After school in the afternoon, Chu Lian returned home, took a bath, and locked herself in her room. She lay on the bed, thinking about the task and how she was going to complete it.
Although she had complaints, there was nothing she could do to change the reality. Rather than waste time fretting, it was better to ask Ayase if there was any way to help her get through it more smoothly.
With a sliver of hope, she entered the system space and found Ayase lounging on a red sofa, dressed in an elegant red evening gown. Her slender, fair legs were crossed, upper body hidden in shadow, and she was slowly swirling a glass of red wine in her hand.
Chu Lian crawled to her side, rested her head on her lap, and nuzzled her gently, speaking in a lazy, cat-like tone: "Ayase, can I switch to an easier task? This one's way too hard. Forget whether I can sing or not—I don't even know which loli characters are famous around here for cosplay. And I have no clue where I'm supposed to publish my work..."
Ayase took a light sip of wine and gently stroked her long hair. She spoke softly, "Sure, I'll show you a few other tasks. You can decide for yourself whether you want to take one of them." Out of Chu Lian's view, a mischievous smile tugged at her lips. She opened a virtual screen in front of Chu Lian and pointed to the list of available options.
Hearing that she could choose herself, Chu Lian immediately perked up, hugged Ayase's waist, and buried her face in Ayase's soft chest, rubbing against her as she cheered, "I knew Ayase was the best... Wait, let me see what else I can pick."
After taking advantage for a moment, she sat up to examine the options Ayase provided—and just like that, all her excitement vanished. Her hopeful heart instantly sank to rock bottom.
"Main Quest Phase 2 Option ②: Debut of the Music Idol Girl — As a must-be all-round goddess, you can't just write. You must sing, too."
"Task Requirements: Sign with a domestic top-10 music company, release a debut album within six months containing at least 10 songs, with a minimum of 5 original tracks. Sales must reach 300,000 copies within three months. Time limit: 8 months."
Sure, the deadline was more generous, but...
She stiffly turned to look at Ayase, only to see that devilish smirk on her lips. In that moment, her entire being shut down.
Nope. Absolutely not. There was no way she could do this one. She had neither singing skills nor musical talent. This was flat-out impossible.
Even someone far more capable than her might not be able to pull this off. Considering the state of the domestic music market—even if it was a little better than in her past life—it still wasn't promising.
Last year's top-selling album barely broke two million, and that was with an Asian pop king's name and eleven months of sales. For her? Well... even 20,000 would be a miracle.
This option was off the table. If the cosplay and cover-song quest was high difficulty, then this was abyss-level. No way she could handle it.
She gave up all hope. Ayase's twisted sense of humor clearly hadn't changed a bit. And to think she was just praising her moments ago!
Why? Why was it that in all the novels she'd read, people's systems were either cute, push-over girls or loyal, competent AI butlers? And hers? Hers just delighted in teasing her!
"Oho? Little Lian'er, I heard what you were thinking. Talking bad about me again? That won't do. I'm super cute and kind, aren't I?" A pair of arms slowly wrapped around her from behind, pulling her into an embrace. A sweet, wine-scented breath brushed past her cheek, turning her face pink—but her words still gave her a fright.
"No no, Ayase-neesan, you must've misheard! I was saying how amazing you are—how you're always the best to me!" Even the proudest man knows when to bend, let alone a loli like her.
Even if she was technically a fake loli, a loli is still a loli—and lolis get special privileges. Being a bit cowardly in the face of danger? Nothing wrong with that at all.
"That's better. Just now, Little Lian'er had a pretty good idea. From now on, the difficulty level will be displayed when tasks are issued, so you can stop accusing me of always giving you the hardest ones. Fufufu..." Ayase extended her tongue and gave her a quick lick on the ear. After a string of light, melodic laugh, she returned to the sofa, lying down with her legs together. Her long hair was slightly tousled, and her beautiful face wore a trace of sultry charm—downright irresistible.
But Chu Lian only dared take one glance before quickly looking away. Who knew what Ayase might do next? She let out a breath and tried to shake off the chaotic thoughts, then focused on reviewing the task list below.
"Main Quest Phase 2 Option ③: Piano Ascension — The piano is known as the king of instruments and is widely played around the world. As a future all-around goddess, you cannot neglect this instrument. You must study and master it."
"Task Objective: Within one year, complete three large-scale solo piano performances, held respectively in Huaxia, Nihon, and America. Each concert must have at least 1,000 live attendees, and the combined video views must total 4.5 million. Time limit: 14 months. Task Difficulty: Nightmare."
Okay, this one was clearly even harder than the last two. And Ayase really had listed the task difficulties this time.
