Chapter 161: Singing Karaoke Alone

Chapter 161: Karaoke for One

Everyone has dreams, and everyone has had many of them.

It is just that some people put in the effort, some do not, and even more give up halfway.

Of course, a dream is never something that can be achieved through sheer effort alone; no matter how hard one tries, one must remain grounded in reality, or a dream will remain forever just a dream.

As for Meng Fan, he had harbored many dreams. Among them, becoming a manga artist was undoubtedly the one best suited to his circumstances, and it was the one for which he had consistently put in the effort—a dream that had, by now, evolved into becoming a renowned manga artist.

Beyond manga, Meng Fan had another dream: to become a voice actor, and he had worked hard for that, too.

To become a voice actor requires many skills: the ability to parse and interpret text, comprehension, narrative flow, and performance. This performance aspect includes the mastery of different voices, tones, inflections, and pacing, as well as vocal technique, fundamental training, and the ability to convey emotion through sound.

To this end, Meng Fan had specifically sought out training and practiced his pronunciation diligently; his Mandarin was, in fact, quite standard.

—As for Brother Pao, he was just too sensitive; it really had nothing to do with Meng Fan’s Mandarin.

Truth be told, if Meng Fan truly wanted to become a voice actor, the difficulty would not be high. As long as he was competent enough, having a sister like Meng Caiwei meant he would never be short of work.

Yet, through the slow process of learning, Meng Fan realized he lacked a natural gift for the craft.

First, his vocal texture was mediocre—better than average, but neither unpleasant nor particularly pleasing. Second, his ability to express emotion through his voice was ordinary; while it could be improved with training, the ceiling was low. Third, his vocal range and control were average; even if he became a voice actor, the types of roles he could play would be severely limited.

It was clear that while becoming a voice actor was not difficult and opportunities would arise, the chance of becoming a truly great one was infinitesimally small.

After this realization, Meng Fan did not give up, but he demoted the dream to a hobby. He would occasionally produce dubbed videos for characters that suited his voice on Bilibili, just for fun.

As for his former dreams of dubbing for famous manga adaptations or feature films, those were essentially shelved.

But now, with the appearance of a mission offering a reward of 3 points in Vocal Charisma, Meng Fan felt a sudden, restless urge.

What is vocal charisma?

In the context of voice acting, it is undoubtedly the ability to express emotion through sound.

A voice actor who can fully convey the emotions of a character through their voice is a great voice actor.

Pitch, timbre, texture, range, comprehension, flow, and expression—all of these ultimately serve the purpose of emotional expression!

If there is one supreme talent for a voice actor, it is undoubtedly vocal charisma!

Of course, had Meng Fan understood singing, he would have known that vocal technique includes pitch, timbre, texture, and range; thus, increasing his singing attribute would also improve these fundamentals, which would in turn benefit his voice acting.

Conversely, vocal charisma is undoubtedly the most coveted talent for any singer!

"Brother Tie, why are you spacing out? I’ve finished my drink."

The young man with the red hair, seeing Meng Fan looking lost and preoccupied after setting down the microphone, felt a twinge of fear—he was afraid Meng Fan might start singing again.

And as it happens, what one fears most is often exactly what comes to pass.

"Oh, nice."

Meng Fan replied, set his glass down, and with fluid movements, slid over to sit beside a team member holding a microphone. With a grin, he reached out and snatched it away.

"Who stole my microphone..."

The team member, who had been singing "My Microphone," only managed one line before realizing the mic was gone.

Meng Fan’s speed in snatching the mic was terrifying!

Once he had it, he quickly integrated the black-tech microphone he had redeemed into the real one, cleared his throat, and belted out: "It doesn't matter, I still have my voice, yeah, yeah."

"Huh?"

Several people in the private room paused, looked up to see Meng Fan singing, and blinked in surprise. Why did his singing sound so much better all of a sudden?

A few more lines in, they noticed his pitch was more accurate than before. The most significant change was the charisma in his voice; because it was a lighthearted song, their bodies began to sway to the rhythm almost involuntarily.

Of course, this "much better" was relative to his previous performance; in reality, it wasn't exactly professional-grade.

The black-tech microphone came with +1 Singing Technique and +1 Vocal Charisma. The improvement from the former was minor, but the boost to charisma was significant.

After all, the former was a measurable scientific attribute, while the latter leaned toward the metaphysical.

"Brother Tie, you were just doing that to gross us out on purpose, weren't you!"

The group laughed and joked. Seeing that Meng Fan’s singing was no longer lethal, they ignored him, treating it as background music while they drank and played games.

Seeing that no one was pulling him to drink or trying to steal the mic, Meng Fan sang to his heart's content. Qu Jingjing and the others were happy to sing along, even though Meng Fan insisted on singing several songs he didn't really know.

It was surprisingly enjoyable; he hadn't done much karaoke in the past, usually preferring to hide in a corner and eat from the fruit platter.

Most importantly, his experience points were climbing rapidly.

The [Mic Hog] achievement triggered after Meng Fan had dominated the microphone for ten consecutive songs; the previous ten songs were also added to his experience tally.

By the time everyone was ready to leave, Meng Fan’s experience had reached 35/1000. Each song took about three to four minutes, so it wasn't too slow; he could grind through fifteen to twenty songs an hour.

This was why Meng Fan didn't think the mission was difficult.

He had tested that skipping to the last line of a song still granted experience; he didn't need to play the whole track. Calculating it out, a song took about three minutes, meaning he could clear twenty an hour.

If he spent ten hours a day in a karaoke bar, it would only take five days.

Of course, this was just Meng Fan’s optimistic assessment. In practice, it was never that easy!

Not to mention, singing for ten hours straight is not something an average person can do.

Moreover, Meng Fan had overlooked one crucial prerequisite.

After leaving the karaoke bar, most of the group headed back to make it before the dorms closed, so they dispersed without a second round.

Meng Fan made an excuse to slip away, headed to the nearest karaoke bar, rented a room, and continued to grind experience.

However, after finishing one song and singing a few more just to be sure, he realized the experience had stopped moving.

Why?

It was essentially confirmed that there was a prerequisite for gaining experience: other people had to be present.

Well, it made sense—what kind of "Mic Hog" sings karaoke alone? That’s just a symptom of advanced social isolation!