Author’s Thoughts (special edition)

Hey everyone, Drew here. I’ve decided to make a post to address the latest comments. It’s likely many of you won’t know what I’m talking about, so let’s start from the beginning.

Lately, I feel like no matter what I do, some people would like for the opposite thing to happen in the story. There is always someone unhappy in the comments because the story is not what they wished it to be.

I love writing, but since publishing Elydes my mental health has been less than stellar. The constant feedback loop at all times of day (on RR, Patreon and Discord) has been hard to handle. I’m learning how to deal with it, but I’m not there yet. I’ve been close to burnout many times but kept going, which was the reason why I had finally decided to take a week off as announced.

I’m doing my utmost best, but reading certain comments can stress me out for days. So much so, I have been trying to avoid them to not waste hours and days paralyzed by anxiety and doubts.

I don't want people to stop telling me what they like and dislike. I enjoy reading and answering questions that will help improve the story, but it would go a long way if some of you could phrase it in a nicer way.

Anyway, I saw some people had a few doubts about the current mini-arc. Maybe I wasn’t explicit enough, so I decided to address the most common questions.

If you think the story was perfectly clear (or good enough for you), or maybe you like the mystery, it’s not necessary that you read any further. Be warned the following might contain very minor spoilers.

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• Why is Kai there?

To make things extra clear, let’s divide this question into two.

1. Why Kai chose to come here and participate in the selection.

The simple answer is that Kai wants to get more information about what the Republic and the governor are doing in the Baquaire Archipelago. He realized he has been shut off from the rest of the world and wants to understand what’s going on around him.

Less important but still relevant, he thinks his Favor might be part of what led him here, and if not that, it might be something Elijah wants.

Kai always had a bit of a whimsical and curious character. If he sees something weird or interesting, he is very likely to see what's going on, especially if it costs him little to nothing.

1. Why I, as in the author, chose to write this mini-arc.

I wanted to introduce new characters and let people know what was going on in the archipelago while Kai was locked up in the estate. Him confronting himself with other kids his age, meeting Val for the first time and expanding on the worldbuilding were also reasons I took into consideration.

If you pay attention, there was very little page time given to the selection itself, with the large majority being dedicated to the aforementioned goals. Even the short time of the tests shared those aims, like giving hints as to the intention of the Republic, letting Kai compare to other kids his age and developing secondary characters.

I also wanted to get him out of the estate before doing the larger timeskip. It’s not reasonable that he will spend years without ever stepping and it would feel jarring if it was only mentioned after the timeskip. This way when Sylspring and other characters are mentioned after the timeskip, you won’t be completely lost or need huge info dumps.

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• Why isn't it risky for him to be here?

As long as he doesn’t go nuts, Kai is not at any ‘real risk’. Even if things go sideways, he can always whip out the letter from the governor, but Zerith would probably intervene before things got to that point.

He isn’t really revealing too much about himself either since his ID already shows he has high grade for his age. Also keep in mind people from the Republic have a different concept of ‘high grade’. Apart from those already born at Orange, many children are born at Red ★★ or ★★★ on the mainland. A kid who reaches Orange ★ at Kai’s age is not uncommon. It would be a different situation if he were Orange ★★ (which takes more XP than going from Red ★ to Orange ★) or if he showed extremely high skills.

If you also worry about him suddenly enhancing his race, you should remember he gained the ability to control when he gets his XP after unlocking his First Seal. So he can choose when and where to get Orange ★★.

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• This arc is going too long, when will he go back to training?

Well first of all: I disagree :p. In any case, worry not! The mini-arc is nearing its conclusion. Then he’ll get back to the estate, get to Orange ★★, have a chat with Dora and Elijah and *BOOM!* timeskip!

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I hope this has cleared the doubts some readers had.

I like to keep a little mystery and let people piece things together as the story goes on. One of the things I hate most is when stories feel like they are talking directly to the reader and bashing them on the head with information yelling DO YOU GET IT! Which is why I prefer not to make things too obvious and explicit, but I might have strayed too far in the opposite direction. I’m still learning how to strike the perfect balance.

I’ll be happy to answer any question you have in the comments, but please keep in mind I’m a human being, and not one particularly good at handling his mental health ;)

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Best,

Drew