequited love? I found your performance in that part especially authentic."
"Ha ha," Sonia flashed a professional smile: "Of course not, I’m not planning on dating before graduation—"
Director: "Because I really enjoy writing about female characters who fall into distorted love affairs in my scripts, but there aren’t many Shadow Actresses suited to this type. So I was wondering if I could look for you for such roles in the future—"
"I actually have an object of unrequited love for three years," Sonia immediately adopted a tone of self-pity: "The only reason I applied to Sword Flower University and came to Jiale City was in the hope that one day I could stand before him, but by the time we met again, he was already my best friend’s fiancé..."
The director adjusted his six-lensed glasses: "I see, in the future, I will definitely call Miss Sevi for auditions for such roles."
"Thank you, director~"
The assistant looked on, confused—Huh? Was Sonia telling the truth just now?
"However, I really did put you through a lot this time, using up so much of your Magic Power just because of a whim of mine."
In the original script, Sonia’s character simply beheads her former lover with a single stroke and then carries the lover’s head away.
But Sonia’s image of defeating the Alchemist Tida with a single sword stroke at a social event had spread widely, and her sword technique, Blood Flower Moon Reflection, consequently caught many people’s eyes. The director took the liberty of changing the script on the spot, allowing her to execute the killing scene with Blood Flower Moon Reflection.
Of course, Sonia was more than happy to add to her own impressive scene, but to achieve the best shooting effect, she had to shoot the scene nine times already, draining her Magic Power so much that she felt slightly dizzy.
"Ah, how could it be a trouble? As long as it’s for sculpting a better piece of work, it’s all worth it. Compared to that, I’m more concerned about whether this scene can be accurately portrayed on the Light Screen," Sonia quickly said: "Because it’s a bit bloody, and if I recall, this play is intended for all ages..."
"Relax, relax, I’m the best at shooting bloody scenes in romance films," the director said casually: "Showing everything might not be possible, but just displaying bits and pieces of the scene can make the audience imagine an even more spectacular image than the actual scene—and such a gloriously twisted scene, I’d bet my contacts that they wouldn’t cut it."
"Even if they really have to make major edits, they won’t cut out your shots with screen time, don’t worry."
Sonia blinked: "Ah, was I that obvious?"
"No, but actors who don’t care about their own screen time are as rare as cats that don’t knock over water glasses."
As if it heard that it was being spoken about, a tiny gold-gradient cat poked out from under a fisherman’s hat. It was about the size of a palm, fluffy and plump, lightly jumping into the director’s coat pocket, it retrieved a Gold Coin and bounced back under the fisherman’s hat.
"Ah!" Sonia’s eyes lit up: "This is..."
"Correct, this is a Gold-eating Beast, a Gold-eating Beast that won’t let you pet or play with it, it does nothing but eat Gold Coins and create mischief," the director said irritably: "Looks cute, right? Got it in exchange for my frazzled nerves. I think the Void Realm is specifically targeting me, which is why they sent me the least likely quiet creature, a Gold-eating Beast, when I need silence to create."
Gold-eating Beasts are native to the Time Continent, but not considered sentient creatures. In the Kingdom of Stars, they are classified as a ’rare species’. Mages who encounter a rare species in the Void Realm have a certain chance of the creature taking a liking to them, subsequently, the Mage can bring them out of the Void Realm and into reality.
Currently, there is no evidence to suggest rare species provide any bonus to Mages, but generally speaking, Mages favored by rare species share three characteristics: ① at least a Two-winged Mage; ② good-hearted and empathetic; ③ naive and simple-minded. In other words, the people favored by rare species are all—