A Single Person's Infinite Wonderful Life

However, Livy's work is different. It is photographic in its detail. If someone else had painted it, the whole picture might have been quite messy. This is because Livy painted everything that could be seen in great detail, extending it to a very far distance before blurring it to a certain extent.

It is precisely because of this rich detail that the entire painting gives a very realistic feeling, and is full of the feel of a fantasy blockbuster. She can even see the details of the eyes beneath the soldiers' helmets, and the faces of the soldiers who have lifted their visors are all meticulously depicted, showing a wide variety of expressions: fanaticism, determination, indifference, ferocity, piety, compassion, mockery…

These various emotional expressions make the viewer feel as if they are facing this massive army head-on; the overwhelming sense of oppression makes it difficult to breathe.

How domineering this is!

How arrogant!

However, what Eriri Sawamura wouldn't know is that in the soldiers' subtle expressions, Li Wei referenced Alexander the Great's Noble Phantasm, "King's Army," from the Type-Moon series "Fate/Zero."

Because the army under the protagonist of the novel has a very wide range of members, including people from all walks of life: highway robbers, impoverished nobles who have lost power in political struggles, mercenaries who are greedy for money, dissident priests who are persecuted by religion, slaves and commoners who are oppressed by nobles and cannot survive, as well as many soldiers and spellcasters who join the protagonist's army for various purposes.

Because of the chaotic composition of the group, Li Wei deliberately drew this slightly messy scene to give the reader a hint that the male protagonist uses his extraordinary charm and ruling skills to win over all kinds of people to his side.

The Shinazugawa Bunko has already altered this promotional poster, leaving only the book title and a single tagline.

"God! Kneel before me!"

These ridiculously cheesy words, paired with this magnificent painting, give one goosebumps.

Now, this promotional poster has been put up at the entrance of all Shinazugawa Bunko physical bookstores, and it has played a huge role in the explosive popularity of the new work.

Chapter 48. Everyday Versailles

Li Wei said, "Snap out of it! Is it really necessary for a painting to make you like this?"

For Li Wei now, as long as he gets serious, he can achieve this level of quality in every painting; it's just a matter of how much time it takes.

"Li Weijun, you...you are amazing!" Eriri Sawamura felt speechless. They were about the same age, but Li Wei's skill level was already that of a master in the art world, while she was still stuck in the mud, not knowing where her future lay. Indeed, people cannot be compared.

"If you're willing to put your heart into it, you can paint to this level too. This painting is just a mindless pile of details; it's only good for fooling laymen. Eriri, what are you so surprised about?" Li Wei said in a completely indifferent tone.

Eriri didn't know what to say. The handsome young man in front of her was simply the epitome of Versailles.

However, she had to admit that Li Wei's painting skills were already better than those of the lecturers at Tokyo University of the Arts. Although she had not officially entered Tokyo University of the Arts, the university was not a place for her to be wary of. After all, she not only had extraordinary talent, but was also the daughter of a diplomat and the eldest daughter of the Spencer family. Her multiple identities allowed her to get along well in most places.

It was precisely because of this that she frequently interacted with the leading figures at Tokyo University of the Arts, and naturally knew what the top level of the painting world was like. Calling Li Wei a master might be a bit of an exaggeration, but calling him a top figure in the painting world would be something no one would dare to disagree with.

Eriri Sawamura knew that Li Wei, like her, had been admitted to Tokyo University of the Arts early. She had initially been somewhat skeptical of Li Wei's painting skills, but this painting completely won her over. In her opinion, Li Wei's painting skills were truly amazing.

This ability to tell a story through visuals, and to gather a wealth of content into a single painting that allows viewers to explore in detail without becoming tedious, is something she can't achieve now, and she has to admit that.

Li Wei turned off the screen and said, "In the past period, my skills have made new breakthroughs, and my overall level has improved a notch compared to before. My previous paintings were much worse than this one."

Li Wei was telling the truth. Before, he hadn't received the golden touch. Although his paintings were still top-notch in the industry, he was still some distance from being a true master. But now, he is a master.

Li Wei opened the minimized black box and continued typing on the keyboard, writing the second volume of "His Majesty the Demon King". This feeling of only needing to be a typist was wonderful. There was no need to think at all. He only needed to type according to the content of the Chinese manuscript in his mind. The speed was astonishing.

