Aiden looked at the email in front of him. It was an email from a company called Wiscer Publishing. He didn't know much about it but a simple online search revealed that it was a publishing company specialising in original light novels and eastern fantasy books.
They apparently wanted to publish <Archer's Ascension>.
It was a proposal that humbled Aiden and became another proof that his novel was good but he had no intention of publishing this novel. In the first place, there was no need to put it behind a paywall.
He was writing it for fun and not like it was a manuscript like <Behind the scenes>.
He was posting the chapters as soon as he finished writing them and the novel was getting more and more readers per day. So that was enough for Aiden who had no financial problems to look for more money.
Moreover, he knew that signing a publishing contract meant that the novel was going to be taken down from Wuxia Updates website. People who could read it for free won't be able to do so then.
It was also not a one book novel like his debut work. And he had seen first hand how stressful it could be when you are on a deadline.
Aiden didn't want to get a contract like that and due to that, he simply rejected the offer after thinking for a bit.
He didn't want his 'fun' to become 'work'.
Surprisingly, an hour after he sent an email rejecting it, a call came from Wiscer Publishing.
"Hello, I'm calling from Wiscer Publishing. I sent you an email about offering your novel <Archer's Ascension> a contract but you rejected it. Is that correct?"
A female voice came from the other side.
"Yes, I did." Aiden said simply.
"Can I ask why?"
The female voice asked with a hint of confusion in her voice.
"I'm not writing this novel to earn money or get fame. It's just a fun, passion project and I don't think it requires a contract."
"Our publishing firm can help your novel reach a lot more readers. You can check our record and we have helped all our authors."
The female voice said in an attempt to persuade Aiden. But he shook his head, aware of the easily discernible tactics.
"It's fine. I have no desire to sign up with any publishing company. Thank you for your time but I'm just doing it for fun. Anyway, if a novel is good, it's going to find it's audience sooner or later."
The female assistant didn't know how to process this information. There was a quote that said that the best thing you can do for an author is to give him money.
So, all authors would take any money coming their way. But it was the first time she had known such a good and professional author who was writing for fun.
It was strange but she told everything to her boss, the senior editor who just told her to give Aiden a better offer.
An offer he can't refuse.
But no matter what offer they gave him, he refused all of them and after a while, he even stopped replying to the calls and emails.
***
Like Aiden said, if a novel is good enough, it will find an audience and that's what happened with <Archer's Ascension>. And at a rapid pace to booth.
Each day, more and more people started reading it and those people recommended it to other readers.
One thing about web novel readers was that they always needed something to read. A lot of them would go from one novel to another. They were extremely quick readers.
So the news about a promising new novel quickly spreaded. Any type of skepticism ended because of the release schedule that was more than most of the novels on the website.
Aiden got a lot more comments daily. From ten to twenty to almost seventy comments a day.
[Gay guys take one for the team: This is an extremely good novel. I can't stop reading it daily. Author, keep it coming.]
[Lolimon: I gave up on the dao of cultivation two years ago thanks to getting the ability to predict the next plot point but this novel opened my eyes and taught me that I still have a lot to learn.]
[Firing a missile accidentally: Okay, it started off pretty average but the novel just keeps getting better. Just in the latest chapter, the main character actually lost his arm in trying to defend his village from demonic cultivators. He didn't regrow the limb or anything but the author used it in a way to do character development. This is true writing.]
[Web novel donkey: The donkey approves of this masterpiece. It's a must read for any cultivation fan.]
In a month, it had gotten so many fateful and core readers with a lot of casual and upcoming readers that the novel appeared in the 'Top ten trending novels' list.
This was the hardest list on the website and only the best novels appeared on it.
When Aiden got to know of this achievement, he obviously cheered as he felt a surge of happiness.
But he forgot that such an achievement also meant that there was going to be a lot of attention on him now.
***
<Archer's Ascension> has reached top 6 in the list of top trending ongoing novels. This was big news not only for Aiden but also for all the other authors.
Authors on the website would usually monitor other novels to see who was going to pose them as a threat.
Although the website was free and offered no monetary support to authors, it still allowed them to post links of donation websites and personal websites, making it important for the authors to keep being at the top to maintain the donations and fame.
That's why, when Aiden's novel started posing as a threat, the authors started wondering who this new author was.
In that group chat, they discussed.
[Black Dragon Breath: So, who's willing to bet that 'The Dreamer' is just one of our secondary accounts. One of the top authors is probably using it if we go by the quality of the novel.]
[I Eat Straight Guys: That's a dumb reasoning. There's no reason for a top author to start a new account and we are not the only ones who are good authors in this world. It's a rookie. A monster rookie.]
[Tired Coffee Drinker: Can we really call this guy a rookie when he's already better than a few of us. Like this, he's heading straight for 'Soulless' crown. It would be fun if he managed to do that, I must say.]
'Soulless' was the top author for two years on Wuxia Updates. He was called a genius who used the website as a way to gain readers and divert them to buy his published novels.
This plan of his was extremely successful, making him a best selling author.
Because of his skill and experience, hardly anyone could think of taking his crown. Even the second placed author has given up on it.
Now, this new rookie has come. So, the authors wondered whether the rookie would post him as a threat.
[Dragon Eternal Sunshine: If that rookie managed to do that, I will leave my account. It's almost impossible to beat 'Soulless'.]
The third ranked author, 'Dragon Eternal Sunshine' said, a tad bit arrogantly but to him, it was justified. In his mind, it was impossible to beat 'Soulless'.
As to confirm his words, the top ranked author himself sent a message.
[Soulless: I don't know who that author is but he's free to try. Sadly, I feel like he would have to be content with his current position.]
***
As Aiden was writing his web novel, time was slowly moving. Two months had passed since the shooting of [The Black Saint] had ended.
In these two months, Zavier had been working day and night to make a perfect version of the movie. A version that he could call his best work.
A version that's the best path to Kai's insanity.
In the end, he had finally managed to make such a version and Granite films had even given him full control on the final editing. It was odd to give a director this much freedom until the director is too big but the CEO of Granite films trusted Zavier.
After the post production was over, he decided to hold a small screening for the entire staff of Granite films and the crew who had worked on the movie.
Aiden also attended the movie and a few friends of Zavier also attended it. Those were also filmmakers and quite successful ones at that.
Only one thing was in everyone's mind.
How was the movie going to be? Had Zavier managed to make a competent story about a psychopath.
Only the crew and the cast were confident. After all, they have seen the crazy eyes of Aiden throughout the shooting. Even if the script was bad, the acting was enough.
