Summary of Volume 5 and Request for Leave
From November to April, the fifth volume, which lasted for half a year, finally came to an end. It was almost as long as the longest second volume, which I didn't expect. After all, in my plan, the length of the volume should be the same as a girl's skirt, and it should get shorter as it goes on. It was a big mistake.
The fifth volume was very torturous to write. In addition to the mental torture, there was also physical torture: I was ganked by the new crown in December, ganked by kidney stones in March, and ganked again in April because I had to remove the double J tube... Now I drink 2 liters of water every day regardless of wind or rain. Readers who see this should go and drink water!
Before talking about the fifth volume, I think it is necessary to talk about my expectations for the emotional line of this book before I started writing it - that is, the comradeship that stops at ambiguity.
Yes, in my plan, the feelings between Ash and Sonia, Diya, Weisser, and Vichy should be like moonlight before the finale, hazy and beautiful, shining but not blazing. Because it is much easier to write this way. Occasionally, I can write about the Shura field which is not too intense, so that their feelings always stay at the level of campus love, and I can also avoid the intimate scenes that are very easy to be ganked, just like Ren Suo in the small world, and let Ash remain a virgin until the end - this is the route I am most used to and the simplest.
However, I started to run away from the third volume. To put it nicely, it is "the author can't control the characters, awesome", to put it bluntly, it is "the author's writing level is too bad, garbage", in short, I put a very sharp issue in front of the character: the contradiction between Ash's growing harem expectations and the female protagonists' desire for pure love.
To be honest, this is an unsolvable issue. I just can't solve it in the small world, so I let Ren Suo remain a virgin until the end, and then get over it after marriage, but I don't regret piercing this layer of paper - because it is really interesting to write, hehehehe.
But until the fifth volume, I was still avoiding dealing with this issue: let Ash and others always be in a long-distance relationship, use space to exchange time, so that everyone can't even meet the most basic emotional needs, naturally will not breed more advanced conflicts.
So at the end of the fourth volume, I really thought about letting Ash, Yin Gula, and Harvey continue to run away, the death row trio rampaging in the six layers of hell, and the queen group and the princess group trying to break hell outside. This is also my usual way of dealing with it. It is a high-definition reproduction of the fourth volume, and then everyone unites to the end... But as you can see, the loved ones stay in the world, and the lonely people continue to trek.
I chose to end the protagonists' long-distance relationship, let them all get what they want, and let all the conflicts surface. So there are two main plots in the fifth volume, one is "the conflict between the final five and Ash", and the other is "the conflict between the sword princess four and Ash".
Only the princess group has no conflict with Ash, but if the princess formed the queen group, it is estimated that there will still be conflicts... The opposition party cannot be trusted!
It is worth mentioning that I added the setting of "selling one's heart will cause amnesia" to Ash. The original intention was to go in the direction of sadomasochism, but as I was writing, I felt that Ash's sadomasochism was not in line with his IQ. As I was writing, I decided to write in a sweet direction, and it became "Everyone quickly activate the Book of Time to modify the past while Ash loses his memory", which feels right.
*
I have been conceiving three acts before opening the book.
The first act is the flying of the sea of knowledge.
The second act is the promotion trial of "knowing is coming" in the Ruby Mountain.
The third act is the end when the death maniac says "Viewer, die with me".
This is one of the few times that I carefully arranged the origin of the gold finger obtained by the protagonist, and recycled the gold finger in the writing process. For Taipal, Rensuo and Leyu, I just gave them a gold finger and left it alone. Why explain so much? Just face the wind!
The significance of the existence of the Final Five is not to recycle the foreshadowing of "Aurora's Magician's Manual". In fact, among the five people in the end, the person I want to write about the most is not the viewer, nor the death maniac, but the black magic.
This is probably the doubt I had when I watched FSN. Will Red A be jealous when he sees Shirou who is happier than himself? Based on this idea, the five people in the end were born. When they see "themselves in another world line are happier", what are they thinking?
Mirror Demon and Ghost Demon are a control group. Although they are both indifferent, Ghost Demon's indifference is "destroy it quickly", while Mirror Demon's is "I don't care". Death Maniac and Black Magic are also a control group. For the other self who is happier, Death Maniac sincerely wishes them well, while Black Magic is jealous to the point of being heartbroken. I think this is a rare topic in online articles. Even if there are most of them, they are in the good camp of Death Maniac, so the evil camp of Black Magic is the direction I want to explore the most.
In fact, if the "now me changes my past self" really happens, I think my mood will probably transition from Death Maniac to Black Magic. At the beginning, she would be optimistic and see that "herself" was getting better and better, just like developing a game character, constantly adding equipment and skills to "herself", making up for past regrets and satisfying unfulfilled wishes. But after a certain threshold, she would gradually begin to envy "herself" for being so lucky and so happy... In fact, the death madman also began to have this tendency later, but she vented her resentment towards Sonia towards Ash. She deliberately picked on Vichy not because she hated Vichy. Sonia could see Vichy's sincerity, so couldn't the death madman see it? She just wanted to quarrel with Ash.