Sitting opposite Li Wei, Kasumigaoka Utaha heard the rhythmic clatter of keys and leaned over, saying, "Li Wei, are you sure you're not just randomly typing? I didn't hear any breaks in the keystrokes. Don't you ever hesitate when you're typing?"

Li Wei gently tapped Kasumigaoka Utaha's forehead with his finger, pressing her back down. Looking at Kasumigaoka Utaha's "you're rebelling" expression, Li Wei said, "I've already thought of the content in my mind. Right now, I'm just transferring the content from my memory to the outside world, which is why it's so smooth."

Now it was Kasumigaoka Utaha's turn to be shocked. As someone who writes light novels, she knew how difficult this was. She herself wrote as she went along, only having a rough outline in her mind. She would think carefully about how to expand on it as she wrote. How could anyone be like Li Wei, who could organize all the content in his mind from the very beginning? This was already a superhuman level of thinking ability.

Li Wei's expression, as if they were making a fuss over nothing, almost made Kasumigaoka Utaha and Sawamura Eriri burst into tears. For the first time, the two girls reached a consensus: Li Wei in his Versailles state was rather irritating.

Li Wei stopped typing, put his hands behind his head, leaned back in his chair, and slumped against the chair.

"Why did it suddenly stop?" Kasumigaoka Utaha asked curiously.

"The thought that my new book is already being promoted and will be available for sale in a few days makes me feel a little uneasy," Li Wei said.

"Every new author goes through this feeling. When the first volume of 'Love Metronome' was released, I was much more nervous than you. However, compared to other books released at the same time, I didn't get much promotion because there was another book in that issue called 'The Hero Was Killed by a Trap I, a Villager, Died, So I Have No Choice But to Succeed as the Hero and Face the Demon King.' That title is really long. That book took up a lot of promotional resources from Shinazugawa Bunko, but it didn't do very well after it was released. On the contrary, my work, which didn't get much promotion, became quite popular."

Li Wei inwardly wanted to complain: are all light novel titles this long these days? It seems like anything can be categorized as a light novel just by adding quotation marks. But the title was quite interesting, and he was definitely interested in reading it.

Li Wei asked, "So how are the sales of this work? It has taken up a lot of promotional resources, so it should have achieved a pretty good result."

Kasumigaoka Utaha sighed and said, "However, this book was canceled. The author originally planned to write ten volumes, but it was canceled at the fifth volume. The average sales per volume were 73,000 copies, which was a complete waste of such good promotional resources."

Li Wei asked with some surprise, "How is the quality of that book? It sold an average of 73,000 copies per volume, after all."

Kasumigaoka Utaha shook her head and said, "The first volume was alright, but the quality dropped significantly starting from the second volume. Moreover, that author didn't like to listen to the editor's suggestions and did things his own way. The work was canceled in the fifth volume because the author broke his contract and switched companies. Then, the paperback company canceled his work in accordance with the agreement."

Li Wei was somewhat surprised. Sure enough, there were all sorts of oddballs in this industry. His grades were plummeting, and he wouldn't listen to his editor's advice. He was quite the character.

Kasumigaoka Utaha said, "Anyway, I don't recommend that Li Weijun read that book. Not only is it a waste of money, but you'll also have to wash your eyes afterwards. That author is an unbearably self-centered person, and his works are the same. He just lets himself go as he writes."

Hearing Kasumigaoka Utaha's words, Li Wei became even more curious.

Chapter 49. Rising Popularity

The game development department's activity lasted only an hour before everyone left. Aki Tomoya still couldn't produce a decent project plan, and even if Li Wei and the others were ready to produce the game, without a purpose or direction, they could only wait no matter how well they prepared.

Li Wei didn't linger on the road and went straight back to his rented apartment. There was no internet at the school, so the only way to access the internet was through his mobile phone, which was not as convenient as a computer.

After returning to the apartment, Li Wei turned on the central air conditioning, went into the study, put down the computer, and then turned it on.

He planned to take advantage of the early hour to work out a couple of illustrations. After all, the layout work at the document library wouldn't take more than a few days, and getting the illustrations out as soon as possible would allow the document library to complete the printing and binding process faster.

