This update ends here. The next update will be on October 7th, and it will be time for the dismissal and self-criticism of each volume.
Ah, this long story is finally finished——!
When I wrote the end-of-chapter summary last time, I said that five volumes would be a light-hearted and enjoyable story, but I did not expect that it would be so long, with the number of chapters more than double that of volume 0. This is certainly related to the fact that I didn’t have enough time to finish many chapters of 3,000 words in the later period, but its overall weight is really amazing. This is not only because I crammed in a lot of unit updates, but because there are so many tasks to be solved in this volume:
We have finally returned to the modern timeline. Now everyone in the protagonist group needs to upgrade! A full five people! Even if we throw away the non-combatant Qiluo and the instructor Alandia, there are still three upgrade lines for Ace Xiaoqianrei to write, let them grow as much as they can on the journey!
I finally returned to the modern timeline and I confessed my love before. Isn’t it time to write about the dokidoki interaction after falling in love? The girls who have been offline for a full volume will turn into backgrounds if they don't move, so remember to write interesting interactions in your personal comments!
The background this time is Hezhong Tourism, so we need to write down the characteristics of each state. If we can’t compile all 51 states, we should write down at least 5 or 6 states in detail! Therefore, please try your best to describe the customs and customs of other worlds...
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Then on this basis, the lives and conflicts of local residents should also be written.
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Then on this basis, the long-term characters also need to spread their image bit by bit, come on.
Volume 0 has been suppressed for so long. This volume is about to be proud of, so it’s time to kill the big bosses completely! There are so many villains in this volume that they can’t be filled. In addition to the members of the troupe, there are also so many local families in Hezhong that it’s dazzling...
Then the civilized front as the theme of the Union must also be described, and Saint Servais as a key figure must also be described. At the same time, we must remember to fill in the pit left by Volume 0 after the revenge is successful and the ending of Alandia's emotional line!
...After writing this long series, I wanted to hit the screen and die. I felt like I could hear the narration saying "The next chapter, the death of Prince 2326" in a cheerful tone.
Save, life, ah.
There is so much content in this volume of the fortress that when I see the task list, I have the urge to roar. This is not a problem that can be solved by being short and concise like Volume 0 and pressing the schedule. The story of Hezhong itself is not easy. The future troubles of the kingdom have not yet been resolved. In addition, with the characterization of both the pros and cons, it is strange that the length of this volume will be short!
So readers have seen the longest volume so far, including the relaxed and happy early stage, the sudden explosion in the middle stage, the late stage of taking a breather and rushing to the battlefield non-stop, and the first "event review" serialized after the final battle so far. ". The overall story has a lot of problems, and the scrapped case is much more surprising. The long time span caused me to feel that the writing style was subtly different from the early stage.
If I were to sum it up, I would think that this volume is higher than the previous stories in terms of "completeness". Many elements including background characters have been explained, and many pitfalls have been filled in in terms of settings. The whole story has a beginning and an end. Finish. However, in terms of reading experience, the "rhythm" of this volume is somewhat worse than that of the previous volume, and there are indeed gains and losses. There are many questions, let’s analyze and summarize them one by one.
The first problem that comes to mind is the "sense of separation" between the front and rear parts. Before the Gray War in the mid-term, this trip was generally quite relaxed. Ate went to a place to solve an incident and interacted with the girls. The story about the Saint and Hezhong was slowly unfolded in this unit chapter. Although the pace of development is slightly tepid (many units are too long), it is not too abrupt in terms of "entering the drama". Gaius-Wuxianfang and Ace are trying to show off their tactics, and the joint adventure of the protagonist group is gradually coming to an end. In the beautiful scene, there is also the haze of the formless god secretly creating a sense of tension...
Then the mid-term event Gray appeared, and the Unova element became a secondary element, giving way to the kingdom's revenge battle. Regardless of the reader's emotions or the characters' emotions, exploring the secrets of the Northern Continent has obviously become a "secondary" event, and defeating Wu Xiang and the troupe first is the top priority. This resulted in the elements related to Unova becoming less attractive after the Gray War, and the story of the Saint also became less interesting in the face of revenge. I had to spend a lot of time turning my attention back to Gaius little by little, and in the process, I supplemented the story of the Firewind State, and then entered the final battle——
Unsurprisingly, the same old mistakes were repeated in the final chapter. The villains of the United States became the same configuration as gatekeepers, and Wuxiang was the highlight. The Hezhong in the Hezhong volume is a secondary element, which is really dumbfounding.
