How's everyone doing? Hope you're all doing great, and if you've reached this far into the series, I would thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Time really flies, doesn't it? I was not too conscious of it, but it's pretty much a month into the new year already, and this marks roughly two and a half years that I've been writing Fractal Plane. A lot has happened since then, and one thing writing the series has made me realize is to not underestimate the amount of time and effort light novel writers put into their work. I already know that writing can be quite hard, but if you add in all the planning, marketing, organizing, and such into the equation... wow. No matter what you think about their plots or writing, do take note that they still spent so much time and effort on their works and stories, so that's something to applaud, if anything. 

While a saying goes that "just because you put in a lot of effort in it doesn't mean it's good," I would like to provide a counterpoint that "because you put in a lot of effort in it means it's not going to be completely garbage." Mediocre, yes, but utter 1/10 irredeemable garbage? Most likely not, unless you intended it to be that way. After all, there's gonna be at least one or two fans out there (you yourself, the most important one, will probably add one to the count, too), and my advice would be to treasure having those fans.

I just think my respect for writers and artists just shot up a whole lot, especially those who reached ten to twenty volumes for their work. Somewhat ironically, those people made the very series that I drew inspiration from. Date a Live, Shakugan no Shana, and Strike the Blood all have over twenty published volumes, for starters. Twin Star Exorcists is still ongoing, too. As for Bleach, you know how long that lasted.

I'm also glad I made good on my promise to have a smaller gap between the release of volume 4 and 5. I did go through some rewrites to get here, but the difference is that the "image" of what the volume's gonna look like was clearer from the get-go. 

The bottleneck this time came from the "dungeon crawl" segment because I was trying to think of an interesting gimmick for the dungeon and its "boss fight." And yes, I partly took inspiration from Summertime Render, which I've read a few months ago, for the gimmick of the fight. At least for just that fight. Underrated series, and you should check it out. It's also getting an anime adaptation in a few months, so there's that.

As for the theme of this volume, there are several ones. 

The first is about how people deal with the past. What we experienced shapes us and makes us who we are now, and what's important is how you deal with it. You either learn from it, ignore it, or hold an obsession over it. What the characters chose to do with them in this volume makes quite the interesting perspective contrast in my opinion. 

Kazuki, Sayaka, Miyuko, and Guren all had their shares of being hounded by the past and how it shaped their actions and personalities in the plot. 

There's also the underlying theme of accepting the concept of fate versus taking the stand against it. While those are two opposing viewpoints represented by two of the central characters to the plot, I would like you to keep reading and see where it goes, as I believe that it's not as black or white as I might make it out to be for now.

As for the concept of the Akashic Records in my series, let's just say that the country I'm in has been pretty chaotic, and every day, I see beliefs clash violently. Your truth and your reality differs from mine. 

When several like-minded individuals converge, they all form their own interpretation of reality, who the real bad guys are, how humans should live life, and so. Now, turn that up to eleven with some good old world-altering magic as seen in the world of Mu and... Quite the philosophical idea to take in, right?

Speaking of the next volume, Volume 6 is intended to be a "part 2" of the arc that got started in this one. Not everything got resolved, as far as the main goal of the arc's story goes, but it will bleed over to the next volume as we move towards the finish line. As for the release date on that... I got some new writing commissions and stuff coming in just this year, so I'll apologize in advance if it takes a bit longer. Needless to say, it's in the process of being written, and I'd love to come out with the product that fits the image of what I envisioned Fractal Plane as a series to be when it does get released. Probably in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

I have the impression that Fractal Plane will reach more or less 8 to 9 volumes, but we could hit 10 depending on how much more I want to write and expound on with these characters.

Here's a preview of the next cover art featuring Sana staring blankly into somewhere. Where could that it? Straight to color this time. Hooray! 

As usual, shout outs to my awesome beta reader who helped me form the plot and share some feedback on the plans I had. More thanks to my cover artist and my insert art artist (yes, I was slowly adding them in the first volume, and hopefully, the rest of the volumes along the way as long as said artist is available and willing to keep working with me).

Most of all, I thank you readers. Hope to see you in the next volume. Stay awesome.