The First Questline

Su Yan changed back to the Lovely Writing System and searched for some sort of button that would take him back to the window where he could input his text. He really wanted to know if the System would rate this one better.

There was no possibility to exchange his texts, though. Instead, he found himself back at the front page after a moment. The System had automatically redirected him there. But it seemed like that was the right choice anyway. The Lovely Writing System had actually issued a new task already:

[Learn From Mistakes] was the high-sounding title and the description actually instructed him to do what he had already finished: [An author is only as good as his effort in editing. Use the suggestions given by the System to edit your text and receive a judgment of the new version with further hints on how to advance on your path to becoming a successful author!]

Su Yan clicked on the task and once again a window popped up. He pasted the prepared text inside and waited. The same rows of characters appeared but this time the process seemed to take even longer.

Su Yan leaned back and sighed. Well, nobody became a good author overnight. Waiting a few minutes to get the feedback wouldn't hurt him. He spun around on his chair and waited.

The seconds trickled by until finally, after three minutes, the familiar message [Organizing results.] appeared on the screen.

Su Yan sat up straight and waited for the results but surprisingly, the System showed another message:

[Comparing results.]

Su Yan blinked. Well, that probably made sense … Fine, he'll wait for another —

Before Su Yan could finish thinking that waiting another minute or so would be alright, the next messages turned up:

[Evaluating progress.]

[Determining problem areas.]

[Designing further tasks for training.]

[Compiling task list.]

[Issuing task.]

The last string disappeared and the System finally showed him the rating:

[Setting: 4/5

Characters: 1/5

Style: 3/5

Effectiveness of editing: 0/5

Overall rating: 2/5

Evaluation: The host has grasped the basics of writing but still lacks in his ability to apply them in a convincing way. The host is unable to edit his stories in a satisfactory way.

Suggestions for improvement:

1) Describe the thoughts and emotions of the character 'Lei Jiang' in more detail. Pay special attention to his description of Yi Zan and their relationship.

2) Compare the appearance of Ai Hua to her brother Yi Zan. Pay special attention to unique and memorable traits that could be linked to their differing personalities to hint at future conflict.

3) Hint at the problems resulting from Ai Hua and Yi Zan falling in love with the same person.]

"What?!" Su Yan rubbed his eyes, shook his head and took another look. Indeed! There was really written 'falling in love with the same person'.

"Who fell in love with the same person?! Fuck you! Those two will become husband and wife! This is an official pairing in the novel you had me read! They're canon! Do you understand what canon means?!" He really wanted to slap that thing! Unfortunately, slapping the System would require him to slap his baby, too. He couldn't do that.

Su Yan could only glare at the screen. Now, he really couldn't convince himself anymore that this was a normal system.

"First you want me to pair up men, then you want me to change my scene so that the brother of the female lead has a more prominent role and now you want me to hint at future developments because the brother and sister both fall in love with the same man. What do you think you're doing? You're supposed to teach me how to become a successful author, not how to write some gay story!"

The poor Su Yan had still not figured out what kind of Writing System he had gotten himself. Well, that was the problem with not reading the tutorial. Had he not just clicked all those explanations away, then he would have known that Official Shen Lu had granted him a Writing System for bl novels. Now, he had had to figure it out on his own. Though, there wasn't much to misunderstand anymore.

The System didn't care about Su Yan's protest and brought him back to the front page. There was already another task shown there or rather the first task of many, as it seemed.

[Archetypes; Questline: Character basics]

[Every story comprises of a multitude of characters. The more distinct your characters are, the better will your followers' reading experience be. Thus, it is incremental for a successful author to know how to craft interesting and diverse characters. This quest will acquaint you with the basic character types, the so-called archetypes.]

Su Yan who had already moved to close the Lovely Writing System halted mid-motion. He gritted his teeth. Perfect, just perfect! Why was this System's advice so good when its preferences were so shitty?!

Actually, he had heard of those archetypes before, after all, he had been writing for many years. But he had never had to craft a character himself.

That was one of the things that were easier with fanfics: He could just take the characters already existing and didn't have to make up any new ones. But if he really wanted to become an author who wrote his own stories that were entirely based on his own imagination, then he had to learn about these things.

Su Yan sighed. "Very well. You got me. I'll give you a chance because your normal advice is actually good! But don't think I'll trust you! I'll just ignore all the gay stuff. Hmph."

Su Yan actually thought he would be able to. He had no idea that a certain fujoshi who was happily doing a little dance in her office right now had already adjusted the settings of his system. If he just ignored his quests or didn't finish them on time, then he'd get the shock of his life.