I think this issue is related to many factors, the first of which is Volume 0 that we have completed (Why is it always you).
Volume 0 is the beginning of everything, but the culprit is not really dead. Solving the big problem of Situ Yi will overshadow the theme of the venue itself no matter when it appears. To be honest, the most suitable place for him to die is the Yongguang Imperial City, but I really can't leave this guy to deal with it in the Empire Chapter. That would just postpone the problem indefinitely and make the same mistakes as before. If the Hezhong chapter only involves the world view and not the main character line, it will look like a patchy "extra" from the overall perspective, which obviously must be avoided.
And if the Hezhong chapter does not involve Situ Yi, the final boss will probably be Hongyiqing. The fight between Klein, Gaius and Hadrian will be relatively satisfactory for the overall shaping of Hezhong. The Infinite King's The finish will also be more "natural". I think I have a good control over the car settings this time. He Zhong’s character settings are just enough to fill up one volume, but after adding Situ Yi’s entire force... the whole thing still seems bloated. , helpless (sad).
The theme conflict of the United Kingdom also directly led to the extremely lengthy ending of this volume. I was scratching my head when arranging the plot between the Infinite King and the Lust King: it was a very abrupt plot twist to pick up the Infinite King after beating Wu Xiang. , can be used as the conclusion of the United Volume and the reveal of the overall world view. The story of the Infinite King will be a must-have link; the story of the King of Desire and the Silent King involves King Morton, the Last Sword and the Big Brother, which are the legacy of the Kingdom Volume to this day. The main axis, but after a whole battle, adding another unit will seem uninspiring again...
To be honest, when I was writing Wishful Achievement, I could hear everyone in front of the screen asking, "Why don't you just go to the ending part?", but there was really nothing I could do. The final solution was to play back Ace’s upgrade after the achievement of all wishes, and use the stories of infinity, lust and silence as preparatory materials for this breakthrough, which can be regarded as making this story more “meaningful”. (In the original case, the breakthrough was achieved directly after defeating Wu Xiang. Perhaps it was not as natural as this)
The second issue is the "rhythm" mentioned earlier. The story this time was too long, which caused me to lose a certain amount of control in the middle and later stages. Gray War is defined as a "mid-term event" like Volume 4 and Volume 0, but the lack of emotional foreshadowing resulted in poor performance. On the other hand, it is difficult to divide a long story of more than 140 chapters into the early and middle stages with one event. The dual role of "forcibly replicating the early narrative mode" and "the theme of the two sides of the United Kingdom is not suitable" As a result, the overall story was not as good as expected.
When it comes to the final battle, the rhythm problem becomes even more prominent. This final battle has a large number of participants and a strong enemy lineup. If I don’t write a one-on-one melee battle, the screen will be crazy complicated (and I will definitely not be able to control the group battle). So in the final pre-battle section, I felt like I was writing a Deathstroke-style one-on-one duel, moving the finishing scene to the next scene, and finally writing the main scene. The most important thing is that I have to write it, because if I don’t give Xiao Qianling and the others a shot in the end, the practice along the way will seem meaningless.
Therefore, the decisive battles in the first half seemed a bit hasty and without surprises. With Wu Xiang waiting for an opportunity from behind, everyone knew that these battles would definitely lead to the victory of the protagonist team, so they had no expectations. The battle between Xiao Qian and the champion started from the preparation to the end of the champion's debut, but the final display effect was not very good. This is because the key "turning point" was not written in the previous sword forging episode as a foreshadowing, and I am personally more satisfied with Charming. Wu, Leng Ganghui's upgrade happened a long time ago, not to mention the fight with Qin Ming happened at the end of the second volume. Insufficient foreshadowing leads to conflicts between narrative logic and direct perception, which is something that needs to be avoided.
The battle between Zero and Jinglian was relatively abstract, like a battle between early game kings (laughing). The battle between Ace and Gaius progressed relatively smoothly. However, when it comes to the main event of fighting Wuxiang, I think the overall development is okay. Although it is not surprising, it can at least meet expectations. And this is okay because I rewrote the last two chapters. The original last two chapters placed great emphasis on combat logic and light on visuals. I couldn't bear to watch it after reading it myself. The final version will be discussed in the resolution session. What I want to say here is that the final battle was too damn long, which led me to feel like "It's over quickly, it's over quickly" when I wrote it. The mood, I had to rewrite it once, otherwise it would have collapsed. I couldn’t stand the multi-character melee.
