From American Internet Celebrity to God Among Men

21: The proposal in Chapter 21 was approved, and the system was ”upgraded”.After sending out the music visual proposal for ”Harmony Bridge”, Alex didn’t just sit around waiting.

He went to class, filmed his footage, and occasionally had to deal with his increasingly enthusiastic neighbor, Sarah—whenever this girl ran into him now, their conversations had upgraded from ”The weather is nice” to ”I baked some cookies, do you want to try some?”, with her hints becoming increasingly obvious.

Just as he was pondering how to tactfully and politely draw a clear line with Sarah, he received a call from New York.

It was Ms. Allison again, and her voice sounded much gentler than last time. ”Alex, we and Taylor’s team have carefully reviewed your proposal, ’echo gallery Visual Interpretation’.”

Alex held his phone and walked to the window in the library corridor; his heartbeat was steady, but his ears pricked up.

”Let’s get straight to the conclusion,” Allison said, her tone carrying professional appreciation. ”Your idea is very unique; it’s not just some cookie-cutter MV script. You captured the ’soul’ of the song, rather than just the literal meaning. The feedback from Taylor’s team is excellent; they feel you understand the private, slightly melancholic vibe of the song, and your visual concept has a real auteur quality.”

She paused before providing the key information: ”So, we’d like to invite you to create a concept short film of about 90 seconds based on this proposal. We’ll provide the budget. It doesn’t need to be too complex; it’s mainly to see if the visual feeling you described matches the music and if the rhythm is right. This is a critical step in deciding whether to continue our collaboration. So, are you interested?”

”I’m interested. I can work out the schedule.” Alex answered crisp and clear. He’d done it! At the very least, he’d passed the first hurdle and earned the right to the ”entry test.” This feeling of being professionally recognized by a top-tier team was more satisfying than simply gaining a hundred thousand followers.

After hanging up, as he was planning how to approach the concept short film, the familiar system notification sound suddenly chimed in his head. But this time, it felt a little different.

【Detected that the host’s creation has received deep professional recognition from a specific high-value target.】

【Source of recognition: Authoritative music copyright agency and the core team of an associated top-tier artist.】

【Quality of recognition: Extremely high. Contains deep aesthetic resonance and potential for high-end cooperation.】

【’Diverse Popularity’ to ’Core Influence’ conversion program activated.】

【This recognition has been converted. Gained ’Core Influence’: 18 points.】

【New dimension: ’Core Influence’ unlocked. These points can be used to redeem high-level items involving fundamental rules. Some high-level redemptions now require consuming both ’Popularity’ and ’Core Influence’.】

【Special Note: Superficial ’awareness’ or data growth primarily increases ’Popularity’; only deep ’recognition,’ ’admiration,’ or ’resonance within key circles’ can effectively accumulate ’Core Influence.’ Acquisition difficulty significantly increased.】

Alex was stunned, but then it clicked. Good grief, had the system just undergone a ”version update”? It was no longer just looking at who knew him, but now looking at who recognized him and how seriously? ’Core Influence’? The name sounded much more high-end than ’Popularity,’ and it was clearly much harder to obtain.

With a thought, he pulled up the system interface. Sure enough, next to the original blue-colored Popularity number, there was now a small gauge glowing with a dark golden luster, showing 18. He checked the high-end categories in the shop that had previously been grayed out, such as 【Life Evolution】 and 【Rule Peeking】. Sure enough, the redemption requirements now included a ”Core Influence” requirement in addition to the astronomical amounts of Popularity, and the values made him gasp.

”Now this is more like it.” Far from feeling annoyed, Alex actually felt a bit excited. A system where you could get superpowers just by posting random videos to chase trends would collapse sooner or later. The current setup forced him to produce high-quality work that truly impressed insiders and conquered the upper echelons, which was the only way to unlock more core rewards. This actually made the system’s ”game” more challenging and authentic.