HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I'm alive! And I bring good updates!

This update is a wicked 3k words, so let me break it down very quickly. First is a TLDR, second is additional details, third is a summary of all Book 1 edits, fourth is AU art of Peijin and Feiyu, and fifth is my life updates. You only need to read the TLDR! Rest is optional!

TLDR: The rewrite of Scathing Reviewer will launch on January 15th. It will most likely be updating 5-7x a week, and after Book 1 is uploaded, Book 2 will begin. For those who do not want to read the entire rewrite but still want to read Book 2, a list of all edits made is included at the bottom of this update marked by a spoiler. Currently published chapters of Scathing Reviewer will be taken down on January 11th.

Additional details:

Okay, so that was the TLDR. Now for some details on what this will look like.

I'm going to be uploading Book 1 quickly (daily chapters), so that the whole thing will be out before I have to stub. Then, Book 2 will be uploaded after. You will NOT need to wait a year for Book 2, especially with how fast Book 1 will be uploaded. That being said, for my sanity, the uploading schedule for Book 2 will probably be around 2-3 times a week, so it is sustainable and the best quality I can give.

An issue with Book 1 was that I pantsed the entire thing not realizing it would get picked up by a publisher, so I had to go back and revise things to make sure it made sense for a larger series. Book 2 will not be pantsed LOL I learned my lesson and it has been plotted out. This means this long editing wait won't be an issue with future books.

I will have a Patreon for the rewrite, which means I will be deleting the current chapters of Scathing Reviewer. They're no longer accurate, and I don't want there to be any confusion with the new version. I'm not really sure how to price Patreon because I've never made one, so please let me know if you'd be interested at all, and if you are, what a good pricing would be. I'm currently thinking about doing $10 for 12 chapters ahead, exclusive art (incomplete example included below), discord, access to early drafts, and voting on plot developments/book ideas. There will also be a $5 tier with the same bonuses but it will only be 5 chapters ahead.

Lastly, the rewritten version of Scathing Reviewer that I will be uploading to Royal Road will not be identical to the version on Amazon because that is still being edited, it was worked on exclusively with my publisher, and because the market on Royal Road and Amazon are different (which changes things like pacing). That being said, the Royal Road version will have all the updated content and plot/character edits. There won't be any plot edits made to Amazon that are not present here.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and I'll respond to everything below. Your feedback last update was so so so valuable (seriously!), so please let me know if you have any thoughts at all ^^

List of all major edits:

Please don't click if you plan on reading the edited version—it is literally a spoiler LOL

OVERARCHING EDITS:

- A few naming changes were made. Wu Peijin --> Liu Peijin : HolyMapleSyrup --> MolaMola : Surviving My First Round --> Surviving My First Run : "Feiyu's" party is called "Twenty-Two" instead of "Major Arcana" : Liu Ting --> Wang Ting (for those who forgot who Wang Ting is, she is the one who tried to party with Peijin during Chapter #2—Party Time. Peijin refused her and she ended up dying. Explained more in a later edit.)

- A few formatting changes. Reviews should (unless RR hates me) look entirely different with usernames and stars to reflect the review. Observers <3 Peijin this time around (for the most part). Instead of writing "Observer" before each name, there is simply an "Observer's chat." It looks like a Twitch stream chat.

- This is a change for the RR version only, but certain scenes were sped up to keep the pacing fast. These additional moments are kept in the Amazon version. This is because Amazon is more flexible when it comes to content and pacing. These altered scenes won't change your understanding of Scathing Reviewer or the characters. For example, a scene of Peijin cooking for herself may be changed so that she is already eating when the scene begins.

- Gods can condense their spiritual energy into a spiritual core. The destruction of this core results in the death of a god. This core can be placed anywhere in the body, which makes killing gods harder.

- Most POV changes have been removed. It is almost all in Peijin's POV, with very few exceptions

- Most arcs remain the same except for Wei's, but more text and detail was added to the first third of the novel. A lot of this is Peijin reacting to what's going on around her + how to use the system. Some fights have also been extended, and Karma plays a bigger role.

PRE-APOCALYPSE/PREREQUISITE ARC EDITS:

- Peijin is less bitchy and more reactionary. In the beginning scene, instead of automatically arguing and blocking MolaMola, she tries to be civil and heed to MolaMola's feedback. It is only when MolaMola says something snarky that they get blocked. Peijin is motivated less by her bitterness/anger and more by insecurity and a failure of being patient. But, don't worry! She's still the same sassy MC you know. She just shows more care for the people around her and isn't as dismissive of human life.

