DKIE CH75: Out of the Circle

Luka would do things that would get him beaten, but he would never take the initiative to get beaten.

This—

Was a great sense of risk aversion.

Seeing his proud face, the quill pen praised him and then took out a dark box.

The final war scene had been filmed. Luka calmed down and focused on watching the sample footage.

As an absolute commercial film, “The God of Forging” was essentially meant to create a top-tier, popcorn-style, fiery and thrilling experience, so when he reviewed the film, he also judged it from this perspective.

As the progress bar extended, the part that touched Luka the most was actually a segment where the gnome race was forced to become slaves to build the city walls.

Yellow sand filled the sky, and thousands of slaves dragged huge stones to the city below. In the distance, there were the curses of the giants.

The glory and bloodshed of history were all embodied in a single long shot.

The overall effect was even better than he had imagined. With the quill pen’s action direction, all the war scenes were flawless.

After watching it, Luka couldn’t help but sigh with some emotion.

He said happily, “I’ll go and cut a trailer now.”

Editing was tedious. Luka went through it frame by frame, and the quill pen assisted him. When it was discovered that several highlights of the film had been cut out, “Are you sure there’s no problem?”

It was thrilling, but one could guess the storyline just by watching the trailer.

Luka’s eyes curved. “Let’s test the effect first.”

A completely secret movie would have a hard time making a splash. In the marketing process of some films, more than five or six versions of the edit would even be released. Those highlights were essentially selling points.

Fiery, thrilling… as long as these two themes were closely followed, and the ending was reserved, it would be fine.

Luka was now determined to make the first trailer that would go viral on the entire internet.

After repeatedly revising it three times and confirming that it was the best final version, he finally made the decision, “Wrap it up!”

Turning his head, he found that the terminal messages that had been set aside had once again soared by another 99+.

“…” He hadn’t been idle for a single second.

Many fans had invested a lot of emotional projection in Luka, fantasizing that they could also rise from the bottom like him.

Now, being deliberately guided, under a cult-like worship, they had zero tolerance for different opinions.

The quill pen’s efficiency was first-class.

While assisting Luka with the editing, he took the time to sort out the true fans and the trash. He lowered his eyes, raised his eyebrows, and asked, “Do you want to destroy them directly or recycle them?”

Suihan was an administrator. The one hundred and twenty people he led were clearly not well-intentioned.

Luka: “I can probably guess who’s behind this.”

There was only one group in the human race that would spare no effort to deal with him: the Holy Court.

He had to admit that the Holy Court and Alex were ahead of their time in some aspects. They had even thought of forming a fan group in advance.

Once the fans committed irrational acts in the name of love, he himself could easily suffer from the backlash of the traffic. He had originally wanted to say to destroy them directly, but the words stopped at his lips.

Mixing in a fan group was time-consuming and energy-consuming. The guiding methods were naive and immature, not like the priests and female attendants.

…Intern priests.

Luka immediately thought of the most likely identity of these people.

Intern priests had always been the cheapest labor force in the Holy Court. In a sense, it was like a recent graduate passionately getting into phone scams.

Seeing him hesitate, the quill pen knew that he would most likely deal with it coldly. He tapped on the terminal and said, “Actually, it’s still somewhat useful to keep them.”

Luka thought for a moment and chose to let him handle it as he saw fit. “Everything is still prioritized to protect our interests.”

The Holy Court would definitely not just want to ruin his reputation. There should be a follow-up move. It would be better to observe these interns.

Some things could wait, some couldn’t.

When it came to the trailer, Luka acted like the wind.

Not only did he quickly complete the editing work, but that night, he even directly released the trailer on the official account of “The God of Forging.”

There had been a round of heated discussion during the day. With a slight rustle of wind and grass, the hot searches immediately came down like raindrops.

#TheGodofForging#, #Trailer#, quickly soared to become popular discussion entries.

From the perspective of the era of cultural depression, it was really impossible to interpret the meaning of a trailer just by the entries.

The most helpless was the Holy Court. What on earth was Iliad up to this time?

Releasing part of the movie content in advance meant that there was a possibility of being imitated and maliciously picked on. Wasn’t this a subtraction for the box office?

