Change

We got to work.

With the unlocking of the complete system, we now had a new and stronger goal to pursue. The first step was to prove Great Wolf wrong and write good enough for the platform, or any platform.

[You don't write bad, you just lack experience. You also have to keep in mind that the Great Wolf is someone who has multiple successful books.]

"That is true. That person is very experienced compared to me at this current stage."

[That alone isn't it, though. There is another factor in play here which makes Great Wolf's quality incomparably better than yours.]

"Other than his skills?" I asked. It was clear that there was an enormous divide in our skills. One that couldn't be bridged right away.

So, if we wanted any immediate growth, we had to turn to things that could bring immediate growth. The factors outside of skills.

[Check it. All of the Great Wolf's books are in an exclusive contract with Bite Novel]

I opened their profile and scrolled through the chapters. It was way down below the chapter list, but after a certain chapter number, all of them had a small lock icon next to them.

To read, one would have to pay.

I immediately moved my attention to the FAQ section for authors on the platform. After a bit, I could find the Author Exclusive Partner Program and its requirements.

It was open to be applied for by any author so far, there were no real requirements as long as the story was good, but the platform also wished to see your social media presence and other such marketable things.

If all went well, not only would the author receive a share of the money, but they would also be assigning a personal editor to the story.

"Editor…"

[Correct. This is a simple trick that most amateurs in the industry don't follow. Editing. You can simply edit your chapters to a great amount of improvement, host. All the while continuing your next chapters.]

If my quality was bad, all I had to do was simply fix it.

And if all things went well.

Then I could make money too. I could apply for the program.

"The goal is an exclusive contract, huh?" I muttered.

[No…] the system, my ever-humbling partner was very quick with its retort. [That is when you finally start making money. That is the starting line.]

***

A routine had to be picked up if one wanted to change.

Or, at least, that was what the system thought. It told me about a famous author who mentioned how one doesn't really climb up to the level of their goals but only falls to the level of their habits.

If one wanted to change, it had to start from the smallest denominator of one's day. The habits you followed daily.

We did not do anything stark. For one, we made a goal to edit at least one chapter and write at least one chapter for Reversal.

When I went back to chapter one with a pen in hand, I was pretty disgusted. Just how bad was I when I was just starting?

As far as writing went, I found myself getting a bit slower than usual. The more I got used to editing the bad stuff out, the more I found myself being careful with my words. If this was good or not, I didn't know, but I continued writing as much as I could.

Unlike before, though, I couldn't stick to just writing and editing all day long.

As the system put it.

[Only when you move everything can you go forward, if you move just one aspect then you simply stretch until you break.]

Its words were confusing at times and profound at times.

But thanks to the system's rigid, strict thoughts on these matters, I had to do a lot more than just write like before.

"E-eleven…"

[Come on! One more partner! Do it, bro!]

"T-t-twelve…"

[Yes! Do it for the JoJo bod! You can do it, just one more!]

"Fuck… thir-teen…"

My core lost strength and I fell on my back. Heavy breaths left me along with sweat dripping down my forehead. All of it was tiring as hell.

I heaved large sighs as I tried to get myself back in balance.

Crunches. Push-ups. Squats. Lunges. With each passing day, we had changed that one push-up into a complete workout regime. Adding one exercise more at a time.

At this stage, the system said I was so weak that resting would just make me lazy. I would have to divide what muscles I targeted eventually.

Well, this wasn't a large part of my day, it was barely twenty minutes at best.

The largest part was what came next.

"One hour of reading, every single day."

I picked up my laptop and opened the EPUB I had downloaded.

While I should have been reading webnovels, the system had a different idea.

[Philosophy. Is it still bad to read?]

"Not really, it was boring at first, but now it's fun. I still don't understand. Shouldn't I be reading webnovels if I want to write those?"

[Perspective is largely important for an author. No, for a human being. You will read 100 times more effectively after understanding philosophy.]

"Fine, fine. Who is it today?"

[Camus.]

And so my days continued.

In my free time, I would help out at the shop. The university student from next door would frequently pop in these days. It seemed her dates weren't working out.

"You've started looking people in the eye, Edward. Did something happen?" She asked me this, her smile curved as usual.

"I've always looked people in the eye?"

"No, you only saw their eyes. You never looked at them before. Anyway, give me my note."

It seemed there were some changes, some visible changes.

But these were not my measures of change. Something completely different was changing.

{Followers: 155}

It was the constantly moving number of followers. Editing made my book grow by leaps and bounds. I followed the Great Wolf's advice strongly and saw some results.

It was nothing compared to tens of thousands, but it sure was something. Something I was proud of.

As another month flew by at this pace, the day before High School finally began came over.

Instead of starting school, though, I was more tense about something else.

"Is this email good? Should I send it?"

[Who knows? We'll see what happens. It's your book that counts, after all.]

On the screen was a small email and attached to it was a document. The subject line read…

{Application for Author Exclusive Partner Program}

I had decided to ask for a contract on Reversal.