Chapter 490 - 311: Please, Just One More -

Chapter 490: Chapter 311: Please, Just One More Chapter

"It’s the pinned ad."

"Wow, have you no shame? You just started writing this novel, and you’re already giving yourself an ad spot."

"This is called putting the right book in the right place."

Furin ignored Zog’s self-promotion and opened the book titled *Harry Potter and the Magic Stone*.

A nighttime street, a little bit of Magic that absorbs all the light, a person whose name can’t be mentioned... ’Uh, he sounds like a powerful villain at first glance.’ It wasn’t uncommon for people to avoid speaking the name of a truly formidable enemy.

For instance, people in the past had rarely dared to call Zog by his name...

Furin’s interest was slightly piqued, and she shifted into a more comfortable position.

Unlike Zog’s other novels, this book didn’t immediately jump into a life-or-death plot. Instead, it had a gentle, storytelling feel to it, much like a fairy tale one might hear as a child.

Furin slowly scrolled through the pages.

A professor who turned into a Cat. ’Ha, I also know a Mage who likes to turn into an animal. It’s not just Druids who can take on animal forms.’

In a way, Furin maintaining her Human form was quite similar to this Professor McGonagall.

The protagonist was a baby whose parents died at the hands of the mysterious man, yet he miraculously survived.

’Destined rivals.’

Furin could smell the scent of crisis hidden beneath the everyday story.

Poor little Harry was sent to live with his aunt’s family, forced to stay in a storage room under the stairs and treated like a servant.

This kind of opening—being fostered as a child and living an unfortunate life—had indeed influenced countless novels on Earth. It had so many imitators that it eventually became a cliché, to the point where readers would get annoyed just seeing it.

But a trope becomes a trope for a reason: it’s incredibly effective when it first appears.

And for Furin, who had never seen such a plot before, her maternal instincts were now overflowing.

"Do those family members die later?"

Zog was baffled. "Do we have to be so violent? They’re just not nice to little Harry. Does that warrant a death sentence?"

"Huh? Don’t tell me you’re going to write them as good people later on!"

Furin said viciously.

It was as if she would take coercive measures if Zog really dared to write it that way.

Zog’s heart skipped a beat. ’Crap. A web novelist getting confronted by a reader in real life.’

"No, they’ll be punished."

"That’s more like it."

Satisfied, Furin nestled back into the sofa and continued reading her novel.

’Instinctively making the glass vanish... a decent talent for a Caster, but he’ll need a teacher.’

’And he can talk to snakes. Interesting.’

’Talking to animals?’

’No, if he can only talk to one type of animal, it might be the result of someone’s meddling, like a curse or something.’

Furin found the novel more and more interesting.

She laughed out loud when she read about the letters from Hogwarts arriving for Harry in all sorts of ways. No matter what his aunt’s family did to stop them, it was useless. They were eventually forced to flee to a remote island, holing up in a dilapidated shack that smelled of seaweed.

But there was no hiding from Magic.

A creaking sound came from outside the wooden hut, and then the entire structure began to tremble. Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. ’Is someone knocking?’

’Who could it be?’

Furin, full of anticipation, turned to the next page.

To be continued.

"?"

Furin felt the agony of being cut off mid-stream, like when you’re halfway through using the bathroom.

She was dying to know who had arrived.

"What’s next? Why is there nothing else!"

"I’m writing what’s next."

"Why did you have to end the Chapter right here? Wouldn’t it have been better to reveal who it was?"

"You just don’t get it. This is called a cliffhanger."

Zog said smugly.

’The cliffhanger is a time-honored tradition in the literary world.’

Whether it was the storytellers of old, the tales of Minstrels, novels, or even modern film and television, they all cut off at a critical, exciting moment.

Sometimes it was to give them a reason to ask for money after the performance; other times it was simply a hook to get people to come back the next day.

It made the audience suffer, but they enjoyed it.

And sometimes, it was pure suffering.