They were not the only ones who were anxious. The light elves and dark elves, seeing that even the trailer was out, only felt: great, great, sin.

Why were there people in the world who worked so fast!

The composition of the ending music was only halfway through.

Both sides tried to find some flaws in the work of the king of involution and couldn’t wait to click in.

At the beginning, a hoarse woman’s voice came:

“The world will restart in war and collapse. This is… the war of the gods.”

Using gods as an attraction point to attract the audience who were just watching for fun.

Mountains, rivers, beautiful empty shots, all things became a miniature. The place that was condensed into a black dot below was filled with laughter.

The camera began to zoom in. The smiling woman happened to raise her head and look at the vast sky.

Following her gaze, the bright lens became a little dim.

A short and sturdy man walked from a distance. Below, a text introduction of the old man’s identity was given: [King of the Gnome Race].

In front of all the family members, the Gnome King excitedly held up a hammer.

“It’s done! Fire, earth, wind, thunder, light, darkness, ice, it contains seven attributes.”

Was it because of excitement that his tone trembled? “I have a premonition that this hammer may bring us prosperity, opportunity, and…”

He took a deep breath. “And it could also be a disaster.”

“The War Hammer, I have decided to name it—the War Hammer!”

As the Gnome King’s voice fell, the music had an intermittent and intense variation. The screen went black, and the audience’s hearts were lifted.

In the next scene, the mountains and rivers were shattered, and smoke filled the air.

The place where the Gnome King’s family had been had become a sea of fire. Outside the city, the armies were facing each other.

Countless giants held their weapons high.

The shooting angle further enlarged the size of the giant race. When the reference was the dwarves, this terrifying difference made the audience almost feel a sense of giant phobia.

In addition, the formation patterns in the high sky condensed, and a giant eye seemed to be hidden in the clouds.

In the distance, the song of a virtual siren drifted over. A massacre against the gnome race was unfolding.

Bloody, violent, it made everyone’s adrenaline soar.

In this large-scale racial slaughter, the camera gradually focused on a woman on the battlefield.

The woman, who was smiling brightly at the beginning, had her face stained with blood. Amidst the blood and yellow sand, she watched her clansmen fall one by one, her eyes filled with endless sorrow.

The Saint-Demon Continent was used to slaughter.

So in terms of visual memory, no matter how tragic the scene, it might not be as impressive as a child holding a flower and inserting it into a cannon.

Now, the scene of a beauty in the flames of war, with life and death intertwined, was what truly shocked them.

“So beautiful.” The netizens who were watching the trailer almost all had this untimely thought.

But it was really beautiful.

Makeup could not hide some racial characteristics. The wildness was further magnified. The woman stood in the yellow sand, like a brilliant pearl.

The netizens who were the first to come to their senses passionately left comments: [Looking at the cast list, is this played by the dwarf race?]

[I don’t get it, when did the dwarf race have such heavenly beauty?!]

Previously, in order to go against Luka, Nellie had deliberately made herself look very exquisite on the day of the filming. Now, it had an unexpected effect.

The giant race’s club swung towards the woman’s head.

The music had stopped at some point, and the sound of the wind brought by the club’s descent was extremely clear.

“Don’t!” The dark elf, who was still waiting to find flaws, had his heart in his throat.

There were many viewers who held their breath just like him. Some had even covered their eyes, unable to bear to watch the tragedy that was about to unfold. The children who were watching the terminal with their parents even subconsciously prayed.

At the critical moment, the music suddenly became impassioned.

As if hearing the audience’s call, the void was torn open, and a figure walked out.

Ignoring the magic and the rain of blood, the speed of the one who broke through the void was as fast as a bolt of lightning.

The stone club missed.

The gnome princess was moved a few meters away.

The person who came turned to the side. The color of his pupils was white and gray. He opened his wings in the high sky and teleported with the princess… truly like a god descending.

No, it was the descent of a beautiful god.

The giant eye in the sky immediately took action.

The outer god came robed in stars. With a wave of his scepter, terrifying beams of light radiated out. All the soldiers below who were hit by the lasers died a tragic death.

