'Violet Blooming Garden' was officially released in 2005. At the time, Japan's light novel industry in this world had entered the middle stage of its development. Despite the relatively narrow market, it unexpectedly nurtured a batch of fairly high-quality light novels.
'Violet Blooming Garden' totaled 290,000 characters and was released in two volumes. As Kirigami Ruri's most representative work, even though it was classified as a light novel, it achieved an astonishing annual sales figure of 2.14 million copies at the time, with each volume averaging more than one million copies sold in a year!
Even now, more than five million copies of 'Violet Blooming Garden' had been printed, with cumulative sales exceeding ten million!
So far, four volumes of 'Fate/Zero' had been released. If Volume Four performed at a normal level, the average annual sales per volume would be only around 600,000 copies, barely half that of 'Violet Blooming Garden'.
The greatest advantage of the 'Fate/Zero' novels was still their length. Each volume contained almost as much text as the entirety of 'Violet Blooming Garden'. If divided by physical book count, the sales of each 'Fate/Zero' volume could comfortably surpass 'Violet Blooming Garden'.
Moreover, although the 'Fate/Zero' light novels were extremely long, their average sales had continued to rise steadily. Every new volume surpassed the previous volume's sales record within a short period.
Volume One of 'Fate/Zero' sold more than 100,000 copies in its first week. Such an exaggerated first-week sales figure in the light novel industry was thanks to the simultaneous broadcast of the 'Fate/Zero' anime and the accumulated popularity of the seven Heroic Spirit spin-off novels.
Because the anime officially began airing around the release of Volume Two, its first-week sales exceeded 150,000 copies!
Volume Three was released together with Kirigami Ruri's novel 'Mystery Gate', and the two light novels achieved an astonishing combined weekly sales figure of more than 300,000 copies.
One had to remember that the light novel market had limits as well. Once sales surpassed a certain threshold, every further step became exponentially more difficult. Yet the 'Fate/Zero' novels seemed to face no such problem at all.
The first-week sales of Volume Three were already comparable to the first-week sales achieved by Volume One of 'Violet Blooming Garden' back in its day.
Now that the Type-Moon World IP had taken shape, more and more people were entering the same setting from different directions, including Kirigami Ruri's novel 'Mystery Gate', the anime 'Fate/Zero', the October anime 'Twilight of the Knight', the three manga series 'Mystery Gate', 'Moon Seed', and 'Vortex Origin', as well as the gradually revealed game project 'Throne of Heroes'.
In other words, as the most orthodox and representative work within the Type-Moon series, the 'Fate/Zero' novels were indirectly benefiting from a considerable popularity boost.
By the time the 'Fate/Zero' anime reached Episode 17, it had arrived at one of the most spectacular sections of the entire series. Many readers of 'Twilight of the Knight' and 'Elegy of the Knight' who had previously hesitated over whether to buy the 'Fate/Zero' novels decided it was necessary after seeing Saber release the True Name of her Noble Phantasm, Excalibur.
The 'Fate/Zero' novels were extremely long, and every exquisite illustration was personally drawn by Kamiyā Yuu. Their retail price had consistently remained the highest among light novels, averaging more than 8,000 yen per volume, with no discounts or similar promotions.
The four main volumes together cost more than 30,000 yen, almost equivalent to the price of an ordinary anime BD set. Anyone who wasn't a loyal reader would find it difficult to bring themselves to purchase the entire collection.
With so many favorable conditions working together, Volume Four of 'Fate/Zero' sold more than 100,000 copies on its first day. Its first-week sales would likely exceed 300,000 without difficulty, meaning it wouldn't take long to completely surpass the first-week sales record once established by 'Violet Blooming Garden'.
...
After the cumulative sales of 'Fate/Zero' this year surpassed 2.14 million copies, Chiyo Bookstore's Light Novel Department specially organized a celebration banquet for Kamiyā Yuu.
Besides editors from the Light Novel Department, quite a few senior executives from Chiyo Bookstore's headquarters personally attended to congratulate him.
Much like the celebration banquets held by Yosuganosora Animation Studio, Kamiyā Yuu merely attended in his capacity as the author and went through the formalities.
After the banquet ended, he went to a roadside bar with Akiyama Gojō, the chief editor who had always been responsible for the 'Fate/Zero' novels.
The bar was relatively quiet, with dim lighting that gave it a distinctive atmosphere.
Kamiyā Yuu didn't particularly like drinking, but that didn't mean he couldn't handle alcohol. With his constitution, drinking a thousand cups without getting drunk wouldn't be especially difficult.
"Give me a whiskey on the rocks, please."
Kamiyā Yuu casually ordered a whiskey on the rocks as though it were an ordinary beverage.
It wasn't because he wanted to show off his alcohol tolerance. He simply knew very few kinds of alcohol, and whiskey frequently appeared in film and television, so he instinctively ordered a glass to see what it tasted like.
