The world's number one Diva had joined the Hero Association and, with a perfect score, was directly promoted to an S-Class Hero. The moment that news broke, the entire world was shocked. Truly shocked.
At the very least, the Hero Association forums exploded overnight.
"She actually became S-Class?"
"That's incredible!"
"She sings amazingly, she's gorgeous, and now she's ridiculously strong too. A world-class superstar really is different!"
"Sweet Mask can't even compare!"
"Exactly!"
Comments like these flooded the forums. That day, traffic to the Hero Association's website and forums shattered all previous records, surpassing them by a massive margin.
Just the appearance of the name 'Sylvia Lyyneheym' was enough to generate that level of attention.
The last time Sylvia appeared in Z-City and dealt with a Demon-level disaster, the Association's website and forums had nearly crashed from traffic. Now that she had officially joined? The servers practically melted.
Naturally, many people began comparing Sylvia and Sweet Mask. After all, both were superstar idols, and now both had become Heroes as well. The comparisons were inevitable, but the results were completely one-sided.
"There's no comparison at all."
"Whether it's popularity or Hero rank, Sweet Mask loses across the board."
"I wonder how Sweet Mask is doing right now."
"Isn't he going to say anything?"
"He's probably pretty depressed."
"The guy above is an idiot. Sweet Mask is handsome. How could he be depressed?"
"Downvoting the guy above. What does being handsome have to do with getting depressed?"
"Could it be that the Diva joined the Hero Association just to steal attention and use Sweet Mask as a stepping stone?"
"The idiot above deserves to be downvoted too. Does someone with the Diva's popularity need to compete with Sweet Mask for attention? One photo from her would have the same effect. Use your brain!"
The discussions grew more heated by the minute. People loved drama. The more explosive a topic was, the more attention it attracted.
And while Sweet Mask was undeniably a superstar with a massive domestic fanbase, holding second place on popularity rankings year after year, second place was still second place.
As for first place? Naturally, it was Sylvia. Her fanbase overwhelmed Sweet Mask's by a landslide. Even when Sweet Mask's supporters came out to defend him, they were instantly buried beneath the flood of Sylvia's fans. This was the true power of numbers.
Within the Hero Association itself, Heroes also had their own fan clubs. And naturally, despite having joined only recently, Sylvia's fan club immediately became larger than every other Hero's combined.
Yet instead of feeling discouraged, the Heroes became excited.
"The Diva really joined us?"
"Doesn't that mean she's our coworker now?"
"Will we get to go on missions with her someday?"
"Seriously?!"
"This is amazing!"
"Joining the Hero Association was the best decision ever!"
Just the thought of working alongside Sylvia, or perhaps even developing something more, filled countless Heroes with excitement.
As a result, Fang Li, who had joined alongside Sylvia and been exceptionally promoted to S-Class as well, became a hot topic in his own right. Because the Hero Association's official statement included a very interesting phrase: 'Upon the recommendation of Diva Sylvia.'
That's right. Upon Sylvia's recommendation.
That single line was enough to ignite endless speculation. People's imaginations immediately ran wild regarding Fang Li's identity.
"Could he be her new manager?"
"No way. The Diva's managers have always been women. She's never hired a male manager."
"Then don't tell me he's her boyfriend?"
"Keep dreaming."
"Exactly."
"How could he possibly be her boyfriend?!"
And just like that, Fang Li's popularity exploded as well. Fortunately, the Hero Association hadn't announced that he had defeated Sweet Mask. Otherwise, things would have become even crazier.
In short, the man and woman who had just joined the Hero Association and immediately been promoted to S-Class Heroes became the center of national attention in less than a single day. As for attracting worldwide attention... that was only a matter of time.
---
Meanwhile, while the outside world buzzed with endless discussion, Fang Li was sitting inside Sylvia's villa, staring at something in surprise.
"So it turned out like this?" Seated on the floor of the living room, Fang Li clicked his tongue in amazement as he looked at the weapon lying before him.
Naturally, that weapon was Bo Xie. But at this moment, Bo Xie wasn't in its usual form. Instead, it had become a nodachi over two meters long.
"And I didn't even inject Prana to activate its transformation ability. That means Bo Xie has fixed itself in this form."
Exactly. Bo Xie had permanently changed its appearance from its original shape into that of a nodachi.
Normally, an Ogre Lux's abilities and form were heavily influenced by the personality of the Urm Manadyte at its core. In other words, its consciousness.
As far as Bo Xie was concerned, the little girl was somewhat detached from worldly concerns, almost like an immortal transcending mortal affairs. In that regard, she resembled Fan Xinglou quite a bit. Perhaps that was why Fan Xinglou had chosen this particular Urm Manadyte when creating the Ogre Lux.
Both Fan Xinglou and Bo Xie shared a deep desire. Fan Xinglou longed for battle, while Bo Xie longed for purity. That was also why she was such a clean freak. Whenever she became dirty, she reacted as though she had been contaminated by something filthy and would immediately start sulking.
Because of this, even if someone wanted to forge an Ogre Lux into a specific shape, its personality often prevented it. For Bo Xie, that preferred shape seemed to be a sword.
At the same time, Bo Xie possessed the ability to alter the form of anything it touched. Spears, halberds, bows, axes, hammers, she could transform herself into all kinds of weapons. However, such transformations required Prana to activate. Without it, she would revert to her original form.
But now things were different. Bo Xie seemed to have become extremely fond of the nodachi shape. She had actually fixed herself permanently in this form, abandoning her original knight's longsword appearance.
"Only Bo Xie could do something like this." After all, she already possessed shape-changing abilities.
Fang Li didn't think much of it. While carrying a nodachi was certainly less convenient than carrying a longsword, he had the Fairy Bag and could store Bo Xie inside at any time. It wasn't a problem.
On the contrary, this change was actually beneficial. He no longer needed to waste Prana transforming Bo Xie into a nodachi, nor did he need to waste time changing forms before battle. He could use 'Extreme Death: Seven Nights' whenever he wanted.
That was because the technique had already evolved into a draw-slash art. In other words, it could only be used in this form.
"It seems the power of Extreme Death: Seven Nights left quite an impression on Bo Xie." Fang Li couldn't help smiling. Clearly, the sword spirit was very satisfied with the technique.
(End Of This Chapter)
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