- When the system apocalypse first begins, Karma is hinted at, interacting with Peijin in the reflection of her pest control's rear view mirror. Karma says, "Found you."

- The fight between Yue and Peijin at the beginning is extended. Instead of Yue being possessed, she actually signs a contract with the Demon King of Resourceful Goblins, making it the first interaction between god and disciple before the later interaction between Athena and Peijin. Wei and Yue fight one another during this scene and Peijin injects Yue with an exorcism potion after tricking her.

- Peijin is much more sympathetic during her interaction with Wang Ting in Chapter #2—Party Time. Originally, she figuratively kicks Wang Ting to the curb and leaves her for dead, receiving a system message that her action will have unforeseen consequences. This time, Peijin still refuses to allow her to join her party, but Peijin tells her where she can find another capable party. Wang Ting reacts violently to this and puts Peijin's party in danger, and Peijin quickly leaves. She still receives a message that her action will have unforeseen consequences. In response to her leaving, Observer Socrates reacts with shock, not understanding why Peijin would abandon Wang Ting. This goes unexplained to the reader until Peijin's confrontation with Karma, in which it is revealed that Wang Ting was created by Peijin to represent her mother and was a major character in Surviving My First Run.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

- Instead of failing to run from the serpent, Peijin charges toward it. This fight has been extended as Peijin makes three attempts to kill it and fails the first two. First, she tries to ride the serpent and smash it into rocks. Second, she forces countless other underwater demons to attack it. Third, she kills it with Medusa's head.

- When negotiating with Athena during her fight with the serpent, Peijin reveals (and lies lol) about her skills to get Athena to trust her. She tells Athena that her Editor's Pen skill only works once at the start of an arc/chapter, and that all recollection of her edit will be deleted. This is not entirely true. She can use Editor's Pen as much as she likes, but she made this lie to convince Athena that she was a god, since she would need to know something about the future to make all her edits.

- Tech (like phones) do not work at all unless a disciple has specialized skills. Despite this, Peijin's phone still works. It is implied this is due to MolaMola or Scathing Reviewer.

- When recovering from the serpent alone, Peijin sets a goal for herself that she will find a sword hidden in the train station that Feiyu won't know about until the third arc. She also says she will buy special white robes for Wei. However, when she arrives to the station, she sees Feiyu with this sword and Wei with these robes. She's shocked about how they could have possibly known about these items when it was supposed to happen later.

ARC 2:

- The earlier condition that getting onto an earlier train car meant concluding the arc a bit earlier does not exist. The only benefit is you look cool lol and that's a big plus to observers and gods. Feiyu's party still obtains the first train car.

AMELIA DUNGEON ROOM EDITS:

- Peijin sets up a situation where Amelia is threatened in her dungeon room to see if Athena or Artemis will save her. She determines that it is Artemis because of her sacrifice. Peijin also allies herself with Greek gods.

YUE DUNGEON ROOM EDITS:

- Yue's original dungeon room was a desolate island, but it changes to backstabbing (same as original) after seeing how Peijin is willing to manipulate and sacrifice people for a greater mission.

- Peijin signs a contract with Archangel Michael to gamble. She swears to ally her party with Paradise (Abrahamic divinities) as a new condition

YANG DUNGEON ROOM EDITS:

- Overall, Yang takes on a more active role. Peijin's injuries are less severe. Most edits to this arc were scene-level

PEIJIN'S DUNGEON ROOM:

- Key events remain the same in this dungeon room (i.e. Peijin's denial, Peijin's confession, the scene with her dad, and the reveal of Karma). However, the order has been changed slightly so that her interactions with her party members are more genuine. She spends more time talking about Wei when she turns into a child (foreshadowing that he is a god)

- The situation behind Peijin's assault is different. Peijin's dad worked in mining/factory jobs and would occasionally bring work friends over to their home, frequently getting blackout drunk and leaving his daughter unsupervised. This was a repeat occurence.

