Hi guys! Book 1 of Seven has been completed (Yay). If you haven't finished the final chapter please finish it before going on to this announcement and FAQ/Q&A because it contains spoilers.
If you have completed the final chapter of book one then I'd like to say a BIG THANK YOU FOR READING!
Announcement!
The release schedule will be drastically changing for book 2. unfortunately the pace of releasing 50,000 ish words a week is much too fast for me. So I will be switching to two chapters a week released on Sunday and Monday at 10pm AEST. They will be similar to the other chapter lengths of 4000-5000 words although may vary based on what happens during the chapter.
This will start from now and the next chapters (Roxxy's side story and possibly Ana's side story) will be released this Sunday and Monday. I will experiment a bit so if I find it's easier to release both chapters on one day or release more than 2 chapters a week then I will change the schedule.
Q&A:
Hey guys! If you have any more questions or want clarifications about things I've written in the FAQ please feel free to post them!!!!
Please note I will not be giving spoilers. So if a question contains a spoiler I will answer with this exact reply: I'm sorry, this answer would require a spoiler so I will have to ask you to wait until future chapters have been released.
I will answer any and all questions when I wake up in the morning.
I will add questions and answers to the FAQ as I go through them.
My question to you guys: I noticed Third, Roxxy and Ana were the most popular characters to be voted to get side-stories. Especially Ana who lead the pack by quite a few votes. I was surprised because I thought for sure people would be curious about Archy. What about Ana/IEatTortillas and the other characters interested you guys? I'd like to know so I can write better and more interesting characters in the future! Very Happy [https://www.royalroadcdn.com/public/smilies/biggrin.png]
FAQ:
I've noticed quite a few questions frequently being brought up so I thought I'd answer them here.
Why does Andrew/Attracting ignore Emily/Seven so badly?:
There are two reasons for this. The first reason is the logical, in-text, reason why Attracting refuses to see what's right in his face. That is, that Emily is super skilled.
However that reason is yet to be revealed and so I can't spoil it in this FAQ
The second reason is my personal reason (non-canon inside the text); This is NOT canon, it's just the reason I wrote this plot element in this way.
It really is such a silly thing but honestly I wanted to show that a main character could be a girl, could be overweight or even chubby and not good looking and yet still be skilled and be someone you would root for. But as I was making that character I wanted her to be placed alongside a main character so that she would have an enemy and good allies/friends.
Andrew is a main character. I don't mean that because he's a reincarnator. I mean there is a version of the story I write (I don't post it because it's super incomplete but it goes side-by-side with Seven), and Andrew is the main character of that story.
Emily is fat (people say chubby to be nice) and fairly normal looking. She is also not that strong and mostly a side character compared to the monsters around her.
So according to the logic I was going by when I wrote the story for Andrew, he physically is unable to see her or notice her. This is because he's a male main character and there is literally no other reason for it. She simply doesn't exist because of her weight and looks and it would go against his plot armour to notice her existence and accept it.
That's the reason I chose to make him not notice her in the first place.
Of course, the actual in-text reason will be explored in future chapters.
Why hasn't Andrew been banned?:
Once again, there are two reasons for this.
One: Inside the text there is a logical reason for him not being banned; Nothing he's done can be linked to any sort of cheating by anyone.
This is a pretty big one so I'll explain it carefully.
Andrew is a complete stranger to everyone he meets with the exception of Ana and Emily (IEatTortillas and Seven). They know nothing about him or his connections.
Let's go through the character list and their suspicions or lack thereof of cheating;
Emily: She has absolutely no idea what's going on. She doesn't suspect time travel because that's not really something people think about. She doesn't suspect cheating because she knows Andrew (pre-time travel Andrew) and knows he isn't a cheater.
Ana: She's similar to Emily in that she suspects nothing because she's known Andrew so long. She actually had no idea that yellow items were rare because they were finding a lot in their quests. She has been mostly isolated from everyone except Andrew while playing so she doesn't know the weird things he's been doing or saying either. Andrew was pretty adventurous and competitive even before the time travel so him challenging people to fight isn't actually that rare.
TidalWave/Third/Roxxy: Third and Roxxy have suspected time travel. They're a lot smarter than the others and open to new suggestions, but they dismissed it almost immediately because that's crazy. They know something is fishy but they need more information. TidalWave has accepted something is fishy but uses it to his advantage (like when making sure Andrew could evaluate Roxxy and Spark Joy on the first meeting).