After taking a sip, he felt it was basically just a strange drink with a somewhat harsher taste.
The bartender nodded and began preparing his whiskey.
"Including Volume Four's sales over the past few days, total 'Fate/Zero' sales have exceeded 2.15 million copies, breaking the sales record we called the 'Impossible Wall'. Kamiyā, why don't you just switch careers and become a light novelist? Your achievements probably wouldn't be any worse than Kirigami Ruri-sensei's."
The alcohol Akiyama Gojō had drunk at the banquet had already left a faint flush of intoxication on his face. Even after arriving at the bar, he continued pouring drinks into himself as though they cost nothing.
Although his words weren't particularly emotional, there was still a distinctly sour undertone to them.
After months of working together, he and Kamiyā Yuu could be considered half friends, so Kamiyā Yuu didn't bother being reserved and laughed.
"That really doesn't sound like praise."
Akiyama Gojō froze. Realizing from his own tone that he'd misspoken, he burst into laughter as well.
"Pretty much. It's because you always achieve things other people can only dream about as though it were effortless. To tell the truth, I'm extremely jealous right now. Back when I still dreamed of being a light novelist, my goal was to break the sales record Kirigami Ruri-sensei set with 'Violet Blooming Garden', then get an anime adaptation and cause a social phenomenon. In the end, both of those goals are still completely out of reach."
Kamiyā Yuu shook his head. "It isn't easy for me either. It's just that I do most of these things because I'm interested in them, so I don't feel tired or bored."
Easy.
That word had nothing in common with the amount of effort Kamiyā Yuu had invested in achieving what he had today.
Even with the Consciousness Space, the amount of time he had spent studying and the level of effort he had put in were several times that of an ordinary person. Only after several years of accumulation had he reached his current level of ability and achievement.
"Interest, huh? I entered the industry because I was interested in it too. But interest alone isn't enough to keep you going." Akiyama Gojō drank another glass and gave a bitter smile.
Following the topic, Kamiyā Yuu asked, "So that's why you switched careers and became an editor?"
Clack.
Akiyama Gojō set his glass down heavily on the table, nodded, and laughed self-deprecatingly.
"Yeah. At first, I only wanted to accumulate some experience and understand the light novel market. I never expected I'd remain in this profession all the way until now. The more I learned, the less courage I had to actually put pen to paper myself."
"Afraid the novels you write won't be popular?" Kamiyā Yuu asked with deep understanding.
When he had been an unsuccessful web novelist in the past, he had been troubled by the same thing. At the time, his understanding had probably been even more superficial than Akiyama Gojō's.
"More or less. That's one of the biggest reasons." Akiyama Gojō said despondently.
After gulping down a large mouthful of alcohol, he apologized, "Sorry. Originally, I only wanted to come have a drink with you and discuss the future development of 'Fate/Zero'. Somehow this turned into my personal complaining session."
Kamiyā Yuu shook his head. "I don't mind. Besides, I've read the novels you wrote."
"Oh? What did you think?" Akiyama Gojō raised his brows in interest. He didn't even put down the glass in his hand as he waited for Kamiyā Yuu's answer.
Kamiyā Yuu thought for a moment. "Overall, they're pretty good. The stories are exciting and interesting. But..."
Akiyama Gojō sighed. "It feels strange hearing someone critique my work face-to-face. Don't worry about offending me. Go on. I want to hear your answer."
"Taking your 'The Pilot's Smile' as an example, I think the biggest problem is that the scattered plot obscures the appeal of the setting. There's no clear central focus to the novel, so it's easy for readers to become bored. It's obvious your works deliberately avoid pandering to readers' tastes, but because you resist pandering so strongly, quite a few parts of the novel become overly stiff and awkward. For example, that section where the protagonist Guy is with the enemy air squadron."
Kamiyā Yuu's critique sent Akiyama Gojō into deep thought.
Only after a long while did he shake his head with a bitter smile. "That's similar to my own evaluation of it. But hearing it from you makes it much more convincing."
Kamiyā Yuu pondered before asking, "Since you said all that just now, does that mean you still want to personally return to the industry?"
Akiyama Gojō stopped drinking and looked seriously at Kamiyā Yuu.
"Yes. It was actually your novel that reignited that thought. Before reading 'Fate/Zero', I thought novels like this either wouldn't exist or wouldn't be accepted by the market. The facts proved me wrong.
"The plot of your novel is extremely interesting. It doesn't have the usual commercial elements found in light novels, yet it can still achieve what it has today through an exciting story and distinctive characters. So I realized my novels weren't unpopular because they lacked the light novel elements readers liked. They were unpopular because what I wrote simply wasn't interesting enough."
"Then keep going."