Generally speaking, I feel that I am not very good at long stories. This is a real lesson that volumes 3 and 5 taught me. This is not self-destruction but an objective conclusion, because everyone has their own limits of ability. I feel that in terms of story writing, I have no problem managing a short story with 30 to 40 chapters, and a medium with 60 to 70 chapters is generally acceptable. However, if the story exceeds this length, I will not be able to control the whole.
So let’s not make the next volume so long. The length in volume 2 or 4 may be just right.
The third issue is "upgrade". This volume finally begins the serious practice of developing new abilities, but the overall effect...
I tried very hard to make each of Ah Ce's insights go smoothly, but the effect it showed was not that good. When I was writing it, I kept thinking about "whether this would be a bit forced"; Xiaoqian's side was even more mysterious. , and the Huitian Technique are both more scientific and reasonable than the Impermanence Technique.
This matter is ultimately a foundation issue. Generally speaking, under the ordinary power system, we can eat fruits to upgrade, practice spells to upgrade to xx level, or collect a lot of materials to make potions to upgrade. However, the power system of this game is purely spiritual and relies on one perception. Generally speaking, to break through to a big realm, you need to understand even the small tricks here, and the insights are different every time. The whole writing is like psychological construction for children. It's really terrible and there is no good solution. I can only say that I won't dare to do it next time (if there is a next book).
I won’t go into detail about the remaining minor issues here and there, otherwise the summary at the end of the volume should be “My Confession” again. Let’s talk about this well-designed but useless waste case.
——Mr. Jago Drusus was originally a serious enemy spy, the kind who would rebel in the mid-term. In the original plan, after the real sound was completed, there was the Fire Wind State. Jago would launch an attack in the Fire Wind to buy time for Gray, but in the end he would be righteously killed by Will. The protagonist group's response method was Ace's Tongxin Jade strategy.
However, this plan was not adopted. On the one hand, it was felt that it would be difficult for the church to deal with a true traitor. On the other hand, this incident would turn into a layered cake game: Jago, Gaius, Wuxiang, and Ace plotted against each other. You predicted me. You predicted my prediction. This kind of box-stacking battle of wits is really boring to write, so the mid-term event was adjusted to real sound, and it was directly changed to Wuxiang to attack. The shaping of Jago himself was left to Huofeng alone. I feel that the current adjusted version is okay.
——Our dear Miss Servais was originally a master who took on millions of incarnations. In the original plan, Atze would meet a blond lady/little girl/middle-aged woman/old lady in every state he went to, including the aunt buying hot dogs on the street, all of which might be a little clone of the saint unintentionally. When the truth was finally revealed, I realized that she had always been with you.
This plan was not adopted because it was difficult to portray the image of Servais herself. Many images appeared in a hurry without being remembered, which meant that they had no impression. In addition, I also had the idea of letting Servais be the girl of the United States... But looking at the girls on the boat, I forgot about it. We are in love rather than collecting stamps of beautiful girls. We are already very carefree and can't be sentimental anymore. It's really like this If I write about Xiaoqian, I will probably jump out of the screen and complain about it, and Ace’s character will also collapse. Taking a boatload of girls on a trip and cheating on her sounds too... excessive...
——There was originally planned to be a unit in the White Night State, the hometown of Ranger Werther, where the past of Servais and the past of Wu Xiang would be talked about. Yes, this guy has a little bit to do with Wu Xiang. His girlfriend, Ms. Aida (a passer-by who showed up after the end of Cold Steel State), is Wu Xiang's disciple and a very powerful spiritual manifestation envoy.
I originally planned to let Servais return to White Night to sort out her memories after the Fire Wind (the landscape of White Night is related to memory), and by the way, let Ada make up for Wu Xiang's past. But that would make the story seem very flat and make the already slow story even slower and less exciting. So after the fire wind, I upgraded directly and then switched to the decisive battle...
In fact, everyone can also see that the entire plot rhythm after Gray's battle to before the decisive battle in Meteor City is a bit strange. The two sides are swaying and not knowing where to go. I don't want to speed up, but Gray's death in the battle and appearance without a trace cannot allow the journey to continue comfortably. I want to speed up, but Hezhong's stalls haven't been finished yet, so I feel very conflicted. This is the theme contradiction problem discussed before.
