Chapter 5: A Beginning More Wonderful Than Ever Before
The chatroom bullet messages exploded exactly as Bai Fu had expected.
Such a handsome entrance, plus she intentionally gave herself white hair by buffing it—if that didn’t hook the Player’s soul, she might as well go smash into a tofu block and die.
But exactly how much popularity she could accumulate still depended on letting the bullets fly a bit longer.
Bai Fu opened the game panel.
After defeating the burly man, she gained 150 experience points, just enough to level up.
【[Unemployed Loner] upgraded to Lv3, Strength +1, Constitution +1, Stat Point +1】
Bai Fu’s stats changed slightly.
【Template】: Normal
【Experience】: 71
【Main Class】: Unemployed Loner Lv3 (0/1000)
【Subclass】: None
【HP】: 60/60
【Stats】: Strength 5, Agility 3, Constitution 6, Intelligence 3, Spirit 4, Inspiration 31
【Skills】: None
【Talents】: None
【Stat Points】: 1
【Reputation】: 14
Bai Fu allocated her free attribute point into Constitution—7 Constitution doubled her health bar compared to a normal mob, easily qualifying as an elite monster.
The bad news was that the blank-slate Unemployed Drifter’s level cap was Lv 5; to continue increasing her power, she urgently needed to learn a new class.
The good news was that the game didn’t impose a hard limit on the number of classes, so she could freely learn a new one.
This was one of the differences between Beyond the Stars and other games: players could use experience to unlock additional main-class slots and thus learn more classes.
But generally, it was still not advised to learn too many classes at once—humans had limits, and even a super “Saint Hero” grinding many classes would fall behind the main player force due to insufficient experience, missing out on many major events.
In the early stages, it was best to specialize in one class, unlock advanced skills and talents, and then consider combining classes.
Bai Fu had long planned her future leveling direction.
The so-called mixed learning was an art of leveling while lying down.
In terms of attribute points, she focused on Constitution and secondary Agility—mainly to build a character who, when unable to win, could use her ultimate and run away.
For her main class, she deliberated the longest—Beyond the Stars currently offered four archetypes: Tech, Bruiser, Psionic, and Mentalist, each containing numerous main classes.
Her planet, Origin Star, was a newbie world themed around “Wasteland,” allowing only certain Tech, Bruiser, and Psionic main classes.
At this stage, Bai Fu leaned more toward the latter two.
Not because Tech wasn’t strong, but because the latter two offered better cost-effectiveness.
First learn a tank class, or perhaps a support class that could buff herself to increase survival.
As for what came next, it depended on how much gold the Player could help her farm from the developers once she gained popularity.
After closing the game panel, Bai Fu reopened the abandoned Cooling Plant section of Star‑Play Society.
Upon entering, she immediately saw Players going wild.
“White‑haired big sister, please use your ultimate Sock Humiliation on me!”
“Foot‑fetish pervert, go die!”
“Actually secretly filming? Where’s the morality, the bottom line, her home address?”
“I’ve been waiting so long—where’s Galio, why isn’t he level 6 yet?”
As she scrolled, a link suddenly popped up before her eyes.
“The general forum posted a vote for female NPC—hurry and vote! Click ↑”
“Darn it, that’s a phishing site—this is the real link: ***”
Bai Fu’s mouth twitched.
She didn’t click the link; instead, she opened the general forum herself.
This was how it started: not long ago, a Player from the abandoned Cooling Plant section had posted Bai Fu’s video to the general thread, saying she was the best‑looking female NPC in Beyond the Stars and dared anyone to dispute it.
That move immediately lured in a swarm of videos and images.
Subsequently, some Players collected these media and started a dedicated voting thread—
“The 1st Annual Beyond the Stars Most Popular Female NPC Contest”
Once the thread was posted, it instantly drew massive Player attention.
They began a cyber duel right in the comments.
“I can only say that ‘cute’ is worthless compared to sexy.”
“Impossible. My wife Marie Rose reigns supreme!”
“I laughed. Tifa is just heaven.”
“You guys don’t understand how beautiful a wealthy woman can be.”
“Why not include that giant mech from the promo video as an option? On what basis do you say its gender isn’t female?”
“I vote for the Mech‑Girl; she’s what everyone wants!”
When Bai Fu clicked in, the duel was still raging fiercely.
There were 43 contestants in total; after over an hour, the 1st and 2nd places had already been decided.
The giant mech featured in the promotional video was far ahead on the ranking, displaying terrifying dominance.
Right behind it was the NPC who had been revived by the developers during internal testing under Player charge.
As for 3rd place, it was constantly shifting.
Bai Fu scrolled down and found herself at 15th place.
“Mysterious Girl X who plays unfairly.”
“There are quite a few experts here,” she thought.
That ranking was very good, because those ahead of her were either from the game PV or had already accumulated some popularity during internal testing.
A pure random NPC like her wouldn’t even have qualified to join.
But thanks to a performance run, she had forcefully entered the upper half of the leaderboard!
Bai Fu nodded lightly.
What a pity—if her entrance special effects had been a bit cooler, her ranking definitely would have risen further.
She casually refreshed the thread, and at that moment, something magical happened—her vote count suddenly increased by 108, shooting her up from 15th to 14th place.
Huh?
Bai Fu thought she was seeing things and quickly refreshed the thread again.
Turns out she wasn’t mistaken—her votes had gone up by another 30 or so.
