Generation Z Artists

Chapter 148 System Repair
The final three tests ended as if they were just going through the motions.

Although the people who came specifically to go through the motions were somewhat special—Xie Fei, Situ Zhaodun, Hou Keming, Xie Xiaojing, and Liu Shibing—the nature of the event remained unchanged.

What puzzled Fang Xinghe the most was Liu Shibing, the head of the Performing Arts Department.

He asked in a friendly tone, "If the opportunity arises in the future, would you consider acting in some roles, or even directing and starring in your own films?"

Fang Xinghe nodded: "Yes."

The other person immediately seized the opportunity: "Then when you have free time, come to the acting department to attend classes and rehearse with the acting students. The director's understanding of acting is very different from the actual acting you do..."

Fang Xinghe nodded again, and Director Liu sighed with satisfaction as if he had accomplished something major in his life.

As for the others, they were just chatting idly, rambling on about how easy it is to find a partner at the Beijing Film Academy.

On February 18, the list was released, with Fang Xinghe ranking first.

As long as my college entrance exam score is above the passing mark, getting into a 01 undergraduate program is a sure thing.

But this was a minor matter—on the same day, the panel finally accumulated the last tens of millions of starlight, reaching the 10 billion mark, and suddenly an upgrade prompt popped up.

[Would you like to consume 10 billion starlight to continue repairing the system?]

Fang Xinghe had already anticipated this, and was not surprised but delighted, happily agreeing: "Of course!"

A few seconds later, the Star God Assist System (damaged version) became the Star God Assist System (minorly damaged version).

"Huh? Does that mean it can be repaired one last time?"

Fang Xinghe was not quite sure.

Judging from this, it should be able to become the official version after one more fix, right?

The distracting thoughts vanished in an instant, and he decided to enjoy the present moment, opening the system with anticipation.

The interface has become simpler, consisting of four sub-panels.

【Properties Panel】

Appearance: 99 for looks, 90 for figure (expand)

体质：力量90、速度90、耐力90、灵敏90、柔韧90
隐藏：协调99、感知90、恢复90、免疫90、健康90
There aren't many changes in attributes, except that the Art attribute has been moved to a separate section and is now displayed in the [Profession Panel].

With 99 points in coordination, Fang Xinghe still had a solid foundation for practicing various skills. He used Star Glory to raise the remaining attributes to 90 points, thus stepping into the realm of genius.

90 points is a fascinating threshold; once it's broken, things change dramatically.

It wasn't concrete evidence, but a feeling—Fang Xinghe felt he had become more complete; was it the body influencing the mind, or perhaps the soul?

In short, it is free and comfortable, agile and vigorous.

【Starlight Panel】

Total number of fans: 1.1 million

Level 1 floating powder: 1 million (expand)

Tier 2 Midfielder: 725 million (Expand)

Level 3 loyalist: 1202500 (expand)

Level 4 Frenzy: 375152 (Expand)

Level 5 Belief: 15433 (Expand)

Starlight value: 125w
Star value: 15 points

All fan levels now have additional expansion options. A quick glance at the Level 4 Fanatic entry reveals that it lists nationality.

Level 4 Frenzy: 375152
Chinese fans: 173222
Japanese fans: 118538
Korean fans: 52709
……

Fang Xinghe felt it was absurd. As a writer who developed his career in China, he had fewer enthusiastic fans domestically than overseas. This should never have happened before in the history of Chinese entertainment.

This situation often occurs in the Korean entertainment industry.

South Korea has a small land area and a limited market, so once boy groups and girl groups reach the top and sweep across Asia and even Europe and America, there will be a situation where the number of fans is reversed.

For example, Girls' Generation, EXO, BTS, and Blackpink all have more overseas fans than local fans.

However, China is a vast country with abundant resources, but its cultural export capacity is limited, so in theory, such an exception should not occur.

Fanatic fans are different from others; they need time to develop and experience to distill. But Chinese entertainment stars can make a living in the domestic market, so who has the time to develop overseas markets?
Fang Xinghe achieved this with just one book tour...

Well, the Japanese love madness, and the Koreans love good looks. It's just the way things are, and it's hard to replicate.

However, when Fang Xinghe looked at the data on his die-hard fans, he realized that his overseas development was actually quite rough and still insufficient.

Level 3 loyalist: 1202500
Chinese fans: 69

Japan and South Korea: 37

The situation of level 3 fans is no longer reversed, which means that the truth is that Japanese and Korean fans are more likely to be fanatical, rather than it being an inevitable result of their large number.

Simply put: Fang Xinghe took the wrong path in Japan and South Korea, not the right one. What seemed like a blazing success was actually quite hollow.

Demonic arts can progress very quickly in the early stages, but if one is not careful, one will suffer from qi deviation and become possessed by demons.

If it cannot be properly consolidated, its rise will be swift, and its fall will be swift as well.

Fang Xinghe carefully considered the details, then suddenly smiled: "I've already gotten such a great deal for free, it's more than enough, what's there to be afraid of? Let's just do it according to the original plan!"