——Gaius originally planned to have a direct superpower unit, including three new most dangerous dragon species. They will serve as stepping stones for A Ce to sneak into Cangdu in the later stage, and then serve as stepping stones for Aulus and the president.
It just feels like, in this version, the most dangerous ability users are no longer enough. This is a reasonable product in terms of world logic. As mentioned before, there will be more and more people with super powers, and an intuitive reflection of this "crisis" is needed, but when implemented on the ground, it will seem unclear. So the entire section was cut, and the line where Orus was active in Cangdu was also cut.
——The Wuxiang God originally had many surprising little back-ups, including an Anzi who had been hiding in the Sky Capital for a long time. Do you still remember Shigure Ringo who appeared in volume 4? This anti-Shinto black metal musician is not only an impermanent magician but also a superpower. In this case, his superpower is the power given by Wuxiang after analyzing the existence mechanism of dragon seeds. Wuxiang seeds like 05 There are still hundreds of people in Cangdu, and they will all trigger a riot in Cangdu before the final battle to eliminate future troubles.
This plan was rejected because it had little space and was very abrupt. In addition, the Orus line was cut in half, so the phaseless seeds no longer existed, and 05 returned to being an ordinary superpower. That’s great 05!
——The last two chapters of the Phaseless Battle were completely rewritten. The original development was completely different from the current one. I really didn’t want to read the manuscript, but it was so bad that I had the desire to share it. Just say a few words here. Specifically:
After seeing the Star Cup, Wu Xiang broke through the defense on the spot and became hysterical. After integrating with the script, he activated the Earthly Theater and began to direct the play himself. The form of expression of this grand technique is to use puppets to make human figures corresponding to A Ce and Ming Xiao. Through the slander of the dramatic story, the human figures are alienated, creating strange monsters similar to the awakened body in the big sword. The monster itself has similar combat power to the simulated object. The simulated object will be affected by the monster and become malignant, and finally merge with the theater puppet.
The puppet variant of the Dawn Knight was a pale centaur knight. Ace was defeated in a battle with him. Then the Dawn Knight used time and intelligence to create another spell. It was unable to be used in Volume 0 due to the excessive suppression of the crown. The decisive tactic "logical arming" was developed. The effect of this spell is to reversely restore the writing process of the enemy's spell, and by defeating a link in the logic chain, it will be fundamentally untenable and self-collapse.
Wuxiang's spell was broken and he fell into despair, and then the vicious plot and the director's creed continued. Then the old leader and the Holy Fire Armor appeared, and Ace took over the leader's duties and killed him with Double Star Transformation. Before dying, he begged for mercy miserably and said no, I don’t want to die, and was lost in the light...
It's a disaster, really, it's a disaster. It just feels like a long work has been cut in half from beginning to end. It was so bad that I took a break for two days and exclaimed when I read it that I had to tear it down and start over again.
I have to say that the role of Wu Xiang puts a lot of pressure on other characters and myself, so much that the rationality itself to defeat him needs to be greater than the emotional flow. This guy is simply the most mind-numbing character I have ever written. His setting and expressiveness are beyond my control to a large extent. Now this loss is decent and not too forceful. It can be considered a stable "final", thank God.
There are still many scrapped cases left. For example, it is a pity that many erotic stories were canceled because they did not dare to write. But in general, these are the major scrapped cases. Looking back, I feel that these are all better settings that were not used, so I have to make a loss.
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Now that all aspects of the abolished cases and problems have been discussed, let’s talk about the theme of this volume.
I think everyone can relate to the theme of this volume, which is the "limit" that appeared in the first unit. Most of the enemies in this volume are conflicted around their own limits. There are "mediocrities" like Thunder Gaius, and there are "geniuses" like Champion Booli, and the entire mysterious world of Hezhu is actually about breaking through. Set to the limit, the Infinite King's experimental ground.
On the other hand, the achievements of the pioneers will also be transformed into new restrictions under the influence of time. The civilized front of the saints has restricted the development of the United Nations, and the eternal law of the Infinite King has also become an eternal fetter. Therefore, the manifestation method that Ace finally understood was the demon of destruction, which was exactly the result of what he had thought about along the way. If you want to break through the limits, you need to change, and that is the task of the practitioners of silence.
