That's right, just as everyone guessed, the author was changing settings.
This also marked the official end of the first part of this book.
For a while to come, the protagonist would use "travel" to journey back and forth between the Feneport Kingdom and the Stormy Sea. Of course, he would occasionally return to Backlund as well.
As for why Feneport was chosen, it was a decision the author had agonized over for a long time. Choosing the Intis Republic would actually have been easier, since Brother Cuttlefish had already helped "open up the map."
But setting it in the Feneport Kingdom made more sense. Hehehe, surely you didn't think Christine had betrayed his country just for the sake of betrayal, did you? How could a single demigod's defection possibly affect the situation across the Northern Continent? That's right, this was a massive piece of foreshadowing that would run through the entire second part of the book.
As for the second part, the author planned for it to run between 160 and 200 chapters. However, old readers familiar with the author should know that plans were just plans, and they were never very reliable. The specifics would depend on how the plot developed.
The author had also thought about the "new setting," the Feneport Kingdom, for a long time. Based on everyone's speculation about the real-world inspirations behind the countries of the Northern Continent, the Loen Kingdom was undoubtedly the old gentleman, or John Bull. The Fosac Empire was surely the battle-hardened Big Bear, while the Intis Republic should be the old rogue, or the Gallic Rooster.
At first, the author thought the Feneport Kingdom was based on Hans Cat, so he had started steering it in that direction earlier on, such as giving the Feneport Ambassador a toothbrush mustache.