The Forward, the part of the book where the author tells you some things they think are important for you to know about the book you are about to read.
That’s what it’s supposed to be, but in reality, most authors just use it to waste time with all sorts of special thanks, bragging about themselves, telling part of their life story, and maybe some of them will talk about what their inspirations were in writing the book.
I’m not planning on wasting your time too much, otherwise what would be the point in adding a foreword almost a month after the series had been launched? I will mention though that this forward has been changed since it was launched, a major overhaul in fact, so even if you have seen it before, you will likely see something different now.
-Table of Contents
This is the contents of this one page, not the entire series, so it only tells you the order of the tags in bold you should be looking for if you want to skip down, not the page numbers or something of the sort.
-Revisions history
-Disclaimer
-Inspirations
-Content Warnings
-Release scheduling
-Funding
-Revisions History
-4/10/2019
Posted Foreword to Scribble Hub
-5/18/2019
Added Table of Contents section, Revisions History section, Content Warnings section, Funding section, and edited the release schedule to reflect that I would no longer be making releases on the weekends.
-9/3/2019
Updated my release schedule officially to 1 chapter every 3 days.
-3/8/2020
Added a disclaimer about the in-progress rough-draft nature of this story.
-Disclaimer
I am editing this in almost a year after starting this story.
After having made quite a bit of progress in this story, there are now several points where I started out on an idea early on in the 1st book expecting for there to be some realization of it by the 3rd, hopefully sooner. Now, however, there are several areas in regards to the magic system in particular that have changed significantly in terms of what I plan to do with them than back when I first spoke about them in the 1st book.
I have also become aware of several other issues in my early work that could have been handled a lot better. I have been planning a major revision of the 1st book in order to fit the more updated idea of how things should be structured, but I also tend to run out of time just getting the newest chapter out. It seems to still be a solid enough story despite it's flaws to continue writing it. However, the early issues are kinda glaring at this point.
Two more specific issues are 1. Too many POV views of a single event. 2. Plans that were laid but later change, and I have not had the time to go back and correct the early references. One significant one is in regards to the magic system as I have already mentioned, and another is in regards to what historically lore-based goddess the sister in this case was. It is not revealed early on, and then later I figure out exactly who it is I want her to be. There is, therefore, a little bit of information early on coming from the sister that doesn't quite fit the model for what I eventually start going for with her.
Just know the story is going to be a little rough at this point, and I do have plans to fix it whenever I have the time. It very well might be that I continue to write this story to the end and then go over the entire story again from start to finish to revise it.
-Inspirations
The series that is absolute top first and foremost is a web novel with one of those typical web novel names that is a lot longer than it needs to be. The shorter and cooler sounding title all the fans call it by is “Death Mage.” The far less snappy title that it actually goes by is “The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time.”
It is a Japanese Isekai web novel with a serial reincarnator on his third life, and all three of his lives are horrible. He also has a huge beef with the god of reincarnation. They hate each other and want to kill each other. Therefore, there is no way he can allow himself to die again and wind up with a “fourth life.” (His fourth time, as the title goes.)
There are several things that I absolutely loved in Death Mage that will be making a major presence in this series. The one that you might want to be the most aware of is that I do not make any very large time skips. The protagonist of the story is going to be a baby for quite a while, and will even have to go through life or death struggles against people wanting to kill her while she is still a baby, and her small body is definitely going to be a huge hindrance and even one of the very biggest obstacles she has to overcome in order to survive.
Another thing I really liked about Death Mage is that nobody sees themselves as evil, and yet in some cases by giving them the depth of character to explain why they are able to do the twisted things they do while being able to rationally justify it all to themselves in a perfectly believable way, a way that you could easily imagine someone you meet on the street thinking the same exact way, somehow makes the villains in that story even more contemptible. In much the same way, you will see a relatively small number of just pure villains, and every antagonist in the story will have their own motivations and be very full characters in and of themselves.
