"Can't you think of another way?"
Liu Zheng frowned.
"What way?"
Hishikibe shot back.
"The Tamamo-no-Mae Family may not be as strong as our Great River Family, but they aren't far behind. I'm just a junior, while he's the family's second-in-command. He's already showing me plenty of respect by being willing to hand the person over. If you think that's not enough, go talk to him yourself and see whether he gives you any face."
"Of course he wouldn't give me face, but he'd definitely give face to Lord Hishikibe."
He said it with a cheeky grin.
"Why should I spend that much face on your business?"
Hishikibe retorted.
"Of course I won't let you spend it for nothing. Name whatever you want."
"I want to become a Platinum Author. Can you make that happen?"
Hishikibe chuckled.
"How far are you from becoming a Platinum Author?"
Liu Zheng asked.
"My commercial influence has long met the standard, but for a short-story author to become Platinum, their industry influence has to be sufficient too."
Hishikibe replied.
"For example?"
"For example, at least three Platinum Authors need to recommend me to the Writers Association, or someone has to publish a paper about my novels in a journal with an impact factor above ten, and so on."
Hishikibe gave examples.
"That strict?"
Platinum Authors lacked neither money nor status, so they certainly would not casually do Hishikibe that kind of favor.
And journals with impact factors above ten were already extremely prestigious in reality. Such journals generally would not accept shoddy papers.
"Of course it's strict. Otherwise, would I have been stuck as a Grandmaster Author for so long? I once found a scholar in literary studies and asked him to help me publish a paper. That bastard said my novels only had