The first person to notice the 'Outline for the Development of Web Novels' thread written by Kamiyā Yuu was 'Wind Chime', one of the resident moderators of the Dragon's Slumber forum.
He was among the most active and longest-serving moderators on Dragon's Slumber. He frequently browsed the webnovel discussion section, shared his opinions, and interacted with authors.
Over the past few days, the heated discussions surrounding 'Battle Through the Heavens' had kept him busy for quite some time.
When a thread titled 'Outline for the Development of Web Novels' appeared in the webnovel section, his first thought was that it was a technical tutorial about webnovel writing techniques.
He was personally very interested in such threads.
It wasn't because he was a novelist himself. Rather, the more technical discussions of this kind appeared, the greater Dragon's Slumber's influence would become among webnovel authors.
"Reincarnator Y?"
Wind Chime clicked into the thread.
Upon reading its contents, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He scrolled down and saw a screenshot of the table of contents for 'Outline for the Development of Web Novels', along with a download link.
The enormous amount of seemingly professional information displayed in the screenshot surprised him considerably.
The file was only a little over ten megabytes, so downloading it wasn't difficult.
After opening it with an e-book reader, he instinctively glanced at the document's character count.
1,627,382 characters.
"Hmm? What's going on here?"
Wind Chime frowned thoughtfully.
Generally speaking, technical threads about webnovel writing contained anywhere from several thousand to tens of thousands of characters.
The previous thread, 'An Analysis of the First Million Characters of Battle Through the Heavens', was already considered one of the finest technical discussions on the forum.
Yet even that thread had contained only a few tens of thousands of characters.
A technical guide containing 1.6 million characters seemed almost too ridiculous to be true.
Considering the contents of the original post, could this be some kind of prank by a forum user?
"Click ~ Click."
Wind Chime manipulated his mouse and opened the table of contents.
'Outline for the Development of Web Novels' had already been divided into sections according to the standard formatting conventions of web novels.
Using an ordinary e-book reader, users could navigate directly to whichever topics interested them through the table of contents.
It was a surprisingly thoughtful design.
'Analysis of Webnovel Structure and Composition'
'The Nature of Satisfying Moments and Common Writing Techniques'
'Creating Female Lead Characters'
'Understanding Reader Immersion'
'Novel Genres That Have Yet to Appear in This Era but Will Become Popular in the Future'
...
'Outline for the Development of Web Novels' contained dozens of volumes, each providing detailed explanations of its respective topics.
Wind Chime couldn't help becoming interested.
At the very least, the document looked remarkably convincing on the surface.
He clicked on the section that interested him most, 'Novel Genres That Have Yet to Appear in This Era but Will Become Popular in the Future'.
Expanding it revealed introductions to various genres and schools of webnovel writing.
'Infinite-Flow'
'Literary Plagiarism Genre'
'Kingdom-Building Genre'
'Research Genre'
...
There were still numerous chapters and categories.
Wind Chime continued by clicking on the so-called 'Infinite-Flow' section.
"The infinite-flow genre originated from a novel that will appear in the future, 'Infinite Horror'. As the pioneering work of this genre, 'Infinite Horror' inspired a large number of imitators almost immediately after its appearance. Thanks to its unique premise, these works gradually developed into an entirely new genre of web fiction.
"The term 'infinite' refers to the absence of restrictions on the settings and genres a story can incorporate, including anime, manga, films, novels, history, reality, and so on..."
"Infinite-flow novels can be further divided into several subgenres, including traditional infinite-flow, represented by 'Infinite Horror'; data-based infinite-flow, represented by 'Ace Evolution'; and parallel-universe infinite-flow.
"Although these subgenres differ in structure, their central principle remains the concept of infinity..."
"Another relatively difficult subgenre to master is rapid world-hopping fiction. As the name suggests, this involves rapidly traveling between the worlds of different fictional works, directly incorporating elements from those works that readers find interesting.
"For example, traveling into the world of a martial arts novel might allow the protagonist to obtain a supreme martial arts manual, while entering a science-fiction film might grant access to dazzling advanced technologies..."
"The primary reason this genre is popular isn't simply that it represents a new type of fiction.
"Readers often have expectations or regrets concerning the various fictional worlds featured in infinite-flow novels.
"For instance, if the ending of a classic film left readers dissatisfied, changing that world's ending could produce an enormous sense of satisfaction.
"Similarly, if readers have always fantasized about a particular film character, having the novel's protagonist interact with that character would undoubtedly capture their interest..."
...
The section covered everything from the origins of infinite-flow fiction to an analysis of the fundamental reasons behind its popularity.
It even provided sample outlines for different types of novels within the genre.
The entire 'Infinite-Flow' section contained only thirty thousand characters, yet the sheer amount of information packed into it left Wind Chime dumbfounded.
From these descriptions, he could almost see the birth and subsequent development of the genre unfolding before his eyes.
More importantly, even as an experienced reader who dreamed of becoming an author himself, he could recognize the feasibility of the concept.
This was a genre that had never appeared in web fiction before.
If everything described in this technical article was accurate, Wind Chime had absolutely no doubt that such a genre could succeed.
"Infinite-flow... If this 'Infinite-Flow' concept is genuine, then the rest of these 1.6 million characters..."
Wind Chime swallowed hard.
He hardly dared to imagine the implications.
He continued clicking through introductions to other webnovel genres.
"Literary Plagiarism Genre..."
Wind Chime stared intently at the screen, skimming through the contents.
His most urgent task was to verify the authenticity of this technical guide.
"Research Genre..."
...
After rapidly browsing through the entire volume titled 'Novel Genres That Have Yet to Appear in This Era but Will Become Popular in the Future', Wind Chime was repeatedly astonished by descriptions that seemed to depict things that genuinely existed.
With trembling hands, he clicked on 'The Nature of Satisfying Moments and Common Writing Techniques'.
This volume revealed the core elements that made up web novels, analyzing their fundamental components from numerous different perspectives and levels.
As he read, Wind Chime began recalling the novels he had read in the past, comparing his experiences with the explanations provided in the document.
What exactly was a satisfying moment?
Why did reading web novels give him such a pleasurable feeling?
Why were web novels described as "spiritual opium"?
The conclusion:
Every single explanation... was true.
Wind Chime placed a hand against his chest.
He could clearly feel his heart pounding rapidly with nervous excitement.
Thump ~ Thump.
At that moment, he felt as though he had discovered a treasure trove containing enough wealth to rival an entire nation.
And describing this document in such terms was no exaggeration when considering its importance to the webnovel industry.
After thinking for a moment, he took his phone out of his pocket and dialed the number of the person in overall charge of the Dragon's Slumber website.
"Hello? Wind Chime?"
A man's puzzled voice came from the other end.
"..."
"If you've got something to say, spit it out."
Wind Chime took a deep breath and spoke solemnly.
"A reincarnator..."
"What?"
His mind was in complete turmoil.
Then, recalling the contents of the thread, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him.
He declared with absolute conviction:
"A reincarnator has appeared."
"Speak like a normal person."