Xinghuo Literature Society.
Every day, numerous people submitted manuscripts. Most were poems written by officials and nobles, with the occasional travelogue from a Minstrel.
As for novels, you wouldn't see one even once a month.
Most novels, being fantasy stories, failed to meet the publishing standards of the Xinghuo Literature Society. They were largely passed down by word of mouth among Minstrels.
To put it bluntly, they just weren't high-class enough.
The Xinghuo Literature Society would never lower its own standards just to publish a fantasy novel.
If the author of *Mage Legend* hadn't been a respected Master Mage, the Xinghuo Literature Society wouldn't have published it either.
The editor-in-chief of the Xinghuo Literature Society announced, "Our publication sales have plummeted recently. It's been too long since we've had any astonishing poetry."
"Next month's issue is about to go to print! All of you, get out there and find some good poems! Beg for them! Steal them! I don't care how, just bring me something satisfactory!"
After getting an earful, Jimmy returned to his desk to process the day's submissions.
"The moon in the sky is my heart, its light shining on you is my love..."
Jimmy tossed aside the poem from Baron Kuler.
'What kind of poem is this? A love letter from the Baron to some mistress?'
He grumbled internally.
After going through the letters, he suddenly noticed a thick stack of paper.
"What's this?"
It was the first time he'd ever seen such a thick submission.
"*Dragon Knight*: Young Raine's clan is destroyed. Hunted by his enemies, he falls off a cliff, only to have a fortuitous encounter and be bathed in Dragon Blood, becoming the strongest Dragon Knight in history..."
Jimmy had never seen a novel that came with its own synopsis. He was hooked by the description alone.
He quickly flipped to the second page and started reading the first part of the story.
In the blink of an eye, the morning had passed. An excited Jimmy burst into the editor-in-chief's office, manuscript in hand.
"Chief, this novel is going to be a massive hit!"
Seeing Jimmy's thrilled expression, the editor-in-chief couldn't help but feel curious.
He took the manuscript and began to read. After just the first few hundred words, he started cursing. "Who wrote this trashy novel? Do they have any common sense at all?"
"Bathing in Dragon Blood gives you the bloodline of a Giant Dragon? That's complete nonsense! Dragon Blood is hundreds of degrees hot; it would cook a person alive!"
Just as he was about to put down the "trashy novel," he saw the part where the protagonist, Raine, saw his power increase dramatically after bathing in Dragon Blood and slayed the enemies hunting him.
The editor-in-chief's cursing subsided slightly, and he couldn't resist reading on.
"Trashy novel! The author is a complete idiot with no common sense! There's no such thing as a Magic Fruit that lets you break through and get stronger with a single bite!"
"Is this Leman Clan stupid? Why are they just waiting around for Raine to get stronger and come for revenge?!"
"To be continued!"
HUFF... HUFF... HUFF...
After finishing the entire manuscript, the editor-in-chief's face was flushed.
It was partly from anger, and partly from excitement.
Although the novel had many highly illogical parts, seeing the protagonist, Raine, grow stronger step-by-step to turn the tables on his enemies and have fortuitous encounters...
He was completely hooked!
Seeing that the novel ended just as the protagonist, Raine, was on his way to the Leman Clan for revenge, the editor-in-chief hurriedly asked, "Who wrote this novel?"
Jimmy quickly replied, "The author's name is Wooden Man. They didn't leave any contact information."
The editor-in-chief stared at the *Dragon Knight* manuscript in his hands, undecided.
He felt the novel was too outlandish and didn't fit the tone of the Xinghuo Literature Society.
Back then, even with the realistic style of *Mage Legend*, he had hesitated for a long time before agreeing to publish it.
But the current state of the Xinghuo Literature Society was undeniable. If they didn't publish another decent piece soon...
'I'm afraid the Xinghuo Literature Society won't even be able to make payroll next month.'
