David, a 1st-year art student majoring in Manga, was sitting at his study table in his room pondering about his first-ever Manga.
After four weeks of learning, the teacher asked all the students to put what they learned to a test and to start their first official Manga.
Flashback Starts
Mark (Lecturer) - "All right, class, so as you may have heard, in the fifth week, you will all be officially starting your journey into Manga creation."
"I hope everyone has decided on a topic and genre by now."
"Also, remember this is a full-year project, so make sure you have enough space to expand your story."
"Once you have the manuscript ready, you can start submitting it on various websites."
Frank (student) raised his hands and said, "I have a doubt."
Mark - "Go on."
Frank - "So, like, can we choose any website? Even jump?"
Mark - "You can indeed choose any website, but I would recommend not even thinking of Jump, although it might be one of the oldest and most popular manga sites."
"It has a lot of competition, and the readers also have a higher psychological expectation for works."
"Still, if you want to risk it, you can, but if you fail, your grade will be an F. After all, the grades are decided on the popularity of your work, not on the platform conditions your work faced."
Frank - "Then can you suggest what type of publisher we should look for?"
Mark - "My advice would be to choose a platform that is neither too small nor too big."
Frank looked sad and disappointed at Mark's answer.
Mark - "Don't think I am discouraging you, but it's just harder to get popular on a bigger platform."
"This doesn't mean it is impossible I do have had students who managed to break out even on Jump."
"So anything is possible, provided your work is excellent and stands out from the rest."
Frank - "They broke out on jump in their 1st attempt?"
Mark - "Yes, you heard me right, but she was a special case."
Flashback Ends
Recalling what Mr. Mark had said, David couldn't help but rule out all the big publishing sites due to competition.
He was just a newcomer drawing his first ever Manga. There was no way he, a nameless fellow, could even dream of breaking out on a big platform.
As David was lost in his thought about which website to choose. He suddenly heard a small beep and a blue text suddenly floated in front of him.
[Do you want to bind the Legendary Mangaka System]
[Yes/No]
David couldn't help but pinch himself, wondering if he was daydreaming or hallucinating.
David pinched his arm, "Aw, that hurt, meaning I am not dreaming."
David immediately clicked yes on the blue virtual screen in front of him.
[Legendary Mangaka System has been bound]
[Loading introduction video clip.]
David watched the full introduction video and learned that the system only had two functions a status panel with stats and a mission interface.
David - "Open status panel."
[Name: David
Pen Name: Eternal Darkness
Age: 18
Works: None
Mangaka Level: 0 (0/1 work completed)
Attributes -
Drawing: 6
Story Telling: 4
Drawing Speed: 3
Inspiration: 5
Painting: 1]
Seeing his attribute, David felt they were pretty low but then again thought he would improve over time.
[Mission Issued: First-Ever Manga
Main Requirements: Start your first-ever Manga and receive 10,000 collections in the first month.
Chapter Requirements: Depends on the genre
Reward: +2 painting, +1 Drawing, 3 Free Attributes.
Insurance Coverage: 50,000 per month.]
David read the last insurance coverage of 50,000 and was left confused. Upon further clicking on this insurance, it gave a detailed explanation.
[Insurance Coverage: Insurance provided to the host so that the host is not discouraged if his Manga hits the streets and fails to reach mission objectives.]
[Factor Effecting Insurance Coverage: Mangaka level]
David - "I get 50,000 dollars if I fail? Amazing.
"Plus, it even increases with Mangaka level ups meaning all I have to do is finish works to get paid even more."
"At this rate, I will probably make more by the insurance coverage than the actual work."
"This insurance coverage scheme is practically a bug."
"Wait, so does this insurance work even if I fail the mission?."
An additional text suddenly appeared below the Insurance coverage.
[Mission Failure: Postponed the goal to the next month until it is achieved.]
David - "So I get paid as long as I don't hit 10k collections. Although 10k is a lot, it isn't too hard, so I guess I got to strategize."
David thought for a moment and soon came to a conclusion to publish on Jump as there was no way he would even get close to 1k collections, much less 10k.
David then went on Jump's official website and registered a Mangaka account with his pen name.
David - "Now then, what theme should I draw?"
David thought hard for a while but couldn't decide.
David - "You know what? I can't be asked. I will just Google it."
David then Googled a random manga theme generator and loaded a site.
He then entered 1 into the how many columns and clicked generate.
Horror/Thriller popped up on the website.
David - "Hmm, I guess that will do. Now then, let's get started."
David started to write his storyboard and draw the Manga.
Time soon passed, and five days passed. David had finally finished drawing one whole chapter.
He then opened the Shonen Jump website, typed in his work details, and uploaded his first-ever chapter.
He then clicked on the book in his author's profile and loaded up his Manga called "Shadow Realm."