Volume 1, "All Things in Balance," has officially concluded. Considering the continuity of the last two chapters, I added an extra chapter this morning, and the evening chapter will be normal. The imagery of the final scene, with Xia De turning his back on the burning building and walking away, made me, the author, really want to draw it. Unfortunately, I can't draw, otherwise, you'd be getting another eye-watering stick figure drawing.
As of now, this book has surpassed 700,000 words, with "Prologue" having 84 chapters and "Volume 1" having 172 chapters. Each subsequent volume will be compressed to within 200 chapters. The reason Volume 1 felt long is because the content of the prologue and Volume 1 were too continuous. Currently, the plan is for this book to have around 11 to 12 volumes, totaling 5 million words. There's no need to worry about the outline; after all, I've written a long novel before, so the author has it under control.
Since the data section includes rhode cards and Miracles, here's a summary of the relics Xia De possesses after the end of Volume 1:
Poem Manuscript Page, gun of kindness, dice of fate, Mercury Vial, god's gift box, and the Pirate's blood money.
For memorandum.
Additionally, I'll update you on the book's current performance: an average of 3700 subscriptions. How should I put it? At least it's not bad, but compared to my previous book, it's not exceptionally good either. However, since so many people are willing to continue reading, I will continue writing. The story's structure is also very clear now: each volume revolves around a The Chosen and a theme. The main plot, of course, is playing rhode cards (crossed out), finding the thirteen The Chosen, and the story has only just begun.
Currently, the protagonist's activities are confined to Tobesk, but there are many more places in this world. Not only Coldwater Port City, but the protagonist will also travel to many, many more places in the future, and of course, he will also acquire many, many more rhode cards. Even to this point, the book's antagonist has not yet appeared. From a single-player game perspective, Mercury Blood is just the small BOSS of the first chapter.
The world view is very rich, and it's only just beginning to unfold. More stories and various characters will appear next. The reason I chose the fantasy genre is precisely because it is farthest from us, and therefore more interesting. Brave warriors and evil dragons, princesses and knights, magic and steam, walking with an Outsider on the streets of a foreign land outside of real life—life itself is a story.
The story of "whispering chapters" (also known as "The Detective Knight's Tale" and "Sword of the Silver Moon") has just begun, and after "Balance," please look forward to Volume 2, "The One Who Devours Darkness."
Volume 1 has ended, please vote.