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Kevin's performance didn't last long; once he felt it was good enough, he stopped recording, and his expression returned to normal.
From an expression of excitement, sadness, and anger, looking as if he wanted to rush up and fight the Alkali-Transigen to the death, it transformed in the blink of an eye into one of calmness mixed with a hint of satisfaction.
This rapid change of expression left Caliban speechless:
"Kevin, you… graduated from acting school, right?"
"Something like that."
"Really?!"
Caliban stated that he had just said it casually, more as a joke, not thinking that Kevin had actually attended acting school for training, but unexpectedly, Kevin himself admitted it.
Kevin explained casually:
"The academy I attended was very special; acting was a compulsory course, and in that course, my grades were quite good."
Lamplighter's Crime Fighting Academy's curriculum wasn't merely about teaching people how to apprehend criminals.
That was only a small part of all the courses.
How to perform, how to package oneself, how to present one's most perfect image in front of the public—these accounted for the bulk of the curriculum.
Psychology courses, talent courses, music courses, and acting courses were all considered compulsory.
Although it wasn't mandatory to master all courses, at least one had to be fully mastered and receive a high score for the academy to allow graduation.
For example, A-Train was unique in music courses, and Kevin's performance in acting courses was also quite excellent.
Otherwise, the "Deep" film series he starred in wouldn't have achieved so much at the box office.
Fans may idolize, but they are still very rational when appreciating movies.
A good movie is good; a bad movie, with mediocre acting, is still bad no matter how much it's hyped up.
Therefore, Kevin was perfectly at ease with his current performance, not even having used his full capability.
Crying in one second and then laughing in the next—Kevin could easily do such things.
No wonder actors are called a group of terrifying monsters.
Hmm, voice actors too.
Hearing Kevin's explanation, Caliban implicitly accepted that Kevin was a graduate of an acting academy.
He didn't ask about Kevin's past again, instead asking:
"Are you sure what you're doing now is useful? Don't expose our whereabouts."
"Don't worry, this is just recording; the video hasn't been uploaded yet, so the group won't be able to track us. As for whether what I'm doing is useful…"
Kevin pulled a tablet from the car, connected it to mobile internet, and handed it to Caliban, saying:
"You'll know if you check online yourself."
Kevin didn't need to check himself; he already knew how much of a stir the video he released had caused online.
Moreover, Kevin didn't just post it himself.
Earlier, while buying the car, he found some news agencies that were after money, popularity, and didn't care about their lives, and sent them the relevant video and various previously taken documents and photos.
It wouldn't be long before these news stories would make headlines in those tabloids.
Then, with the push of interested parties, various large news agencies and channels would also pay attention to this matter.
As long as one person dared to start, countless others would dare to follow suit.
"This is really…"
Caliban found the relevant news online with little effort, and when he saw that this matter had already become a hot topic online, he was momentarily speechless, completely at a loss for words.
Actually, normally, an event wouldn't escalate to such a magnitude in just one night.
The Alkali-Transigen isn't to be trifled with; suppressing popularity and deleting trending searches are things any large corporation would do.
But, Kevin played unfairly and cheated.
He used Marvel technology to lock trending topics and increase their popularity for extensive advancement; he alone was equivalent to millions of internet trolls.
Alkali, without any advanced technology, suffered a complete defeat in the online public opinion battle.
What made matters worse for the Alkali-Transigen was that many other miscellaneous characters came out to piggyback on the popularity, deepening the discussion of the topic.
Some said they had long known that the Alkali-Transigen was doing this.
Some said their family members had eaten food from the Alkali-Transigen and contracted special, incurable diseases.
Others even began digging into Alkali's history, even unearthing all previous videos related to Alkali.
As more and more people spoke out, even if the Alkali-Transigen could delete their videos, it was an endless struggle.
Moreover, Alkali's power was only significant within America; its reach could not extend to other countries.
If netizens from other countries engaged in discussions, they had no way to 'enforce' across borders.
What Kevin did became the fuse, completely igniting and detonating the bomb that Alkali had previously suppressed.
All sorts of demons and monsters came out to step on the Alkali-Transigen, yet they couldn't voice their grievances.
Because Kevin locked the trending topics.
"Let it rage, let it rage, the bigger the better. Preferably, let it rage for two more days so I can get more skill points."
Kevin looked at the online popularity, his face filled with an irrepressible smile.
Because the increasingly popular online event was continuously providing Kevin with skill points.
In just over a day, Kevin had already gained three skill points because of this matter.
Personally releasing the video counted as one, causing an initial online sensation counted as another, and finally, the various chaotic phenomena that developed from the video were also attributed to Kevin.
With three skill points, plus the skill points Kevin previously held, Kevin's total skill points once again broke the twenty mark, having twenty-one in total.
Originally, Kevin had twenty-two skill points remaining in the Marvel World.