The villain that best fits this theme is undoubtedly Gaius. He and Klein are the two sides of the United Limits. One is a mediocre person who sets limits for himself, and the other is the limit itself waiting for the transcender to arrive. Although these two guys are villains, I was very happy to write them, because they are more humane than Wu Xiang, the interaction is interesting, and the confrontation of ideas is easy to express.
Klein's power is obvious at a glance, but Gaius is a bit difficult to deal with. It is difficult to write about this guy's sense of oppression, because his characteristics come from the "runner-up" feeling that he can only seek. If Gaius really swept thousands of armies and was unparalleled in the world, he would not be that mediocre man. If you are too strong, it will affect your performance. I am really helpless, Mr. President (laughing)
On the other hand, his willpower is probably the highest among the characters that have appeared so far. He is too tough to endure continuous hardship without saying a word. Although she hates the family, judging from her style, she is undoubtedly a well-rounded Optimus. What a contradictory guy.
Wu Xiang is a "limiter" in another sense... He believes that the current combat power cannot surpass the accumulation of kings, believes that the wisdom of short-lived people cannot surpass the arrangements of long-lived people, and believes that he will inevitably continue like this. There is no escaping the end of death. This fear is the source of his unusual strength, but it also sets his limit. Wu Xiang's way of avoiding head-on battles and being fully prepared to attack made his direction of action predictable. The successive miscalculations in the end were also related to the stagnation of self-action. Once the battle situation developed into a frontal battle that he was most resistant to, failure became a natural result.
Speaking of fighting, this attempt gave Ace a variety of different fighting methods. I also think that the cycle of developing seals in the early stage - using new tricks just in time for the next conflict - and then developing new skills is a bit "deliberate", but I can't think of a better way to show the use of new powers. It can't be done secondarily. I always use Miss 0 for surgery. I don’t know how the current battle situation feels compared to before. I personally feel that Ace’s fight is easier to write now than before. In the past, just using telekinesis to hit me would have exhausted me to death, and the invisible power bursting out every time was a bit... unbearable.
On the other hand, the emotional line also progressed steadily after the confession, and finally the emotional line of Alandia was completed at the end. The four-year long love race is really not easy. There will be that overly realistic idea at the end, which is one of the reasons why I like her very much.
So, the summary of this volume ends here. I'm so exhausted! After that comes the usual 5.5 relaxing chapters, and I can finally write some daily humor. I plan to write more this time and add 6 volumes. If you have any daily feedback ideas that you want to read, you can post them here. I will look at the interesting ideas and pick one or two to write.
Everyone also expects the next six volumes to be imperial stories, but the length will be limited to middle volumes, not full-length novels.
To be honest, the development of this book can be seen to the naked eye. The decryption of the world view is basically completed, and readers have many guesses about the unwritten stories. At this stage, the degree of "surprise" has become very few, and the unexpected development is even more Hard to find. I am writing about Anke, so I like the sense of surprise, and it is especially difficult to make surprises in the later stages of the outline - the first priority is to ensure a stable landing. If I accidentally write it, it will cause the whole book to collapse. of. Although this book is already very provocative from the beginning, the attitude must be correct.
On the other hand, the author is now at work. Not only does he have less time to write the book, but he also has less time to conceive of the plot. The poor quality of the later part of this volume is also closely related to the pressure of reality. Therefore, at this late stage, I think it is better to take my time and write well. Instead of writing a long story, I try to get to the point and let the story end smoothly. If the sixth volume can be filled, maybe the book will end in the next volume, but if not, there may be a separate "final volume" to deal with the decisive battle.
Even so, it's still early for the end, and A Ce has just appeared, so this is not something that can be done in a short while... Can it be completed before the New Year? I hope this book won’t be delayed until its second anniversary (laughs)
Finally, I am still very grateful to everyone who is willing to subscribe to this book, and I am very grateful to book friends for their rewards, votes and comments. There is no setting collection in this volume because the characters and settings are too complicated (poor Xin She Zhu, I really don’t have time to compile settings). This time, after the break, I will start the 5.5 volumes, and then officially enter the 6 volumes.
After this time is the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, I also plan to take a vacation, so I will take a week off this time. The text will be updated again on the evening of October 7th. I would like to wish everyone a happy holiday.