After all, enjoying the top-notch promotional resources provided by the library, Li Wei was quite willing to cooperate with the library's promotional work. He would naturally not be perfunctory about something that was beneficial to him.

Li Wei opened Photoshop, connected his drawing tablet, thought for a moment, then opened his browser and clicked to enter the largest light novel forum in Japan.

Clicking through, Li Wei discovered that his new work was generating a lot of buzz, with more than 30 of the top 50 posts on the homepage related to it.

Li Wei clicked on the most popular post to see what the Japanese readers thought about his new book.

…………

Nara Neko-sama: Shinazugawa is doing this big publicity stunt again. Hasn't he learned his lesson from the last "Villagers"? I hope it's not another piece of trash where you buy illustrations and get toilet paper for free.

I, Dio, will never admit defeat: Let's wait and see. However, according to information from Shinazugawa Bunko, the illustrator of "The Demon King" is the author himself.

Nara Neko-sama: What? The illustrator is the author himself? That's really amazing! Putting aside the content of the novel, that promotional poster alone is worth a thousand yen.

My big one: Old Cat, you're so ignorant! You should go check out the official website of Shinazugawa Bunko. The author of "The Demon King" is incredibly talented. He's an art genius who was admitted to Tokyo University of the Arts ahead of schedule, and his literary achievements are also quite high. How can trash like "The Villagers" compare to "The Demon King"?

Nara Neko-sama: Why are you all praising "The Demon King"?

My opinion is that this is no exaggeration; Shinazugawa Bunko has really struck gold this time. While "Great Demon God" is just a newcomer, he's undoubtedly the strongest newcomer of the year. The first volume of *Demon King* includes at least eight high-quality color illustrations, along with a high-resolution poster of the promotional artwork. Rumor has it that a dedicated art book will follow. The world of *Demon King* is incredibly vast; Shinazugawa Bunko has even declared that *Demon King* will be the Eastern version of *The Lord of the Rings*.

Nara Neko-sama: I'm going to check out their official website right now. If it's true, then I'm going to buy three sets of Daimajin's honest works!

Li Wei smiled as he watched the forum users boasting. There were many more like this "self-motivated" users on the forum. This was the largest light novel exchange forum in all of Japan, with about 400,000 people online at the moment. During the peak period after 8 pm, the number of people online at the same time could reach more than 700,000.

This forum also serves as a promotional platform for various online literature libraries. Every time a library releases a highly recommended work, they create buzz on this forum. However, artificial hype alone cannot achieve the current level of popularity, so the popularity of "The Demon King" is even higher than Li Wei had anticipated.

It's estimated that initially, it was an employee of Shinazugawa Bunko posing as an ordinary user, but as the traffic was successfully driven, more and more ordinary users went to Shinazugawa Bunko's official homepage, saw the promoted "The Demon King," and were attracted by the information revealed about this new book so far. Then, its popularity snowballed.

This kind of promotional strategy is used in various industries. Although it's a bit old-fashioned, it's always been effective. However, this method also has its problems. The quality must keep up. If the quality is poor, the more hype you get now, the harder you'll fall later.

After the uproar surrounding "The Villagers," Shinazugawa Bunko's reputation has been slightly tarnished. "The Villagers" was a classic example of false advertising; the author not only had subpar work quality but also breached their contract and switched publishers, which is the most egregious aspect.

That author, now jokingly referred to as a "great writer" by the industry and readers, is still writing light novels. However, due to the quality of his works, he is not doing well at the light novel publishing company after switching jobs. He cannot get enough promotional resources, and coupled with the poor quality of his works, he has now become a third-rate light novel writer. It is estimated that it will not be long before he completely disappears from the public eye.

Li Wei had a strong sense of déjà vu with the author of "The Villagers," who seemed like a "great writer" in the real world. Perhaps it was because both were jokingly referred to as "great writers" by readers, which made Li Wei unconsciously compare the two. However, he discovered that the similarity between the two great writers reached 60% to 70%, making them practically parallels from another world.

Just as Li Wei thought, in the beginning, it was indeed the secret promoters of Shinazugawa Bunko who were pushing things along behind the scenes, drawing the attention of forum users to "The Demon King".