However, activating the second mission world required ten skill points, and pausing time in the The Boys world cost three, so when Kevin first arrived in the "Logan" world, his skill point balance was nine.
But then, after killing Donald, he gained four skill points; temporarily incapacitating X24 and changing Professor X's and the farm family's fate of death earned him five skill points.
Adding the current three, the total number of skill points became twenty-one.
Twenty-one skill points, still far from the thirty-two needed to upgrade a basic skill from Level 5 to Level 6, so Kevin could first allocate points to other skills.
First were the Fighter class system skills.
Kevin wasn't too keen on sword-related skills, as he didn't like using swords. Although the first three levels of these skills cost one skill point per level, Kevin didn't want to waste skill points on them.
That left only the other system: Magic Runes.
The conditions for changing professions to Ocean Lord, besides activating a second profession, also required Kevin to master a certain path within the Fighter profession.
"Mastery" meant upgrading all skills in a specific path, up to the path leading to the Ocean Lord profession, to Level 3.
Before this, Kevin had upgraded the "Attachment" and its three extended skills in the Magic Rune system to Level 2. This time, he could first add one point to these skills, bringing them to Level 3.
Upgrading "Attachment" and the three extended skills to Level 3 used four skill points, and only then did Kevin begin to allocate points to the subsequent path.
Skill: Magic Rune Burst.
Materialize Magic Runes, condense them around oneself, and explode them during an attack, dealing a large amount of damage to enemies.
This move is only effective against others, not against himself, or rather, as the creator of the Magic Runes, Kevin himself is immune to all attacks from the Magic Runes.
Therefore, the Magic Rune Burst skill can be considered Kevin's high burst capability during close-quarters combat.
This ability, combined with the Fighter's Dance ability, would be even more effective.
So, Kevin also used six skill points to upgrade Fighter's Dance to Level 3.
In total, thirteen skill points were consumed, leaving eight.
After Magic Rune Burst, there was one remaining skill in the Magic Rune system, named Magic Rune Mastery.
A passive skill, its description stated that it enhances understanding of Magic Runes, strengthening their application and damage.
Given that it was the last skill in the Magic Rune system path, Kevin upgraded it to Level 3.
Surprisingly, this was not considered a basic skill, and only three skill points were used to upgrade it to Level 3.
After allocating the skill points, Kevin didn't feel any change, but regardless, one-third of the prerequisites for Ocean Lord had been met.
After that, all that remained was to acquire a second profession, then proceed to the Ocean Lord's mission world to complete the task, and he would be able to complete his second profession advancement.
However, that would likely require quite a few skill points.
"Five left… I should be able to get some more skill points during this time…"
Kevin temporarily kept the remaining five skill points, as he would still need skill points to bring X24 back to his world.
He would also need them for pausing time when traveling to other worlds in the future.
Looking at it this way, the skill points never seemed to be enough.
But Kevin wasn't too worried about how to obtain skill points.
Previously, he thought that the ways to acquire skill points were limited and would eventually reach a maximum, but after going to the Marvel World, Kevin realized his worries were largely unnecessary.
Skill points in the The Boys world might have a limit, but the Marvel World did not.
Countless worlds were countless channels for Kevin to harvest skill points.
And there would be even more mission worlds in the future, so Kevin didn't have to worry about not having enough skill points.
For example, now, as the news about Alkali continued to heat up online, Kevin gained another skill point by evening.
Gaining two skill points in one day, in a way, changing the plot in the "Logan" world yielded more rewards than changing the plot in the The Boys world.
The combined online popularity of Compound V and the Supervillain Alliance in the The Boys world only gave Kevin one skill point per day.
"If I post this video, I might get a few more skill points."
In the evening, Kevin, who was staying in a nearby city, was editing the video he had filmed today on his phone.
Most of the video content was about Laura and Logan.
Kevin also planned to introduce information about Logan and Laura later.
If possible, he could even introduce Professor X in the video.
Professor X's Alzheimer's was fundamentally caused by the Alkali-Transigen; their genetically modified food weakened Professor X's abilities, which is why his brain, normally active due to his powers, became suppressed and eventually led to illness and uncontrolled abilities.
In other words, the tragic incident Professor X caused earlier, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and several X-Men, had the Alkali-Transigen as the culprit.
Professor X was also a victim!
Kevin thought so, but this matter required the joint permission of Logan and Charles.
After all, causing the deaths of the X-Men and indiscriminately harming so many people was a hurdle Charles found difficult to overcome.
Although he often couldn't remember past events clearly, during his occasional moments of lucidity, he would recall what happened that day.
This incident became an unresolvable trauma in Charles's heart; he might never be able to forgive himself.
Logan had suicidal thoughts, and Charles was no exception.
The evidence was that after confiding in Logan, Charles's body seemed to weaken day by day.
Kevin tried to use Magic Runes to imbue him with life attributes, but it only provided temporary relief.
This left everyone with an uncomfortable feeling.
It was as if Charles could leave them at any moment.
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