@Nep
There's also the fact that back in the day, a lot of the less skilled artists wouldn't even get a chance at being printed. Paper and ink costs money, and people are more likely to skip over something with bad art.
Nowadays they can just throw everything online and only print whatever is popular. Throw enough mud at a wall, and some if it will stick.
@Stonecoool
Gonna get an obligatory "this ain't isekai" from me.
And his reason for not wanting to stand out is that becoming a candidate for king (and winning, because he's OP as fuck) would get in the way of him studying magic. He still ends up standing out whenever he wants to test his magic because he's so OP, but that's not the same as showing off.
Keep in mind that this is the guy who, in his previous life, learned how to use (weak) magic even as a commoner. The same guy whose reaction to being burned alive was to admire the fire magic that was burning him alive. He's a bit obsessed with magic.