Chapter 6: The Path of Plagiarism Yes! (Edited)

Yes!

Clark intended to become a plagiarist and directly targeted "Battle Through the Heavens," a work that was once wildly popular online and hailed as a textbook of fantasy novels.

As a textbook of fantasy novels, "Battle Through the Heavens" possesses many of the advantages of online literature, with its most prominent features being its strong conflict and rapid pace. If you read the first ten thousand words, congratulations, you are already hooked, and you won't be able to put this book down.

Clark planned to start his career as a plagiarist from scratch, using this book to break into the scene, which was the best option he could think of.

In the following period, Clark spent almost all his time on two activities: exercising and writing.

With the help of BGM, Clark managed to reduce his weight from 120 kg to 95 kg in just half a month, losing a total of 25 kg, which means he lost nearly one kg per day! His appearance also changed from that of an obese individual to that of a slightly overweight one.

After another half month, Clark continued to lose weight at the same speed, successfully reducing his weight to 70 kg. After a shower and a look in the mirror, his muscles were well-defined, and there was almost no visible fat. Even his face, which had appeared particularly bloated due to obesity, had now returned to a normal appearance.

You might not believe it, but after successfully losing weight, his looks could even surpass those of Captain America by a few notches.

Looking at his now "mediocre" handsome face and thinking back to his previous fat and large-eared appearance, it's true what they say: obesity ruins everything!

In addition to the effects on his appearance, his physical fitness also improved significantly, even more so than his weight loss.

Now, whether it was strength, speed, endurance, reaction, or explosive power, he had improved more than twice over from before. He was now among the physically stronger portion of the average population.

By the time school started again, he was sure to surprise everyone!

On the other hand, Clark's progress in writing was not very fast, averaging only about 20,000 words a day.

This speed would be considered phenomenal if it were his own work, but for a plagiarist, it was somewhat unsatisfactory.

However, this was unavoidable, as the social and cultural backgrounds were different. Even if copying, one could not simply replicate everything exactly.

For example, the prominent "harem" style, which is unproblematic in China with its history of polygamy and emperors who had thousands of concubines, does not exist in the Western worldview.

To put it bluntly, in the West, you can have lovers, mistresses, and irresponsible one-night stands, but polygamy is absolutely not allowed!

This is just one of many aspects where adjustments are needed due to severe discrepancies with Western values, significantly affecting his writing speed.

Seeing that he had accumulated a decent amount of manuscripts, Clark felt it was time to publish them and earn a wave of impression points.

Publishing online was not an option due to the lack of suitable channels, so he had to go the traditional publishing route.

Thinking this, Clark immediately picked up his phone and called: "Hello, is this Uncle Marcus?"

Marcus Williams was not some basketball player who moved to an ancient Eastern country but the current police chief of the Manhattan district, a middle-aged African American man who bore a slight resemblance to Michael Jordan.

In earlier years, Marcus was one of Clark's parents' close friends. After the accident, he even became Clark's guardian for a year, until Clark turned sixteen and inherited his parents' estate, ending the guardianship. And it had only been just over two months since their guardianship relationship ended.

Overall, Marcus was one of the elders Clark felt close to. When in need of social connections, Clark thought of him first.

"Clark?" Marcus's steady voice came from the other side: "What brings you to call me today?"

"I was just thinking about you."

Marcus huffed: "Get to the point, don't bother with the fluff." Well, after enduring the treatment from Clark and his father, Marcus's manner of speaking had taken on a somewhat Chinese character.

Clark chuckled: "You got me, I do have a small favor to ask. It's too much to explain over the phone, I'll come to you."

Marcus was surprised: "How do you know where I am?"

"By listening, of course." Clark laughed: "With the background music by your side, apart from the Martha Fitness Club, where else in New York could it be?"

The Martha Fitness Club played the song "Calories," which had an amplifying effect.

This was one of Clark's experiments with the god-level BGM system; attaching its music to a specific player would amplify its effects, affecting everyone within range, though the amplification couldn't exceed half of the effect on him due to the diffusion.

Clark didn't go overboard; he set the workout effect amplification at 5% without any downsides.

This way, the Martha Fitness Club's appeal was enhanced without being too conspicuous.

