Chapter 23

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

This system was really useful!

In Fang Yuan’s previous life, Neil Gaiman was not an ordinary person, but a man who was firmly at the top of best-selling author’s lists.

Now, Fang Yuan pointed Neil Gaiman in the direction of his future success.

At the same time, his words encouraged this young writer who suffered a blow and almost gave up writing.

This was an important matter that could not be overlooked.

“Thank you, Fang Yuan. I don’t know how many novels I will write in the future and I’m not sure what kind of achievements I will achieve. The only thing I can be sure of is that in the future, I will dedicate the title page of all my works to you, Mr. Fang Yuan. Thanks for encouraging me to persevere.”

Neil Gaiman held Fang Yuan’s hand tightly.

The dedication page was a traditional practice in Western publications. The author would usually put this on the first page of the book and would dedicate their work to important people who helped them.

It usually expressed gratitude for these people’s support.

For example, thanking my parents who raised them and thanking friends who showed loyalty.

Neil Gaiman promised to make a dedication to Fang Yuan in his future works, so one could only imagine how grateful he was to Fang Yuan.

Imagine, the title pages of famous works like “American Gods”, “Good Omens”, and “The Sandman” would have the same words printed on them. “To a respected author, Mr. Fang Yuan, who guided me on my writing path.”

That was world-class treatment!

Fang Yuan could only say, “Thank you. Keep your spirits up and keep up the good work!”

..

At the same time, on the other side of the restaurant.

Jeffrey was the President of Penguin Publishing’s Atlantic Division. His nephew, a recent graduate of the University of Iowa, was sitting at the head of a table.

With a lofty smile, Dunbar raised his wine glass, shook it gently, and clinked it with the people around him.

Actually, Dunbar would not have attracted so many followers if he was just an author.

Who here was not an author?

The key was that Dunbar was affiliated to the world’s strongest publishing group, Penguin Publishing.

This was why other authors wanted to curry favor with him.

As long as they got close to Penguin Publishing, their works could easily take off no matter what kind of work it was because this company had great marketing resources.

Otherwise, how could a new graduate’s graduation thesis be ranked at the top of Amazon’s e-book sales rankings?

Obviously, Dunbar’s background was somewhat unusual.

Money could make the world go round.

This saying was also applicable in the publishing industry.

There were many who hoped to get opportunities from Penguin Publishing by getting close to the big shots.

Therefore, whether intentionally or unintentionally, many authors went over to talk to Dunbar.

“Mr. Dunbar, you published a masterpiece like ‘Magic Age’ at such a young age. Your future is very promising!”

“I’d say it’s expected coming from such a scholarly background because his education must be very stringent. He’s really different from us ordinary people.”

“If we’re talking about this Fall Cup competition, Mr. Dunbar is definitely going to win first place.”

“That’s right! I’m afraid that only the author of ‘The Coiling Dragon’, Fang Yuan, who has suddenly become popular recently, has the potential to compete with you. No wonder everyone calls you two ‘The Iowa Duo’.”

When the last person finished speaking, he suddenly realized that the air around him had turned cold.

The first few people who spoke turned around to glare at him.

He then immediately realized that he had a slip of tongue.

For this year’s graduation thesis, “The Coiling Dragon” had extremely high e-subscription and offline sales.

It greatly surpassed the second-ranked “Magic Age” and they were certainly not on the same level.

The sales of “The Coiling Dragon” had two more digits than “Magic Age”.

Fang Yuan and Dunbar were both new graduates, so they were both praised as geniuses.

Dunbar also had the backing of a top-tier firm like Penguin Publishing.

All the marketing channels had their capital worked out, and they even spent a lot of money to increase sales.

The result?

They were completely defeated by Fang Yuan’s book, “The Coiling Dragon”.

Everyone knew this, but because the people who were surrounding Dunbar more or less had the intention of sucking up to him, they deliberately avoided talking about this.

However, there were always some slow-witted ones in any social occassion.

Bringing up this matter was equivalent to shooting themselves in the foot.

At this time, the people at Dunbar’s table were all silent. Of course, there were also some who wanted to ease the awkward atmosphere, but they really did not know what to say.

They were afraid that they would make more mistakes if they said something.

Thus, they just picked up their glass and sipped on the brandy.

Everyone was waiting for the others to speak.

The atmosphere became even more awkward especially when the other tables were chatting happily.

This table was completely silent.

It was really torturous.

Dunbar waited for a while, but when he saw that no one around him said anything, he could only laugh dryly and said, “Nah. Fang Yuan’s future is far brighter than mine. To tell you the truth, my relationship with him is quite good because we’re both writers in the fantasy genre and would usually discuss and exchange ideas with each other. Speaking of which, when the thesis started, the idea for ‘The Coiling Dragon’ was created by us! Although friendship comes first and competition comes second, I’ve put in all my effort in preparing for this Fall Cup. I’m quite satisfied with the work I’ve written, so this time, I’m serious about the competition. No matter how good our relationship is, I won’t just hand it over to Fang Yuan.”

If only Hades or Sakazaka Rion were there, they would definitely scold Dunbar for being shameless.

Back then, when Fang Yuan had not handed over his manuscript, Dunbar was the one who led the class in ridiculing him.

Now that “The Coiling Dragon” became so popular, they suddenly turned out to be good friends and even tried to take credit for the idea of the book!

However, the people present did not care about these things.

“I see. I was wondering how a newcomer could have the demeanor of a master in writing. It turned out that there was an expert behind the scenes giving him pointers!”

“How nice of you!”

“Here’s to winning the Fall Cup!”

“Wow, this is the friendship between geniuses!”

Finally, the people around Dunbar found an opportunity to speak and scrambled to fan his ego.