Hello Everyone!

I just want to preface this by saying this isn’t a cancellation or hiatus. Certainly another week before the next chapter, but considering the time since the last chapter and everything else that’s been happening I thought it was a good time.

Continuing on that theme I want to explain what’s been happening in my real life before getting into what’s happening with the story. To be brief, it’s been a little rough. While I haven’t been directly affected by Covid, though it looks like my country is about to go belly up, my new work has been very stressful. New job and very long hours while trying to learn and run the damned place. I’ve just come off 3 sets of 12hr shifts, so I haven’t had much energy to write or do much else other than sleep and get ready for the next shift. The job’s very draining and I do think that the last few chapters have reflected that. As some have said it feels a little off and I felt that way too, but I’d already been delaying it so I felt that I had to do something.

However, before even that, I’ve been feeling less and less enthusiasm and…Quite frankly joy from writing. It’s not just this story but even the other ones, regardless of their state, have suffered and I’ve been struggling to write what little I have. I think it has something to do with planning this arc and whatnot. I know this sound just like a fat load of excuses but I wanted to tell you all, regardless of what it might look like as I simply want to tell the truth. Not to mention there’s no point in lying.

So, onto the arc so far. It’s been a bit of a mess, I think it’s fair to say. My slower writing certainly isn’t helping things, so everything’s going by much slower than normal, but the biggest issue that I’m seeing so far is the loss of Anton’s original magical powers. And the others brought with Longinious aren’t up to the same initial impact. Summoning a Fire or Lightning Bomb is much, much quicker than an Essence Bomb, though the Essence Bomb is far more useful against mages. At the time when I started writing and planning the arc I wanted to change things a little. I thought it was a little samey with Anton’s magic. Now, looking back on it, it could have been used to accelerate the story somewhat, which is a common thing that I see in some of the reviews and more recent comments.

To be honest…I think I might have screwed up. Instead of just adding to the potential arsenal, with some very strong but more, perhaps focused, abilities. At the time I thought it was right and, unlike the last few times that something’s been a bit of a mistake it’s a bit late into it to just delete one chapter and redo it. Not to mention this whole arc has had quite a few plans written and each time it really saps my drive to keep going.

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So I may have a solution. Hopefully.

* Keep the first chapter the same.

* Second chapter, after Longinious showing the first few abilities, have Anton visit Shawn and Jocelyn. As they have the same two gods, Esperit for fire and Stratos for lightning, and have communicated with them though not to the same level as Anton. I simply don’t know why I didn’t do that at the start. Such a massive oversight that I simply do not have an excuse for. Feels like, now at least, that I was staring at milk in the fridge and just simply couldn’t see it.

* Merge the two testing chapters together. Originally they were going to be released as one but time constraints on my end messed things up. So that will help make things seem like they’re going by faster.

* The bit with Levell…I’m not sure to cut it or to move it about. I do want to show that there are people that are trying to act without Anton’s intervention. Perhaps the wrong time, but also things have a way of not being ordered and timely. I’m not too sure about that one.

* The Kobolds. Again I think that’s when even I became aware that quality was deteriorating quickly and that I just needed to stop. As to what to do, even knowing that I want to keep it relatively the same. Renegade Kobolds that Anton helps, not necessarily out of a desire to ally with them but for mutual self-interest. I think that I just need to take a heavy cleaver to it and just start again. I do want to keep the idea that there’s only so much they can do and it’s just a bit awkward all over but…We’ll see.

* The final experiment with the White Ghlotsm, again a heavy re-write. Just clean it up a bit, but I wanted to have it so that Anton has his test and then decides to leave it well enough alone. Also eliminating a thought to continue growing them to make an Essence Farm.

So that’s what I’ve got thinking about what I’ve already written.

Going forward we’ve got the internal stuff, from Rasha’s perspective. Despite everything that I’ve written here I feel a little better about it. A return to form? Maybe? Regardless, I’m not feeling so much that I’m forcing myself just to put something out, and damn the quality.

Beyond that it’s dealing with the Lamia’s, now that Atros has more potential for influence beyond Anton, the Holy Kingsland, Mycea and Cetina’s Mother, Qaiviel and the Centaurs and the civil war in Bebbezzar. So there’s still quite a bit to do and I am feeling a bit better about everything.

That’s about everything that I’ve got to say here today.

Next chapter will, hopefully, be next week. I just didn’t want to go dark for a while and give people the idea that I’ve run away.

If you have ANY ideas, no matter what it might be, please make a comment. It doesn’t matter what it is, I do want and need to hear them.

I also remember some time ago someone mention opening a Discord channel? If anyone wants that let me know too.

Thanks for reading my little piece. I know it’s not what most people probably wanted to see, but I want to let everyone know and get some much needed feedback on my thoughts.

Thanks again and I hope you all have a great day!