Chapter 514
As a result, the Constraint Awakening Arc was written so late. The premise of avoiding rhythm is that rhythm appears. In the end, there was no rhythm and I did not avoid it. I can only say that from this perspective, I avoided it in vain.
Also, I'd like to mention a setting related to the previous game.
In my personal opinion, the protagonist doesn't necessarily have to be the strongest [of course, Lin Yu and Ji Ran become the strongest in the end], but you have to be able to stand up for yourself at crucial moments.
To put it another way, if things get worse after the protagonist arrives, it gives me the feeling of "Damn, things got worse after you came, so what's the point of having you?"
Even if they make a mess, they must be able to fix it themselves and play a crucial role in the core plot. That's my personal requirement for the protagonist.
So whether it's Lin Yu or Ji Ran, when they decide to do something, they start charging straight towards the persona of "Curious Dog" because of the thought, "Damn it, if I can't solve the problem after coming here, then I've wasted my time."
After setting the premise that 'Lin Yu is a soul that transmigrated and just happened to become an infant,' it was necessary to put some effort into the setting of his identity.
As I mentioned earlier, Otto was the brains of the main characters in the book I conceived but never got around to, and that's the truth.
As for the reason for writing it this way, besides the fact that it suits him and that Kallen did not die in the book's setting, there is another very important reason.
At that time, my dislike for Otto wasn't that severe.
Back then, I shared similar thoughts with some of Hedgehog Cat's readers: Otto did something terrible and died, so his death was just that—a death that I couldn't be bothered to discuss.
As a result, after setting Lin Yu's identity, I inevitably started to look up information from the official storyline, and as I looked, I realized that something was wrong.
Firstly, in the previous book, someone said to me, "Otto doesn't lie; he only uses the truth to mislead others. Having Otto lie directly is out of character."
I was very indignant at the time, after all, Otto had directly lied, and Theresa had been brainwashed after realizing it was a lie.
However, I didn't investigate the matter too deeply, and eventually let it go for the time being.
Later, as I started to define Lin Yu as a native of Shenzhou in some sense, I opened the Second Honkai Eruption comic again. After reading it, I felt that the idea that "Otto doesn't lie, he only uses the truth to mislead others, and having Otto lie directly is out of character" was absolutely ridiculous.
Isn't this just a typical case of fans using their biased perspective to criticize the official storyline? If I write Otto according to the official storyline and he lies, where did I go wrong?
Then, after reading the Second Honkai Eruption comic and discussing it privately with some Honkai enthusiasts in a small group, I discovered a very serious problem.
The prevailing opinion circulating about the consequences of Otto's actions during the Second Honkai Eruption is that "Otto punched Welt's negotiations broke down, Sirin lost the meteorite, and tens of millions of people died, so the two of them share some of the blame."
After watching it, I discussed it with everyone and found a few things that didn't seem right.
First of all, there's no way Yang and Old Yang could have broken up. Before meeting Old Yang, Sirin told Theresa, "Do you want to become my subordinate? I'll let you live until the world is destroyed." (Celine's original words) In the official setting, Sirin is seeking revenge against civilization. After Welt talked to her, Sirin clearly said to him, "You will pay for your sins of betrayal with your life." (Celine's original words)
Those who say that Old Yang's later declaration of war on behalf of humanity was the reason why Sirin began to slaughter humans probably forgot about the plot points mentioned above. These plot points and the settings introduced at the same time (in the later part of the comic) clearly indicate that Sirin's mentality was broken by Schicksal.
As a firefighter (in my eyes, the captain is Otto; he doesn't do anything humane, but in terms of status, he is indeed the captain in terms of resisting Honkai – only looking at status and not what he does), Old Yang jumped out and was beaten up before he even had a chance to talk, which was very miserable.
Then continue reading. After Sirin lost the meteorite, she lost it in several areas. Let's take a look at the description.
First, the meteorite falling into the Mariana Trench will trigger an unprecedented tsunami, which will inevitably cause a large number of casualties.
2. The city was hit by a collision, destroying 31% of the city and the death toll is predicted to exceed 30 million.
III. Los Angeles was hit by a meteorite, but the specific details are unclear.
Then, in the next episode, it is mentioned that the number of casualties from the meteorite impact is in the tens of millions. This number is often assumed to be 30 million because there is a specific figure of 30 million, but in reality, this is the lower limit.