Spark Joy/Archy: They don't care and they forget about Andrew like two minutes after they see him. Everytime. They just get annoyed by him and they don't want to think about his life that much because they have better stuff to do.
Colt's Crew & Dark Horse & Knights of Magnolia: They don't suspect anything. Colt's Crew thought Andrew could spot talented players but they're skilled enough to do that on their own. They also suspect that Andrew just knew Dark Horse and pretended to be able to spot skilled people to get their attention. Dark Horse also thinks that they somehow know Andrew IRL and he's playing a prank on them or hiding his identity. The knights don't know anything and Leo is super confused at this point.
Zodiac (The A.I): Zodiac is the only character that truly suspects cheating or something fishy. Read chapter 17 and watch out for red flashing eyes. I will say now that any NPC with red flashing eyes is actually Zodiac. If you read what they'll say you will see what Zodiac knows, which is nothing and he's super confused and trying to find out how Andrew is doing what he does. As it is however, there is no cheating detected and so Zodiac is simply keeping and very, very close eye on Andrew and would definitely ban him if he found evidence of cheating.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Note: None of Andrew's in game skills are cheats. They are all perfectly normal skills he just uses them super well.
The second (unnoficial and non-canon!) reason is simple; he is the main character of his story. A literal main character. He could become the undisputed number 1 with a billion gold and stacked legendary items and he wouldn't be banned or suspected or anything.
Actually I'll admit the truth. This trope super pisses me off. I've read a lot of novels where the Main Character gets away with so much stuff they shouldn't so I just wanted to do this and make the bad guy the Main Character so I could actually try work out a way to fight the trope. In other stories nobody even suspects time travel for a second which I always found super weird.
So I made Emily/Seven the complete opposite. She doesn't have overpowered items or not many at least by the finale. She had the store-brand Lum wands and armour. She practices hours a day to simply catch up to the people around her. They are just opposites of each other. She is a main character and so is Andrew.
How that'll play out is for us to find out as we write/read on!
Why does Andrew have so many overpowered attacks?:
There are two main attacks that this is referring to; Andrew's group attack that eliminated a TON of people in the final battle, and Andrew's blue light that destroys the enemy it touches.
I have answered both these questions in other chapters but felt that the answers were both important enough to put here.
The blue light (Voluntary Barrier Destruction):
Andrew's racial trait is the following;
Shi-eld Racial Trait: Every 1 stat placed into wisdom provides 0.5 Barrier.
Note: The reason nobody knows what it is is actually yet is because there's too many races to look at and the game is still too new.
Voluntary Barrier Destruction: Detonate your barrier for an entire day to do x3 the barrier in true damage to a single enemy. Barrier will not regenerate until the 24 hour period is over.
Limitations:
Slow movement to target:
Andrew has only ever used the ability when he was close to his enemies (like when TidalWave was right on top of him in their first fight), or when they do not know what it is. This is because the ability is slow to travel in the air. If he dies it will disappear and an archer such as Archy could easily kill him in that time.
It can be used against him:
The easiest way to describe this is to mention that Third could easily use his rift ability to return most of the damage to Andrew and instantly kill him. Third's rifts aren't fast enough to send multiple on the one arrow but they can actually be used multiple times on one target. If Andrew used his blue light then its slow speed would instantly give the rifts enough time to form and insta-kill Andrew.
It is single target:
Andrew has used the ability smartly so far in duels, but in group battles the ability isn't actually that versatile. It can be used on a single opponent and you'd better hope a tank with a lot of health doesn't jump in front of it and absorb the damage.
It has a long cooldown:
It takes an entire day to go off cooldown. It did go off twice in one day once at the beginning, but that'll be explained later on. Players like TidalWave who have second chance abilities when they lose their health bar can easily recover from this sort of attack if they play correctly.
It does not deal as much damage as it seems to:
The damage is fixed to 0.5 of his wisdom stat x3. This is going to fall off quickly so although the move can be a good finisher in fights or duels it cannot be used to one shot someone.
The ability itself is actually not that OP and not uncounterable, Andrew is just using it at the right time and right way.
The group attack (Shadow Group Heal):
Andrew uses his ability really, really well.
Note: The players are still early in the game, they didn't know about the spell's existence so they didn't know to cancel it.
Andrew has a skill known as group heal (pretty common in priest classes) but as a result of his shadow priest class he also gained the ability to reverse his healing to damage (that's his basic attack that can't miss, he's technically 'healing' enemy players but deals damage instead). When combined he gained a group heal that can instead deal damage to groups rather than heal them.