A second inspiration that I had was Warlock of the Magus World. WMW is a very interesting take on the cultivation world genre. I am going to tell you now, I absolutely HATE cultivation world web novels. Every time I read them, they are always the same, and they quickly fall into the same exact problems that make them all just dull and boring. However, WMW skillfully avoids every one of the problems that other cultivation world webnovels have and makes a truly fascinating story.
The bad things that exist in cultivation world stories stem almost entirely from the sects which are always a part of cultivation worlds. These are the organizations of other cultivators, and the very nature of the sects just puts the story on rails and SEVERELY limits what can be done with cultivation world stories to the point where maybe, just maybe, if you find a very very good cultivation world novel you might enjoy it, but that’s only if you are lucky enough for it to have been the very first webnovel of the entire genre you ever read.
WMW manages to come up with a method to avoid its world’s equivalent of the sects, those being the magic schools, by having the instructors be incredibly hostile and having the protagonist avoid the schools for the most part. This allows the things about cultivation worlds that are actually interesting to not only shine through, but it also amplifies them far beyond what they are in most series.
One nice thing about cultivation worlds that needs to be mentioned is that cultivation is another means by which to power up your character without gaming level mechanics. For the most part, if you are going to scale your character, you are limited to two major options. Either game-like mechanics or cultivation. Those are the two primary models. If you are not using either of those two, then the only third option is “arbitrary declaration.” (AKA, because the author says so.) Having some form of rigid structure to measure your character’s power is important, so it’s pretty good to pick one of these two to go with.
I don’t really like the idea of game like mechanics. So, as much as I otherwise dislike cultivation worlds for the bad taste the sects leave in my mouth, I’m probably going to go a WMW route cultivation series with this one, although it’s going to be a lot more loose than even WMW was for that purpose. Where as WMW was subversive, I’m pretty sure my approach along with my already admitted disdain for cultivation world webnovels might come off as something more like me giving a middle finger to cultivation world webnovels.
This is the reason why “cultivation world” was not in the tags. Either you like cultivation world web novels, in which case this will be so unlike what you were expecting that this will upset you. Or, you share my opinion about cultivation world webnovels in which case you will probably enjoy this series a lot, but you would be scared away and never read it in the first place upon seeing the “cultivation world” tag. Either way, it would be a poor decision for me to have included cultivation world in the tags even though this series would fit it.
Having just said I was avoiding game like mechanics, the third inspiration for me in this series is Dungeons and Dragons, as in the table top game. And, with the development of the magic system in particular, any D&D player will likely notice a lot of similarity. The races, likewise, will have a lot of similarities to those in D&D. However, you would do well not to rely on your D&D knowledge too much in terms of what to expect from the different creatures of this world.
For the most part, I use my knowledge as a DM of the races and the monsters in the D&D monster manual to give me options and to see what might be available as a creature to be included in this world. However, for the actual lore and ecology of each creature that appears, I actually went back and researched the real world legends and lore about those creatures that the TSR staff based the D&D creature off of.
Yes, I played 1st and 2nd edition, before Wizards took it over and turned it into a completely different game. I have enough tact though to realize it’s all a matter of opinion as to whether them taking it over made the game better or worse. (I am definitely of the opinion though that it made the DMs a lot less creative than the old 1st and 2nd edition DMs.)
At any rate, to get back on track, this means that real world fantasy and lore is a major part of the fourth inspiration, and definitely the one that’s going to be the most in your face and visible of all the inspirations that have contributed to this series.
-Content Warnings
I should probably also spare some time to talk a little about some content that may be uncomfortable for some readers. This series talks about heavy material and traumatic experiences. My policy in writing this is that, with the exception of swearing, I will neither avoid nor shoe-horn in any subject that should/shouldn't logically and realistically be a part of the world as it is imagined.
As for why I avoid swearing, this is because I think frequent swearing ruins the writing. As for why I don't just include swearing on occasion here or there, this is because if I even have a character swear once in a single chapter deep into the series, that one single occurrence will require me to put a "profanity" tag on this series and that will have it associated with the multiple series out there where every character swears like a sailor. That just doesn't work for me.
