I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 196 - 196 195. Establishing a Movie Universe_1

Chapter 196: 195. Establishing a Movie Universe_1 Chapter 196: 195. Establishing a Movie Universe_1 “Do the products from Harmony Island require contact with the shrine maiden of the Great Shrine of Harmony Island?”

If Lu Ban had known he needed this stuff, he should’ve begged Red Leaf for one no matter what.

However, since it’s something like an amulet, he should be able to get it just by going to Harmony Island, so acquiring this material just got a lot easier.

Initially, Lu Ban had thought that as he progressed with “Testament,” the difficulty of obtaining materials would also increase, but it seems now that might not be the case?

He looked toward the second material.

[Crane’s Ascent Legend]

[Adapted from the legendary script of Taoist Crane Cry’s daytime ascension]

[Performed numerous times in the grand theater of the Abandoned Capital to great acclaim]

[The reason for the performance’s discontinuation is unknown]

“It’s Taoist Crane Cry again, this guy really stands out.”

In many descriptions of items from the Abandoned Capital, Lu Ban had come across traces of Taoist Crane Cry, the Taoist who seemed to have glimpsed the truth of the world through meditation and eventually ascended to immortality, leaving behind many notes for posterity. If it weren’t for the fact that most of his notes carried knowledge that could cause pollution, this Taoist was actually quite generous.

And this material seems to be a script, which was once a popular play. In his previous task, Lu Ban could have chosen the theater in the Abandoned Capital. It seems that a certain theater troupe there had encountered some trouble; he wondered if it was related to the script of [Crane’s Ascent Legend].

“Since it’s about his ascension, the script itself might be contaminated.”

Lu Ban pondered and turned his attention to the third material.

[Winter Wolf’s Pale Heart]

[The third of the twelve Demonic Tides of the Black Forest, the Winter Wolf is the originator of Frost]

[With the land frozen over, the wolf’s visage emerges amidst the pale drifting snow]

[That howl, it signifies death’s knell]

Good gracious.

Lu Ban exclaimed in amazement.

The first two seemed fairly normal, but the style switched completely with the third.

“The Black Forest of Night Country hides many monsters; the Demonic Tide must refer to a monster invasion? There was mention before of a Blood Moon or something similar. Possibly when a red moon rises in the sky, monsters will emerge in large numbers from the Black Forest, attacking nearby villages and even cities.”

Thus, Gray Tower established Proxies, mages who roamed the edge of Black Forest to monitor its conditions.

Shia is one of them.

“If it were just ordinary monsters, it would be fine, but this Winter Wolf seems like a miniboss. Will have to wait for the Demonic Tide; it probably needs a catalyst to occur.”

Lu Ban deeply felt the challenge of Essence Extraction.

He searched for these materials and soon found the [Lucky Amulet] valued at two hundred thousand Silence Points and [Crane’s Ascent Legend] valued at two hundred and fifty thousand Silence Points. But he couldn’t find the Winter Wolf’s Pale Heart anywhere, which meant it was a higher-tier material, and definitely would cost upwards of five hundred thousand.

“Can’t afford it.”

Lu Ban felt he was indeed too poor.

With an income of just over ten thousand each time, even if Lu Ban completed [Corrosion] level tasks frenziedly, it would still take him hundreds of tries.

He started considering taking on [Mutation] tasks.

After his journey to Harmony Island, Lu Ban had unlocked [Mutation] difficulty tasks, but the tasks at Nanhua Private Renji Hospital had a fixed difficulty level, and [The Nameless City] didn’t offer a [Mutation] option, which meant he had yet to experience this higher level of difficulty.

Following the previous pattern, the point rewards for the [Mutation] difficulty should be four times that of the [Mortal] difficulty, but looking at the expensive items in the shops, Lu Ban thought that the Silent Lands might not be so reasonable after all. The multiplier for [Mutation] might even be higher, otherwise how could anyone afford items that require several high-difficulty tasks to purchase?

“Next time I’ll choose [Mutation] difficulty, let’s settle it like that.”

Driven by his curiosity, Lu Ban was prepared to opt for the [Mutation] difficulty afterwards.

Gathering his thoughts, he turned his attention to his career development task.

With the previous movie having won awards and sold tickets, Lu Ban had already become a somewhat famous director.

Not to mention, “Cry” was going to have a nationwide release at the end of the year, and it might just make a run for a hundred million at the box office. For a horror thriller, that was already considered an excellent achievement.

So, Lu Ban was curious as to what other tricks he could pull.

[Career Development Task]

[Adhering to norms and unchangeability is unworthy of success. Try new fields, and answer doubts with your versatile creativity. The door to a new world is opening before you.]

[Task Requirements: Establish your own movie universe, gain ten million followers]

[Establish movie universe: 0/1]

[Gain followers: 0/10000000]

[“The New Century Money-Making Plan begins!”]

“?”

Stunned, Lu Ban read the task requirements.

“Establish a movie universe?”

It’s well-known that movies used to be standalone affairs, with only a handful of successful ones spawning sequels. However, the quality of these sequels was usually inferior to the first installment. There were also those series that, due to too many sequels, ran out of storylines and resorted to contrived reasons to bring back deceased characters for further installments.

Eventually, movie studios realized that relying on a single character was like shearing a sheep—there was only so much wool to harvest. Continually focusing on one or two main characters would exhaust their value, leading to character destruction and stale plots.

Hence, some studios started to explore the stories of side characters, creating sequels for them. This approach would ride the wave of the original work’s popularity without burning through characters rapidly. Sometimes, the spinoffs would even become more popular than the originals, with side characters taking center stage.

Later on, many producers simply made individual movies for each member of a hero team and then put them together in ensemble movies, leading to the concept of a movie universe.

Benefits included reaching different audiences with diverse characters and aiding character development with solo films—definitely more suited than trying to develop a character in a jumbled ensemble movie.

“But although I act in my own videos and movies, the side characters are either dead or untraceable…”

Lu Ban pondered.

Besides, places like Abandoned Capital, Wasteland, and Night Country all had different landscapes and customs—it was a bit forced to claim they were part of the same world.

And the required number of followers didn’t seem to include Lu Ban’s own account, which meant he had to start a new one?

Lu Ban glanced at the task, which had a deadline of three months.

That meant by February of next year, after the New Year, Lu Ban’s new account would need to have reached ten million followers.

“That’s going to be tough.”

He thought for a moment and decided to search online for relevant information.