The conditions for gaining that class are also super rare and involve mostly luck.
The skill is highly limited but was used in perfect condition.
Limitations are as follows:
- It instantly uses up all mana regardless of how many people are healed/damaged (there could only be two people in the group or there could be three hundred) instantly making you fairly worthless if you're in a major battle
- There is a very-very long chanting time as shown by Attracting staying out of the battle. It's around 10-15 minutes or so (I haven't decided). E.g If Roxxy hits him with her shield stun attack the ability would cancel.
- His movement is limited while chanting the spell- he can still walk if he keeps his concentration but if he runs or makes too many sudden movements like dodging then the spell will instantly cancel. That's part of the reason why he stayed on the head of the Corruptor the entire fight.
- It is limited in the amount of people it can target
- There is a range limit (it can reach a lot of the final boss cavern for example, but not all of it) in an open field battle with lots of players for example, he wouldn't be able to instantly reach the backline of their lower health archers and magi with this spell.
- It can be dispelled before activating during the countdown (that's later on in the game though)
- Healers actually heal for less than DPS classes damage. So normally the attack would do around 40-100 damage and quickly fall off as players gain more defenses and health. Attracting is an exception as he has several yellow-class weapons so he does more damage, normally the group heal/shadow group heal wouldn't do nearly as much damage.
There's no real AOE magic used by the main characters but the closest comparison is Glacier. She can actually freeze more units than Attracting (he has a set max number) as long as they're in the radius but she doesn't deal as much damage (because she's normal). If she had the stats he did she would probably be instakilling more players than him because of her AOE ability's low cooldown. Normally the spells are definitely not meant to deal that much damage.
What are the current power rankings?:
For those curious my power rankings in the team at this time actually go: TidalWave>Third>Archy&Spark Joy>Roxxy>Seven
Roxxy and Spark Joy suffer from being tanks but they're really skilled in terms of knowledge and fighting ability. Third isn't a major damage dealer but he is in general a monster. Seven has high damage but her knowledge and ability is farrr below the others at the moment. She's relied mainly on being underestimated in a lot of fights. Archy is countered by Third heavily but also lacks his knowledge of tactics and strategies.
Why can Attracting deal the damage he does?;
Here are his stats:
Attracting: Level 35
Health: 127 (+67)
Barrier: 35
Mana: 162 (+30)
Vitality: 30 (+11)
Strength: 15 (+5)
Intelligence: 66 (+44)
Wisdom: 71 (+30)
Shi-eld Racial Trait: Every 1 stat placed into wisdom provides 0.5 Barrier.
Voluntary Barrier Destruction: Detonate your barrier for an entire day to do x3 the barrier in true damage to a single enemy. Barrier will not regenerate until the 24 hour period is over. +6 due to level 10.
Class Passive:
Shadow Priest passive: Healing spells used on enemies can be converted into damage spells that deal damage equal to the amount that they would have healed.
Shadow Priest passive 2: Gain 3 wisdom per 5 levels.
Equipment:
Baldar’s Dagger: Strength: +5, Vitality +2
Holy Book IV (Green): Wisdom: +5, Vitality +7, Intelligence +3
Shadow Book II (Green Growth Item): Wisdom +7, Vitality +2, Intelligence +5
Darken’s Priest Wand of Intelligence (Yellow): +20 Mana, +10 INT, +8 WIS
Gardar’s Necklace (Green): +10 Mana, +3 INT, +3 WIS
Gardar’s Priest Robe (Yellow): +30 HP, +10 INT
Lum Priest Boots: +5HP, +3 WIS.
Lum Priest Gloves: +4 WIS, +3 INT, +2 HP
Gardar’s Magical Light Armour (Yellow): +30 HP, +10 INT.
Skills:
Heal: Heal a target for ¾ intelligence. Cooldown 2 seconds.
Group heal: Heal up to 15 targets within a 50 foot radius. Cost: 20 mana. Cooldown 3 minutes.
Shadow Group heal (Transformed): Deal triple your basic heal in damage to up to 30 targets within a 50 foot radius. Cost: Total Mana. Cooldown 2 hours.
Shadow bind: Bind a target into place incapacitating them for 5 seconds.Cost: 15 mana. Cooldown 15 seconds.
Shadow claw: Swipe at the air with a 4 foot long/wide claw. Deals your Intelligence in piercing damage. Cost: 5 mana. Cooldown 7 seconds.
These stats are wayyy above normal. For comparison, the next highest intelligence any player seen in the game so far has is Third's & Emily's/Seven's with 43