Amidst the dense rays, the audience almost cried out in shock.

Fortunately, at the last moment, the man successfully escaped into the void. The tip of his hair brushed against a ray and a small tuft of hair was cut off, scattering in the sky of the battlefield.

The screen went black again. Afterwards, only two pale, large characters remained in the center of the screen, and a sad and heavy female voice whispered:

“Revenge.”

Fifty-nine seconds, the trailer ended, and the netizens in front of their terminals were lost in a daze for a long time.

Limited by the stage area, it was difficult for operas to shoot large scenes. “The True and False Young Master,” as the only movie to be brought to the big screen, had no large scenes either.

This was the first time they had seen such a strong visual shock through the screen.

The people from the Holy Court who were in charge of monitoring Luka were so excited that their hearts were pounding. After they came to their senses, they slapped themselves hard.

“It’s over.”

Even they thought it was handsome. How would the other viewers react after watching it!

Without any surprise, after a short reaction time, the community boiled again.

The scene of the rescue at the end was only less than seven seconds long, but it was repeatedly appreciated by the audience.

In order not to let the audience get out of character, from the hair accessories to the clothing, Luka had made great changes to his image. The makeup and styling were so successful that many people did not immediately associate it with him.

It was only after seeing the cast list that they came to their senses.

When they replayed the trailer, the audience deliberately went to look at the few seconds of the rescue scene. Only then did they discover that the camera rarely shot the front face, and it was almost impossible to find a full-face shot.

But it was this kind of veiled and obscure feeling that was beautiful to the tips of the hair.

…

A light trailer, on the day it was released, created hundreds of millions of views.

The next day, in Lilian’s newspaper column channel, the hot spring peeping incident in the Boulder City was brought up again.

With the help of external forces, Luka achieved national fame purely through his beauty.

He didn’t have much time to enjoy the joy of success. Because he needed to re-shoot some scenes, he flew to Klin Sentry Tower again that day.

After supervising the actors’ reshoots, when he was finally able to go back to his room to rest, he suddenly heard a sentence from inside, ‘With Jia, we walk together; the starlight doesn’t ask about the distant traveler.’

The hand that was about to push open the door froze in mid-air.

A few seconds later, Luka entered the room. The cold light that leaked in shone on the long and slender side profile by the table. The words the latter had spoken a few seconds ago were still echoing in the relatively empty room.

Luka: “…What are you doing?”

The quill pen said calmly, “Leading the channel members in shouting a slogan.”

The group was a sea of white. Everyone’s avatar was white.

The voice messages were increasing rapidly. Randomly clicking on one, it was the sentence he had heard earlier.

Luka’s eyelid twitched. He almost thought he hadn’t woken up.

What kind of humiliation test is this?

The quill pen randomly played a few of the loudest ones.

I don’t know if it was because of a guilty conscience, but the administrator’s voice was super loud.

A short sentence, but it contained a hundred percent trembling, a thousand percent disbelief, and ten thousand percent forced calmness.

Luka accidentally saw the announcement issued by the quill pen, which required writing a short essay with him as the theme, pointing out the qualities that moved them the most.

The prize for the competition was ten free tickets to “The God of Forging.”

“The God of Forging” was a hit before it was even released. It was already predictable that it would be difficult to get a ticket at that time.

As soon as the event was announced, it received a great response.

“There will be another new event later,” the quill pen said. “We will work together to create a piece of music for you.”

Luka’s toes were about to curl up.

He saw the problem at a glance. “You want to assimilate those undercover agents?”

Assimilation was a nice way of saying it. In reality, it was brainwashing.

The quill pen said calmly, “Slogans can create a high state of excitement. Shouting them a lot will naturally form a subconscious. And the articles will expose their psychological weaknesses, which can all be used.”

He said meaningfully, “Turning them against their own side will be of great use in the future.”

Of course, this was far from enough. The quill pen also had a series of militarized management methods that he hadn’t mentioned.

Just hearing the slogan gave him goosebumps. Luka walked to the window for some fresh air. He opened the window and saw the long-lost falling snow.

The severe winter was about to end, and the plum blossoms in the corner were still blooming alone.