"Just tell me who it was! Was it someone delivering the letter? Who was it? Let me just take a peek, just one peek at the next Chapter."

Furin grabbed Zog and shook him back and forth.

"No way. The Chapter isn’t finished yet. I have to treat all my readers equally. No one sees it until it’s done."

"Let me see! I’ll call it helping you proofread!"

"You know that I, a Dragon, have always hated being reviewed."

"Let me see! Or else I’ll... I’ll..."

Furin raised a fist, feigning a threat.

"You’ll what?" Zog was unmoved.

"I’ll!" Furin’s face reddened. "I’ll beg you! Please let me read one more Chapter. Just one more Chapter, and I’ll do anything..."

Zog never imagined he would one day live the life of a Dragon whose worth was measured by his books.

His status at home had skyrocketed these past few days. As long as he could sit down at that damned computer and write properly, Furin would agree to do anything he asked.

Furin even said she would recommend this book to all the students at school, saying it was perfect for their leisure reading.

Its popularity on the web novel forums was also growing daily, with more and more replies discussing the plot.

As expected, lewds were just a temporary fix. Only the big head could control the little head. After getting their fill of the direct stuff, people wanted some proper plot.

Readers were especially interested in the world of Harry Potter—a world controlled by non-magical people, where Magic had to remain hidden.

In a sense, for the readers here, it could probably be considered a type of science fiction.

There were discussions about the plausibility of such a world, and discussions about the ultimate limits of technology.

A significant portion were also studying how Mages could regain their dominant position in the world of Harry Potter.

Voldemort would call them experts.

As Hogwarts officially appeared in the story and the threat of Voldemort’s return gradually unfolded, the novel climbed to the top of the forum’s trending list. It gained tens of thousands of readers online, breaking the forum’s all-time record.

Many readers also donated to encourage faster updates, but the platform took a cut of the donations.

This gave Zog the strange feeling that he was exploiting himself...

—————————

「Twin Tower City, Riverfront District.」

A group of kids from well-off families were playing a tense and exciting game of Yu-Gi-Oh! while discussing the hottest novel of the moment.

"I summon Black Mage in attack mode."

Dean slapped a card encased in a clear sleeve onto the table.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Level Two market was already well-developed. To protect the integrity of their cards, most players chose to add a layer of protection to their beloved cards.

A handsome Illusion of a Black Mage appeared above the card.

This was a new generation of cards. Without using a Dueling Disc, placing the card on a special playmat could also activate the Illusion.

"Who do you think let the troll into the dungeon?"

Dean was talking about the latest Chapter of Harry Potter, where a troll broke into the school during the holiday feast, and Harry and Ron bravely rescued Hermione.

The next Chapter wouldn’t be out until tomorrow, but readers all deduced that for a troll to sneak into a school guarded by so many outstanding Mages, there definitely had to be an inside man.

"I think it was definitely the Black Mage."

"The Black Mage?"

"You know, that one, the teacher for the... what was it... the Dark Arts class. It was definitely him."

"No way. He was the first one to find it, and he came to warn everyone."

"That’s what makes it suspicious, being the first to find it." Dean felt his reasoning was very sound.

"Hahaha..." His friends burst out laughing at Dean’s speculation.

"Hahaha, the author made it so obvious! It’s definitely that gloomy, terrifying Magic Potion teacher, the one named Snape. It has to be him!"

"Yeah, exactly!"

"The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, hahaha! Did you just skim through it or something?"

The mockery from his friends made Dean’s face turn bright red.

"I’m not playing with you guys anymore!"

But the other kids kept at it. "If it wasn’t Snape, I’ll give you my most prized True Red-Eyed Black Dragon."

"I don’t need it!"

Dean angrily packed up his cards.

"I’m going home! Master Soron is coming to my house for a gathering today. He’s going to write me a letter of recommendation for school, and then I’ll be a real Mage! You guys can only get your kicks from reading novels!"

Dean threw out that last line and ran home in a huff.