It seems that some readers are looking forward to the direct confrontation between the viewer and Ash, but Tingri never thought of making them confront each other, mainly because Tingri felt that his writing skills were not enough to write it... The prototype of the viewer's character is Aizen, and it is already the limit to establish his character through the description of others. If I describe the viewer and Ash head-on, I feel that I can't write that kind of flavor.
But as Ash said to the black magic, the only person in this world who can understand her is the witch, and the only person who can understand the viewer is actually Ash. The only time the viewer and Ash came into contact was in the Trial of the Divine Fire in the Senluo Volume, and Ash treated him as close as his brother.
It was also from then on that I realized that the viewer and Ash would never meet again. Because the viewer is not a death maniac, who can give everything for Sonia and Ash; the viewer is not a black magic, who can accept his own crazy and outrageous behavior... The viewer is the leader of the team. Others can be emotional, but he must be patient and carry out the plan to the end.
When the viewer realizes that Ash can touch him, he will never meet Ash again. He will not give Ash any chance to soften himself. This is in line with his cold and cautious character. His rationality must always prevail, so I will not arrange their second meeting.
In fact, the Final Five and Ash Five have never met each other, so I occasionally imagine these happy endings in my mind-
The helpless viewer is hooked by Ash, like a naughty younger brother and a calm older brother; Sonia happily drags the dead man to go shopping, and they are the two most beautiful reds in the mall; the black magic and Diya play together in the amusement park, and it is impossible to tell who is the sister and who is the younger sister; the mirror demon and Weisser read the latest magic papers at home, and their positions are far apart. Usually, they will not cross their eyes. Only when Weisser goes to make coffee will she ask the mirror demon if he wants a cup; the ghost demon and Weixi are busy taking care of her children (hey? Why is Weixi the only one who gave birth?)
But it is just a thought after all.
*
The character cards of Nia and Death Maniac have been released, so this book actually has three sword ladies, Future, Body, and Shadow. I hope these three sword ladies can leave you with different beautiful images.
I haven't thought about the next volume yet. In addition to the outline, there is another point I need to deal with: the change in Ash's status. In the first five volumes, Ash has been wandering around and hiding his identity. Even in the fifth volume, he was just a traveler traveling around the five countries, but in the sixth volume, he is already the only two supreme ones, with four six-winged fighters under his seat.
He is no longer a weakling who is always ravaged by fate. This time, there is no existence above him. He is fate itself.
Even if he doesn't have this intention, resources and power will naturally gather around him. His every move will be speculated by countless people, and his words and deeds can change the fate of countless people... He adapts to his new identity.
In addition, because Ash's relationship with Sonia and others has entered a new stage, there should also be corresponding changes.
But anyway, the sixth volume is the final volume responsible for the ending. It will probably not be very long (at least I hope), and it would be best if it can be completed in 20 or 30 chapters.
Speaking of this, I have to mention one thing. In February, A Mao (Bu Qi Shi Xian) told me that he would finish the book in February, and I also said that he would finish the book in February. As a result, he finished the book in early April, and I even dragged it to late April... Now I am jealous every day when I see him not typing!
I have thought of the ending, and I thought of it before I started the book. It is a very clichéd picture borrowed from the classic online novel. However, after the ending, it will probably be like a small world, and I will write a few more chapters like the epilogue.
*
This time I will take two or three days off, not only because I am thinking about the outline, but also because I have a very serious sleep problem in the past half month. I often wake up after sleeping for four hours and can't fall asleep. I am really a little scared now. Whether it is exercise or conditioning, I must solve this problem in the next few days.
Like today, I went to bed at 8:30 and woke up at 12 o'clock.
I have to sleep at least six hours a day in one go so that I can work with peace of mind.
Besides, I don’t know if it’s because of spring, but I seem to be a little horny. Every day I have a strong, irrepressible desire to read romance comics (maybe not just romance comics, but currently there is only romance comics as a way), almost to the point of “I don’t want to write until I finish reading”, so the updates have been getting later and later these days.
I have read several comics in the past few days, and the one that impressed me the most was “A Town with You”, but I don’t recommend it to you, don’t scold me later. By the way, why don’t Japanese comics have urban harem types like “I Really Don’t Want to Be Reborn” and “Reborn”? Either it’s a stomachache or a harem comedy, can’t it be a stomachache but still a harem…
In short, it is very reasonable for me to take a few days off.
Rest for __ days, and then come back!
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Next volume, Seven Heavens.
I wrote a 3,000-word end-of-volume comment, so I’ve updated today, and here’s the monthly ticket (reach out).