Special Dimension

Su Yan pressed his eyes together and took a deep breath. Damn. His back hurt! Had this actually really happened just now? His phone had lit up and then he had fallen into some other dimension just like that?

Please! It hadn't even been half an hour since he had told himself that his life wasn't a movie and that he should man up. How could something like this happen now?! It was like the System wanted to refute his thoughts!

Su Yan cautiously cracked his eyes open. Above him was a white ceiling.

Oh.

"Maybe I fell from the couch and aggravated my injury from before and that's why I'm dreaming right now?" He frowned. "Or, no, more likely I haven't even woken up yet since the moment I lost consciousness. I'm probably still in the hospital and all that with Nie Chang was just some hallucination."

[Welcome to your Special Dimension, host], sounded the secretary-like voice of the System and shattered the fragile concept he had used to explain this in a rational sense. [Please, let me explain the use of your dimension before starting the test. This dimension is able to visualize the author's imagination to let him gain new insight into his stories. Depending on his level the author may craft characters, build parts or even the whole world for his stories and immerse himself in different scenarios.]

Su Yan sat up and listened with rapt attention. Alright, this way of kidnapping him for a test was creepy and not at all cool but he liked what the System was saying right now!

[The Special Dimension will update with each level up. For now, the host is only able to use it for crafting characters.]

"Then how do I level up?" Su Yan frowned. He remembered vaguely that he had seen something like 'Novice' on his profile. That should be his current level but it sounded like just a starting point.

Su Yan didn't expect an answer since his System hadn't been cooperative even once since he got it. But, well, there probably had to be a first time for everything: [The host will attain a new level through finishing tasks and passing the subsequent test. The progress will depend on how well the host finishes the test. Further experience and assistance can be gotten through accomplishing the special tasks.]

"Oh!" Su Yan saw the light. "Alright. So what's the first test?"

[Processing data.]

[Analyzing prior achievements.]

[Setting up test.]

Su Yan rubbed his hands and stood up. He had always hated exams but this might actually be fun. How would that visualizing the System had mentioned work?

[Issuing test.]

[The host is asked to craft the main characters for a romantic short story. The specific theme of the story as well as the personalities of the characters are up to the host.

Requirement 1: Two distinct personalities have to be chosen.

Requirement 2: Two compatible characters have to be crafted.

Hint 1: The host may create the characters' outer appearance through imagination. Personality traits and back-story can be thought but have to be uttered aloud to be finalized. Appearance and personality will change with the host's visualization.

Hint 2: The host may have basic interactions with the characters like exchanging greetings.]

A short silence followed and two circular platforms appeared at the edge of the dimension. Yes, the dimension had an edge. Actually, it wasn't all that big either. It was more like a white room that someone had forgotten to furnish and decorate.

[May the host proceed to start his test now], piped the Lovely Writing System up once more before finally falling silent.

Su Yan stared at the platforms. So … What now? Was it really enough to just think about two characters? Could that actually work?

He turned to the left platform. There was nothing to lose. He would just try it out. Maybe the System would surprise him once more. He continued to stare at the platform and pressed his lips together.

Shit. What was he supposed to imagine? Two characters for a romantic short story. That sounded alright in theory but he had never written anything romantic if he didn't count that romantic encounter scene the System had him write to gauge his talent.

Eh? Wait a moment! Wasn't this what this was all about? The System had given him that taskline about basic characters because he had failed so miserably in the first task. Now it probably only wanted to see if he had made any progress. If he did, he would level up. If not … the System would probably just have him learn even more about characters.

Ha! So this isn't as serious as it looked. I should just have a bit of fun.

Su Yan rubbed his hands and focused on the platform again. Then, he just imagined the main character of his last fan-fiction. It had been his most original work thus far: He had still taken the world from a famous novel but the character he used had only been mentioned a few times. Everything else had been imagined by himself. He felt like this was still considered him crafting a character and the System hadn't said that he couldn't use an old character. Crafted was crafted.

Su Yan's eyes went wide. This Special Dimension really worked!

In front of him, the platform started to glow. Bit by bit some particles flew up and formed a slender silhouette. It didn't need much imagination to recognize the human figure in that.

Finally, the light receded and a young-looking cultivator stood in front of Su Yan. There was one disturbing thing about him, though: He had a completely blank face as if he had no idea what was going on around him and no personality that allowed him to react to this mystery.

"Woah!" Su Yan felt for his phone. He definitely had to snap a photo and show it to Nie Chang!

…

Uh? Wait. Where was his phone? And speaking of Nie Chang … It couldn't be that he had just vanished out of his apartment to get here, right? Right?!