Author’s Note
First, let’s address what readers care about most.
TL;DR: Today’s 8,500 words have been updated. I will be taking a three-day leave and will resume updating Volume 2 at 12 PM on the 9th. Keywords for Volume 2 include: Church, Archaeology, Star Antinomy, Empire, Iris Flower, Ouroboros Ring Ritual, and a request for monthly passes.
For friends who have time to listen to me ramble, feel free to settle in.
With chapter 442 and 1.43 million words, the first volume of this book has come to an end.
Having written for ten years and over ten million words, this is undoubtedly the longest volume I’ve ever written.
However, I am very satisfied with it—in terms of performance, income, and my growth as a writer.
To report on the performance: up to now, the average subscription for this volume has exceeded 22,000, and the lowest read-through is still above 8,000. This is my best performance to date, three to four times better than my second best, “Player is Super Righteous.” I am truly grateful to everyone!
To be honest, “A Mu” was written during a creative slump for me.
I’ve always said that I want to explore different themes with each book. By trying out enough genres while I’m young, I won’t have to take risks when my creativity declines with age.
When I wrote “Shepherd’s Covenant,” which in a sense combines the strengths of “Mercury Blood” and “Player is Super Righteous,” it also indicated a significant decline in my physical and creative state.
Readers who were with me from the early days of “Mercury Blood” should know that my mental state was visibly not great back then. During the “Player is Super Righteous” period, I was also very anxious. My content was basically about quantity—whenever I saw read-throughs drop, I’d think, “Am I writing too slowly?” So, I’d immediately start new plotlines and new dungeons.
The result was that player interaction plots, which could have been extensive, became fewer and farther between. Then, read-throughs dropped further, and I thought, “Do I need to speed up even more?” This cycle became even more pronounced by the time of “Tower.”
Due to a kind of obsessive-compulsive tendency, during “Tower of Ruin,” I focused on “telling one story within a month.” This was because, during the “Player” period, I often felt that the plot would take more words than I had outlined. Thus, I wanted to “dehydrate” my writing through this method.
The result was rushed writing. Many areas that could have been explored further were quickly skipped to maintain the pace, with the goal of a structure where “one volume is finished in one month, and each volume is a complete story.”
You could say I was a bit possessed.
By the end of “Tower,” when Russel reconciled with himself, I had also reconciled with myself. I finally realized that perhaps I wasn’t too slow, but rather too fast—too impatient.
Although I appear very lazy, I am actually a very impatient person. However, my personality is gentle, so I only get angry at myself. Life has repeatedly crushed me, yet it has made me softer and more comfortable. If you dare to provoke me, you’ve picked a fight with cotton.
For example, when playing mobile games, I can never save up gacha resources. Even if I know I want to skip a certain banner, if I have too many resources, I can’t help but want to draw.
Perhaps because the mortgage was paid off by the time of “Tower”—my creative state has noticeably relaxed.
I believe the most significant improvement in “Shepherd’s Covenant” is the comfortable narrative pacing.
My writing style is like a travelogue, very leisurely, and it’s difficult for me to write concise and powerful stories like other authors. This is why I tried to become a compressed towel during the “Tower” period.
Clearly, my attempt failed.
So, I chose to reconcile—it’s okay to be slower; some readers will enjoy warm stories filled with details and a slow pace.
The main focus is companionship.
However, I also learned a lot from “Tower,” one of which is structuring the narrative around the core of the story.
The narrative core of this volume was the “Glass Staircase.”
Avalon’s rules, Avalon’s traditions… from the very first chapter, those unreasonable things were explained in later plots. And those unreasonable rules and traditions were successively shattered by Eivass.
While “Player is Super Righteous” might be more fun than “Shepherd’s Covenant”—after all, it’s built on over twenty years of my accumulation, which cannot be denied. I felt completely drained and useless after finishing “Player,” but thankfully, “Tower” helped me recover slowly.
Based on the lessons learned from previous experiences, the narrative of “Shepherd’s Covenant” should be much more comfortable and organized than “Player is Super Righteous.”
Of course, there are also new flaws that need correcting. I have found them and recorded them all.
Discovering one’s flaws feels great; it makes me feel like I can still grow. I feel alive, I feel the vitality of my heart, rather than a gradual decay.
Now, I need to take a three-day leave.
The first day is because the epidemic seems to be quite rampant in the small country. I’ll go get vaccinated, get a haircut, and visit my grandmother. My hair has grown long enough to obscure my eyes, making me look like a gloomy man. After that, I’ll rest for a day and watch “MyGo.” I haven’t seen it yet. On the third day, I’ll start writing the detailed outline for the beginning of Volume 2.
I will be taking leave on the 6th, 7th, and 8th, and will resume updating on the 9th at noon.
Lastly, I’d like to share my reading list. I’ve shared some before, and now I’ll post a formal one.
These are books I’ve been reading recently or have finished. Of course, these are not recommendations; they are just for sharing. They do not represent my endorsement of the authors, books, or their stances.
“The Outsider”
“The Poems of Tennyson”
“Roland Barthes on Theatre”
“Yes, Prime Minister”
“The Book of Mychal”
“Siddhartha”
“The House of Cards Trilogy”
“The Sorcerer’s Guide”
“What Did the Philosophers Do?”
“The Test of the Exotic: Culture and Translation in German Romanticism”
“Sacrifice and Godhood: The Order of Primitive Societies”
“Norse Mythology: Imagining the Beginning and End of the World”
“Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair”
“The Laca family.”
“Dracula”
“Parisian Melancholy”
And so on.
It’s 6:21 in the morning as I write this. I’ll have a late-night snack, sleep, and then wake up to correct typos.
Although this month’s ranking won’t be as high as the previous two months, I still hope for some votes~
As always, I end with this:
May happiness always be with you.