Weird.
Just now her votes were rising one or two at a time—could it be someone accidentally spammed votes on her?
Bai Fu scrolled through the thread and finally figured out what was going on.
Turns out Excavation‑Princess had flashed in and activated her ultimate.
Excavation‑Princess had originally been quietly voting, but after seeing a Player comment “What’s the use of looking pretty, she’ll fade into obscurity soon” about Bai Fu, she immediately went red-hot with rage.
“You’re not allowed to insult my favorite Mysterious Girl X!”
Excavation‑Princess used the skill [Overinterpretation].
“I guarantee it—Mysterious Girl X is definitely a crucial story NPC!”
Even though Bai Fu had only appeared for a few minutes and spoken just a few lines, she still managed to write a 2,000‑word essay explaining how Bai Fu was no ordinary character.
“In my opinion, she’s probably an undercover agent from some organization planted inside the Wildfire Gang. As for whether she’s related to the main storyline—that still remains to be seen.”
Players unfamiliar with Excavation‑Princess were stunned after reading the post.
Especially those tormented by thesis writing—some practically knelt before her.
“How are you so good at writing?”
Those familiar with Excavation‑Princess, on the other hand, immediately started booing.
“Everyone disperse, Excavation‑Princess is at it again.”
“Excavation‑Princess might guess right, but her guesses are rarely right.”
In the face of doubt, Excavation‑Princess remained perfectly calm.
Didn’t matter.
A storm couldn’t topple a tree that had already fallen!
“If you don’t believe me, just wait and see.”
If she guessed wrong, she’d keep playing dead—if she guessed right, she’d leap up and start flaunting it!
This wave of [Overinterpretation] from Excavation‑Princess had a phenomenal effect, drawing in a huge wave of attention for Bai Fu.
Some Players truly became fans.
Some just came for the fun.
But regardless of their reasons, they all voted for Bai Fu.
You vote one, I vote one—Bai Fu ascended on the spot.
15, 14, 12!
“Tenth place—holy crap, she’s in the top ten!”
“Damn it all, why aren’t you voting?! Vote, vote now, all of you!”
Supporters of other NPCs panicked at the sight.
“Referee! Someone’s cheating!”
They couldn’t care less anymore—scrambling to call for backup.
No one had expected that what started as a low-attention vote event would become the hottest activity since server launch.
“Sixth place—everyone, lend your energy to my waifu!”
“O power of unity—please roar and crush all obstacles!”
In just 20 minutes, Bai Fu shot up from 15th to 7th like a bamboo shoot!
But that wasn’t her limit.
At 30 minutes—6th!
At 47 minutes—5th!
On the road to 4th place, she encountered a powerful blockade.
“We unite!”
After a half-hour-long tug-of-war, Bai Fu managed to completely drain her opponent’s vote base and firmly secured 4th place before the voting deadline.
Yes, 4th place!
This wasn’t 4th out of 4 people taking a test—this was 4th out of 43!
If the voting had lasted just a bit longer, Bai Fu felt she might’ve even overtaken that harp-playing big sister in the skimpy outfit.
The Harp Girl unleashed her ultimate right in everyone’s face, building a wall of sighs with the support of the pervs—but the swords of the fun-lovers were just as sharp!
Seeing the final result, all the Players who supported Bai Fu cheered in full force.
“We are the champions!”
“Holy crap! Awesome!”
Of course, there were also some Players who weren’t convinced and argued endlessly over whether 3rd or 4th was better.
“Tch, it’s just 4th place—she’s far behind 3rd.”
“What did Mysterious Girl X ever do to you?”
“Typical.”
“Don’t tell me you’re triggered?”
“Filial.”
The two sides argued for ages without settling it and eventually agreed to settle the score at the second edition of the contest.
“Harp Girl is the best, period!”
“Bullshit—Mysterious Girl X is the best, period!”
This wave of bickering unexpectedly brought Bai Fu even more attention.
Bai Fu: “6.”
Excavation‑Princess was truly a woman of staggering wisdom.
She never expected her appearance to generate this much popularity—truly, it was the most wonderful beginning she could’ve imagined.
But she also knew this kind of popularity was shallow.
The fun-lovers came and went quickly.
Right now, she was basically like a kid in the senior kindergarten class placing 4th—but as the game’s story progressed, she’d encounter many more powerful rivals.
Even in version 1.0, Dark Star Awakens, Beyond the Stars offered many uniquely themed starter planets for Players to choose from freely.
Each of these starter planets had its own main storyline—and beyond that, countless engaging side quests; imagine how many high-popularity NPCs those storylines could produce?
Not only that, on the official website’s game intro page, universe‑level factions like “Rebirth Empire,” “Supernova Legion,” and “Titan Industries” had control over countless habitable planets—just how many heroes could be born from all those worlds?
Too many to count—absolutely impossible to count!
Bai Fu hardened her resolve.
Damn it, she was going all in with them!
She didn’t believe she couldn’t rise!
Next, she’d work on strengthening herself while solidifying her explosive rise in popularity.
Bai Fu thought of Excavation‑Princess’s post.
Undercover?
Not a bad way to turn things around.
To show her gratitude to Excavation‑Princess—copied!
As she mulled over her plan, Bai Fu had already arrived near her home.
She looked up—and in the fading glow of the setting sun, under the weathered and scarred “Lingqu Plant” sign by the roadside, stood a person.