Thoughts on Going Premium

Damn, how was it already August?

That was honestly my first reaction after hearing the book was going premium. Forging Fate started in June; as I kept writing, more than a month slipped by. Then I saw the notification and realized it was time to put it behind a paywall. When I saw that notice, I was still in the office working on reports. Thinking back to two years ago, when I was still a carefree graduate student slacking off and writing Azure Capital in my spare time, it felt like a lifetime had passed.

But I figured nobody really cared about the author's corporate slave experience, so let's talk about the book instead...

For a long time, I'd wanted to write an infinite-flow story, because I liked that structure from every angle: roaming through countless worlds like a wandering knight, with the choice to do good or evil resting on a single thought; meeting new friends and experiencing new stories each time; exploring mysterious, unknown places; then returning home with generous rewards, taking a brief rest, and setting off on another adventure.

Wasn't that wonderful? It fit every adventure-loving kid's vision of the future! As long as there were enough ideas, a story like that could go on forever, until both readers and protagonist were completely satisfied. But when I actually put pen to paper, the story was not as beautiful as I'd imagined...

When it came to Forging Fate, I'd originally planned to make Ah Kong a, uh, classic decisive-and-ruthless male protagonist. Under the system's guidance, he would take missions one by one, conquer Dust Islands one by one, and follow a fairly traditional infinite-flow route. But even during the outlining stage, I discovered a problem I couldn't get around:

System exchanges, mission distribution, character sheets, all that stuff was such a hassle.

Yeah, well, since I'm kind of lazy, I deleted the system...

The second problem was that conquering Dust Islands one after another meant constantly changing instances. That put a lot of pressure on ideas, and there wasn't much chance to write about daily life and pretty girls... After all, I was still writing a light novel, and I rather liked character interactions...

So I decided to write more stories in a more three-dimensional big city!

And so, bit by bit, the framework of Forging Fate took shape. Then when I looked back after writing this far, I discovered—without being particularly shocked—

—it had basically nothing to do with infinite-flow anymore!

Yeah, that was it, that was it, so I didn't have the nerve to add the infinite-flow tag. Seriously, by the time most infinite-flow stories went premium, they'd at least be on their second instance. Meanwhile, Ah Kong was still steadily advancing the story of Dragon's Return City. That really wasn't funny. Was it too slow? Should I speed things up? Quickly throw in some eye-catching elements, like a pretty girl falling from the sky, or add some scenes I personally liked but the censors probably wouldn't, or dig through the earlier words for something that looked usable as foreshadowing, then bam bam bam, reveal shocking truths in an explosive development, send the plot spiraling wildly out of control, and leap into a vast new world—

But no. Tempting as it was, no. What I was writing wasn't exactly a mainstream story to begin with, so it was better to keep the pace and move forward step by step. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day. Building hanging gardens in the sky with wild abandon and madness was the privilege of a very few geniuses; an ordinary writer trying to imitate them would most likely produce unusable garbage. After writing stories for several years, I'd more or less come to understand the limits of my abilities. I should still lay the foundations solidly first before talking about anything afterward.

Therefore, in the remaining chapters of the first volume, I'll do my best to tell Dragon's Return City's story well and strive to leave everyone who has read this far satisfied. As for the direction of the overall story, I'd still like to save that for the end-of-volume summary—after all, there was no reason to spoil things in these thoughts—so I won't add any more here.

After starting work, time became very precious. I'll work hard to keep updating consistently.

So, as usual, I'd like to thank everyone who has read this far. Thank you to every reader willing to read this book. Thanks to Otter Spirit, who discussed the setting with me and helped me commission art, and to the Curator, who often listened to me complain. Thanks to this book's first and second Silver League patrons, Earthbound Spirit—I was genuinely shocked—League patrons antsaber, Sincere Ghost Heroes, Kamikyo, Prairie Wolf 2221, Martial King Lie Challenges the Strong in Gensokyo, Witch of Catboxes and Dreams, and Damaskeen. Thanks as well to all my fellow readers for your tips, monthly passes, and recommendations. Thank you!

Your support will turn into my burgers and milk tea... Ah, no, it will turn into my motivation to write! (Loudly)

Lastly, let me shamelessly ask for recommendation votes and monthly passes as well.

Also, this book now has a new reader group: Dragon's Return City Wonderful Squid Plantation, group number 980497014. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss squid cultivation experience~