After more than half a year, it's finally finished!
Thank you all for your support, dear readers! (Applause!)
Before I started reading this book, I noticed there were no similar books on this site, so I guess I'm the first to try this out.
It didn't become a huge hit, but thankfully it wasn't a complete flop either.
From the beginning to the end, the outline was revised again and again.
The initial plan was to write an academic novel, which is why a professional team was assembled.
The idea is for Qin Ze to lead a professional team to compete in various tournaments, encounter the Hunter, and then resolve the crises involving alien beasts and Otherworld.
But when I was writing the first welcome challenge, I discovered a fatal problem: Qin Ze's combat power was too overpowered; he could already kill opponents of higher levels instantly.
If the difference in combat strength is too great, the competition can't be anything but superficial.
The main issue is the contradiction between the ever-increasing number of clones and the slow development of strength among people of the same age.
Since the number of clones can no longer be reduced, the only option is to abandon this part of the competition and put Qin Ze into a higher-level battlefield.
What you'll see then is Qin Ze, a beginner-level martial artist, engaging in a battle of wits and courage with a high-level martial artist; this is the core idea of the entire book.
The protagonist moves between high-level martial artists from both sides, seeking his own interests, while the two sides clash.
It's so hard to Pretty God; she's been playing at the peak level since her debut.
I'm amazing for fighting high-level opponents while my power system hasn't collapsed!
The professional team couldn't keep up with the intensity, so I gradually downplayed it.
Similarly, there's Teacher Yao from the beginning. Originally, they wanted her to return to the Maka Race to get married, with Qin Ze going to steal the bride. But later they thought it was too low-class and deleted it. Teacher Yao only played the role of a Guide.
There was actually a scene where Brother Biao Qin Ze interacted with the Circus Circus he first arrived in Snow City, but that part was never well written after several revisions, so I deleted it. This is also why Brother Biao is the most downplayed character among the Hunter.
I've learned my lesson this time, and I'll try my best not to have characters like this—used halfway and then discarded—in my next book.
The original outline for the latter half of the book was that Qin Ze would lead the Hunter Squad to break through the alien race's Otherworld and compete for the Source of the World.
When I actually started writing, I encountered another problem: this kind of writing requires at least five or even more distinctive alien civilizations.
A detailed worldview, world structure, cultural characteristics, representative characters and their backstories, martial arts with civilizational features, supporting technology, and most importantly, a complete storyline.
This level of difficulty is beyond my current capabilities, so I gave up on it and instead turned it into Qin Ze's solo travelogue, a pseudo-infinite flow story where civilizations tend to assimilate.
The most successfully portrayed character is probably Brother Yuanzi, an absolutely righteous person. Even the appearance of Miss Sword Case later on is to replace Brother Yuanzi, making her the protagonist's guide and helper.
There are regrets, but I tried my best to do it perfectly.
I've filled in all the plot holes I could think of, resolved most of the foreshadowing, and explained the origins of the clones.
Finally, I'd like to mention three things.
One is a group. I created a group, you can join by clicking on my homepage. It's finished, so I'm not afraid of you urging me to update. If you want to join, you can add me.
The second is the extra chapters. Once the status is changed to "completed," the extra chapters will start updating, but it won't be two chapters a day. I'll write them slowly, and you can read them at your own pace.
It's tentatively planned to be a story about a Desolate God, about the Master Desolate from the past era. If you have any specific requests, feel free to leave a comment, and I'll write them if I can.
Finally, there's the new book, which will probably be released around April, May, June, or July. It's likely to be an infinite flow novel, and I've already come up with some initial ideas.
However, there is no outline yet, the character designs are not yet written, and the cheat ability is undecided. Please stay tuned.
Thank you again for reading this far. I look forward to meeting you in the next story.