Chapter 10

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“Wow, this is like a slap on the haters’ face. You rock, dude!”

“Please keep doing this. I like it!”

“The author has some backup manuscripts, right? Otherwise, it’s impossible for him to update 15 chapters a day. Even robots are not as fast as him!”

“The guy above me is too naive. If a writer wants to be a popular writer on Netland, it’s useless for him or her to just focus on the speed. The readers require high quality. If the writer has a large number of manuscripts, once they fail to meet the standards, all his or her efforts will be in vain.”

“That’s right. When my friend wrote novels, he had to modify the plots based on the feedback of the readers. He didn’t dare to store too many chapters.”

“But ‘Mr. Shu”s speed is unbelievable! I don’t even dare to urge him to update more. I’m afraid that he’ll throw another ten chapters in my face.”

“Could it be a new novel that Netland has been writing for a long time? But why was it published on a new account?”

In terms of Xu Yuan’s updating speed, the people on the Internet had different opinions. This was a novel that had provoked a heated discussion right after it was released. Even the author was worth discussing, which was unprecedented in the history of Netland.

At this time, Cai Pingtong’s face was full of joy. He did not expect that after he urged Mr. Shu in the morning, he suddenly released another fifteen chapters, which had shocked all the readers. As an editor, he was so happy that he couldn’t help applauding for his speed.

The intern editor, Xiao Li, came over with a smile. “Brother Cai, are you happy now? Not only does Mr. Shu write his novel well, but he also updates his novel quickly. Now you don’t think your life is meaningless, do you?”

“Of course!” Cai Pingtong’s eyebrows almost jumped out of his face. “According to Mr. Tree’s updating speed, Battle Through the Heavens will be put on the shelves in less than a week!”

If the online novel was put on the shelves, it meant that the readers would be charged for the following chapters.

Thinking of this, Cai Pingtong could not help but feel a little worried. After all, they had just introduced this system to Netland. In the past, in order to attract readers, those novels were always free.

Many readers had gotten used to reading novels for free, so they couldn’t accept the sudden charging. Then, they gave up reading novels. At that time, Netland had lost one-third of its readers.

Fortunately, the remaining readers were willing to accept it. They respected intellectual property and paid for it, so they were willing to accept Netland’s new rule.

Later, other online-novel websites began to imitate Netland, which ended the era of free online novels.

Although the public had gradually accepted the payment model, whether they were willing to pay for the novels still depended on the writers’ writing skills and the quality of their novels. They had to be good enough to attract the readers.

Based on his experience, Cai Pingtong gave a mid-level evaluation of “Battle Through the Heavens”. It would be a miracle if this novel was able to retain around 20000 readers in the early stages, such was already an impossible task for a rookie.

At least, during the past few years, Cai Pingtong had only seen one or two rookies who did better than Mr. Shu. Those were very talented online novel writers, which was a blessing from the heavens.

Cai Pingtong did not dare to ask for anything else. He only hoped that “Mr. Shu” could keep it up.

In order to motivate “Mr. Shu,” Cai Pingtong sent a private message to Xu Yuan again.

“Hello, Mr. Shu, this is Cai.”

“Hello.” Xu Yuan replied very quickly.

“I have good news for you, Mr. Shu. We have already discussed your novel. The chief editor said that he would give priority to you. He will give you the resources you need and focus on publicizing “Battle Through the Heavens”. If the later chapters are popular enough, we will publish books and adapt it for television or films. We hope that you will keep working hard.”

“I see, thanks.”

Cai Pingtong was stunned by Xu Yuan’s arrogant attitude. He slowed down his typing speed and became very discreet about his replies.

“Well, if there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to ask me, such as the development of the plots or the preferences of the readers. I’ve been a fantasy editor for about eight years, and I’ve been grooming new writers since Fantasy novels were at the peak of their popularity. You gotta be careful with online literature. Ha! It seems like I’ve said too much. In short, we’re in this together, and I’ll do my best to help you, at any time.”

“Thank you. I got it.”

These five simple words instantly ended Cai Pingtong’s instructions. He had never contacted Mr. Shu before, so he did not know what his character was like. He was worried that if he said too much, he would make Mr. Shu feel irritated.

After being an editor for so many years, Cai Pingtong felt this was the first time that he had faced a writer who acted like an emperor. He rambled on and on about a whole bunch of words, but he only got a reply saying “I got it”.

But now, “Mr. Shu” was like Cai Pingtong’s boss. “You can be as arrogant as you want,” Cai Pingtong thought. “As long as your novel is popular, it doesn’t matter how arrogant you are to me. I’m very willing to serve you.”

Actually, Cai Pingtong had misunderstood Xu Yuan. Xu Yuan wasn’t an arrogant person. He just wanted to save more time to write his novel.

On Netland, a novel was usually required to have more than 150,000 words to be put on the shelves. Xu Yuan had to hurry up and get it on the shelves within four days.

Xu Yuan was worried that Cai Pingtong would keep giving him instructions because he was a rookie, so he replied, “I’ll contact you in four days.”

Then, Xu Yuan closed the dialog box and focused on writing his own novel.

Three days later, Xu Yuan rubbed his messy hair and twisted his neck. He stared at his manuscript with satisfaction, thinking that his days of efforts finally paid off.

Thanks to the speed he had trained in the original world, he had written a manuscript of 150000 words in just three days, which did not include the chapters he released every day.

Xu Yuan opened Cai Pingtong’s private message dialog box. “Editor Cai, I’ll send you the manuscript. Please check it out.”

“Okay,” Cai Pingtong hurriedly replied.

This was the first time “Mr. Shu” had taken the initiative to ask Cai Pingtong for help. When he saw the 150000-word manuscript, Cai Pingtong’s mouth was wide open. At the moment, one could even stuff an egg into it.

The rhythm of the plot was very good, and the plot settings were impeccable. Cai Pingtong’s blood went hotter as he read the chapters. He was lost in them, and the uncertainty about “Mr. Shu” in his heart completely disappeared.

“Mr. Shu, you did a great job!”

“If it’s convenient for you, I’ll just publish them directly. According to the schedule, they’ll be put on the shelves tomorrow.”

Xu Yuan sprawled on the bed. He held his phone and browsed the homepage of the online-novel forum while replying to Cai Pingtong’s messages.

Xu Yuan saw that “Battle Through the Heavens” had occupied the first place on the rookie list for four days in a row. It ranked first in both the number of recommendations and the number of clicks. It took an impressive lead. The comments below were varied. Some readers were arguing with one another over a plot.

Although Xu Yuan had made up his mind to use “Battle Through the Heavens” as a stepping stone in exchange for the first money he made. However, when he saw that so many people liked the novel he wrote, he could not help but feel proud.

In order to make money, Xu Yuan could only take his time. As for the following books and films, those would appear in the future.

After so many days, Xu Yuan felt that his spine was about to break. He was to put his novel on the shelf. In order to make the readers willingly pay for it, he had even arranged for a big fishing hook in the last chapter, which was to attract more readers.