2 1.1 Star Dancer

Tian He closed her eyes from the bright light that Little Stars emitted. When she opened them, she found herself in a beautifully decorated room. She was sitting on a soft bed with pink flowers sowed on it and in front of her, was a tall screen that depicted a picture of butterflies flying around lilies. She was holding a small book that read, 'The Beginning Arts of Dancing.'

Little Stars appeared in front of Tian He, but this time, he was in the shape of a baby, but transparent and glowing pink. It stilled had that fluffy aura around it that made her want to touch it.

"Host, welcome to your first world's mission. Please look over these mission details first to help you with completing your task."

Tian He saw a transparent screen appear in front of her.

This current target's name was also named Tian He but was surnamed Li. She is currently 16-years-old and was born in an average family with two older sisters. Her parents were restaurant owners, but she wanted to become a famous dancer. Her dream was to make it into a famous artist company and stand on stage with her idol, Chen Su Su, and dance together. Although this world's setting is somewhat similar to her old world, this world took their entertainment industry to a whole another level. There were even special academies made to enroll exceptionally talented artists. Apparently, once the art that they've performed or created was approved by the 'Heavens', talented artists are able to evoke special powers. This target's idol, Chen Su Su's greatest dance was able to heal a dying patient from the imperial family, causing her fame to sky rocket. Many clans and famous artist companies have all wanted to recruit her, but surprisingly, she was offered the position as the exclusive dancer of the imperial family, it astounded everyone.

Right now, the current target has just taken her first step and enrolled into one of the special academies for talented artists. Since her foundations in dancing was less than others, she was only a student in training, and will only become an official student after she scores in the top 50 of the new student's dancing competition three months from now.

Tian He stopped reading the details to take a look at the book in front of her, she was curious what kind of dance could evoke special powers that could actually heal a dying person. However, after she finished flipping through it, she frowned. No wonder the target person failed to obtain her dreams, this book of 'beginning dancing' is obviously a fake, she'll look like a clown if she dances like this. Someone didn't want her to succeed, but why, she was just an ordinary restaurant's daughter.

She looked back at the screen and continued reading. Apparently, the current target shut herself in her room just to finish learning this 'beginning dancer's' book, she wanted to surprise her family on stage instead. However, when she performed, she was laughed at by the whole audience and even the Vice Principal of the academy directly kicked her out. At first, she didn't understand what was going on, she tried to ask where she went wrong with her dancing, but the Vice Principal didn't say anything and just expelled her. She wandered back home since she had no where else to go, but even then, her parents were too ashamed to take her back in. She would have wandered the streets but surprisingly, an imperial consort took a liking to her and made her a maid. She happily followed the consort, but little did she know that she stepped into hell. Everyday she was tortured and whipped until she died of regrets, even in the end, she didn't know why she was harmed.

Tian He sucked in a huge breath of air. No wonder the control of the main system was disturbed. The current target died so miserably. Of course, her resentment and regrets would linger around. There was just too much injustice.

Tian He calmed down and gather her thoughts. She felt sorry for the original owner, but she was here to complete her task and this target's dream was to become a famous dancer, get accepted into a famous artist company and get a chance to dance with her idol, Chen Su Su, not take revenge, right?

Tian He looked at the floating baby in front of her, "Little Stars, I only need to fulfill the target's dreams of becoming a famous dancer, getting her into a famous artist company and having her dance with Chen Su Su and I can leave, right?"

"Correct, host, since I'm an 'All Stars System', my missions are mainly focused on succeeding in the entertainment world. There are no other requirements needed because all the target people the main system selected only needs to have their artist's dreams fulfilled and their regrets will be lifted."

Tian He sighs in relief, it's not that she didn't want to help her get revenge, she just knew that anything that involved imperial consorts was trouble. The imperial harem is a place full of nothing but schemes and trickery, she was lucky to be born and loved by a father that only had a few consorts in his harem. Besides, she was already going to help the original owner fulfill her dreams, and the original owner only had to enjoy the rewards of her success, she was basically set for life. Also, being forced to complete these tasks by this main system was not sitting well with her, she would only do what was needed and hurry home.

She began to look for a place to put away the fake 'beginner dancer's book', the original owner was only tricked because this book had the school seal on it, she had to keep it just in case. She knew that the person who gave the original owner this book will come for it eventually, she was sure that faking a school seal will definitely get that person in trouble. As long she threatens them with this, they wouldn't dare bother her again.

Right now, she needs to get a copy of the real 'beginner dancer's' book, then practice until she was good enough to make it into the Top 50 in the dancing competition 3 months later. As long as she's safely in the school, no danger of getting kidnapped should come near here.

