Dear readers,
I'm Great Perfection of the Contract Realm.
As I wrote this letter, scattered snowflakes drifted past my window, and only then did it sink in that another year was drawing to a close. When I sat down to look back on this writing journey, I found I had so much I wanted to say to you all.
I never imagined this book would make it this far.
I still remembered how nervous I was when I first started it. Every day, nothing made me more anxious than checking the author dashboard and the review section again.
During the book's early days, the villagers of Gray Swamp Village were so "rebellious" that the review section grew too lively for me to bear looking at it for long-screen after screen of "denunciations." Some readers were frustrated that the villagers refused to do better, some bluntly called the plot unbearable, and others patiently offered analysis and suggestions.
The pressure was intense during that stretch, and self-doubt became an almost daily occurrence. Especially during the first volume, I constantly felt that one part was poorly written or another had the wrong pacing. Countless times, the thought crossed my mind: Why not scrap it and start over?
But whenever I considered it from a reader's perspective, another voice would surface: A story with a bad ending is still a story. If I abandon the book, there'll be nothing left at all.
Clinging to that almost stubborn conviction, I told myself that, no matter what, I had to finish it.
And so, day by day, chapter by chapter, without missing an update, I stumbled onward-and somehow really did complete the main storyline of Sea Land's independence.
When the average chapter subscriptions on my dashboard finally crept past 1,200, I stared at that number for