Chapter 224: Tankobon Released for Sale

Chapter 224: The Standalone Volume Hits the Shelves

Wu Tong had already spent two consecutive days at the Forbidden City. The ancient painting restoration project was progressing rapidly; she was merely a bystander, yet even just observing was an education, and picking up a few scraps of knowledge made the trip feel complete.

To her surprise, on the third day, the master overseeing the restoration assigned her a significant task. This left her both thrilled and deeply encouraged; having her professional skills recognized by an industry titan—and not just with empty words—was the greatest joy she could imagine.

Oh, wait—there was one thing better: sharing this joy with someone else, like Meng Fan.

"With looks like yours, you could afford to be willful, but you have talent too; you really can do whatever you want!"

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Nonsense, if that isn't a compliment, then nothing is."

"What have you been up to these past two days? Oh, and how is the voice acting going?"

Wu Tong and Meng Fan often went for morning jogs. Whether warming up, stretching, or running, they would chat quite a bit. Both were the type to open their hearts, sometimes with Meng Fan doing all the talking, other times listening to Wu Tong. They knew a great deal about each other's pasts.

For instance, Meng Fan knew that restoring artifacts at the Forbidden City was a dream of Wu Tong's.

For instance, Wu Tong knew that beyond manga, Meng Fan dreamed of being a voice actor.

Meng Fan had mentioned his voice acting submissions to her before, and later, after a diamond ring incident led to him meeting a voice director, he had spoken of it again, which prompted Wu Tong's question.

"It's going alright. I dubbed an animated film that should be airing soon, though it's for preschoolers, and a few game characters. Overall, the experience is excellent. The thing about dreams is, the scariest part is realizing them and finding out they're just... mediocre."

"You sound like you're asking for a beating."

"Then come and hit me!"

"…I'm done talking to you. I have homework to do tonight."

"How much longer will your project take?"

"About another week. The part I'm handling will take three more days, then I'll head back to campus."

Wu Tong's trip was originally scheduled for three or four days, but because of the major task assigned to her, it would be delayed by three or four more.

In the blink of an eye, it was November 22nd. Meng Fan didn't go to the Chocolate Factory today; every role he could possibly voice there had been exhausted. He had already voiced 47 characters successfully judged by the system, accumulating over 1,300 minutes—nearly 22 hours—in the recording booth.

The roles he had to beg Director Charlie for now were thankless tasks, and his progress in unlocking new characters had slowed significantly.

Director Charlie seemed to notice Meng Fan's desire to try more diverse roles, so he promised to look for some game characters specifically for him, telling him to rest for two days and that he would call when work arrived.

...

"Where are you?"

"On the road, almost there."

After finishing his half-marathon, showering, and eating breakfast, Meng Fan was drawing when he received a call from Qin Jiao. Checking the time, he rushed out; he had completely forgotten their appointment while lost in his work.

"Which road are you on? The Road to Heaven?"

When Meng Fan arrived at the studio, Qin Jiao rolled her eyes at him before tossing two books his way. "Campus Love Guide—ugh, what a terrible name. The layout and cover for the second volume are done. I didn't ask for your opinion; I sent them straight to the publisher. Also, the reprint of the first volume is the same as before, just with the cover redesigned to match the second."

"Thank you for your hard work."

Meng Fan took the two standalone volumes, flipping through them while offering apologetic thanks. Halfway through, he asked, "You said the second volume was handed over to the publisher for distribution and sales, but what about the reprinted first volume?"

Qin Jiao replied, "Same thing, a distributor has taken it on. They should be stocked in a day or two. Physical stores will be a bit later, but they'll be online soon. The first volume had a print run of 5,000, same as the first printing of the second volume. The publisher and distributor both said that, barring any surprises, reaching a total of 20,000 sales after the third volume is released shouldn't be a problem."

Meng Fan nodded. He wasn't surprised by the estimate; in fact, he thought the publisher and distributor were being quite optimistic. After all, he wasn't a famous manga artist, and *Campus Love Guide* was a niche title. Selling 20,000 copies across three volumes was quite an achievement.

It couldn't compare to *Spirits Beneath the Earth*, of course. With "Uncle Kun" having so many devoted fans, a first printing of 50,000 was no pressure at all.

Coincidentally, the first volume of the manga adaptation of *Spirits Beneath the Earth* was released today. The publisher and distributor Uncle Kun had chosen were powerful; physical stores in first and second-tier cities were stocked, and it was available simultaneously on the three major e-commerce sites and several bookstore websites.

Online, it went live at nine this morning, and physical stores generally opened at the same time.

What were the sales?

There was certainly no data for physical stores yet, but the figures for the major websites were checkable.

Of course, Meng Fan didn't need to check. A glance at the data in his mind under [Professional Manga Artist] told him everything.

The sales experience for this achievement task was currently 12,300. That meant in just over an hour since nine o'clock, *Spirits Beneath the Earth* had already surpassed 10,000 copies sold.

Previously, Meng Fan had printed and given away the first volume of *Campus Love Guide* himself, yielding zero experience, so this 12,300 figure was the most accurate count.

"Sales have broken ten thousand!"

Uncle Kun called Meng Fan, rambling on about how supportive his fans were and how quickly they had crossed the ten-thousand mark.

Well, thanks to the task experience mechanism, Meng Fan knew the sales figures faster than anyone else in the world—even the distributors couldn't compare to him, let alone Uncle Kun.

"Today, just today, sales will definitely break thirty thousand. I told you, a first printing of fifty thousand was conservative! Hey, why aren't you excited at all?"

"Oh? I'm excited, I just don't show it."

"…One more thing, the second volume has already started printing, with a smaller first run of 30,000. The publisher asked me when to release it; do you have any suggestions?"

"Me? I naturally hope it comes out as soon as possible." That was truly Meng Fan's thought; 100,000 sales didn't seem difficult now, but the challenge was collecting ten standalone volumes. Of course, knowing this involved business interests, he added, "That's just my thought. You and the publisher should decide the specifics."

Whether to release two or three volumes at once or space them out to maximize sales was something Meng Fan really didn't know, nor was it his place to decide.

What he could decide was *Campus Love Guide*. He had promised Qin Jiao that, besides looking at these two volumes, he would hand over the third and final volume of *Campus Love Guide* for her to submit for review, so it could join the ranks of published works as soon as possible.