In terms of "Sexual Content," this is not erotica. No sex act is described graphically at any point in this series. Sex and sexual violence are things that happen in this world and are mentioned, but such events will never be gone into in graphic detail. In case they ever come up, it will be inferred that it happened off screen or glanced over with some form of euphemism. Again, I do not shy away from anything that should be happening, but I am not writing a porno here.
You WILL notice though that this series DOES have the "Gore" content warning tag. That is to say, injuries or dismemberments will be described in graphic detail. You may also notice that "Medical Knowledge" is in the tags for this series. So, the "Gore" tag does not actually mean there will be Elfen Leid levels of blood and gore everywhere. What it means is that every injury, even the most minor of cuts, can and in certain cases will be described in a level of detail well beyond what most authors are even capable of. And, some of these injuries will be at a level that it may be disturbing to some readers.
-Release Schedule
I am a college student currently trying to get into the nursing program. I am currently on break, but have found that this actually makes me more susceptible to burn-out due to the lack of variety in my schedule, and unable to focus as hard on my writing as I was while I was in classes. As such, I release 1 chapter every 3 days.
This release schedule is entirely dependent on my current school schedule and assumes nothing else comes up. I will attempt to alert readers ahead of time if anything changes.
-Funding
This series is supported on SubscribeStar, a subscription service on which one can sign up to donate to a creator on a monthly basis in order to support their work. If you enjoy this content and would like to help make it easier for me to write more in the future, it would be very nice if you could support me over there.
In appreciation of those who support me, I have set up some rewards in the form of advanced chapter releases for my subscribers. At present, there are 3 subscription levels. At the basic $2 level, subscribers have access to 2 advanced chapters. And, there are 3 advanced chapters for those at the $2.99 level. Why $2.99 instead of a solid $3? Well, that was because of a little confusion on my part when I was first setting up the account. The default suggested amount for all new creators is $4.99. I just dropped that 4 in half, but never really thought about the trailing .99. And, now, since I have a fair number of subscribers at the $2.99 level, it just strikes me as wrong to suddenly raise the price on them, even by a penny. The $4 level is listed as being for those who just want to be generous, but I also make my buffer chapters available at that level. I consider myself under no obligation to maintain a buffer chapter and the buffer chapter count may drop to zero. It may, however, also go above one. (Not likely at the rate I'm going these days, but it could happen.) If I ever manage to increase the buffer chapter count to 3 though, I am just going to introduce a higher level and the $4 level will be a maintained level with guaranteed 4 advanced chapters.
Also, this forward is likely to be changed at some point in the future in the case that something changes or if I think of anything else important that should be included.
Well then. All of that out of the way, do enjoy the story.
Patreon
Cultivation novels can be interesting, but agreed about the repetitiveness they can fall into and how the sects often codify the negative aspects of the genre-an addiction to the concept of face being more important than someone's life and frequently jumping to extremes in how they deal with anything. New guy in town shows up and seems to be skilled? He better kiss the ass of the local arrogant young master (AYM) who just "happens" to want the exact thing the main character (MC) wants, and will throw a pissy fit if he doesn't get what he wants. Add in stooges for the AYM to throw taunts and the first punch, and then AYM is now fighting with someone he just met, and after getting his ass kicked will threaten the MC with their family/sect.
Summarized as "How dare you exist and not lick my shoes! How dare you not let yourself be killed by me! My family will hunt you down if you dare fight back!"
And now you have cycle 452 of MC visiting a new place and almost immediately getting into conflict with a local faction because of the f***wit AYM. Possible variations include the AYM lusting after a female companion to the MC or demanding MC join their faction or die.
I've heard about WMW and generally positive things about it, but evil MCs aren't really my cup of tea. Not the MCs that are roughly on par with the cultivation world's moral landscape and being very blase about killing tons of people who attack them, but the MCs that are actively evil and malevolent towards even random innocents including things like stealing and enslaving souls to power up themselves or a weapon, and I've heard the MC of WMW definitely falls into the latter category
So far I like how you've done the tone of the story-darker elements in the background and even some up front, but not dragged into the forefront and paraded around until people get sick of it. It's been a good balance of there being both positive and negative in the world without it turning into a fluffy comedy//parody or grimderp crapsack world (where the MC exists to suffer and be tortured by the author)
Yeah, that definitely is a thing that exists in WMW. The appeal of evil main characters like that is the psychopath fascination. Psycopaths are evil, but some people (of which I am one) find something strange and fascinating about the way they think, especially as they are often portrayed in fiction.
