The new stat counters, in addition to the Words and Chapters counters, now dominated the top right corner of my vision. It was everything I could do to resist looking at them every two seconds. But every three seconds? No, I couldn’t resist that.
I tried to focus on my writing — I needed to get a whole chapter written today, if I was going to post anything — but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the stat counters. They were massively impacting my productivity, but I didn’t see anything I could do to get rid of them. They were just… there. And I didn’t know if I was going to have them there forever.
Followers: 1
Rating (Overall): —
I’d received that one follower before I’d unlocked the counters — I’d seen it on the page, so this counter wasn’t even really that helpful; I had access to that information already, even if it was in a very slightly less convenient location, i.e. not inside my eyeballs. Since posting chapter two, I’d achieved [BLEEP]-all growth, something that these stat counters made me only all too aware of.
They were haunting me, if anything. Taunting me. The stick rather than the carrot, in this case — though I supposed I would be feeling encouraged if I’d managed to get more than one single reader.
But that’s what this next chapter was about — producing more, getting my story in front of more eyeballs, and gaining more followers. And that’s why I needed to write it as quickly as I could.
Yet… I was paralysed by the counter, or close enough to it.
Words: 3,606
I checked that word counter again, just in case it had magically gone up in the moments I had spent staring blankly at the screen, the fear of the blank page in real danger of overwhelming me once more.
OK, I told myself, you can do this. Just write some words. Any words. Just write them.
And so I did. I wrote ‘The’, and then got stuck once more.
Words: 3,607
I stood up from my desk, pacing around the tiny room. Maybe I just needed a break. Maybe I just needed to get away from that horrible glowing screen and its even more horrible blank page.
I got a coffee, noting that it was tasting better these days, and I stared out the window as I drank it. The tower blocks surrounded me as far as the eyes could see, some of them so tall as to pierce the clouds. Other than the extreme height of the buildings, this city was not so different from my own world — the likes of Hong Kong or New York were comparable.
I wondered how many people out there were in a similar situation to me. Not that they’d be LitRPG Authors, of course — not many of them, at least — but surely many other reborn souls were struggling with a class that was unfamiliar to them. Maybe they had stat counters out there, all things relating to their own classes. Burgers Flipped, perhaps, or Lives Saved, or Companies Consulted With.
As I stared, a great calm suddenly washed over me. Something about rooting myself in this world, coming to understand my place in in somewhat, it gave me a new perspective. And with it, the ideas returned to me.
Fingertips blitzed over the keyboard as thoughts became words and words became letters on screen. Words came out at a pace of lightning, my brain working faster than my fingertips could operate — so I switched the Speedy Fingers title back in for Fully Specialised. This only boosted me further, and not even an hour later, I had done it.
Words: 4,500
Chapters: 3
I wasted not a moment, pasting the chapter text into the submission form on Splendid Street. And then I… hesitated, my cursor hovering over the Submit button, my fingers hovering over the mouse.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
I’d made this mistake already; putting the first two chapters up as soon as I’d written them. What if this Writer’s Block came over me again tomorrow? What if I didn’t pull myself out of it? Wouldn’t it be better to have something in reserve?
Achievement unlocked!
Achievement: Backlog Milestone #1 [1]
+100 Class XP
And there it was — confirmation that this was the right decision. Maybe the reward XP hadn’t been enough to level me up again, but it was an indication that I was moving in the right direction. I moved the cursor over slightly, and instead hit the Schedule button.
It felt good to be this business-smart. It was just like old times, really: I swing, and I hit. Every damn time.
The words kept coming and they didn’t stop coming, my chapters covering stat progression, worldbuilding and meme-like pop culture references. There would be time for character development later — perhaps in three or four books’ time — for now, I needed to stick with the formula.
Achievement unlocked!
Achievement: Word Milestone #3 [5,000]
+100 Class XP
Class leveled up!
You are now Class: Level 13 LitRPG Author
I pushed the notifications away, and kept going, every ounce of my concentration fixed on making the number of words go up. Chapter after chapter I completed — well, three of them, really — each of them perfectly 1,500 words in length, each of them perfectly crafted with no regard for story craft.
Achievement unlocked!
Achievement: Word Milestone #4 [10,000]
+200 Class XP
Class leveled up!
You are now Class: Level 14 LitRPG Author
Still no rewards, but it didn’t matter; seeing that number go into five digits was its own reward. I was getting a familiar itch behind my ear, as though something was slowly burrowing itself into my brain. From previous experience, I already knew exactly what this was, and a slight adjustment released the backed-up notifications.
+100 Writing XP
+100 Writing XP
+100 Writing XP
You now have sufficient experience to level up three writing skills! Please select from the options below:
- Writing Quality
- Writing Speed
I didn’t have three writing skills, so I assumed this meant I could level up the same one multiple times. I considered, this time around, levelling up the Writing Quality skill — at some point, surely, I’d need to think about the quality of my output, not just the quantity. This time, though, I stuck with the familiar strategy.
Writing Speed increased to level 6!
+300 Class XP
Class leveled up!
You are now Class: Level 15 LitRPG Author
At level 15, you unlock:
(1) Free level up (No class XP rewarded)
Class leveled up!
You are now Class: Level 16 LitRPG Author
I figured I might as well commit to this strategy some more, and put the free level up into Writing Speed.
Writing Speed increased to level 7!
Testing my fingers against the keyboard and my mind’s ability to produce the right words, I could feel the difference. Was it a small increase to speed each time? Yes. But I felt as though I was highly attuned to it; I could certainly tell that I’d grown faster each time. I supposed that if I continued on leveling up Writing Speed at this rate, then I’d soon grow to superhuman speeds — long before reaching level twenty billion.
At this moment, I noticed something; the stat counters in the corner of my vision that I’d been trying so hard not to obsess over had changed.
Followers: 3
Rating (Overall): 5
Growth of two hundred percent! Huge growth. Significant. All I could hope was that this rate continued. Even though I knew, in reality, that two hundred percent growth in this case was just… two more people, it filled me with that same warm feeling that seemed to spill forth from the chest: pride.
If I wasn’t mistaken, this pride at now having three people reading my story made me write even quicker; as though it was some unquantifiable bonus that even the great System couldn’t put a value to. Pride was something that transcended physical ability or mental prowess — it was something, it seemed, that the System did not comprehend. It pleased me somehow to know that the System wasn’t all-powerful; it left something to the imagination. I wasn’t quite sure how I’d feel about everything having a stat attached to it.
With my number of Followers beginning to increase, the paranoia that I didn’t know what I was doing started to decrease. There was a name for that feeling I’d had — imposter syndrome, I think? — but it wasn’t something I’d ever experienced before; I’d always operated with the absolute certainty that I was great, knew what I was doing, and was the best man for the job. Some would say that growing up within my demographic was to blame for this self-assurance, but I also knew it was just me being excellent.
With one eye on the Follower count, I put fingertips to keyboard once more. I could only hope that number would continue going up…