Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Tall and Hard Craig

Harle Craig. Male, thirteen years old. Commonly known as Young Master Craig. His internal codename within the Zog Group: Half-Step into the Realm of Idiocy.

The fourteenth-generation firstborn son of the Craig Clan, and the esteemed holder of a Zog Group 5% discount card.

In terms of rarity, that latter achievement was far more valuable.

After all, every noble family has a firstborn son, but getting Zog to offer a discount was a truly unique honor.

He was now riding a yacht emblazoned with the Craig Clan crest, sailing toward Shudian Island to have Zog make good on his promise.

A cameo in *Firepower Young King*.

"So what’s my role?" Craig couldn’t sit still anymore, excitedly spinning in circles.

"I think the role of Mi Fan would be perfect for me.

"But I could totally pull off playing Ma Kai, too. I’m sure I’d look super cool wearing a mask."

"Don’t tell me... don’t tell me it’s Mike? Oh, wow, I never thought you’d give such an important role to me. Wouldn’t that be... a little much...?"

’Yes, very much so.’

Zog just smiled, saying nothing.

’Geez, this kid’s full of ideas. As if any of those roles are for a cameo.’

"If I play Mike, I don’t know the Western Speed Style, but you guys can just use an Illusion Technique or something to make it look like I do, right? Then the girls from the Piazza family will be lining up to confess their feelings for me. How should I reject them before finally accepting? Ugh, so stressful."

’Ugh, I really want to smack this little brat. No, must resist. I need to borrow his wealth and assets in a bit.’

"Actually, the role you’ll be playing is..."

"What is it? What is it?"

"Craig."

"Huh?" A universe of confusion appeared in Craig’s young eyes.

"You’ll be playing the sponsor of the Yo-Yo tournament, the very venue for Liffey and Mike’s fateful showdown in the season one grand finale... Young Master Craig."

Zog slung an arm around Craig’s shoulders.

Elsa saw this opening gambit and knew Craig’s day was about to take a turn for the worse.

"But wouldn’t I just be playing myself?" Craig asked, still confused.

"Exactly!"

"But what’s the fun in playing myself?"

"How could that not be fun? Look at it this way: if you play a pro, their ultimate goal is just to compete on the stage of the Yo-Yo tournament. But who’s hosting the tournament? You are! Can those pros ever be on a higher level than you?

"Everyone was left wanting more after the last Yo-Yo tournament. Now, we’re bringing it back for the show, and all the best pros are coming. Who will everyone have to thank for that? You! Who won’t be singing your praises, calling you bold and formidable!

"Harle—so lofty! Craig—so tough! Harle Craig—lofty *and* tough!"

"You’re right! I’m way more awesome than those pros!" Craig’s face lit up with realization.

"What a shame," Zog sighed.

"What’s a shame?"

"The Arena has events scheduled, so the tournament in our show will have to be smaller in scale," Zog said, his face a perfect mask of heartbreak and helplessness. "But don’t you worry, I’m sure no one will say Young Master Craig can’t afford a proper competition."

"No way!" Craig’s voice instantly shot up. "My family owns a Grand Arena, too!"

"Inappropriate, highly inappropriate. A bigger arena means inviting more spectators, and their travel and food expenses would be a massive expenditure."

"I’ll cover it!"

Unable to listen to any more, Craig’s young attendant desperately tugged at his sleeve. "Young Master, Young Master, be prudent!"

"What’s there to be prudent about? Zog is my friend. Is my friend going to swindle me?"

"Of course not. In fact, I was worried you wouldn’t have enough money."

"How could I possibly not have enough? I brought our family’s heirloom ring—the token for accessing our deposits at the Elf Bank."

Upon hearing this, Zog was so moved he even feigned wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

’What a good boy, selling out his own family. We need talents like you to shatter the rigid class structure.’

With the venue decided, filming for the final tournament scene of *Firepower Young King* was set to begin at once.