I enjoyed Dexter as well (except for the last season which just totally jumped the shark when he got into a romantic relationship with another psychopath.) There are more positive psychopaths who are not murderers out there as well though. House, from the likewise named series, would be an example. I think the most fascinating thing about psychopaths is the attitude of how they simply do not care about what other people think about them, and how they do not let anything get in the way between them and their goals.
Also, BTW, if anyone has read the original Sherlock Holmes novels, the original Sherlock was very high on the autism spectrum, just exactly in the happy medium where the opinions of others loose all relevance to him but he's still able to communicate with others effectively, whereas the more modern BBC Sherlock is straight up a high functioning sociopath. This is another example of a positive personality exhibiting the same trait that make psychopaths fascinating.
Of course, you don't have to worry about me going too far down that road. The angle I'm going with here is "The world is not nice, but you can try to at least make your own little part of it better." Basically, a theme that's explicitly designed in order to keep that exact balance you were appreciating there.
It can be interesting to see characters that are evil-whether from the sort that could be considered morally gray or extreme with characters like the Punisher (I'm ambivalent towards him, not a fan but don't hate him. He's just a well known extreme character), or those like House that seem to be sociopathic and can be quite cruel/ruthless in achieving their goals or extreme in getting back at people, but usually don't go out of their way to be malevolent to strangers. One of the character types I enjoy most are the former bad guys that have turned over a new leaf and are trying to be a better person, and them coming to grips with their past versus their present
Unfortunately having competent and convincing evil characters is often difficult for writers to do. Way too often the characters fall or degrade into being stupid evil, or the author uses the fact that the character is "evil" to play out whatever sick fantasies they have and pin it on the character instead of themselves. I'm sure you've seen some of the situations in whatever book/novel you're reading where you just stop and go "What the *f*ck* is the author doing here!? Was this really needed?"
I do remember reading speculation that the original version of Sherlock Holmes was high functioning autistic, not quite at the same pace as the world, but close enough to be able to at least recognize and handle social situations. Watson seemed to be the more socially typical character and was better at socializing than Holmes.
Best of luck keeping that glass half full approach to the story
@MarkofWisdom Honestly, I really enjoyed everything I read about Pursuit of the Truth, the main thing is that it doesn't play pokegirls and "you have to collect them all", but also the characters are more or less believable, I mean, I don't remember any of them acting with a mega brain death, even when the protagonist and another want the same thing, they later reconcile and omg, the protagonist apologizes, something never seen in a cultural novel, but on the other hand, although the protagonist is broken, it is clear that he suffers fighting because there are people stronger than him, at least he can also be respected because he has a backbone, considering how the first arc ends.
The bad thing I think was in webnovel.
I honestly like cultivation novels, but I would like them more if they weren't mostly an uncertain car for having fantasy harems.
You've already caught my attention just from the fact that you're a fan of Death Mage and you also hate cultivation novels. Can't wait to start reading.
Ps. I'm always trying to find a cultivation or Chinese xiaxia novel I might like, since am always open to reading new genres, but for the life of I can't stand it and o honestly get bored in like 3 chapter's.
There are a lot of tropes of the genre. I have thrown out literally all of them and have kept only the cultivation mechanic and the concept of other cultivators having the ability to roughly sense the power of others. Literally everything else is more based on western fantasy.
All that said, have you tried Warlock of the Magus World? If there is any cultivation WN that you might very well enjoy (aside from this one,) it's going to be WMW.
I used to (and still kinda do) love cultivation novels. Like, "stellar transformation", " coiling dragon " and "warlock of the magus world" are what got me properly hooked on online novels. But all the stereotypes...
The constant violence is excessive. I like a good fight and all but it makes no sence. If every cultivator fight to the death every other day and confronts a clan every other week then the population in those worlds must be massive for there to be no lack of leftover cultivators.