"Ayase, how many difficulty levels are there in total?" Now that difficulty rankings existed, she needed to know the full scale—this way, she'd have something to compare future tasks against.
"There are seven levels in total: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Hard, Abyss, Nightmare, and Fantasy."
"However, with the way you're going now, I doubt you'll ever complete a Fantasy-level task in your lifetime. I've designed Fantasy rewards to be once-in-a-lifetime prizes—they're incredibly valuable and require massive point exchanges within the system. You'd think they're totally worth it. Unfortunately, task difficulty is always based on your current capabilities."
"Meaning, what seems like Nightmare difficulty now might become Hard or even Advanced in a few years, once your skills improve."
"Each difficulty level comes with different rewards. The harder the task, the more outrageous the reward—not always more generous, but always surprising and highly tailored to you." When it came to system mechanics, Ayase was always serious and thorough with her explanations.
Although Chu Lian was a bit discouraged by how little Ayase seemed to believe in her, she couldn't deny the reality—she truly didn't have the confidence to complete these missions yet.
Ayase had told her before: every task issued by the system was theoretically within her power to complete. But the method and effort required were entirely up to her.
Clearly, with her current mindset—backing off at the sight of Abyss-level tasks—there was no way she could handle Nightmare, let alone Fantasy.
And yet... why was she suddenly dying to know what a Fantasy task looked like?
"Heh, looks like your curiosity won't be satisfied otherwise. Take a look at the next task—I've moved the one and only Fantasy-level task available for this phase up for you. Go on, see for yourself..."
"Oh, and this includes the rewards for completing a Fantasy-level mission. Also, while it's a main task, it's not part of the main questline. Think of it as a side-main mission. Completion is optional."
"But remember—each main quest phase only has one Fantasy-level task. Miss it, and it'll never appear again."
Whatever Chu Lian was thinking, Ayase could pretty much sense it all within the system space. And while she was helpless against her curiosity, she also couldn't resist seeing how Chu Lian would react—so she brought the task forward.
Sure enough, after hearing Ayase's words, Chu Lian hesitated for a moment but still opened the next task option page:
"Main Quest Phase 2 Option ④: Stardom — Gain 3 million followers through normal means, with at least 1 million being hardcore fans."
"Time Limit: 6 months. Difficulty: Fantasy."
"Reward: Whisper of the Nine-Tailed Fox."
A very brief task description—but just as Ayase had said, this was the kind of thing you could only fantasize about. Actually achieving it? Forget it. Three million followers might be possible, but one million hardcore fans? That was like reaching the heavens.
Regular fans might follow you because of something you said or a particular work. Most of the time, what they liked wasn't you, but your work.
But hardcore fans were different. They liked you—not just what you created. Regular fans admired your work. Hardcore fans admired you, because of your work.
With her current popularity, it was absolutely impossible.
And perhaps to tempt her even more, Ayase went ahead and displayed the reward's attributes:
"Whisper of the Nine-Tailed Fox: The legendary Nine-Tailed Fox is said to possess overwhelming charm. Every woman she transforms into exudes an otherworldly allure.
Whisper of the Nine-Tailed Fox endows you with a fraction of this natural gift. Though small at first, over time you'll gradually approach the level of a true Nine-Tailed Fox."
"Effect: Increases your charm, making your every expression and gesture captivating. Boosts your musical talent, unlocking potential comparable to that of a celestial being."
A celestial being, really? She hadn't expected the system to offer something this powerful. Clearly, there was still a lot about it she hadn't uncovered.
"Even though I can't do it... I really want it..." she murmured softly, lying lazily on the sofa and waving her hand, her tone full of longing yet uncertainty.
After floundering for a while, she noticed from the corner of her eye that Ayase showed no reaction. So Chu Lian dropped all pretenses, got up from the floor, and exited the task selection screen. Since the task she was going with wasn't the hardest, then she had to be able to complete it.
Cosplay required a lot of props and professional photography, which couldn't be rushed. But cover songs only needed a quiet environment and high-end recording equipment—those she could manage more easily.
The only problem was... she had zero knowledge of singing. She didn't even know how to record.
Watching her cluelessly flailing around, Ayase finally couldn't take it anymore. She walked over and gave Chu Lian a knock on the head. "Didn't you just complete a side quest and get 3,000 Culture Points? Use those to exchange for something useful already! Seriously, you're so slow..."
That knock actually jogged Chu Lian's memory. Right—she did just earn 3,000 Culture Points. While the exchange list didn't have a ton of items, it did include some very high-quality options...
Now the question was: what song should she sing for her very first cover?