Akiyama Gojō smiled helplessly. "I'm still hesitating. The situation isn't as simple as you make it sound."
Kamiyā Yuu folded his arms and thought for a moment before smiling.
"Then stop hesitating and keep writing. Whenever you decide to start again, contact me. I might not be able to help with much, but I'm fairly confident in my illustration skills."
"Kamiyā, you're willing to draw illustrations for me?"
Akiyama Gojō's eyes widened. He nearly lost control of himself and lunged over to demand whether Kamiyā Yuu was serious, instantly throwing his usual composed demeanor somewhere beyond the clouds.
As an experienced editor, he knew perfectly well how important an outstanding illustrator was to a light novel.
The uniqueness of Kamiyā Yuu's illustrations had always given him an extremely special position within the illustration industry. Countless people wanted to commission him, and there was no shortage of offers at astronomical prices.
He had rejected every single one because he was too busy with work.
If Kamiyā Yuu were willing to draw illustrations for his novel, then every reason Akiyama Gojō had for hesitating would be crushed beneath that enormous weight.
Kamiyā Yuu chuckled and waved a hand. "The price won't be cheap, though."
After finally calming himself, Akiyama Gojō stood, took a deep breath, and bowed to Kamiyā Yuu.
"I understand. If you're willing to help me, Kamiyā, then I have no reason to keep hesitating."
"No need to be so formal. Then, here's to your future works."
Drawing illustrations didn't require much effort from Kamiyā Yuu.
Compared with that, he was more interested in seeing excellent works appear.
...
When Kamiyā Yuu returned to the apartment, he saw that Kamiyā Sora was already asleep in the bedroom.
He took his laptop into the living room and logged into his BIUBIUBIU account, preparing to upload the fan art he had created that afternoon using Consciousness Drawing.
The 'Fate/Zero' novels and anime were developing steadily, and another of Kamiyā Yuu's hobbies was finally beginning to show results.
Consciousness Drawing practice.
Nearly three weeks had passed since he began practicing this ability.
Every day, he spent one hour practicing it, and once a week he uploaded an illustration created through Consciousness Drawing to his BIUBIUBIU account to record his progress.
As his proficiency improved, his Consciousness Drawing abilities advanced at astonishing speed. By the third week, uploading one illustration per week had changed into uploading one every day.
By now, he had become a very well-known illustrator in BIUBIUBIU's Original Art section.
Most users uploaded works to that section simply out of personal interest, and there were essentially no professional artists there.
Naturally, the appearance of a highly skilled illustrator stood out dramatically, especially because of the legendary progression of Kamiyā Yuu's account, Blank.
The first work he uploaded had been on the level of a child's scribbles.
Aside from mocking comments left by a few users, it received essentially no other feedback.
The second work he uploaded had already reached the level of a high school student specializing in art. The character's lines were clear, and viewers could easily recognize who he had drawn.
The third upload had been posted a week earlier. That third piece incorporated shading and lighting techniques, giving it distinctive characteristics. At that level, he could already be described as a "minor expert" within amateur circles.
The next day, the fourth upload truly caused a sensation in the Original Art section.
Although the character still wasn't colored, the lighting effects and personal style were displayed to their fullest. The work had directly crossed beyond the amateur level, and even among professional Chinese illustrators, it would have been difficult to find many who could compare.
The fifth upload was a fan illustration of Akemi Homura from 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'.
It pushed the use of lighting and shadow effects to the extreme, depicting the witch-transformed Akemi Homura standing alone in a devastated, ruined world, gazing toward the distant remains of a city with loneliness and sorrow.
The background, character details, and atmosphere of the fan art were all executed at an exceptionally high level.
Forget China's still-immature illustrator community—even in Japan, it would have been difficult to find another Akemi Homura fan illustration of comparable quality.
After three of his artworks were pushed into the Original Art section's trending discussion area, the popularity of the Blank account rose almost vertically.
The number of users following Blank reached 110,000!
Kamiyā Yuu then successively uploaded another four pieces, some fan art and some Japanese-style illustrations.
Each one surpassed the previous work in quality, and he also began adding color.
To prevent people from recognizing his identity through his art, Kamiyā Yuu deliberately altered his drawing style slightly.
Those next four illustrations directly elevated him to godlike status within BIUBIUBIU's Original Art section.
One advantage of Consciousness Drawing was that its precision and depth simply couldn't be matched by hand-drawn work.
If Kamiyā Yuu truly became familiar with and completely mastered Consciousness Drawing, the works he created through it would undoubtedly be more refined and superior than anything he could produce by hand.
Even progress at such a microscopic level could create a qualitative leap in his artistic ability.
As a result, the final illustration he had uploaded by now was already approaching the level of his hand-drawn work.
In China's still-immature illustrator community, artwork of such quality was practically rarer than a giant panda.