At this pace—half an hour per page—if Lin Yu put in just a bit more effort, drawing two chapters a day wouldn't be a problem at all.
And if he relaxed the quality standards just a little, even more wouldn't be out of the question.
In terms of speed, Lin Yu was already inching closer to the legendary Osamu Tezuka from his past life—the so-called "God of Manga."
Tezuka could draw up to fifty pages in a day if he worked twenty hours straight. If Lin Yu did the same, he could probably pump out forty pages.
If other manga artists knew about this, they'd probably be green with envy, banging their heads against walls.
Because this... this wasn't human. It was like something even a robot couldn't compete with.
With the most pressing matter off his chest, Lin Yu finally felt at ease.
No more deadline anxiety meant his free time was expanding. He could now rest, relax, or even explore other hobbies—without constantly stressing over panels and page counts.
No more burning the midnight oil, frantically tracing panels like before, all because his drawing skills weren't up to par.
No more erratic sleeping patterns. That nightmare of a schedule? Gone.
The relief washed over him like a wave. The taste of hard-won success was indeed sweet.
And with his mind finally at ease, other thoughts naturally began to surface.
It's true what they say—when your belly's full, your thoughts get naughty. Lin Yu wasn't exactly spiraling into depravity, but his attention did wander to something he'd been quietly looking forward to.
His eyes landed on the system panel, where the prestige points continued to tick up ever so slowly.
With a smile tugging at his lips, he tapped open the system store.
The Lottery...
The thrilling possibility of pulling a game-changing power from a single spin—it was hard not to be excited.
Especially when you had some spare prestige points to burn.
After blowing a fortune on upgrading his drawing skill, Lin Yu had around 20,000 prestige points left. And the number just looked wrong. Unbalanced. Mocking him.
It felt like something—some force—was nudging him to spend it.
The system shop interface was basic.
Two options appeared before him:
Draw Manga or Draw Items.
Lin Yu wasn't interested in drawing manga at the moment. With Inuyasha being a decently long series, releasing a chapter a week could easily keep him busy for months. Even if he increased the update rate, he had nothing to worry about on that front.
Instead, he clicked into the Item Draw tab. This one offered a chance to pull various items or abilities from the manga he had already created.
From a value standpoint, the more manga one had, the better the odds of getting something worthwhile.
But Lin Yu wasn't concerned about that right now. He just wanted to see what kind of cool stuff might come out.
On the interface, three options popped up:
10,000 prestige points for one draw
100,000 prestige points for one draw
1,000,000 prestige points for one draw
The latter two were clearly out of reach for now—he'd just emptied his bank upgrading his art skill.
Without overthinking it, Lin Yu chose the 10,000-point draw.
A flicker of excitement ran through him. Let's see what I get!
Ding! Congratulations, Host has drawn: Black Witch Tsubaki's Bustier.
The familiar system chime echoed in his mind. On the table in front of him, a silky white bustier materialized out of thin air.
Lin Yu's mouth twitched.
This… was not what he had imagined.
He'd just spent 10,000 prestige points—an amount that could've upgraded his skill again!—and all he got was... a bustier?
He picked it up. It was warm to the touch, with a faint fragrance lingering on the fabric. Honestly, it felt like someone had just taken it off.
If Lin Yu were some kind of pervy weirdo, maybe he'd be thrilled.
But he wasn't. Not even a little.
With a sigh, he casually tossed the bustier aside and looked back at the system panel. No hesitation this time—he hit the draw button again.
Same option: 10,000 points, one spin.
Ding! Congratulations, Host has drawn: Kikyo's Shrine Maiden Outfit.
Before his eyes, a neatly folded shrine maiden costume appeared on the table.
A white top. Red hakama. Quietly sitting there.
Lin Yu stared at it in silence.
So that's what this was, huh? A scam. This so-called "10,000-point draw" was nothing but a flashy money sink.
First a bustier. Now a shrine maiden outfit?
What's next—high heels and a wig? Was the system trying to get him to cosplay?
Talk about expectations crushed. Hopes shattered.
If it had at least been a magic shrine maiden outfit, he might've been able to swallow the loss. But this thing was just a regular costume. You could buy a dozen off any cosplay site in his past life.
Looking at the two "prizes," Lin Yu's dream of pulling some superpower went up in smoke.
Snap. Joy? Gone.
Still, he didn't throw them away. Instead, he placed the bustier and shrine maiden outfit together on a side shelf.
Let them serve as a daily reminder: gambling is a losing game.
Ten bets, nine scams. Winning is not playing.
Damn swindler of a system.
The next morning.
As usual, Lin Yu went out jogging with Nanako.
They say it takes 28 days to build a habit, and by now, Lin Yu no longer resisted these morning runs.
After all, jogging alongside a vibrant, cheerful girl like Nanako made it all a lot more bearable.
"Morning, Lin-kun!"
Nanako jogged up to him, her face glowing with that ever-present smile.
Though they never officially set a time, their meetups were perfectly in sync.
"Huh? Did something happen?" she tilted her head, peeking at him curiously. "You look... kinda bummed today?"
They'd spent enough time together that Nanako had gotten a pretty good read on him.
Despite his aloof first impression, Lin Yu was actually quite serious and gentle. Even when dealing with rude customers at their part-time jobs, he rarely got upset.
Very sashīa—as she would say.
But seeing him this moody? That was a first.
Lin Yu rubbed his nose and shook his head mid-jog. "Nah. I just got scammed by a shady vendor last night."
He couldn't forget the two useless items he'd won in that disappointing draw.