The sixth part, comprising 116 chapters, met my overall expectations in terms of completion.
When I wrote the fifth book, I said the climax of the plot would be in the sixth book. Note that I said climax, not ** (laughs), because I knew then that the thrill and explosiveness would be somewhat lacking. The core was to give a strong sense of impact. When Amon mentioned Chernobyl, and when the Chief said that Omebella was already dead, I could clearly feel the joy that writing gave me.
Correspondingly, the number of subscriptions also exceeded 60,000, becoming the peak of the entire book. In particular, the chapter on Amon reached a high of 63,000. As for the chapter on Omebella, since it had not been 24 hours when the summary was written, the result could not be given. It is only known that the number of subscriptions reached 32,000 within one hour of uploading.
These are the two peaks of the sixth book, one at the beginning and one at the end, perfectly connecting the entire work. Both are products of ideas I had already fully formed when writing the first book, or even before. They were consciously foreshadowed and outlined. One was something I determined when setting up the world view. When I typed the words "City of Silver " in the first chapter, everything corresponding to it was already in my mind. The other was the Spirit Intuition that gradually took shape when I started writing about Silver City and the curse. Only then did the Harvest Church and Emlyn White. The corresponding clues are actually quite numerous, rather subtle, but not entirely without Psychological Suggestion.
And around these two peaks, a lot of mysteries have been revealed. Overall, this part is fine, allowing the overall worldview to begin to take shape and have a relatively complete framework. In this way, I can smoothly develop some information and clues about the Great Old One and Outer Deity in the seventh part, and write about the story of the Ancient The Sun God's family. A family, uh, using this to describe it seems to have a lot of down-to-earth feel.
Speaking of everyday life, we can't help but mention the issues of war and " Justice " that many people criticize.
When I was writing about martial arts, I finally developed a writing methodology that suited me. However, many things were still quite vague at the time. It wasn't until I started writing about Mysteries and had some experiments and gains that things gradually became clearer, and I was able to summarize more things.
For me, the most important thing about writing, from the very beginning, is summed up in a very simple word:
Express.
What I want to express, what I want to convey—this is something I need to think clearly about before I start writing. Then, I need to make choices about the plot around it, so that the focus doesn't shift.
Simply put, it can be described with a word that everyone despises: central idea.
So what I wanted to express in the sixth installment was, firstly, the impact of the two peaks; secondly, the insignificance and helplessness of humanity in the face of the gods; and thirdly, that even as insignificant as a moth, one should still pursue the light.
The second point is not unique to the sixth book; it is something that is inevitable in the worldviews of the Cthulhu and Cthulhu-like universes: the fear of the unknown and the insignificance in the face of the "unknown." Moreover, this is also consistent with the theme of the second book.
Therefore, before writing the sixth book, or even the fifth book, I was considering what kind of plot would support what I wanted to express, so that it could be accurately conveyed to everyone's hearts.
If we were to expand on the topic of war, the focus would shift to various extraordinary abilities, battleships, machine guns, and cannons. This would be more novel and could also incorporate deeper themes such as sacrifice, passion, and the cruelty of war. However, this would deviate somewhat from the main point I want to express. Once you step onto the battlefield, you clearly understand the meaning and reason for death and survival, without the sense of being lost in life or death.
Similarly, the story has always focused on superhuman battles. In the sixth installment, the mystery of the Angel King and the gods was even introduced. If it were to expand into a full-scale war between humans, not only would the art style clash, but it would also feel rather incongruous.
With this in mind, I said long ago that I would not describe the war in detail, but would instead focus on the ordinary people in the war. Moreover, I deliberately blurred their faces and did not give them names. This is a reverse operation in the second part of Faceless, in order to reflect the feelings of the masses and reduce the corresponding pain and sorrow, and focus on bewilderment, numbness and confusion.
The only people who appear with names are the landlord and his wife, and that part only intensifies the pain and suffering; otherwise, Audrey's decision to kneel and kiss her parents would lack sufficient power.
Originally, Audrey's charity work didn't need to appear so many times. To emphasize the numbness, rigidity, pain, and confusion, I deliberately wrote it several times, which resulted in those scenes failing to showcase Audrey's inner changes, making them somewhat monotonous and repetitive. However, I don't think there's anything wrong with her two conversations with Klein later, her two different reasons for confusion, her decision-making actions, and the Manipulation after making those decisions. They are not drawn out or redundant, and they have their own contradictions and corresponding plot tension.
In short, I combined Audrey's inner strength, her personal growth, and the theme of human insignificance into a single narrative, resulting in a situation where I sometimes wrote about her, but she wasn't the real focus. This made her seem like a tool at times, which is probably the duty and sacrifice a " Spectator " must make. Sigh, but I'm also grateful for everyone's understanding and support. At the time, the subscription numbers didn't drop much, remaining around 53,000, which allowed me to write calmly and steadily, laying the groundwork for what I wanted to express little by little.
