Hello everyone.
I know I've said this many times already, but that doesn't make it mean any less. Thank you all so much for reading up to this point, especially those of you who left comments, likes, and reviews.
I'd like to use this chapter to reflect on my journey so far, and to answer a few questions you might be curious about regarding the novel's future.
How this started
First, a little about myself. I'm a big fan of isekai. So big that I used to watch every single one, every new season. When a show couldn't keep up, I'd go read the novel instead.
From all that "experience," I started to wonder about the plots and the characters. Why did a character do this instead of that? Why did the author go this way instead of the other?
And coming from a programming background, I also wondered why there weren't many isekai stories built on programming concepts.
Slowly, the world, the ideas, and the story came to me. But I never acted on any of them.
Until one day, I read Solo Leveling. What struck me most was its portal system, which was exactly what I had imagined for my own story. That was when I told myself: I have an idea, and if I don't do it now, somebody else will.
So that's how I got into writing.
But... just like watching sports doesn't make you an athlete, reading or watching a lot of stories doesn't make you a writer.
If you've been reading from the beginning, you might have noticed that I've revised the novel many times, especially the early chapters. Even reading them now, I still don't think they're good enough.
Luckily, we live in an era of knowledge. There are countless writing courses and videos out there for writers. So in my free time, instead of scrolling through cat videos, those became my playlist. And most of them said the same thing: finish your story, no matter how bad it looks on the first read.
So here we are. And I'm glad to have had readers take part in this journey with me.
Q&A
Is the story finished?
Definitely not. A lot has changed since the first draft, but it hasn't reached the ending I intended yet. The story kind of took a path of its own. Maybe I'm a pantser after all?
Will I be writing Vol 3 right after this?
Unfortunately, no. The story and its world have grown a lot bigger than what I had in my head, and I don't think my writing skills, or my ideas, are ready for it yet.
I'll be taking a break from writing and going back to watching my favourite shows, namely the new seasons of Slime, Mushoku Tensei, and Re:Zero. Believe it or not, ever since I started writing Vol 1, I've kept myself from watching or reading any isekai. They were my inspiration, but I didn't want them influencing my own story. And that was two years ago.
Does that mean I'm stopping?
Not at all. My plan after Vol 2 is to do one final pass over the whole thing, and bring the story to Royal Road.
That also means this will be the last update here. The story never really found its audience on Webnovel, so once the revisions are done, it will be moving to Royal Road.
One small favor
Since Vol 2 ends with a mini wrap-up of the story, if you've enjoyed it, I'd really appreciate it if you left a review before it goes. And if you'd like to keep following Vel's journey, you'll find the revised version on Royal Road / Wattpad / ScribbleHub once it's up.
Once again, thank you for coming this far with Vel, and with me. Whether you've been here since the first chapter or just caught up, it has meant more than I can put into words.
See you on the next journey.