However, the subsequent surge in popularity was entirely due to Li Wei's promotional artwork. In particular, much of the content contained in the artwork has already been deciphered, leading netizens to believe that Li Wei is definitely a light novel author who is very good at storytelling. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to include so much content in his artwork for viewers to decipher.

In a very short time, "The Demon King" had already spread beyond this forum and generated considerable discussion across the entire Japanese internet, something neither Li Wei nor Shinazugawa Bunko had anticipated.

Chapter 50. Win-Win Promotional Techniques

Rising popularity is a good thing, but Li Wei did not become complacent because of it. Although the discussion about his work has increased, the popularity has not yet been converted into sales. It's all just hype. Only when this popularity is converted into sales can Li Wei sit down and count his money.

After closing the browser, Li Wei opened NetEase Cloud Music, put on his headphones, and began to diligently draw his illustrations.

When typing, the built-in typing sound effects in the dark room are much more enjoyable than music, but when drawing illustrations, you can get bored after a while without some background music.

Li Wei's NetEase Cloud Music account contains downloaded music. Since he is now a programmer, he can bypass the backend control of NetEase Cloud Music. Even in another world, without connecting to the official database of NetEase Cloud Music, he can freely play the downloaded music without being restricted by the background program.

Li Wei's illustrations, according to conventional classifications, are closer to concept art and are quite different from typical light novel illustrations.

Typical light novel illustrations focus on character portrayal, using a cute art style to depict women, attracting readers' attention and allowing them to better fill in the blanks in their minds.

The illustrations drawn by Li Wei are also intended to help readers better fill in the blanks in their minds. However, they are not meant to help readers better imagine the female characters in the book, but rather to help readers better imagine that fantastic and magnificent world.

Besides, the protagonist of the first volume has not yet become a true ruler. He has only gathered a bunch of ragtag troops. To put it nicely, they are a rebel army; to put it bluntly, they are a group of bandits and thugs banding together. Apart from a female bandit leader, there are no decent female characters in the first volume. Even if Li Wei wanted to draw one, he couldn't find a suitable character.

Therefore, the illustrations in the first volume are mostly in a new fantasy style that interweaves characters and scenery. The colors are relatively bright, and the character designs and costumes are relatively gorgeous. If you have read Wolp's "Ghost Blade", you will be able to understand that style more easily.

With a mental sketch in hand, and as his proficiency increased, Li Wei's drawing speed also increased. He originally planned to complete two illustrations in 80 minutes, but he didn't expect to finish them in just one hour. With so much time left before the game time he had agreed upon with Kasumigaoka Utaha, Li Wei simply continued drawing and produced another illustration.

Li Wei opened Machida Sonoko's account on the messaging app and sent her the three completed illustrations in a package. There was also a TXT document explaining where the three illustrations were located in the first volume, reducing the workload for the paperback staff.

(Thank you for your hard work, Great Demon God Teacher.)

(You're the one who really worked hard, Sister Yuanzi, and all the staff who worked overtime—I have to say thank you to them all.)

With the official release date not far off, having to prepare in such a short time is a challenge for the employees of Shinazugawa Bunko.

Knowing this, Li Wei directly expressed his gratitude.

(This is part of the job as a paperback staff member, and everyone gets a bonus for this round of overtime, so everyone is very motivated. Have you seen your new work, Daimajin-sensei? It's generating a lot of discussion online.)

(This is all thanks to the excellent promotional work done by the document library.)

(Thank you for your praise, teacher. Actually, I was the one behind this publicity campaign. However, I only got started. The current level of discussion is all thanks to your talent, teacher.)

(By the way, I wanted to ask, after I finish all the illustrations, is it possible to draw some related artwork and post it online to further increase popularity? Would doing so affect the paperback's promotional plans?)

(If you'd like to do this, the paperback publisher supports it. The reason many light novels don't use this promotional method is due to cost. You see, not every light novel author has your level of drawing skills to create illustrations for their own works. Having illustrators create promotional artwork is manageable for a small number of works, but for a large number, it becomes a significant expense, especially for works with uncertain sales. In such cases, the author has to pay for it themselves, and weighing the pros and cons, few authors are willing to do it.)

(I understand. Ultimately, it's a matter of funding. But since I can draw myself, that's not an issue for me. I'll make sure this book sells even better.)