After a long and conflicted hesitation, he finally made up his mind. He would publish this novel to save the Xinghuo Literature Society from its decline.
"Take it and fix the typos and sentence structure. We'll publish the first installment in the fifty-sixth edition of the Xinghuo Collection next month."
Hearing this, Jimmy was overjoyed. "Yes, Chief."
As the editor for *Dragon Knight*, its glory would be his glory.
Li Wei had written thirty thousand characters, divided into six installments, telling the story of a down-and-out protagonist, Raine, who has a fortuitous encounter, gradually grows stronger, and gains the power to take revenge.
It began with the fortuitous encounter of bathing in Dragon Blood and ended with the protagonist becoming strong enough to take revenge on his enemy's clan.
He divided the stages of the story into six installments, leaving a powerful cliffhanger at the end of each one that made readers desperate to see what happened next.
The editor-in-chief also recognized Li Wei's advanced writing techniques and, without making many changes, published it directly in six installments.
「Four days later.」
In early October, the fifty-sixth edition of the Xinghuo Collection published the first installment of *Dragon Knight*.
As soon as Li Wei heard the Xinghuo Collection was out, he went to the Mage Tower library to borrow a copy.
The Xinghuo Collection was very thin, only twenty pages long.
And that was only because the *Dragon Knight* novel took up a large portion of it; otherwise, it would have been just twelve or thirteen pages.
For ordinary people, even a twenty-page copy of the Xinghuo Collection was a luxury item.
A single copy cost 20 Copper Coins, enough for a destitute person to live on for half a month, or a week's worth of food for a commoner.
Only families who had risen above the lower class could afford it.
Ordinary people couldn't even read, so naturally, they didn't care about the price of books.
Knowledge had become a dividing line between the rich and the poor.
Li Wei was also unwilling to spend 20 Copper Coins on the book, so he chose to borrow it from the library instead.
He flipped to the end and saw a line left by the Xinghuo Literature Society.
"We hope that Wooden Man, the author of *Dragon Knight*, will contact the Xinghuo Literature Society to discuss payment after seeing this message."
A smile touched Li Wei's lips. He returned the book and didn't rush off to the Xinghuo Literature Society to claim his payment.
'It's too early to go now.'
'Only after the story of *Dragon Knight* becomes a huge hit will the payment be high enough.'
He had intentionally omitted his contact information for this very reason.
On the other hand, he had also been worried that the story of *Dragon Knight* wouldn't be well-received.
If the Xinghuo Literature Society had been unwilling to publish it, he could have just used a different pen name and submitted it again.
He returned to his dormitory to continue his Cultivation.
The Calming Incense was all used up. Without its aid in his Cultivation, Li Wei had to waste over twenty minutes each time just to enter a state of Meditation.
Although the time it took to enter Meditation decreased as his proficiency grew, it was still far less convenient than using the Calming Incense.
A little over an hour later, his Spiritual Power was depleted, and his meditation Cultivation came to an end.
He opened his eyes, focused his mind, and words materialized on the wall.
[Basic Meditation Method (Proficient)] 162/1000
[Small Fireball Technique (Tier Zero Entry Level)] 0/1000
Ten days had passed since he first managed to cultivate Mana, but the Mana within Li Wei's body was still too weak to cast any Magic.
His Mana had doubled since he started, but it was still far from enough.
He estimated that his Basic Meditation Method would have to level up again before he could practice Magic.
At his current pace, without the aid of Calming Incense, he estimated it would take at least another four months to level up his Basic Meditation Method.
Besides helping him enter a state of Meditation quickly, the Calming Incense also slightly reduced the consumption of Spiritual Power during meditation.
Using Calming Incense could speed up his Cultivation by about twenty to thirty percent.
If he could use Calming Incense for his Cultivation every day, he could save at least a month's time.
Li Wei pinned all his hopes on *Dragon Knight*, hoping the Xinghuo Literature Society would give him a good price.