The romance is just... It's either a Harem which is cool but has such an unrealistic dynamic between the women , or the guy spends an arc with a girl only for her to mostly be forgotten and another girl to replace her in the next arc.
Another stereotypical story line is reincarnation which o can understand can end up interesting or the mysterious parents. Why is there no story about a normal person, who slowly cultivates medicine in his garden without OP items, practices his skills and only occasionally has a lucky encounter!?
And the most hateful but common plot goes to - LONG SEPARATIONS. I've begun to hate the part of stories where the MC meets a good girl and falls in love only for some accident to happen. Either she gets hurt and he goes on a long journey to look for enemies, they get separated in a fight with enemies, a mysterious expert takes her away or she has a mysterious background that forces her to move away. Let's not forget the "I shall seal the heavens" which was great other that the constant separations followed one super long one when she died and got reincarnated.
I hope to find a good cultivation novel with something fresh... Yet it's so hard to find a finished story or one that isn't being translated slow enough to kill
Even "genious doctor:black belly miss" was a great story. Since the protagonist is female I though "there's no way there will be a long separation to ruin the romance and stuff" but guess what!? I WAS STILL WRONG
Well, I can at least promise separations won't be a plot device in this series. I should probably mention, my favorite romance story of all time is the romantic B and C plots in Detective Conan, especially the main one established from the start between the MC and his childhood friend. They are together constantly throughout the series, but it literally takes about 700 chapters for him to confess his love, and then another 300 for her to give her answer. (there is some filler.)
There is just something about a slow burn to the romance that makes it deeper and more impactful for the viewer/reader. I'm a big fan of those slow burn romances. (and a proper slow burn romance kinda requires constant contact between the involved parties.)
@Jemini I suggest you try out: ascending, do not disturb. It has a nice twist to the whole cultivation world thing.
Oh my god, less than half of this page length is the actual chapter...
hes gonna turn into female? as a male i cant like this even then i m gonna try it out.
It's not super hard to simply think of it as a female protagonist if it makes you that squeemish. The point here is that I wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of reincarnated individuals always having the same gender as they had in their first life. There ought to be a 50/50 chance of being born one gender or the other, and so if you take the corresponding 50/50 chance of being one gender or the other in your first life this produces 4 possibilities.
1 male reincarnates as male
2 female reincarnates as female
3 male reincarnates as female
4 female reincarnates as male
As a result, I decided to make the first 4 reincarnated individuals, all in the main cast, fall into each of those 4 possible slots with the MC being male becomes female because I kinda wanted a female protagonist who was also a twin, and the female to female role was already filled by the goddess character (who was also based on a specific goddess from existing lore, and thus absolutely had to be female to start with. Not a lot of male gods with healing powers, and the goddess I chose here has a very specific power set including healing that I wanted to go with here.)
Ending off the previous life old and experienced, and thus more accepting of things as well as being born and growing up female in the second life, I really do play the protagonist a lot more female than gender-changed male.
I have read almost all the cultivation series. my first being "Martial Universe". I wouldn't like the novel if it weren't for being my first xianxia novel. xianxia is repetetive. the youngmaster troupe is very boring, Xianxia should trim down their conflict troupe. Every chapter has a conflict. They blow the measurement of the world and the population out of poportion. to them, theres no defferance between 200000KM and 200000Meter. But no matter what I like the genre than any other genre. The magic system in Xianxia is the most realistic. this is the only pro.
I suggest : Lord of The Mysteries ~
Cultivation based on Tarot Card
based on card? thats even more unrealistic. I would better see a normal xianxia
i might have been reading sweet and heartwarming novels a lot recently. so this will be my *start* line to back to the other genres.
i read a lot novels in the past, but heavy story with bad ending left bad taste in my memories so i avoid it . i hope this not. i hope....
well my english is bad. since it's my 3rd language (i don't learn it througfully)
omg you read the death mage? I love that ln. They actually made a manga but it only had 8 chapters the last time i checked.
There are 10, but not all of them are translated yet.
@Jemini oh nice. Thx for telling me