The area where Sirin lost her body wasn't just three. After the description in Los Angeles, there were actually further warnings, but they weren't finished. Considering the difference between the number of casualties initially reported and the actual number of casualties, I think this incident will cost at least forty or fifty million, and it's not impossible for it to cost more.
Then comes the storyline's mention of Sirin's core going berserk, where Otto and Kevin simultaneously decide that "we must abandon half of Asia" and that "the core energy will continue to spread until it devours half of the Asian continent."
If you've ever looked at a map, you'll probably know that Siberia has a total area of 13.22 million square kilometers, while half of Asia has an area of 44.579 * 0.5 = 22.1895 million square kilometers. If Siberia were to be destroyed, the surrounding areas would also suffer.
What's worse is that the area around him, according to our world map, roughly Shenzhou after crossing Mongolia.
In other words, after Sirin's core went berserk, the surrounding area expanded directly, and eventually half of Asia was swallowed by the energy.
This is not the end, it is just the beginning. After the Herrscher's energy spread, those who were affected by the energy wave were basically beyond saving, and theoretically, a large number of Honkai Beast and Meele will still appear in the area.
In other words, after half of Asia was swallowed up, the remaining parts of Asia were not much better off.
The large number of Herrscher and Meele requires sufficient troops and weapons to suppress them, but what's really bad is that the plot only mentions weapons.
The modern technological weapons, the stored resources of Schicksal, were all destroyed by Otto.
Of the more than 500 Valkyrie, the majority were killed or wounded in battle.
The mechs of Anti-Entropy were basically wiped out. Apart from Otto, the high-end combat force of Anti-Entropy's Schicksal was either dead or wounded. In other words, after Shenzhou was affected, they had to use their remaining forces to deal with the Honkai Beast and Meele that appeared in the country's territory, even after a part of the map had been blown away.
In the book, I mentioned that in 2000, Asia had 3.6 billion people. Half of Asia is 1.8 billion, and half of that is 900 million. This is an underestimation. In reality, according to my reasoning above, the number of deaths was much higher.
Furthermore, according to some people's theory that Otto protected the world for 500 years, in the world view of Emperor Otto, there should be almost no war between the countries suppressed by Otto, so the population must be more than I estimated. In other words, the number of people who were almost killed by Otto's several divine actions during the Second Honkai Eruption must also be more.
This was only because Siegfried's attack on Sirin failed to stop the core from going berserk. If Siegfried and his group hadn't won, Sirin would have flown around and killed even more people.
As for how Otto fans in other places used fan-made interpretations to replace the official settings, we'll discuss that in another chapter. Let's get back to the main topic.
The reason I wrote these things in the protagonist's character development section is not for any other reason than that after these inferences, Lin Yu, as Shenzhou, would have no chance of liking Otto after learning what kind of despicable things Otto had done.
After all, 14 years before the first chapter began, Otto almost caused Lin Yu's family to be destroyed, so it would be strange if he liked him.
The reason why Lin Yu was so polite to Siegfried, Welt, Fu Hua, Cecilia, and others in the book is partly due to the aforementioned inferences.
Otto's misdeeds caused Sirin's core to go berserk, almost sending Lin Yu's entire family to their deaths prematurely. At that time, without Siegfried, Old Yang, and their group constantly supporting him, he would have been dead. Of course, one should be polite to one's savior.
Simply put, if Lin Yu has a favorability rating for other characters, then for Lin Yu, the initial favorability rating for these characters will definitely be the highest.
Kiana would probably be the lowest, for the reasons mentioned above. Even if she is Sirin's kind side, she is still Sirin. Considering that her whole family was almost wiped out fourteen years ago, Lin Yu was already being very polite by not taking his anger out on her.
In Chapter 59, Lin Yu felt excessive guilt towards Siegfried because he subconsciously felt that he had let down his savior, which led to his emotional breakdown.
Of course, after saying all that, if it can't be handled well, it can't be handled well. This is indeed my fault, so I'll take the blame and try my best to avoid this situation in the next book.
Let's go back to the character design.
With Lin Yu's character settings as a 'Shenzhou citizen' and 'member of Schicksal's finalized, many details can be further optimized.
For example, the story about his past that Lin Yu told Bronya in the Stigmata Space [Yae Village], he thought he was making it up, but in fact he was just telling her his true background, he just didn't realize it.