Filming the finale first wasn’t entirely out of fear that Craig would back out, or that his elders would come knocking.

The main reason was to get the scene involving the largest number of actors out of the way first.

Although the series was planned for a weekly release, the pace of filming and post-production couldn’t actually keep up with one episode per week.

So, by shooting the hardest scenes first, the actors could then split into several units to simultaneously film different segments featuring different casts of characters.

*Firepower Young King* was not a purely single-protagonist drama; it featured a large ensemble cast.

The Craig Arena was a festival of sights and sounds: gongs and drums thundered, firecrackers crackled, red flags fluttered in the wind, and a veritable sea of people packed the stands.

Zog had made the spectacle so grand because his expectations for *Firepower Young King* were incredibly high.

He had no desire to see the audience for his first series limited to only adolescent males.

For one, the Feilin Continent didn’t have strong prejudices about what sorts of things men and women ought to like.

Male Knights in pink armor still hacked down Ghouls, and female Barbarians could still twist off an enemy’s head.

Therefore, Yo-Yos were by no means a niche hobby among girls.

He remembered how he’d never dared to admit to his friends that he secretly watched *Sakura*.

In public, every last one of them would say, "Who watches that girly stuff?"

But back home, they’d grab some ratty old broom and declare with the utmost seriousness, "O Key, which hides the power of the stars..."

For another, the original show’s budget had been so pathetic that to any adult, it looked like a cringey game of make-believe.

The solution to this problem was twofold. First, he would revise the script and the characters’ logic to be less juvenile.

Second, he would use grand spectacle to overwhelm the senses.

As long as the visuals were sufficiently stunning, the brain wouldn’t have time to process whether or not the content was cringeworthy.

Take those superhero movies: aliens cross the galaxy only to engage in a fistfight on Earth. You can’t overthink it, but you get excited watching it all the same.

Inside the ten-thousand-seat Arena, the actors each displayed their unique prowess.

Furin had adjusted the Illusions on the Yo-Yos used for filming, transforming them from what was at most a few meters high into colossal, intimidating Illusions that were easily tens of meters tall.

Due to the immense Magic Power consumption, each Yo-Yo could only last a few minutes before needing a recharge.

And as for future fans who would buy a Yo-Yo only to discover they couldn’t produce such massive Illusions...

...they could only be advised to look inward, to ask if their skills had improved, if they had been practicing diligently enough...

The filming of the tournament itself went very smoothly. The actors, who were all pros, struggled with the dramatic scenes, but when it came to the Yo-Yo action, they were like fish in water.

Furthermore, without the pressure of competing for rankings, and spurred on by the passionate atmosphere on set, their Yo-Yo skills were even better than usual.

The audience members were incredibly enthusiastic. They were given free food and their travel expenses were covered, they got to watch professional players, and they could even visit a real Shadow of Evil film set—something they had only ever heard of.

Craig was also ecstatic, his vanity having been satisfied in spades. One could only hope his joy would last for a few more days.

But as Zog reviewed the footage in post-production, he felt that something was missing.

Especially the scene where Liffey turns the tables on his old rival; it lacked that over-the-top, fiery passion that was supposed to get the blood pumping.

He soon figured out the problem. When the hero is having his moment, how can there be no background music?

Previously, when filming *Holy Mountain Journey* and *Hunting*, traditional instruments had been sufficient for the background music.

But that clearly wouldn’t work for *Firepower Young King*.

A Yo-Yo that was missing its "slide up, then slide back down" wasn’t a complete Yo-Yo at all.

This was urgent. He needed to get a distortion pedal built.

"Furin!" Zog called out, arriving at the workshop development building with a small gift box of new, pre-release tea.

It was a cleverly designed little gift box; the gaps in the tea packaging were perfectly sized to fit a stack of Gold Coins, making for a much more effective gift.

Of course, Zog hadn’t put any in. His box contained only tea.

"Do me a favor and send me to the Dark Nether Realm again."