Chapter 23: Bloodline Aftermath and the Genius Manga Boy
Recently, the plot of Bloodline has caused a heated discussion in the manga industry.
For no other reason than everyone felt that Naoto-kun, as a mangaka, was simply too free-spirited.
If one only looked at the first two chapters of Bloodline, they would only think that this manga was a very classic, light novel-esque story of a chuunibyou male protagonist helping the female protagonist find her father, and then together defeating the villain.
But the excellent part of Bloodline was that this manga was not written according to normal tropes at all.
Just when everyone thought that the male protagonist Yaren would become a magician at some point and help the female protagonist Liloe—the male protagonist died.
Yes, he died. After having all his blood absorbed by the female protagonist Liloe, he died, and this scene was witnessed by the male protagonist's good friend, Sage. What to do now? Liloe was immediately labeled as a villain.
And then, the male protagonist inexplicably turned into a vampire, and the only vampire in the past few hundred years.
Good heavens, Sage joined the Papacy, and the male protagonist became a vampire.
It immediately turned into a story of 'loving each other and killing each other'.
But up until now, all the plot was still considered normal.
But later on—
The male protagonist's sister, his only relative, was also very cute and charming, and had an extraordinary 'CP' vibe with the second male lead. But not long after, she was killed by the second male lead.
When this scene appeared, let alone the readers, even the big names in the industry were confused.
You just killed a popular female character like that? Are you crazy?
However, this move also successfully resonated with readers—the tragic scene of the protagonist's sister's death made many people shed tears.
But after this, Bloodline immediately arranged a power-up for the protagonist group—the highly popular human wizard, Destruction Ron.
He instantly annihilated the elite nun squad of the Papacy at the start, and was even somewhat evil. Furthermore, upon learning that the protagonist Yaren wanted to learn magic, he actually demanded human modification as a condition.
This kind of morally ambiguous character also received extremely high praise from readers.
And as the protagonist group and Destruction Ron engaged in a battle of wits, the mysteries of this world's magic and Destruction Ron's identity gradually unfolded.
As a fellow disciple of Liloe's father, his identity remained a mystery. It was highly possible that he wasn't human at all.
It's just that Ai Ou didn't reveal this point back then. To know Ron's true identity, who knows how long it would take.
And what interested everyone the most was that the magic in this world had so many restrictions.
Language, materials, none could be omitted. Each magic could only be used once a day, and after use, the caster would forget that magic.
Even the number of spells that could be recorded in a day was limited.
However, despite so many restrictions, its power was extremely strong. Every spell was comparable to a forbidden spell, making readers exclaim with satisfaction.
Because of this, Bloodline's popularity has always been number one in JUMP. In the manga industry, Naoto-kun can truly be considered a top mangaka.
For this reason, the JUMP editorial department was urgently producing the collected volumes of Bloodline. Every editor was very much looking forward to seeing how far this high school mangaka could go.
On this day, Naoto-kun was having dinner at Kuriko's house. Kuriko's mother enthusiastically served a table full of delicious dishes to entertain Naoto-kun, which made Naoto-kun feel quite embarrassed.
Just as Naoto-kun was about to enjoy Kuriko's mother's cooking, Mr. Kuniharu suddenly spoke.
"Oh, by the way, Naoto-kun, come to the editorial department with me tomorrow. The Chief Editor seems to have something to discuss with you."
"Go to the editorial department? Why?"
Hearing Mr. Kuniharu's words, Naoto-kun was very confused.
After all, generally, manga authors don't go to the editorial department unless there's something major. Otherwise, the editor in charge handles the author's affairs.
"Could it be about the collected volumes?"
Naoto-kun could only think of this as the reason for the Chief Editor calling him; there didn't seem to be anything else that would alarm the Chief Editor, right?
"Hmm, I think the Chief Editor probably has more than just that matter."
"Eh?"
"Because I heard that Teacher Ashirogi Muto and others were also called. I think it should be about that person."
"That person?"
Seeing Mr. Kuniharu being so mysterious, Naoto-kun couldn't help but become curious.
"Ah, Naoto-kun, you don't know yet, do you? It's this."
"This?"
Taking the newspaper Mr. Kuniharu handed over, Naoto-kun was stunned when he saw the news on it.
"The youngest Tezuka Award winner in history, Niizuma Eiji? The birth of a genius mangaka, can he defeat ONE-sensei and Ashirogi Muto to become the new Manga King? What is this?"
Naoto-kun, who saw this news, was full of questions. Why was he suddenly being cared about when he hadn't done anything?
"Niizuma Eiji, this year's Tezuka Award winner. A very talented mangaka. The Chief Editor wants to invite this person to serialize manga in JUMP. He probably called you all because of this matter."
"The Tezuka Award, he's a very impressive guy."
Upon hearing this, Naoto-kun couldn't help but become curious. He wondered where he had heard of Niizuma Eiji before; he couldn't quite remember.
But if the other party could win the Tezuka Award, he must be a very impressive person.
Speaking of the Tezuka Award, its status in the manga industry is similar to that of the Youth Award for traditional paintings mentioned earlier, and in terms of fame, it even surpasses it.
This award, organized by Shueisha to commemorate the God of Manga, Osamu Tezuka, has been established since 1971 and is held twice a year. Those who win this award are all industry elites.
Naoto-kun had also thought about participating in the Tezuka Award before, but when he submitted his work, there was still a long time until the awards ceremony. After his serialization began, Naoto-kun no longer had time to think about this matter.
So he didn't pay attention.
He didn't expect such an impressive guy this time. If this guy came to JUMP, it would be interesting.
"By the way, this is his drawing. Although some parts still seem very unpolished, like you, he has already formed his own system in terms of drawing skills, and his unrestrained plot is also a bonus point."
Naoto-kun took the drawing from Mr. Kuniharu's hand and glanced at it.
Indeed, just as Kuriko's father said, the artwork already had its own style, and the plot was also very exciting, especially considering the artist was only 15 years old.
"Interesting. Then let me meet this rising star of the manga world."
At this moment, Naoto put down the artwork in his hand, and a burning fighting spirit ignited in his eyes.