With 15 Star Points remaining, that should be enough for the next step.

We really have to thank our Japan and South Korea for this.

He appeared on the cover of Time magazine, but only earned a total of 8 Star Points.

He was very popular in Southeast Asia, but his domestic fans only contributed 5 Star Points to him.

As a result, after causing a ruckus in Japan and then attacking South Korea, the stock price surged by 13 points in an instant, which was incredibly exciting.

No wonder so many Korean boy and girl groups love to go to Japan. The market is really good; they have money and talent, and you can't cut them all off.

However, as time has passed, there has recently been a trend in South Korea—the entertainment media has become less friendly towards him.

These entertainment companies that run boy and girl groups have clearly discovered the problem.

Fang Xinghe is effectively becoming a direct competitor to Korean groups.

Not only do the two face fierce competition in South Korea, but in the more important Japanese market, as well as the broader Chinese market and the more fragmented Southeast Asian market, Fang Xinghe is a formidable obstacle for Korean groups.

Despite one being a writer and the other a stage troupe, Fang Xinghe is squeezing their living space simply because of his face, given the limited size of the idol market.

South Korea's national policy is to build its nation on culture, and the overseas expansion of its idols is a prerequisite for its growth. Their friendship, which involves jointly mocking Japan, won't last long.

Fang Xinghe kept this in mind and prepared to face the impact of Korean dramas and the Korean wave.

……

Skill Panel

Kung Fu Master: 92 (Expand)

With dozens of martial arts styles, Fang Xinghe couldn't possibly master them all; he would definitely have to focus on some.

Since he doesn't intend to compete in the ring, the focus is on making the performance visually appealing. He prioritizes Tai Chi, Bajiquan, and spear and sword techniques, and will also try to incorporate free-flowing routines when the opportunity arises.

From a technical standpoint, he has only just begun his journey to becoming a master, and is still far from achieving perfection.

However, time is always on his side. Kung Fu doesn't need Star Points to increase; as his attributes improve, his skill level will rise accordingly, and sooner or later he'll reach the maximum.

Besides kung fu, he also unlocked a second major skill category—language.

This thing definitely didn't exist before the upgrade. He clicked on it and laughed.

English: 78
Japanese: 12
Korean: 8
Isn't this delivering food?
Fang Xinghe casually used the remaining starlight points to raise both Japanese and Korean to 60 points. Okay, now we can communicate normally.

The skill level is definitely not high, but the only significance of this thing is communication.

Next time you go to Japan and South Korea for events, find an opportunity to show off, and your fans will be clamoring to sell themselves!

Wow, this is getting more and more lucrative...

Unfortunately, knowledge-based skills such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computer science are still not available on the panel. As for things that are not related to entertainment, the system's father simply ignores them.

Instead, motorcycle driving appeared on the panel, probably because he rode the exclusive motorcycle sent by Suzuki around once?
After he raised this skill to 60 points, he immediately put it into storage.

That special vehicle is very cool, but Fang Xinghe doesn't plan to ride it.

"I'm a man who wants to live to 130. I'd rather ride in a bulletproof car. Flesh wrapped in iron? Forget it. No matter how handsome I am, I won't ride one."

Fearful Xiao Fang turned to look at the remaining three skills—

With a cooking skill of 7, I realized that there's not much good food in Japan or Korea. I ended up cooking instant noodles a couple of times and suddenly this useless skill appeared. It's impossible for me to cook properly, no matter how hungry I am.

The lecture score is 87. Although I haven't used it much, it should be this high.

Mocking 97, a troll ahead of his time, his skills were fixed from the moment they were released; in reality, he never even used them at his full potential...

Actually, there are many other skills related to entertainment, but Fang Xinghe really doesn't have time to practice them. Maybe things will get better after he goes to university.

Starlight Points are pretty useless now, so leveling up your skills is a good idea.

With that in mind, he opened the last panel.

[Job Panel]

Author: 90
Actors: 89
Director: 89
Screenwriter: 82
Singer: 7
Dancers: 5
Painters: 3
Composers: 0
……

A vast array of professions, encompassing all art-related jobs.

Each profession can be opened individually.

【writer】

Writing ability 90: Rhetoric 90, Writing style 90, Structure 90
Material 99+: It lacks a lot of life experience, but the material library that is ahead of its time is enough to fill the gap and bring about a higher level of improvement.

Inspiration: Burning starlight inspires creativity.

……

【actor】

Performance awareness: Rhythm 89, Cooperation 55
Control: Voice 89, Dialogue 89, Body Language 89, Facial Expression 89
Inspiration: Burning starlight inspires creativity.