Tian He looks at herself in the bronze mirror, studying her current features. This original owner does look pretty. She had large cute eyes, a small pinchable nose, nicely shaped lips, and a heart shaped face. However, due to the humble origins of the original owner, her skin was a bit dry and yellow, her lips were chapped, and her black hair looked extremely unhealthy. Her body was also a bit on the skinny side, probably another reason she failed in achieving her dancer dream, without enough body strength, one couldn't even dance properly.

Without extreme measures, she won't be able to fix herself in time for the dancing competition.

"Little Stars, I want to receive the 3 items from the beginner's package."

"Yes, Host. Here is the list, host may choose from any of them, as long they're not marked gray."

Tian He immediately chose skin enhancing pill, beauty pill, and strength enhancing pill. When she swallowed them, a warm current traveled down her throat, and she felt her body heating up. After the feeling went away, she checked herself again.

She was amazed, her skin was jade white like a newborn baby and her long black hair looked smooth enough to rival the finest silks. Her lips were a beautiful rosy red color, her eyelashes became even longer, and when she blinked with those big eyes of hers, she couldn't help but feel she looked incredibly mesmerizing. She tried her jumping and spinning strength, she was more than satisfied with the changes.

Since the original owner had no friends in the academy, she didn't have to worry about anyone noticing her changes.

Tian He walked out of her room in search of the academy's library. She needed to do some research into this dance that could evoke special powers and she needed to quickly grasp what the original owner's special power was. For some reason, this wasn't mentioned when she was reading the details about this world and she had a feeling that Little Stars won't tell her, so she had no choice but to do research by herself.

Tian He saw many other students in the academy, most of them were pretty looking, there were even some men walking among them. She guessed even men enjoyed learning the arts too.

She passed by bushes of roses, peonies, lilies, sunflowers and many other flowers. By the time, she reached the library, she was numb from the scenery.

Inside the library was neatly stacked bookshelves, when she looked up, she noticed that there was a staircase leading to the second floor, judging by how tall the building was, there was probably about five floors to this library. She walked up to the reception desk to ask about the 'beginner's dancer's' book.

"All books on the beginning arts of dancing have already been distributed to the students. If you lost the book, you would have to pay a fine of 1 gold to get another one." The receptionist coldly replied.

One gold?! This wouldn't be a problem for her before, but now she's currently Li Tian He, a girl who only had a few silvers in her purse. Where was she to get one gold from? The original owner's parents who were too ashamed to recognize their daughter and abandoned her for just failing a dancing competition aren't exactly the kind of people who would give her money.

Wait, since this was an academy for artists, shouldn't they offer opportunities for their students to perform and get paid? She quickly asked the receptionist and got her answer.

The requests hall was packed full of students once she got there. It looks like she wasn't the only one with thoughts of trying to get a chance to show their skills and receive payment, although she was sure most of them were just doing it for the attention because she only saw a few students looking intently at the requests for good paying ones.

She walked over and started looking over each request. It looks there are rankings to them, ranging from S, A, B, C, D, E, and F, with S ranked requests being the hardest, and F ranked requests being the easiest. She casually skimmed the E and F ranked ones.

[F ranked request: Issued by 1st year student, Zhou Ru Shi. Requirements: Needs someone to mend her dress and clean her room. Rewards: 1 silver coin.]

[E ranked request: Issued by 1st year student, Zhang Yu Yan. Requirements: Needs help on practicing ribbon dance moves described in the 'Beginner Arts of Dancing' book. Recommended: 2nd year student or 3rd year student at the academy. Rewards: 10 gold coins.]

Looking at the 10-gold coin reward, she was tempted. However, it says 2nd year student or 3rd year student, she was neither of that. She continued browsing.

[D ranked request: Issued by 2nd year student, Su Feng Mian. Requirements: Needs help on practicing fan dance moves described in the 'Intermediate Arts of Dancing' book. Recommended: 2nd year student or 3rd year student at the academy. Rewards: 100 gold coins.]

Tian He concluded that A – B ranked requests were mostly issued by 3rd year students, C – D ranked requests by 2nd year students, and E – F ranked requests by 1st year students. She quickly decided to pick the E ranked request, issued by Zhang Yu Yan. Even if she wasn't a 2nd year student or 3rd year student, she believed that with her mastery over dancing, she would be able to convince Yu Yan that she's more than capable of teaching her a few beginning dance moves.

She took the request off the board and registered herself with the receptionist as the request taker. She quickly received Yu Yan's current living address and exited the Requests Hall.

Tian He followed the path towards the 1st year dormitories, eventually reaching a small courtyard. It was surrounded by many pink and yellow peonies, giving the whole place a noble feeling. She guessed Yu Yan must be from a well-off family since she could afford a whole courtyard to herself.

Before she knocked on the courtyard door, she heard noises coming from the backyard. It sounded like someone was yelling. She followed the noise and saw a nicely dressed young girl insulting a plainly dressed young girl, she was a student too because attendants weren't allowed in the academy.

