A Word on Pacing, and Thanks to My Reader Brothers

I know the pacing is a bit slow, but this is necessary groundwork and supplementation, and I'm working hard to push the story forward quickly.

From the moment I placed the [Mortal Flow] tag at the very front, I set the tone. This book has an outline, and the estimated word count is around 4.5 million.

I can write flashy, brain-bending stories—guaranteeing a satisfying payoff every five chapters within the first hundred thousand words. But what about after a hundred thousand? After five hundred thousand? I can't guarantee that.

I'm considered a veteran author. On Qidian, I've had three high-quality works, won first prize in a writing contest, and signed a long-term contract. Off-platform, I've had a book with ten thousand subscriptions and even earned six figures in monthly royalties—yet none of it lasted.

I know all too well the importance of keeping the plot stable, because I've suffered from these mistakes before.

In this book, the protagonist's past-life persona at the beginning is the core fulcrum for many future plotlines. That's why I need enough space to establish the protagonist's character, along with his related cunning, his principles for judging and employing people, and his knowledge.

Because in the future, the protagonist will cultivate all seven systems, consuming massive resources, and will need to maneuver among various factions, planting his own turncoats.

Only by laying out these character traits and methods and standards well in advance will the future not feel abrupt, and the plot will unfold naturally.

In this world's setting, many more powerful and bizarre forces will emerge in the future. It's not entirely a world where strength reigns supreme.

Often, you have to operate within someone else's system framework to have a chance to climb up. Many of the irreconcilable conflicts and satisfying payoffs I've designed come from this very point.

Future events like the Wizard Alliance assessments, the Empire Civil War, the resource struggles of the Plane War, the Abyssal Tide expeditions, the faith struggles among various Theocracies, the experiments at the Astral Realm Research Institute, the conspiracies of various cults, the Bounty Guild's struggle for supremacy, the scramble for the Lost Holy Grail, the mutual devouring within the Ancient God Brotherhood... and so on—all of these have their own rules and frameworks.

The people and factions within them also have their own interests and demands.

How to seek common ground while reserving differences, how to use enemies to strike at competitors, how to use competitors to eliminate the moles beside you, how to use those moles to destroy your enemies...

The protagonist is adept at exploiting these rules, making one fish feed multiple meals—double wins, triple wins, quadruple wins! Thereby maximizing his gains.

I originally planned a few more chapters on the exams, but they've been cut. Tomorrow, we'll head straight out of the city and kick off a new, more tightly paced chapter and dungeon. The protagonist's future core technique, comparable to Old Devil Han's Great Evolution Art, is about to make its debut.

Although I'm confident that the story from here on out will be absolutely reliable and steady, Qidian's current recommendation system is absolutely centered on read-through rate.

I also have to consider how to retain more read-throughs in the early stages.

So I'm begging everyone to read daily. I'm frantically stockpiling drafts right now, and in the future, I will definitely give you all a surprise.

Finally, thank you all for your support, comments, monthly tickets, and recommendation tickets. Getting your positive feedback is my greatest motivation.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment, and I'll make changes at any time.

Orz, I bow in thanks!