At the end of the day, popularity is just like rowing upstream, if you don't advance, you fall back.
It's extremely difficult to maintain lasting fame like the Queen of the 3D district, Tifa; most of the time, a character's popularity will only flare up for a while, and then they quickly get submerged by the new wave and become the tears of the era.
Bai Fu's goal wasn't to be the new king of the 3D district but to be the king of popularity in the real world, so the path she had to tread was even more challenging than Tifa's, constantly making waves and maintaining high visibility in front of players—these were her essential tasks.
Her plan was to make contact with players from other Newbie Planets before they encountered the Star Sea, to leave a more lasting impression on them. That way, when players from other Newbie Planets met other female NPCs better suited to their xp, they wouldn't forget her so easily; as long as the players remembered her, she would still have a chance to turn the tables.
Of course, Bai Fu's purpose for going to other Newbie Planets wasn't just that.
"Players from other Newbie Planets are screaming for a Fufu to squeeze their Experience out of them every day, if I don't go, would I even qualify as a real Charming Demon?"
Bai Fu, who had already experienced the pleasure of basking in the Experience Pool on Ancestral Origin Star, wouldn't pass up any chance to harvest from players.
The players from Ancestral Origin Star already elevated her status; with a few more planets' players, she feared she might just faint from happiness.
Bai Fu was eager to feast to her heart's content.
Players were a wonderful thing, tasting like chicken, crispy and firm, with a protein content dozens of times that of ordinary NPCs. After having tasted the flavor of players when establishing her Camp, she felt she couldn't live without them anymore.
But, matters like participating in main storylines and harvesting players from other planets were all to be attended to later.
"After arriving in the Sea Lion Star System, the first step is to evade pursuit, create a new identity, and then find a way to complete Transferring Professions."
With greater power, one can make more choices.
Bai Fu focused on several cards displayed on the virtual screen. The Initial Gate, as a Star System Group on the edge of the explored universe, wasn't under any Cosmic Civilization and was thus synonymous with chaos, with the Sea Lion Star System belonging to the Initial Gate being no exception.
The cards mentioned that the Initial Gate faced the threat of a "Flood Disaster" from the exterior, and internally there had been a Dimension Disaster.
The so-called Flood Disaster refers to attacks from Starry Sky Giant Beasts and Dark Domain Insect Swarms, the latter similar to the Flood in the Halo series, known for rapid proliferation, strong infection, and frequent mutations.
The Dimension Disaster originated from the first conflicts amongst civilizations within the Star Sea inside the Initial Gate, back in the days before the cosmic order took shape. The struggles between civilizations were both to establish superiority and to decide life and death, just like a dark forest.
A certain lost civilization within the Initial Gate tried to control dimensions to eliminate other civilizations, only to be exterminated by the other civilizations working together. This civilization was wiped out, but some people managed to survive. Since then, these survivors emerged from time to time like Ghosts, causing incidents more impactful than the Twin Towers bombings.
"Flood Disaster, Ghosts, I wonder if they still exist after a hundred years. If they do, it seems like these would be two major storylines."
Bai Fu nodded repeatedly; in addition to these two great disasters, the Initial Gate Star System also faced religious conflicts, attacks from Interstellar Pirates, behind-the-scenes competitions from Cosmic Civilizations, and a variety of other contradictions.
She was very excited about this. Chaos was her ladder to rise!
"Edge World, I'm freaking coming!"
Bai Fu let out a joyful cry.
After she resettled herself on the bed, the spaceship had officially left Ancestral Origin Star. Accompanied by the spaceship AI's announcement, the Type II Warp Engine the ship was equipped with began to operate.
The engine roared, distorting the fabric of space behind the ship.
As the portholes of the ship no longer showed a normal starry sky, only the tranquil Black Domain, Bai Fu knew that the spaceship had officially entered the stage of Warp Flight.
"It will take 115 hours from Ancestral Origin Star to the Sea Lion Star System. Please wait patiently."
The announcement echoed in the room.
115 hours, which was less than five days.
For Bai Fu, who loved to stay at home and do nothing, those mere five days of waiting flashed by. Not to mention playing games and chatting with people on the spaceship—even if there was nothing to do, by locking herself in the cabin, she could easily entertain herself for five days.
During the voyage, Bai Fu browsed through the official game website and player Community.
She visited the official site to check update announcements. In reality, there wasn't much to see in the announcements; just as Stars Cluster Girl had said, version 1.3 focused on an exploration main storyline with no new features. However, due to her standout performance in version 1.2, her character illustration was featured at the end of the update announcement, specifically explaining the progression of the main story, making her a little bit famous.
She had a premonition that if she continued to shine in version 1.3, the next time the official announcements were released, her illustration should appear at the very top. If she dazzled in version 1.4 as well, when the Star Sea version officially opened, she would become the protagonist in the preview film for the Star Sea version.
From the queen of Newbie Village to the new star of the Star Sea, who was more suitable than her to be the spokesperson for the Star Sea version?
"If there is anyone, then they'll just have to become wings on my back!"
In reality, in the eyes of the players, Bai Fu was already the spokesperson for the Star Sea version.
The day she left Ancestral Origin Star, at noon, Igor and Gao Yuan collaborated to release her exclusive documentary.