The moment he swallowed the Efficiency Booster Pill, Lin Yu felt an extraordinary clarity wash over his mind. His thoughts became incredibly sharp, his focus absolute. It wasn't just a mental boost; his entire body felt lighter, more agile. Even before he picked up his pencil, he had the distinct sensation that drawing would be utterly effortless.
A confident smile touched Lin Yu's lips. Under the curious gazes of the others, he spread a fresh sheet of manuscript paper on the desk, picked up his tools, and began to draw.
The difference was immediate and astounding. Compared to his usual drawing process, this was like operating in an entirely different dimension. Clean, precise lines flowed onto the paper as if his hand had a will of its own, requiring almost no conscious effort to guide it.
Shizuka and the others, crowded behind him, couldn't help but let out gasps of astonishment. With the pill in effect, Lin Yu was drawing at an almost robotic speed. His pencil flew across the page, a blur of motion, and before their eyes, the blank paper transformed, lines and images leaping into existence with breathtaking swiftness.
"Goodness, that speed...!" Shizuka breathed, utterly amazed. She'd seen Lin Yu draw before, during his normal practice sessions, and there was simply no comparison to what she was witnessing now.
"That's insane! How can it make someone draw that fast?!" Gian exclaimed, his jaw practically on the floor. Suneo, beside him, looked equally stunned.
"But of course!" Doraemon chimed in, puffing his chest out proudly as he listened to their exclamations of awe. (Taking advantage of the distraction, he sneakily popped another piece of dorayaki into his mouth, his eyes crinkling with delight.) "It's a brand-new product from the future, after all! The effects are guaranteed to be top-notch!"
Lin Yu himself paid no heed to their shocked reactions, remaining completely immersed in the rapid 'creation' of his manga. With the assistance of such an incredibly overpowered (almost cheat-like) gadget, a page that would normally take him the better part of a day to complete was now finished in mere minutes. The speed was simply astonishing.
However, while the speed was phenomenal, the quality of each individual stroke was no different from his usual work. The pill only boosted efficiency, not inherent skill or understanding. (It was like if Shizuka took it, she could finish her homework incredibly quickly; but if someone like Nobita, who didn't understand the material in the first place, took it, he'd still be just as clueless when facing his assignments.) Therefore, even with the pill, Lin Yu still needed to redraw each page three or four times to meet his own exacting standards for the final draft. Still, even with that repetition, his overall output rate was now truly staggering.
Lin Yu had about twenty pages left to complete the first chapter. At this new pace, he could probably knock out three or four finished pages per hour. That meant he could potentially finish the entire first chapter in just a few more hours. And since the pill's effect lasted for a full day, if he really pushed himself, he could conceivably draw the second, or even parts of the third chapter as well.
This leap in productivity was a sight to behold, and Lin Yu was ecstatic. (If Doraemon weren't a sentient being, Lin Yu might have been tempted to try and permanently "borrow" this precious, treasure-like robot and all his future gadgets. For an aspiring manga artist, such miraculous tools were game-changers.)
Lost in these thoughts, Lin Yu continued to churn out pages, completely immersed in the world of high-speed drafting. Every few minutes, another finished page would join the rapidly growing stack on the desk beside him.
"Doraemon, you've been a tremendous help!" Shizuka exclaimed, picking up one of Lin Yu's freshly drawn pages and looking at it with admiration. "Look how happy Lin Yu is!"
"Oh, it's nothing, nothing at all!" Doraemon replied modestly, though he was clearly pleased. "We're all Nobita's friends, right? Helping out is perfectly normal! Besides," he added, patting his tummy contentedly, "Lin Yu brought this delicious dorayaki!"
As he spoke, Doraemon also picked up a couple of Lin Yu's discarded practice sheets and compared them to the newer, more polished versions. He looked puzzled. "Hey, this page looks exactly like the one he just finished. Why did Lin Yu draw it twice? Is he planning to submit to different publishers at the same time or something?"
Shizuka smiled softly and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "No, that's not it," she explained. "Lin Yu says his drawing skills aren't quite perfect yet, and since this is his very first series, he wants to make it as good as he possibly can. So, he actually redraws each page three or four times and then picks the very best one for the final version. If he didn't do that, he wouldn't have to rush so much."
"Oh, I see!" Doraemon, Gian, and Suneo listened to Shizuka's explanation with newfound respect. Forgetting for a moment how tedious it must be to draw the same thing over and over, they were deeply impressed by Lin Yu's dedication to perfection. It made their own efforts seem rather lacking in comparison.
Seeing their expressions, Shizuka felt a quiet warmth bloom in her chest. After all, this manga was inspired by her, and seeing Lin Yu treat it with such seriousness and dedication made her genuinely happy.
"But you know," Suneo remarked, now holding a few of the finished pages and looking them over, "Lin Yu's manga really is very interesting."
"You think so?" Gian scratched his head. "I still think stuff with robots is cooler. This looks like something girls would read..."
"But Clow Cards and magic are just as interesting as robots, Gian!" Suneo argued. "This is actual magic!"
"Hey, Suneo, let me see those earlier pages!" Doraemon chimed in, his interest piqued by their discussion. "I haven't seen what it's all about yet!"
Soon, all of them – Shizuka, Suneo, Doraemon, and eventually even Gian – were huddled together, eagerly reading through the pages of Cardcaptor Sakura as Lin Yu produced them. Often, by the time they finished one page, Lin Yu would have the next one ready. Being able to read it continuously like this created a strange, exciting atmosphere in the room. Even Gian, who had initially dismissed it, found himself gradually drawn into the story as Shizuka and the others pulled him in to look.
A magical girl, Clow Cards, wondrous enchantments... Through his drawings, Lin Yu was unveiling a brand new, captivating, and magical world right before their eyes. The scene in the first chapter where Sakura used the power of the Windy card to seal the Jump card was particularly thrilling, leaving them all feeling a little breathless with excitement.