Finally, the Battle of Backlund unfolds from Audrey's perspective, both to connect with the changes in the God Wars and to settle the previous foreshadowing.
When this Spectator walks through the streets and alleys, returns home, and sees everyone from ordinary citizens to nobles and even himself, a Demigod, all equally bewildered and numb, and then spontaneously utters the lament, "I don't know why I died, or why I was born," I feel that the corresponding plot was not written in vain. Moreover, it feels like the plot, which had been floating in the sky, has returned to the earth, feeling heavy, stable, and solid. That's good enough.
Furthermore, this also creates three emotional progressions at the end: Audrey's storyline embodies confusion, insignificance, and sorrow; Bernadette's storyline embodies pursuit, determination, and the determination to move forward even in darkness and despair; and finally, after thousands of years of arduous exploration in the darkness of the City of Silver, they finally opened that door, saw that light, and saw something called hope.
For this reason, I postponed the Emperor's storyline, which I originally planned to write in the sixth book, to the seventh book.
Yes, these three emotional progressions could also be arranged in reverse, which would be extremely desperate and wouldn't fit the title " The Lightseeker ".
Regarding the Chief's death, because of the preceding death of Lovia, I did not repeatedly express grief or engage in more sentimentalism. Instead, I restrainedly described his state, allowing the corresponding pain to be hidden deeper, letting light take the lead, and expressing emotions through regret, relief, and hope.
One problem with Part 6 was that there were too many battles, some of them very close together, with insufficient breaks in between, which could easily lead to fatigue. This is an issue that Part 7 needs to address.
Furthermore, without writing about war, the opportunity to unfold the entire world is lost, making the stage for the plot seem small. However, this was something I expected, because if all twenty-two paths, different countries, and many stories of gods and Angel were to be developed one by one, and Little Klein were to run all over the map, it would be very cumbersome and bloated. Each place would only be touched upon superficially, so it would be better not to write about it at all.
So, even though I had already detailed the situations in places like Intis and Feynapotter, I didn't elaborate on them. A friend who is 1.5 meters tall can attest to this. During the preparation for The Mysteries, she asked me how to write an outline, and I simply copied a small part of the Intis setting for her to see. That should have been a fairly detailed version.
This is something I was certain of before I even started writing Mysteries The Mysterious*: I would try my best to avoid going off-topic, focus on meticulous writing, and capture the atmosphere and characteristics of a country while introducing the features of other countries and their different paths. If I could fully outline the worldview and framework of the world, then * The Mysteries would have fulfilled its mission. Hmm, you can probably tell I was holding back while I wrote it.
As for other ways of developing the story, I originally hoped to use a shortcut: to write a second or even a third book within this worldview, incorporating unused elements such as Intis, Feynapotter, various Concealment organizations, and the Western Continent, to develop and refine the entire Mysteries world from a different angle and with a different entry point.
I've even come up with some stories that I might write or abandon, such as a member of an Great Old One clan who secretly infiltrates to sabotage something, only to encounter an accident, lose his memory, and be picked up by the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, spending his days "addicted" to textbooks and exams; or starting as Hunter, receiving guidance from Saint Danitz, tearfully licking Anderson's bag, and outwitting the Red Angel, and so on and so forth.
This might become the main storyline of the second part. As for the third part, it will probably be the story of the Western Continent, with an Eastern-style Mysteries. I saw you guys messing around with the "Primordial" route before, and you all had smiles on your faces. Of course, I only left an interface for the power system setting of the Western Continent, but I haven't made it detailed yet.
Well, I might not write a third book. I can only promise a second one for now, and it's not like I'll be writing it in the next book. I plan to change the subject matter, change my mood, and write something else. After all, I've accumulated a lot of Spirit Intuition and have two well-developed and interesting ideas, one leaning towards post-apocalyptic and the other towards fantasy. I'm still having trouble deciding which one to write. I'll consider it in detail and gather materials after I finish the Mysteries.
Enough of this small talk, let's get back to the main topic. As usual, I'll be taking a three-and-a-half-day break and will resume updates on Sunday evening at 7 PM (actually, it's four days in total, but I've already written over 3,000 words in my summary, so I'll count it as one chapter).
As for the title of the seventh installment, I think many of you have already guessed it, " The Hanged Man ".
Finally, since I've made a separate chapter, how can I not ask for monthly votes? I'll be uploading the first chapter of the seventh book, " The Hanged Man," at 7 PM sharp on Sunday night. Please vote!
Also, the average daily subscription has exceeded 9,860. I'd really appreciate a legitimate subscription; I hope it reaches 100,000 soon!
Lastly, please vote for me with your monthly tickets!