The poem written by the quill pen appeared in his mind. Luka’s fingers sank slightly into the window sill, and his ears moved unnaturally.

He now probably understood the author’s central idea in the poem.

As a former legend of the continent, Alex was not a philanthropist. After recovering most of his memory and strength, his treatment of him even surpassed the past. This already explained a lot.

And himself, to say that he had no feelings for the quill pen was a lie. Not knowing how to respond was the truth.

Growing up without receiving any love, Luka always had a sense of shame and timidity when facing love.

Those who had been good to him in the past could sit at a business table and negotiate prices, giving mutual benefit and common development.

But feelings could not be negotiated.

Luka turned to the side, opened his mouth, but couldn’t speak.

After a long while, he finally choked out a sentence without a beginning or an end, “You, do you think I’m very overboard?”

He rashly enjoyed everything the other party brought and habitually avoided the topic by focusing on his career.

The quill pen had long since figured out Luka’s temperament.

This person could do ten thousand things for you, but it was difficult for him to formally express anything with words.

“After we kill your whole family, everything will be better.”

The one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it.

Luka thought what he said made a lot of sense and nodded slightly.

Outside the window, Nellie ran over excitedly, wanting to show off that the trailer had gone viral.

She wanted to pay more to reshoot some scenes, to strive for perfection and completely highlight her own beauty.

But as soon as she came, she saw the two of them ‘confiding in each other’ by the window.

Nellie was stunned on the spot. Iliad was so busy, how could he still have time for a private life?

And also.

Are the two of them speaking human language?!

Feeling the presence of a third person, Luka stopped talking and looked over precisely.

“What’s the matter?”

The young man’s calmness in front of her overlapped with the previous remarks about sacrificing his parents. Nellie shivered, and she was a little cautious:

“The reshot scenes, I feel like I can be filmed even better.”

The vanity of the dwarf race was always strong. They were now more concerned with quality than Luka.

The praise online invisibly put Nellie on the spot, making her almost change from picky to demanding about the effect presented on the screen.

Luka said lightly, “Same as before, you pay for the reshoot yourself.”

“Of course!”

In order to make the plot more compact, during the reshoot, Luka further refined the editing. At the same time, he began to contact the major opera houses to confirm the release date and other matters.

The opera houses seized the popularity and posted huge posters.

“The God of Forging” was in a sense an ensemble cast. The C-position on the poster was a large hammer, and the background was a city wall and a canal like a giant python.

Directly above, the giant eye of the outer god in the clouds had an extreme sense of pressure.

The main characters basically all had front-facing shots. Luka was fixed in the corner at the end of the poster, still with a side profile.

I don’t know if it was because of his atavism, but the face that was originally a bit childish had grown up in a few months, presenting a sharp sense of beauty.

The setting of the void race was originally a cold and aloof one, which perfectly matched Luka.

Magical elements flickered. This time, the poster used a suspended design, directly floating in mid-air.

Anywhere in the city, it could be seen from three hundred and sixty degrees without any blind spots.

They were already tantalized by the few seconds of the trailer, and now they were being baited again.

Many viewers just felt itchy in their hearts and had nowhere to vent. In the end, they ran to the internet to vent their dissatisfaction.

For a time, the official account was full of condemnation.

[Front face photo, front face photo!]

[Ahhhhh! I’m a little worried about the void race’s scenes in the movie now.]

[I agree! But is it too good for us to scold the official account? After all, the director is also Luka.]

[…]

[I’m begging for a ticket! Compared to the screen time issue, the key now is that I can’t buy a ticket!]

This time it wasn’t the officials doing hunger marketing. The offline sales were indeed a mess. It happened to be released on a rest day. Even some viewers who were not very interested would choose to hoard tickets and prepare to join in the fun.

The official account was as stingy with words as ever.

It wasn’t until three days later that the official account of “The God of Forging” finally posted another status update:

Tomorrow, in all theaters, we will not leave until we meet.

Excerpt from Luka’s diary:

Barry: What do you do when you’re not working on your career?
Alex: He’s working on his feelings.
Luka: …This is my diary. What are you guys doing?

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