After the initial character design of Lin Yu was determined, the rest was about refining the details, or rather, adding my own inspiration.
The author's inspiration often comes from the cultural and entertainment works he has come into contact with.
Lin Yu's character design was inspired by the following characters, as he completed Super Robot Wars Z2 Rebirth between the end of the series and the start of the new book.
Roger's portrayal and rhetoric in Big O -O* (including the "if we can't reach an agreement, we'll fight" trope); Lelouch's mind manipulation in Code Geass; Suzaku's title "Zero Knight," hinting at his eventual assassination of his superior; Chiriku's outwardly stoic but inwardly talkative nature in Armored Trooper Votoms, along with his status as a "God's Successor" and his invincibility; Liam Leiard's lies in Super Robot Wars Z2; and Claude Blaster's brilliance and "unbreakable will even in hesitation."
Although everyone jokingly calls Lin Yu "Little Otto," Lin Yu's character actually has nothing to do with Otto.
It's just that not many people have played Z2 Rebirth, so naturally everyone will lean towards things they're familiar with. When watching Honkai, people will naturally lean towards Honkai, which is normal. I don't think there's anything wrong with everyone's thinking, but I just want to clarify something here.
Continuing from the previous topic, after Lin Yu confirmed that he was from Shenzhou, a Schicksal member of Schicksal, and a future Herrscher prospective, I started to think about what core he should prepare to obtain.
When Ling first met Lin Yu, she saw the magic chains and thought they were a kind of constraint, but at that time it was not certain and could only be said to be a path.
Furthermore, attentive readers have already noticed that although the Phantasm Lantern Barrier is a versatile ability with multiple uses, it overlaps with the Binding Core in terms of weakening abilities. This also shows that I was not certain that the protagonist was the Binding Core at the time.
Many details are the result of later optimizations.
As for the fact that Lin Yu often used his fear of death as an excuse to do things that only a madman would do in the early stages of the story, it's actually because he was a true vengeful ghost from the very beginning.
His fear of death is real, but so is his desire for revenge. Only when these two factors combine can a person like Lin Yu, who is extremely afraid of death but also wants revenge, emerge.
As I mentioned before, there was a bug in the birthday setting because I wasn't careful with my initial settings, even after making changes.
The first revision was to change 1998 to 1996, but after this revision, 1996.1.1 is larger than Rita's 1996.3.1, so what kind of sworn brother is that?
Of course, I wasn't aware of this situation at the time.
Most readers probably didn't realize it either, since not many people remember Rita's birthday.
As a result, it wasn't until Chapter 59, when I suddenly felt that the protagonist could be set as the Swaying Scales Jewel Wielder, that I changed the protagonist's birthday to the beginning of Libra's birth date, 9.23, and I haven't changed this setting since.
Hmm, let's continue.
When Lin Yi appeared, the protagonist's background was still not revealed.
But in my own view, there's obviously a reason why Lin Yu could so easily accept a daughter who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
In book reviews or online posts, some readers have said that it's strange that he suddenly accepted an artificial daughter. I think you're right. In my eyes, a normal person would never react like Lin Yu when a little girl jumps out and calls him "Dad."
Having a bloodline verification system is one thing, but one's own feelings about it are another.
But Lin Yu is different.
As an orphan, he successfully traveled through time after death and gained a family he never had in his past.
The sudden death of a family member caused him more severe emotional distress than the loss of a parent to an ordinary person.
In this situation, Lin Yu's lack of familial affection leads him to subconsciously crave the presence of blood relatives in his life. This is why Lin Yi was accepted by Lin Yu after they met.
Of course, this is on the premise that Lin Yi saw the Newborn Lin Yu, not the complete Lin Yu /vengeful ghost Lin Yu. The Newborn Lin Yu is relatively kind most of the time [after all, the original Lin Yu split his personality in two, and the extreme Vengeful Ghost Personality has been resisting pressure, so the extreme Newborn Lin Yu seems to be the gentlest of his three states.]
Regarding skills and items.
I originally intended to put it here, but if I did, the word count would exceed the Hedgehog Cat's single chapter limit of 20,000 words, so I'll put it in a separate chapter to explain my thought process in selecting those skills and items.
Regarding combat strength, let's start from the beginning of the previous book.
