Did you like that extra [Discourse Chat] chapter just now? Not only it's a sequel to the Short Story Draft that was released a few months before the release of the [Monarch of Light] arc, but it's also a sneak peek into what's to come in the worlds of and the AF universe itself.

In short, ARTIFICIAL FANTASY IS BECOMING A SERIES!!! (Sort of...) And I'm writing a spin-off series from it!

The title for this new story will be [Virtual Lycan: An Artificial Fantasy Playthrough] and it will focus on an entirely new cast of characters that set place during the events of [Sign Creation] arc. However, I wrote this story with a more mature storyline while keeping the slice-of-life genre in the real world along with more action-packed storylines set in the game world of .

If you want to know more, here's the brief synopsis/premise for the story.

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Lucas Lowell isn't having any luck both in real life and in the virtual world of the first VRMMO, . Between earning a living for himself, enduring his bullies in both worlds, finishing his thesis and projects, and his writing hobby, it seems like he will never get anywhere in his college life.

But it all changes when he suddenly encounters a mysterious werewolf in the game. An encounter that will change not only his game character in the VRMMO world, but also his real-life luck...

With his newfound power and strength in [Isekai], Lucas must traverse the obstacles of becoming the strongest [Lycan] in the game while dealing with everyday issues as a college student in New York.

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And here's what you expect from the story itself:

* No OP protagonist/Weak-to-strong story: As much as I want an OP hero in Artificial Fantasy, this isn't that kind of a story. But you can expect a weak protagonist who becomes strong throughout the story.

* VRMMO with isekai themes: What do you expect from a story centering on an isekai VRMMO? Don't worry, there are no fantastical elements outside the game sections as I want to keep the same slice-of-life themes from the original story. And of course, who can forget the stats and game elements from a LitRPG/GameLit story?

* Darker/Mature elements: That being said, the main characters are much older than Hayate, Kazuki, and the supporting cast from the original story. So there will be mature story elements that I can't explore in Artificial Fantasy in both offline and segments. Plus, it has much more action than the original, so expect to see more of the game than the slice-of-life scenes in the story.

* LGBTQ+ themes: With a new story comes a diverse cast of characters with the main characters being part of the LGBTQ+ community and symbolic themes in the story itself. But that's all I can say without spoiling too much of the story.

* No harem: But I am going to spoil one thing about the MC: He's aromantic, so sorry, harem fans. But he's not much of a jerk, so he's still a reluctant hero than a loner.

With all of that said, there's a lot to expect from this new story.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Currently, I'm planning to release it exclusively on Royal Road. While posting on Wattpad does broaden the audience with Artificial Fantasy, posting on both sites can be difficult especially when it comes to posting advanced chapters on Patreon (which will be included in the Sign Creator tier). As for the release date, I'm planning to release it sometime in August or October with the release schedule still undetermined. I wrote a lot of chapters thanks to past NaNoWriMo's including my recent writing challenge for myself. However, since I'm tackling some LGBTQ+ themes that I haven't explored a lot recently, it would take a while for me to edit them until they are ready to release. But all I can say is that I have a large backlog and you can expect 3-4 chapters to be released on the same release day. As for Twin Minds and Artificial Fantasy, I can't promise that their release schedule will be affected because of this new story. But I promised I'd do everything to keep up with the releases with fewer delays to worry about.

I'm sorry if this is all I can reveal for this AN. But I can't hold it in the excitement for this new journey with new characters and new lore for the series's game-within-a-story worldbuilding. More details will come soon, so stay tuned on my social media and get ready for the arrival of the full moon!

See you then!