"You irresponsible girl, why did you not show up when I needed you to help me get my dancing moves right? Since you had some talent in dancing, I was kind enough to ask father and mother to transfer you from the laundry department to be my assistant in helping me improve my dancing skills, you should be grateful we're paying for tuition too, yet you're giving me excuses! If I can't learn these moves and impress the 2nd imperial prince in the upcoming competition in three months, then I'll have mother and father send you back to your village. There's no use for a servant who can't even properly follow orders." The nicely dressed young girl was pointing her fingers and yelling angrily at the plainly dressed girl's young face.

Tian He calmly smiles, "Hello, fellow student Yu Yan, maybe I can help you learn those moves?" Tian He signaled the nearby student musicians, although they were confused, their job was to practice and improve their playing skills and this fellow student looked confident in herself, so they trusted her and began playing.

Yu Yan turned around and before she could say anything, Tian He grabbed the satin ribbons on the ground and started to dance with the music.

She half-kneeled on the ground and slowly gathered her hands graciously above her head. Then she jumped up and tossed the ribbons up into the sky. She twirled it around her until her ribbons looked like flowers dancing. Tian He leaped to the right and tossed the ribbons to the right, then spun along with the twirling ribbons, looking like a noble phoenix flying.

As Tian He danced, she didn't notice that around her, particles of golden light started to appear and gather together, growing bigger until it formed a lotus blossom. It floated around her, following her movements, enjoying the exquisiteness of her dance. As she continued to dance, more and more golden lotus blossoms began to form.

While keeping the ribbon off the ground and following the beats of the melody, she jumped, turned, and leaped, her flying ribbons formed beautiful flowers and patterns with each move.

The student musicians were influenced by Tian He and also began to evoke their powers, blue and green lights started gathering, a few of them formed into glowing qins, drums, and flutes.

For her finale, she somersaulted backwards and tossed the ribbons to her right and left sides, making her look like she possessed wings as she gently landed on the ground.

The floating golden lotus blossoms followed her, some of them entered her, and the others planted themselves on the ground. Amazingly, they assimilated into the ground and grew into real lotus blossoms, their petals and stem glowing an ethereal golden. While the glowing instruments of light scattered and disappeared, some of them into the air, but some of them into the actual musicians, making them glow green and blue. Their skills were not enough to assimilate their powers into the ground, but as long as it improved and obtained more of Heaven's approval, they could absorb more sacred powers and grow stronger. They were thankful for Tian He's help in dancing along with their music, their combination obtained more of Heaven's approval, allowing them to absorb more sacred powers than usual.

When Tian He finished her ribbon dance, she found herself feeling energized, if she ran a mile now, she wouldn't even break a sweat.

The plainly dressed girl was shaking, she thought that she was talented, but compared to this girl in front of her, she looked like a jumping duck. She squeezed her handkerchief tightly until veins appeared. Her eyes were full of jealously, judging by this girl's clothes and hairpins, she wasn't that well-off either, yet how could she dance so beautifully? Without good foundations and a teacher, obtaining so much of Heaven's approval and evoking such huge powers is impossible, could it be that there are really geniuses that could do any move just by looking at it?

Yu Yan couldn't believe what she witnessed, even the dancing teachers she had seen weren't able to evoke such huge powers. She touched the recently formed glowing lotus blossoms and realized the scratch on her fingers she got earlier started to heal at an amazing pace. Her eyes opened wide in shock, this must be an expert! I must get acquainted with her.

Yu Yan approached Tian He respectfully, "Hello, fellow student, your ribbon dance was beautiful and exquisite, let me introduce myself, my name is Zhang Yu Yan, may I have the honor of knowing fellow student's name?"

Tian He finally noticed the golden lotus blossoms beside her. Were those always there? Was this her special power? She was bewildered but she didn't think about it any further. This was her opportunity to earn money.

"Hello, fellow student Yu Yan, I am student in training, Li Tian He. I'm honored that you'd liked my ribbon dance. I actually came by to find you for the request you've posted in the Requests Hall." Tian He kindly reminded Yu Yan of her purpose here again.

Yu Yan was surprised, how could a student in training be so good at dancing? She must not have been in her best condition when she took the entrance exams, poor her, but even if she displays only half of the skills she performed today, she's guaranteed to be in the Top 10 in the upcoming competition.

"I would be more than welcomed to have you help me in dancing, please Tian He, call me Yu Yan, I have the feeling we'll get along just fine." Yu Yan responded warmly.

Tian He has seen people like Yu Yan before, although they're a bit spoiled, they don't mean any harm and are quite loyal to their friends. On the other hand, she looked at the plainly dressed girl, her eyes displayed jealousy and resentment, if she squeezes that handkerchief any more than she already has, she'll have to get a new one soon.