The Magnetic Field Rotation in the previous book was, in a sense, a product of a sudden inspiration; I don't know whether to call it a failure or a success.
In my eyes, it was a failure, but my thinking may not be correct. Perhaps the result would have been even worse if I hadn't written about the Magnetic Field Rotation.
To recap the general plot of the previous book, starting from the end of the first instance, when Ji Ran flew to Changkong City to rescue Kiana, although Ji Ran had a brief encounter with Schicksal, after the fight, he was in a state of "Otto knows that such a person exists".
His underwear wasn't showing.
He officially revealed his true identity to the three major organizations after he had been secretly training outside with the Trio for half a year.
Moreover, because the enhancements given after the first dungeon were already too many, Ji Ran can be considered the Sword God of Shili Slope in a sense.
To those unaware of his dungeon and system, Ji Ran was a ruthless individual who appeared out of nowhere as Kaslana, easily defeating the Herrscher of Thunder and two S-rank heroes.
After six months of hiding, when Ji Ran went to Singapore to stop Cocolia's plan, he was already considered one of the world's top fighters... Look at that...
Only Kevin, who lacked energy, could consistently outmaneuver him [before Ji Ran encountered Kevin and had his potential squeezed out].
Damn it, looking back, I realized that the combat power was too high, which made it difficult to progress in many later storylines.
After he and Otto completed their 'deal,' he rescued Seele and spent a week in England before heading to the Oceania Branch for a few more days.
I haven't calculated the exact timeline, but let's look at what happened after he reclaimed his evil side...
Is there a two-month gap between the start of the Singapore arc and the beginning of the Herrscher of Dominion arc?
The book was completed last year, so I don't remember the timeline very clearly anymore. But now that I think about it, the period from the Honkai Changkong City to the death of the Venerable Lord and the death of the Bishop probably only took about eight months.
This is the consequence of overestimating the combat power in the previous book.
Therefore, regarding the design of the protagonist in this book, my initial thought was that the combat power should not be too high, but should be increased little by little.
At least that's what I initially thought.
However, in reality, although Lin Yu's combat strength was indeed Ji Ran to Ji Ran's in the mid-to-late stages, something else went wrong.
[Here's a little-known fact: in terms of word count, when Ji Ran reached 600,000+ words and her personality merged with Lin Yi's, Lin Yu had just met Lin Yi. At least at that time, if Lin Yu had encountered Ji Ran would have been easily crushed.]
Where else did things go wrong? — The protagonist's teammates are given too high a stats.
From the very beginning, I wanted Otto to unleash the False God in both books, since that would be a grand spectacle, and everyone loves a grand spectacle.
But it failed because of its logic.
While I was writing my last book, I realized that Otto didn't have the logical conditions to become a False God!
He hadn't even managed to get his hands on the Thousand Worlds Annihilation, and Su hadn't given him any information either. He couldn't handle many things, so why was he even opening a False God's palace?
This can't be blamed on Otto. After Ji Ran's official debut in Singapore and Otto realizing something was wrong and joining forces with Kevin. [If I'm mistaken, then never mind.]
So I was quite disappointed that Otto didn't get to summon False God in the last book, but I originally planned to include False God chapter in this book.
However, the problem is that Lin Yu's early enhancements in this book weren't particularly outrageous [compared to the previous book]. After the "Pearl and Jade" appeared, it was considered [actually quite outrageous, but the "Pearl and Jade" weren't that scary until you reached the third stage].
In the storyline, Otto is on the opposite side of almost everyone, so strengthening others is, in a sense, equivalent to strengthening Otto's enemies.
Meanwhile, Lin Yu...
Su's life was extended, and she was able to move around normally again.
Old Yang's injury is healed, and he can start crafting the Divine Key.
Fu Hua is no longer a second-degree cripple.
Siegfried worked very hard from the beginning, and after he recovered, he was in the state of [Skyfire] + [Parvati]. Except for lacking one of Old Yang's cores, he was already the peak Siegfried who could easily beat the five-core Sirin.
The reason why Otto was so arrogant in the original work, even giving people the feeling that he was a master strategist that no one could beat, was because all these masters were either dead or crippled due to various reasons such as being tricked by Otto, being tricked by Otto, or having their time coming.
As a result, they are all fine now, and there is also a super voyeur inside who has been watching Sue from other worlds for a long time. What use is Otto's trump card in front of Sue?