The Sparkle Troupe

Smiles. To be precise, happiness. For instance, take a circus clown who made an entire audience laugh. Xiao Sensen could harvest "smile points" from that clown. Whenever a person felt joy and laughter because of the circus clown, that clown generated one smile point, and so on. However, these smile points were time-sensitive. Xiao Sensen could only absorb points accumulated on a target within the past three hours. Earlier, Yu Xian and the others had already felt genuinely happy simply being in one another's company, which had allowed Xiao Sensen to harvest quite a few smile points. Every one million smile points accumulated could be converted into one singularity. This was an innate ability shared by every Miraculous Item Crafter. When the great Lord of the Forest first created Miraculous Item Crafters, his original intention had been for them to bring hope and laughter to the world. Because Xiao Sensen had explained how smile points worked beforehand, Yu Xian had given serious thought to how he might bring smiles to more people. The crux was that Xiao Sensen harvested smile points from the person who caused the smiles, rather than directly from those who smiled. Simply put, Yu Xian could film comedies, stream online, or become an idol star. The more people who felt happy just seeing him, the more smile points Xiao Sensen could harvest through him. In theory, making comedies and hosting livestreams could be pursued simultaneously. After all, comedies provided a steady, enduring trickle of viewers, while livestreaming transcended spatial distances to capture the attention of vast audiences in an instant. In truth, Yu Xian already generated a small, mysterious trickle of smile points every day. Part of it came from fans back on Earth, while another part came from that movie circulating across Crescent Bay's network. Only when Xiao Sensen pointed it out did Yu Xian realize that so many people were laughing because of him every single day. Yu Xian had no aversion to putting himself in the public eye. Back on Earth, he was already famous enough that virtually the entire world knew his name. To obtain more miraculous items, he was more than happy to spend more time boosting his fame and letting more people get to know him. In fact, Crescent Bay was already teeming with celebrities. There were holy spirits who cultivated through faith, Dream Spirits who drew their sense of existence from the gaze of others, and various naturally flamboyant races. Yet precisely because there were so many stars, rising to fame was exceptionally difficult. Everyone was constantly vying for followers, and anyone who grew too famous might even face collective suppression from other celebrities. Furthermore, many stars had Star-rank powerhouses backing them. Compared to those figures, Yu Xian's greatest advantage was that he was already a Star Rank himself. His only true competitors were the handful of stars who possessed Star-rank strength. "Hey everyone, what do you think if we debut as an idol group?" After Xiao Sensen fled, Yu Xian returned to his seat, pondered for a moment, and rubbed his chin. Nora followed his train of thought immediately and analyzed, "Debuting as idols would definitely make it easier to gather smiles, but what talents do you have?" "I can eat a ton. I could start an eating stream," Yu Xian said at once. Little Nora's eyes lit up, and it piped up loudly, "I can eat a ton too! I want to start an eating stream too!" "..." Nora and Niman stared at the two of them, rendered speechless. Yet they could hardly refute the claim. Yu Xian and Little Nora genuinely possessed monstrous appetites. Even in all of Crescent Bay, few beings could match how much they could eat. "Aside from eating, do you have any other talents?" Niman asked, feeling a bit helpless. Nora retorted in exasperation, "While eating streams might make you celebrities, do you really think watching you gorge yourselves makes viewers happy? All they're going to feel is hungry." Whether in Crescent Bay or on Earth, the line between celebrities and internet influencers had long vanished. Once a network grew advanced enough, people relied on it for all their information and entertainment. Since everyone operated online, celebrities were influencers, and influencers were celebrities. "Good point. Streaming an eating show would probably just make the audience drool; it really might not gather any smile points." Yu Xian slapped his own forehead as realization struck. The cowlick on Little Nora's head wilted instantly. "Still, we could let Little Nora give it a shot. Little Nora is so adorable; maybe some people will feel happy just watching Little Nora eat?" Yu Xian said with a sudden smile, glancing toward the creature. The key was that watching Little Nora eat gave onlookers an immediate sense of joy and satisfaction. Yu Xian himself loved watching Little Nora's 'eating streams.' While he might not be suited for it, Little Nora could certainly try. Hearing that, Little Nora's drooping cowlick sprang upright, and it bounced excitedly. "I want to! I want to! I want to host an eating stream!" "All right then. Since we're forming a group, what should our name be?" Nora asked, seeing how thrilled Little Nora was. Little Nora immediately shouted, "Let's call ourselves the Big Bro Troupe!" "We might as well call ourselves the Brotherhood..." Niman joked with a chuckle. They were overwhelmingly female, with Yu Xian being the sole male; calling themselves either the Big Bro Troupe or the Brotherhood was downright hilarious. Yu Xian thought it over and grinned. "Let's call ourselves the Sparkle Troupe. I'll be Sparkle Boy, Nora can be Sparkle Goose-Goose, Little Nora will be Sparkle Ducky, and Niman can be Sparkle Sister..." "You're the goose!" Nora gave Yu Xian a dry, exasperated glare, rolling her eyes. Little Nora, on the other hand, cheered gleefully, "Hello everyone, I'm Sparkle Ducky! Welcome to my stream! I'm going to start eating now!" With that, it turned and gave a hearty clap. A mountain of food cascaded from the air, instantly burying all four of them. "Little Nora, you haven't even registered an account yet! Go make an account first!" Yu Xian shouted from beneath the heap of food. Niman emerged from the pile clutching a meat bone, sighing with mild amusement. "The Sparkle Troupe it is, then. Sparkle Troupe—Sparkle Sister. Doesn't sound half bad." "I am definitely not using the name Sparkle Goose-Goose. Since Yu Xian is Sparkle Boy, then I'll be Sparkle Girl," Nora said, tossing a steamed bun to Little Nora. Watching Little Nora leap up and swallow the bun in a single gulp, she couldn't help but laugh through her annoyance. Yu Xian chewed as he hauled himself out of the food pile. "What about Little Huangquan?" "Since there's a Sparkle Big Sister, there naturally has to be a Sparkle Little Sister," Niman said with a smile. Just then, a cup of milk tea slid down from the food mountain; she caught it casually, popped the lid off, and took a leisurely sip. Meanwhile, outside the Aska, the maiden Huangquan had finally had her fill of playing around. She looked toward the Wheel of Evil Blossoms and giggled, "Vile demon lord, your minions have all been vanquished! Now it's your turn! Behold my ultimate finisher: Let Love Fill the World!" With those words, pink radiance erupted from her entire form. A colossal pink heart enveloped her, and she rocketed toward the Wheel of Evil Blossoms like a shooting star. In truth, from the moment the Wheel of Evil Blossoms had detected Maiden Huangquan, its attacks had never ceased. Yet its strikes were utterly harmless against her. No matter what tricks it unleashed, Maiden Huangquan effortlessly dissolved them with her pink hearts. Now seeing Maiden Huangquan hurtling directly toward it, if the Wheel of Evil Blossoms could speak, it surely would have screamed, "Stay away from me!" Alas, it could not speak. It could only watch helplessly as the massive heart bore down upon it, growing larger and larger the closer it got, until it swelled to a size greater than the creature's entire body. Rumble! The pink heart and the Wheel of Evil Blossoms collided at last. Space violently convulsed as countless fractal fissures spread outward like lightning, inevitably catching both the Sea Clan warship and the Aska in the shockwave. Yet their fates were entirely different. The Sea Clan warship, already halved, shattered into fine fragments in an instant. The Aska, on the other hand, remained completely unscathed, with only faint ripples stirring across its energy shield. Just then, a single pink heart darted out from the deepest core of the explosion, slipping back inside the Aska in the blink of an eye...