- In the interaction between Scathing Reviewer and Karma, Scathing Reviewer drops new information about the Major Arcana: “Zhige has marked Peijin with the Tower tarot. Soon, she’ll meet the other members. The Major Arcana already have their eyes locked on her. Once the Hermit and the Chariot tarot uncover Peijin’s true identity, you’d be a fool to think they’d ever let her go.” This was not explained yet but will be in book 2... ^^

- I forgot to give Peijin and Wei skills after beating their dungeon rooms!! This was catastrophic on my part, so I am very sorry! Peijin's skill is Card Dealer. Here is a description of it. "The key life moments, events, and emotions of those you interact with will be categorized into 56 different minor arcana tarot cards. Depending on how well you know the person or character, you will be able to take a card and alter it through various methods such as altering a card’s contents, deleting a card’s contents, or swapping people’s cards. This will alter their current perception of an event, memory, or emotion. You will not have access to cards for events you do not know. When using this skill, there is a chance of backlash, where one of your own cards is affected. You will not know which card it is or what happened to it. This skill relies on significant spiritual energy. Once you alter a card, you cannot undo this effect."

- Peijin is very apprehensive about using this skill because she doesn't want to lose her own cards or severely ruin someone. It also takes an incredible amount of energy.

WEI'S DUNGEON ROOM:

- Instead of occurring over 1-2 weeks, the entirety of Wei's room takes place in one day... it's no longer 1/2 of the word count. Large parts of this room were changed, so I'll summarize it.

- First, it opens up with how this room played out in Surviving My First Run, when Feiyu had to beat it. Wei was a part of Feiyu's party. It was revealed that Feiyu actually failed to to beat this arc. In fact, Wei goes berserk, and Feiyu struggles to figure out what is happening and why Wei is reacting the way he is. Wei successfully rampages and kills most of Feiyu's party. Driven by desperation, Feiyu signs a contract with a demon to disguise himself as Meihua and manipulate Wei. This causes a massive rift between Feiyu and Archangel Michael. Peijin establishes that she does not want to rely on this method because she doesn't think the manipulation of Wei will ever turn out right. It caused massive consequences for Feiyu down the road.

- Onto Peijin's turn. These following events are somewhat similar. Yue and Peijin are dropped off significantly later—Wei's 18th birthday, aka when Meihua and Ailun are supposed to die. They find a temple in which Wei's life history is depicted. The inital paintings show a glorious prince but they become more and more violent and horrific until they're torn apart and show Daji. They find Yang, Amelia, Wei, Meihua, and Ailun, who have already been working together the last few days. A fight scene ensues as they are ambushed by Daji's minions. Later, they arrive on the battlefield/outside the walls of Anyang, where the plague has spread. Wei goes to fight off Zhou shoulders. Peijin tells Meihua that she knows how to cure the disease, and it is with serpent eye's extract (Peijin wants to keep whatever is left of the eye). In the end, Daji's disciple sets up Wei and it results in the mass stabbing of Wei. Meihua betrays her morals to escape and try to kill Daji. Wei races after her after Peijin intervenes.

- These following events are significantly different from the original. After Daji eats Meihua (and the serpent eye extract), Wei regains his memories. Peijin finds him soon after and rescues him before Daji can further harm him. Wei immediately grows aggressive, accusing Peijin of setting him up. He then kills Ailun with his hands. He remembers than in Surviving My First Run, he used his hair ribbon to kill Ailun and that the ribbon is his spiritual weapon. He says Peijin knew this from the start, and that was why she always made snide remarks about it. He proceeds to attack the rest of the party, and Peijin activates her new skill Card Dealer. She hesitates, debating whether or not she should use the skill, but she decides not to. She convinces Wei to leave with her and the party. Wei agrees. This violates the need for sacrifice establishing in Surviving My First Run. An enraged Karma appears, attacking Peijin successfully. But, before Karma can kill Peijin, the World (one of the Major Arcana) appears. The World and Karma fight, and the World wins, exposing to Peijin that multiple timelines and previous runs exist. Wei picks his skill and gets "Thirty Aethyrs," which does the following: "The Thirty Aethyrs would allow Wei to enter the Enochian plane and contact all Judeo-Christian divinities with ease while also accessing secrets of the universe." This will make more sense in the future LOL. Peijin's party returns to the station and is greeted by Feiyu.

THE END!

Wow! That was like 2,000 words of just edit summaries. Longer than my chapters! If any of these are confusing, please leave a comment (with a spoiler!), and I'll reply to the best of my abilities.

I want to thank you all again for being so patient and understanding with me. I couldn't have asked for better readers ^^ I'm thrilled to see you all in two weeks! Please make sure to follow/favorite/rate/review the new launch. It really goes a huuuuuge way in getting more eyes on this work, and you will have my eternal gratitude!

See you January 15th!

Art!

Here's some (incomplete lol) cheerleader peijin and jock feiyu art as an apology for being slow ]:

image [https://i.imgur.com/xWx6aXQ.jpeg]