Tempest of the Stellar War - Chapter 24: Minor Test

My younger brother died.And it happened inside the prestigious private school that I struggled so hard to get him into.As I was crying in despair in front of his grave,A strange man who claimed to be the student council president appeared and made an unbelievable offer.“Would you like to go back one year if you could?”He seemed like a swindler, but faced with sudden despair, I had no other choice.I grasped at this rotten lifeline and hastily made a deal with him.And surprisingly, I really did go back one year in time.Without wasting time, I immediately transferred to that problematic private school. To protect my younger brother who was still alive.But this school, the atmosphere is not right.Ghosts and spirits appear all over the school, and ‘ghost stories’ occur.Somehow, my brother seems to be connected to these strange phenomena.Will I, Melody Hastings, be able to safely solve the ghost story, protect my younger brother, and get out of this school?

[Reading Notice]

“The whole story is set in an ideal world for fans chasing stars.”

“The main storyline is about a company’s growth and expansion through idol group management.”

“The protagonist of this story is only the female lead, **while the supporting roles’ storylines all serve the protagonist’s growth.**”

Jiang Juyou, who graduated from a second-tier university, was on the verge of giving up after having a breakdown from her internship. Suddenly she saw a job posting:

“Looking for interns, 9 to 5, weekends off, social insurances and housing fund provided after being converted to formal employee, internship certificate provided, monthly intern salary 8500, food and housing included, formal salary negotiable, requirement: strong stress resistance.”

It’s a perfect trap for college students.

Worried that it might be a scam but still went anyway. After arriving, she –

“Ding-”

“Welcome to the Entertainment Company Operations Manual!”

Got bound to a system.

“What the hell?”

Bound to the system, Jiang Juyou was forced to become an entertainment company boss, and so she became someone she hated but also wanted to be – the rich.

[I’m crying but I’m pretending I’m not.jpg]

Jiang Juyou’s company became a wind vane in the entertainment industry:

She introduced a new talent show format, and those shows followed suit.

She created new conceptual peripherals, and those companies followed suit.

She operated a new model boy group, and those companies also follo…can’t copy, because Jiang Juyou spent too much money.

The fan community shook daily, but Jiang Juyou dodged a bullet.

Fans:

“To the company: Made the petty Entertainment die. To Jiang Juyou: [wry smile] I’ll let you off this time.”

“Lol, Jiang Juyou got lightly let off because she’s too pretty!”

“Can scold the company but don’t scold Jiang Juyou!”

“Every time I see Jiang Juyou training trainees, I think why isn’t she training me (sorry)”

After Random Entertainment became the hottest company in the industry, Jiang Juyou was isolated by capital.

Capital didn’t play with her, so she became capital herself, becoming the main seat at the table, becoming the one everyone had to suck up to –

–

[Background setting: Jiang Juyou time traveled, lost her memories due to the impact of space-time, but her subconscious would drive her actions.] [The male lead is the background board system]

Ethan is a man nearing forty who has squandered his life behind a screen. Since his teenage years, he has poured everything into online games, chasing digital achievements while real life quietly passed him by. Now, with reality finally weighing on him, he realizes how empty his existence has become.Despite decades of obsession, he has only one thing to show for it: the #1 account in the world’s most popular MMORPG, Lost World Online—a fully immersive virtual game operated through neural-link technology. It is an account powerful enough to guarantee fame, sponsorships, and a second chance at life.But overnight… it vanishes.No warnings… No errors… His account simply ceases to exist.Ethan spends the entire night frantically searching for answers, contacting the developers through official forums, only to be told that nothing can be done. Without the account, even streaming or professional contracts are impossible. Exhausted and hollow, he finally gives up and falls asleep, deciding to forget his regret, half hoping everything would be a dream when he wakes up.When Ethan opens his eyes, he finds himself standing before the character creation screen of Lost World Online.It feels like a dream, yet his mind is clear, his body well responsive, not even like a game. Paying little attention, he goes ahead and creates a character and initiates the game.Then, his vision is swallowed by darkness.A violent rush of wind slams into him, and when his senses return, he is standing inside a bustling town from the game. Before he can question the missing opening cutscene—something that should always play after character creation—his attention is seized by the scene around him.The town was celebrating an Annual Festival. This was a festival that only ever occurred once, a festival that marked the first day Lost World Online was launched.Realizing the impossible, Ethan hurriedly calls up his system interface—only to find that there is no options menu, no settings, no log-out button…“This cannot be real.”

Book I: Lost ThingsTristan Abrascal is a thief, one of many making their living under the perpetual twilight of the greatest city in all of Vesper. Quick wit and a contract with a capricious goddess have always kept him one step ahead, until one night he crosses a line by accident that burns all the bridges he had left. But not all is lost, as his mentor offers a way out of peril that turns out to be more than a simple escape.It is also an opportunity to get even with the infanzones, the nobles he’s lived under all his life, and it so happens that Tristan has a full ledger’s worth of scores to settle with them.Lady Angharad Tredegar has fled halfway across the world, leaving behind a ruin of a life: her family butchered by a ruthless enemy, their estate torched and their nobility revoked. Yet no matter how far she flees the blades of assassins follow, and she finds herself growing desperate for any protection. She has one relative left to call on, her estranged uncle, but she finds that the safety he offers comes at a cost.Angharad has sworn revenge, however, and her honour will allow for no compromise. She will do what she must to survive so that one day bloody vengeance can be visited upon her enemies.The paths of the two take them to the doorstep of the Watch, but for desperate souls like them enrolment is a lost cause. They will have to do it the hard way instead, by surviving the trials on the isle known as the Dominion of Lost Things.Where every year many go, and few return.Book II: Good TreasonsThe trials of the Dominion are over.The four survivors have become students of Scholomance, enrolling together as a cabal, yet even on those infamous grounds they soon learn none are beyond the reach of their pasts.Angharad Tredegar is returned to a semblance of the world she left behind, but finds her honor sorely tested by bargains offered - every bit as tempting as in the stories and even deadlier.Tristan Abrascal needs answers. Mysterious enemies keep trying to abduct him, his classroom does not exist and he’s now had several conversations with dead people. Worst of all, his carrots keep dying.Maryam Khaimov is going mad, which would worry her less if it were happening on schedule. More frightening yet is the possibility that she is not, and there truly is someone else going around wearing her face.Song Ren must forge the others into a functional unit, all the while fending off enemies on all sides: rival cabals, vengeful countrymen and the deluge of implacable foes her companions simply cannot seem to stop attracting.Failure is not an option, for Song must bring back honor to her family’s name whatever the cost: it is the only way to keep their disgrace from literally eating them all alive.And as the four chase shadows in Scholomance, in the distance looms the greater test awaiting them in the Asphodel Rectorate. Asphodel is a faded power, the rotten carcass of what it once was, but under that rot looms darker things - of which monsters might just be the least dangerous.Besides, is treason really such an evil when you have the best of reasons for it?