Apprentice Of Dating

Su Yan stared at his creation and felt a bit smug. This had really been too easy! Ah, wait. He still had to finalize the male lead's personality, hadn't he?

Su Yan pressed his lips together and tried to come up with the most fitting words to describe Nie Chang. Finally, a spark of inspiration hit him. He pointed at the character with his forefinger and grinned. "Speaking in circles!" Because, honestly, wouldn't he and Nie Chang have gotten together way sooner if he hadn't beaten around the bush for so long?

"Smug," he added on and observed how that slight smirk on the Nie Chang-lookalike got more prominent. "Mn …" Su Yan continued to ponder. "He loves to tease people but overall he's nice. He cares very much about his friends and would always help them. But he isn't all that nice to people he doesn't like. So, I guess you could say he's a bit two-faced?" Well, it wasn't that bad with the real Nie Chang even though he showed pretty clearly whom he liked and whom he disliked. It would probably make for an interesting character, though. He really wondered how such a person would turn out in a novel. Ah, actually, he might want to write that.

Su Yan looked at his male lead and smiled. The character narrowed his eyes in response. Ugh. Su Yan shuddered and hurried over to his protagonist. The System had wanted him to craft characters for a short story, not a novel, so this much should be alright.

He examined his protagonist instead but couldn't help and peek at that cultivator Nie Chang. They were a couple now. If Nie Chang was the model for the male lead, then he should be the model for the protagonist, shouldn't he?

Su Yan grinned and started to adjust his character. Actually, he felt like this was a good idea. After all, wouldn't it be strange if he just took a character he had already crafted quite some time ago? Even if the System allowed it, he wouldn't feel good about it. No, taking it as a basis to work with was alright but he couldn't keep everything. He had to change the character a bit.

Su Yan stared at his protagonist when he had finished. The character had about 40% similarity to the one he had imagined originally and about 60% similarity to himself. And it was surprisingly … cute?

Su Yan patted his own cheeks. It wasn't that easy to craft a character after his own image. After all, there were things he'd be more conscious about then when he took Nie Chang as a model. For example, he had always felt a bit bad about his weight. It wasn't that he was too plump but his cheeks were slightly more rounded. After spending so much time with a tall, lean and muscular guy like Nie Chang that fellow men would have to look up to if they wanted or not he hadn't been able but to feel a bit inferior.

But seeing these things on this character now he actually felt that they weren't bad. Was Nie Chang looking at him like this? Then it was probably no wonder that he had actually fallen in love with him.

Su Yan shook his head. This wasn't important now! He had to finish this test as soon as possible and return to the real world. After all, he still didn't know if time would really stand still while he was in his Special Dimension. If it didn't and he had just disappeared on Nie Chang … Argh, he didn't even want to think about it!

Su Yan concentrated on his protagonist again. He felt like he was good-looking enough, even though he was rather cute than handsome. Now, all that was left to do was to give his protagonist a fitting personality.

Su Yan looked from his protagonist to his male lead and back again. Those two had to be compatible. He still hadn't found out what kind of requirements the System had for the compatibility so he could only go with what he himself thought. And in his opinion, a couple would be especially compatible if they had some things in common but also differed a bit so that they could complement one another.

Both were cultivators so they'd have a common interest in cultivation. And seeing how this version of Nie Chang had that type of evil charm his protagonist could probably stay as a nice person.

Su Yan grinned and rubbed his hands. "He should be a person that's nice through and through! Someone with a sunny disposition, who likes to smile and always offers a friendly word to others. He helps without asking for compensation and even if someone does him harm, he wouldn't retaliate if it wasn't absolutely necessary. He isn't one of those typical young masters that are always out to take revenge. Instead, he's more like … like a role-model for a true cultivator!"

Su Yan grinned. "Alright. System, I'm finished!"

[Is the host sure that he wants to turn in his test?]

"Yes." Su Yan nodded. He felt like there wasn't much else he could do. Both characters had gotten their appearances and pretty distinct personalities. Their compatibility should also be quite high. What else could be done?

[Processing material.]

[Evaluating protagonist.]

[Evaluating male lead.]

[Calculating compatibility.]

[Processing complete.]

[Appraising skill level.]

[Organizing results.]

[Protagonist — outward appearance: 5/5

Protagonist — personality: 4/5

Male lead — outward appearance: 5/5

Male lead — personality: 4/5

Calculated compatibility of the created characters: 100%

Congratulations! The host managed to pass the test! The host's rank is promoted from 'Lovely Novice' to 'Apprentice Of Dating'.]

[Issuing rewards.]

[With the promotion, the host receives the following rewards:

Statistics: publishing stats

Tasks: special tasks (intermediate)

Special Dimension: crafting simple settings]

[The test has been finished. The host may leave the Special Dimension through the door in the middle now.]

Su Yan's lips twitched. He didn't know how to react anymore. First, he had felt nervous when the System was evaluating his characters, then he had become giddy when the first results came out and now he had no idea what to say anymore.

Apprentice Of Dating?! What the hell was this about? He had thought this was about making him into a successful author! This shitty System had obviously cheated him again!