……

【director】

Audiovisual Language: Shot 89, Composition 89, Shot Size 89, Movement 89, Lighting 89, Color 89, Sound 89, Editing 89
Acting: 95 (Note: The acting in the director's work refers to the ability to perceive and understand acting, so it is higher than Fang Xinghe's actual acting ability.)
Screenwriting: 95 (Note: Screenwriting in directing refers to the ability to perceive and understand the script, so it is higher than Fang Xinghe's own screenwriting ability)
Aesthetics: 89
Humanistic core: ethnic orientation, emotionality, high cognition, low empathy
Inspiration: Burning starlight inspires creativity.

……

Every profession has a source of inspiration that captures Fang Xinghe's attention the most.

He opened the entry and took a closer look, then gasped and gasped.

The system explanation of this thing is as follows—

Inspiration is a sudden, transient creative state of mind based on the subconscious and personal experience.

It usually appears in the form of "insight" and does not require conventional logical deduction. It is a third form of thinking in addition to logical thinking and figurative thinking.

It relies on long-term accumulation and is characterized by its instantaneous and non-repeatable nature.

In psychology, inspiration is considered a product of the interaction between the subconscious and conscious mind, and its essence is the brain's efficient reorganization of information.

The system solidifies this uncontrollable state into a controllable state that can be freely activated, thereby providing momentum for the host's artistic activities.

Its energy is provided by starlight value, and inspiration itself is generated from the host's personal accumulation.

Enabling this feature requires spending 1000 million starlight, and then it burns 100 million starlight per second. You can manually turn it off, or let it continue burning until the starlight value is exhausted.

"I lost it!"

Fang Xinghe jumped up, scratched his head hard, feeling both incredulous and awestruck by the power of his father, Tongzi.

"Is this even allowed to let anyone else play?!"

Actually, this cheat itself isn't particularly overpowered. If you give it to the Grand Tutor, the Little Poet, or Section Chief Jia, it might just be so-so.

But Fang Xinghe is not from this era; he is a member of Generation Z.

How much information has a Generation Z living after 2020, surfing the internet day and night, actually browsed?
To put it simply, the amount of publicly available information generated worldwide in all of 2001 is less than what would be available in a single day in 2030.

Fang Xinghe certainly couldn't have seen that many things, but his personal experience, compared to 2001, would easily surpass the entire entertainment industry.

Not all of that information is useful, nor is it necessarily valuable. The point is, the state of inspiration is precisely a highly efficient reorganization of fragmented information by the brain!
I don't need it under normal circumstances, but it's useful when I'm in a state of inspiration!
The massive amount of information stored in Fang Xinghe's brain was 99.99% forgotten, sealed, or useless. Now, with the cheat code activated, it's all set; he can start over from scratch.

How much value is this?
Fang Xinghe couldn't judge, but the upper limit was definitely incredibly high. How much it could actually be realized depended on the actual application.

In short, the slightly flawed version of the Star God system isn't exactly overpowered, but combined with the Gen Z online army identity of the Star River above, it's absolutely awesome.

Think about it, for creative professions like directing, basic skills are basic skills, and works are works; the two are never highly correlated.

The Imperial Advisor's use of color must be 99%, right? The poet's composition must also be 99%, right?
What are "Man Jiang Hong" and "The Bloodbath of Steamed Buns"?
To take it to an extreme, Stephen Chow's material is amazing, right? "A Chinese Odyssey" is a universally acknowledged classic, isn't it? What were its box office and critical reception like back then?!

Therefore, the logic is obvious—even the best basic skills cannot salvage poor material. Even if the material is up to standard, there are still hurdles to overcome in terms of keeping up with the times and respecting the needs of the audience. There are many hidden barriers in the content creation industry.

Before the system upgrade, Fang Xinghe's journey wasn't easy either.

Every time he makes a decision, he works hard to collect data, racks his brains to think deeply, makes decisions in the fog, and waits for the worst-case scenario.

The explosive popularity of "Azure Night Snow" in Japan was a huge surprise. Without the strong response from the Japanese market, its revenue would probably only be one-tenth of what it is today.

But such luck won't happen again and again.

For example, he still has no clue what to make for his first film, whether it should be a short film or a feature film, an art film or a feature film.

How can one make the most appropriate decision without understanding the global film industry and its internal workings?

Therefore, one must get into film school to dissect the dynamics, stages, genres, and contradictions of the entire world film industry, and then guide action.

However, this guidance is not necessarily correct.

Information is information, summaries are summaries, and practice is practice. We must respect objective reality, right?
Things are completely different now.

Once Fang Xinghe's inspiration ignites, what he gains is not just the material itself, but also an understanding of the market, the industry, and the audience. He can use the most appropriate angle to enter the smoothest path, hitting the mark precisely and satisfyingly wherever he goes.

"As long as there is enough starlight, I am the god of creation!"

Fang Xinghe paced back and forth in the room for a long time, unable to contain his excitement, his mind filled with thoughts of causing trouble, making headlines, and earning starlight.

Then, before he could take action himself, the problem came to him on its own.

His art exam results were inexplicably questioned.

That's how it is with top celebrities; even the smallest problem will be magnified to an extreme.

Fang Xinghe perked up and happily switched to battle mode again...

(End of this chapter)