Weekly Roundup - 1
Added 2025-03-22 07:27:07 +0000 UTCOkay. Good. We're good. Here's the 'real' week 1 roundup. One of my author friends loves doing this and said these little updates are really helpful with keeping up with the community and hearing a word or two from them.
So, we're deep in the first book with the last chapter. Building up toward the capital sequence, but before that we have some revelations and expectations to be met in this cursed rift arc.
This won't be a long arc, but it's packed with important stuff that will be useful in the future. You must've noticed the little lore drops here and there, and I'm hoping to keep building the world without killing the pacing of the book.
Honestly, I was nervous that after the First Arc, which can be considered a Dungeon Delve sort of plot, the Second Arc would bore or make people uneasy about the future of the book since it involves something deeper and sinister. It was full of progression, levels, and different creatures. It had a Necromancer for god's sake!
Parting with Nomad was a tough decision too since I knew he'd be a favorite character, but I'm glad I've gone through with it. He has his own troubles to deal with, and something tells me we'll see him in the future. (Who knows, right?)
Thankfully, after the slow transition from the First Arc to the Second Arc (Which was a risk for any LitRPG author there), we're once again in a Rift - A Cursed One this time -- and things are looking good.
When I first thought of the Templar plot line, I had Valens delivered straight to the capital, but due to the amount of worldbuilding going on in the background and the sheer immensity of the Guilds, Ancients, Pacts, Secret Orders etc. I decided I needed a more detailed plot transition to give the readers a fair idea about the world in general.
All things considered, I like where we are at right now.
Now the important part. (Or so I've been told.)
What do you think? What sort of expectations do you have, or what sort of problems do you think the story suffers from? What concepts do you want to see to be explored further in the book?
I have my own outline of course, but feedback is always important. We'll be doing these roundups every one or two weeks from now on.
Cheers!
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Comments
Good stuff 👍
Sambor P
2025-03-23 18:34:12 +0000 UTCThis is a great point. One that I admit I had struggled with before. For me, the good way to go about ALT POV chapters is that first, the reader should at least have an indication of sorts that who that particular chapter is all about. Rather than throwing a mysterious pov, I tend to like more when we see through the eyes of a character we've seen before. We'll have more ALT POV chapters in the capital arc, but they will never be long or frequent enough to disrupt Valens's story. We have some interesting characters waiting for us there in Belgrave!
Denizcan Uçuran T4icho
2025-03-23 11:05:44 +0000 UTCThank you for taking the time to write this amazing feedback. I will try to address, and give some information without diving too much into the spoiler territory here. First of all, the skill limit is there because of the whole Trial concept. If you can manage to pass through your trials, you'll get extra skill slots. This whole limit and trial thing was born because I was trying to come up with a good reason why Level 150-200 or level 300-350 people would act as guards or other crucial jobs that support a community. This subject will be further explored when we get to the capital! About the skill part. I have to admit I need to change a few things from the earlier chapters. I never intended to go deep into the skill part of the system quite early in the book since Valens didn't really have much time on his own to explore these concepts, but I'm pleased to say that his using spells without System's 'save' future would be a key part of the book in the future. I have a whole thing planned in the capital that's about magic and its intricacies, and how Valens compares to the other Mages in this world, or how widespread or hard the true magic is. (And Resonance as well.) In the first draft, I tried to work the magic and its boundaries into the setting, but ultimately, it interrupted the story in a way that made the plot a mess. That's why I'm planning to tackle that side of the world in the next arc. I LOVED the last para you wrote, because there might be an exact scene waiting for us in the capital sequence(it might have to do with a certain Scribe as well.) Again, thanks for your feedback!
Denizcan Uçuran T4icho
2025-03-23 10:58:48 +0000 UTCI don't like that there is a skill limit(10 in class and 10 in general). For one it has no purpose for the story. It's also weird MC uses it as an excuse to use fireball instead of glow because I would take up space (it was established that he can use spells and system asked for permission to catalogue it in so he could use spells without system). This makes an interesting implications: A: everyone has to learn skills. B: System doesn't grant spells. C: System has limits or purposely limits the user. D: If someone has filled the limit they still can use other spells. Questions: System helps with using spells? Why, what for? How? Why limit? What is recognised as a skill? What skill levels do? Can he still use spells that were catalogued in system without system and would his power regress if so? What other skills does the MC have? Overall, I expected a scientist to experiment more with the system, not just accept it and go on with his life. Now, because we (readers) don't know the extent of the MC's powers, we might expect that in a hard situation, he can pull out some spell he never used before to save himself (which isn't good). That's the problem of the first arc: it was supposed to show the MC in full so the story can progress and evolve, but it really didn't do that. We know the motivations and the struggles (drama), but fights have no stakes—at least until the limit of the MC's powers is established—so readers might think: 'Oh no! What will he do now? He has no spell that can help with this situation!'". That's most of my icks. Story still better than 99% of RR had to offer recently :) An idea: Is there a person who can probe cores and read other people stats? That would make an interesting encounter with MC who has an ancient class and race(who knows what that means) but it's trouble with the church I bet
Sambor P
2025-03-23 04:47:37 +0000 UTCAs an example to my last comment regarding alternate perspectives. You might have a smaller chapter following a little girl who’s making waves using a prophetic talent to protect or warn her home. Or a scholar digging through ancient tomes, researching obscure lore. Potentially foreshadowing future characters, or portents of potential plot lines.
Dylan
2025-03-22 13:22:59 +0000 UTCSo far, I am in love! I love the world building. It’s so hard to pace with the narrative, but I think you’re doing an amazing job! A possible assist might be to have the occasional different perspective in order to voice more opinions and lore. But, that’s an even tougher balancing act. It helps to add flavor, but can get convoluted as well. I am definitely looking forward to your future endeavors.
Dylan
2025-03-22 13:15:58 +0000 UTC
