To spare you the "too long; didn't read," I've put the key points right at the front.
This is not a "major revision escape," much less an announcement that I'm dropping the book. Until I finish the extensive revisions to the earlier parts, I'll continue updating.
Yesterday, I finally finished the long-winded second volume. Its plot had been dragged out again and again, and I'd stuffed it with quite a few things that were a little superfluous. No matter what, I'd completed the Xinyue arc/the academy arc. According to the plan, it should have been time to enter the third volume: the Divine Capital arc/the research institution arc.
But now, I have no choice but to say I'm sorry.
My humble work has now been serialized for over five hundred thousand words. I've honestly been very surprised to receive the support of so many readers. If I kept writing bit by bit at this pace, perhaps I could rise to prominence too? But now, I want to be willful for once and throw the earlier parts back into the furnace for reforging.
I'd wanted to make major revisions to the earlier content for a long time. Probably around Chapter 130, when I temporarily slowed the pace of updates—that was when I brought out that thing called the "heart demon."
The moment I finished writing it, I regretted it—how did I write something like that? It was clearly a massive blunder! It didn't fit the whole story at all!
Then I told my reader group that it was a blunder, that I didn't even like it myself.
Several readers naturally agreed unanimously. Yes, yes, it really was bad.
And that was when I began to have this idea.
I personally hated this setting so much, so why on earth had I created such a forced spoonful of shit?
When I conceived this work and set its outline, my grandfather had just passed away.
Perhaps I'd projected myself too deeply, treating Wang Qi completely as a reflection of the real me. The person made fragile by losing a loved one was not the protagonist under my pen, but me.
My grandfather raised me, so we were very close. But while he was seriously ill, I was preparing for a fairly important exam and couldn't stay by his side. Every time I saw him, it was only for a few hurried hours. That was the greatest regret of my life.
During the days after my grandfather died, I holed up alone in my room. I thought of nothing, just kept reading books and watching anime, like a genuine piece of trash. Naturally, I failed that exam too. Then I entered a low point in my life.
It was during that period that I began creating this book. And then the protagonist was influenced by me too deeply.
When I emerged from that slump, I myself could no longer adapt to this character setting.
What kind of person was Wang Qi? He was a seeker of the Dao, the image of a scientist in my ideals.
Like Von Neumann, he understood one method and thereby understood ten thousand methods.
Like Pauli, he was unrestrained in speech and wildly uninhibited.
Like Feynman, he was cheerful, did whatever came to mind, and incidentally loved courting death.
Of course, it would be best if he were as popular with girls as Schrödinger.
And then... I had no way to connect the miserable child I was writing now with the idealized seeker of the Dao from the original setting.
I felt like I couldn't keep going. So I decided to start over.
Once I had that thought, I looked back at the earlier parts and found that nothing tasted right anymore.
First of all, this was my first book, so I had absolutely no idea how to control the pacing.
The second volume's plot had dragged on far too long, with too many irrelevant scenes, burying the true main thread and foreshadowing instead. To make snow pile upon frost, when my computer was repaired two months ago, all my saved drafts and detailed outline vanished. After that, I somewhat lost control of the novel. The second volume's plot became a complete mess as well.
Furthermore, the protagonist's characterization was unsuccessful. Judging from the protagonist's name, all you esteemed readers could probably tell what sort of style I liked. But I cared too much about that style and instead neglected something even more important.
Wang Qi was a scientist. And scientists could sometimes come very close to lunatics, but they were absolutely never chaotic.
Unfortunately, this protagonist had completely failed to display a scientist's qualities. According to the original setting, his transmigration had caused his worldview to collapse, and he really had been a lunatic for several years. But once he comprehended the Heart of Persistence, he should have regained his own qualities. Yet his learning, one hammer blow in the east and one stick strike in the west, looked impressive but lacked all order. It didn't look like something a scientist would do. Correspondingly, it also lacked satisfying high points—at least, that was how it felt to me.
Still, losing the detailed outline and original setting was perhaps also an opportunity for me—an opportunity to start over.
While continuing to update this work, I'll also rewrite the earlier content. Once the rewrite is complete, I'll publish the book again.
However, recent updates may not be very stable, and the character settings will also shift toward the new version. The new Wang Qi will have the protagonist-tormenting setting removed, and he'll be brought a little closer to Feynman and Pauli.
That child who would regret his family for the rest of his life—let him live in my cloud drive.
Lastly—your donations have been wasted for nothing.
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