Because the amplification was moderate, people could feel a distinct improvement after a workout, leading to word-of-mouth promotion. The club's popularity soared, and Clark earned a significant amount of impression points, reaching a new high of 3546 points, with a large portion attributed to this bold move.

...

Upon seeing Clark again, Marcus was so surprised he could hardly believe his eyes: "Clark?"

Clark nodded with a smile.

"Oh, my God!" Marcus made an exaggerated expression: "I didn't believe it when they told me you had lost weight, but you've actually done it to this extent. You know, before you spoke, I was wondering who this handsome young man was!"

Clark smiled politely: "Uncle Marcus, I came to you actually for two favors." He took out a printed document and handed it over: "I wrote a novel during the summer break. This is the first thirty thousand words. You have a wide network, could you introduce me to a publishing house?"

"You wrote a novel yourself!"

Marcus wiped his sweat with a towel from the treadmill and took the manuscript, glancing at it briefly before saying: "I rarely read books, so I can't judge the quality of your work. But you're in luck, I have a friend from a publishing house here, I'll ask him to take a look. Hey, Cook, come over and check this out!"

As Marcus called out, Clark looked towards two white men on the other side, one exercising his arms and the other chatting and laughing.

One was a calm-looking middle-aged man in his forties, and the other was a fierce-looking teenager, resembling an angry gorilla, completely ruining the athletic boy's vibe.

Wait, does that description sound familiar?

Yes!

The teenager was none other than the "gorilla" Joseph Cook, who Clark had previously knocked out at school. When Marcus called the middle-aged man Cook, could it mean these two were...

Just as Clark had a bad feeling, the gorilla set his sights on him.

The next moment...

"Clark Lee! What the hell are you doing here?"

It seems the ones who know you best are always your enemies.

"Damn!" The gorilla spoke again: "I was too complacent last time. I demand a rematch, and the loser apologizes!"

Seeing Clark's attitude towards the gorilla and the intimacy with the man Marcus called Cook, Clark knew he had to find another way to publish his novel.

Why be polite then? Fight back!

With that thought, Clark didn't hesitate to respond: "I refuse."

"Why?"

Clark rightfully said: "If I lose, I have to apologize to you, but if I win, there's no benefit for me. Why would I do such a stupid thing?"

Receiving +3 impression points from Joseph Cook!

The gorilla angrily said: "If I lose, I'll apologize to you again!"

Clark decisively refused again: "Apologies are like a woman's first night, only valuable the first time. After that, they depreciate tenfold. Such a bet is still a loss for me."

"So, give up on that idea."

Receiving +6 impression points from Joseph Cook!

The middle-aged man seemed uninterested in the children's quarrel, taking the manuscript from Marcus and asking casually: "What's this?"

Seeing Clark and the gorilla at odds, Marcus felt overwhelmed, having little hope for the publishing favor.

But since he was asked, he had to introduce Clark and then mentioned: "Clark recently wrote a novel. This is the opening chapter. He wanted me to help contact a publishing house."

"Alright, I'll take it back and check the quality of the manuscript, I'll let you know tomorrow."

Although the man's words were polite, Marcus could tell the chances of success were slim. He apologetically asked Clark: "You said you had two favors to ask, what's the other?"

Clark said: "I want to learn some fighting skills. Do you have any recommendations, Uncle Marcus?"

Marcus looked troubled: "My combat skills were honed in the police department, which you definitely can't access. So... I'm sorry."

"I'm going home with Joseph to check out this manuscript, so I won't disturb you further, goodbye." After politely saying goodbye to Marcus, the middle-aged man left the fitness club with the gorilla.

Just after stepping outside, the gorilla couldn't help but protest to the middle-aged man: "Dad, you were too polite to that kid today. If it were me, I'd have thrown these pieces of paper in his face."

The middle-aged man patted his shoulder: "If I did that, it wouldn't just show a lack of manners, it could even cost me my friendship with Marcus. If we're going to throw the manuscript in his face, let's wait until we've read it. Then, if it's worthless, we can get back at him without giving him a chance to argue, and Marcus can't say much."

The gorilla's eyes lit up, giving his father a thumbs up: "Dad, you're the smart one, why didn't I think of that?"