Hey Everyone, I am pleased the announce that:
One minute after the scene depicted by the cover: Elise wins the 'find Commander Bob' training exercise and commences an organic refueling session with Commander Bob. Kiyosuke wins the participation award of extra training with the Great Mistress, just like he always wanted.
The Faceless Minion: Nemesis (Volume 2) ebook is now available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited! Paperback is ready too, waiting on my author proofs to arrive so I can check for any issues before it goes live, so should be ready sometime next week.
As for non-Amazon hard copy options, still waiting on me to work up the will to reformat the entire Volume 1 (for not the first time...) to be compatible with other marketplaces. So...um...we'll see?
Most of the changes here aren’t as dramatic as the Volume 1 ones I feel, though I suppose that might be debatable. After all, Volume 1 had a much different vision than Volume 2, which in turn set the tone for the rest of the series, so this is the part of the story Volume 1 was rewritten to match haha. As a result, I generally focused on expanding and refining the content rather than changing it, though there is at least one major character change that would count as a rewrite.
Here are some of the bigger changes. Note that these may contain spoilers if you haven't finished reading Volume 2 (possibly beyond?):
- An expanded Concordat of Sorrow arc! Bob’s fight with them remains largely the same besides a continuation of the Vol 1 character changes to Bob himself, but now we find out what’s going on with the ILS in the meantime! Also…Icy Rose has gone from zero presence to kinda sorta the main character of Aurora Legion now…and possibly becoming the secondary protagonist of the series overall? Um, ok, we’ll roll with that I guess. How did this happen? I just wanted to give her a real personality and backstory…wait a minute, none of the other heroes got real backstories so if one of them did…um, oops?
- As for the Nemesis arc, the biggest change is Arvid. In fact, this is perhaps the biggest change to Volume 2, and one I debated heavily. Arvid has been largely rewritten, with his personality heavily adjusted. My feeling was that Arvid’s presence and screen time were a bit lacking among the Nemesis crew, and this was largely due to him arriving as a mostly complete character, such that he didn’t really have anything he needed to develop until his one-chapter arc. Which is also kind of a problem given Icy Rose's expanding role on the other side, so I decided it was worth changing. I won’t spoil everything here, but this time Arvid starts with more issues, and more brooding than before. I am a bit worried about changing the dynamic of Nemesis, which is perhaps the best part of the series, but I do feel it should make Arvid a more in-depth and involved character overall, so hopefully it’s an improvement!
- Besides Arvid, Elise, while already perfect, deserves some upgrades too, and so takes some inspiration from Terminate the Other World! to expand her character development and internal world. She also says ‘terminate’ as much as possible now. Saydaa has also gotten some more screen time, detailing her attempts to keep up with the child soldier crew. As for the ninja pair, to my deep regret, Kiyosuke is still in the novel. Editing Icalos must have done that just to be evil. Ironically, Nana, the character added with the least amount of forethought and planning, ended up with the least amount of changes overall.
- The Aftermath arc where Londyn expands the ILS after getting beat by Xiong Huang has some new additions. Most notably…after much deliberation, internal debate, anxiety, and avoidance behavior, a decision has been made regarding…the arc. And since the beginnings of the arc occurred offscreen in this part previously…changes have been made to support the future decision. While I don’t like giving away spoilers, I feel in this case given the controversy of the arc that it is worth telling you all now how it will go, and my overall rationale:
Spoiler
I have decided to fully commit to the ‘Londyn was mind-controlled’ option, complete with the previously off-screen mind control villain getting a name and screentime, and foreshadows that start in Volume 2. I felt that of the options, this one best matches the overall tone of the novel, and especially matches the edited version. The hypothetical scenario where Londyn has a fall from grace and the ILS comes apart was ruled out as requiring too many rewrites and additions for Volume 4 (which ultimately must arrive at the same spot in a certain time-related arc for, uh, reasons), as well as being too much of a tone shift. As for my original concept where it was all Londyn and she gets redeemed, it is again, too much of a tone shift that breeds extreme emotions towards Londyn which cannot be adequately resolved by a redemption.
Likewise, I have decided that in the edited version of the series the original intent of doing it that way is no longer relevant. My original plan was to have Londyn and Xiong Huang as the angel and devil on Bob’s shoulders representing the heroes and villains respectively, two people he would have to keep in balance. Likewise, they would both be implied potential love interests but never actually outright state their feelings. But then Xiong Huang decided she wanted to become the main heroine and got way more character development than planned. As a result, I tried to give Londyn a mirror arc of her own to either get her back in the race, or help her gracefully move on if she couldn’t catch up, which is why I wanted her to retain her agency and resolve the situation via character growth. Which turned out to be a bad idea when combined with the whole mind control dealz, and my general fatigue at the time due to IRL circumstances. But no more! In the edited version, I have fully accepted both the more lighthearted tone than originally envisioned, as well as Xiong Huang’s status as main heroine, and so don’t feel the need to balance her and Londyn’s development. Likewise, Icy Rose has started to become the main focus of the ILS side of things, so Londyn isn’t the sole representative of that side of the story anymore and doesn’t need to maintain as much of a presence as in the original. Heck, even Linda existing in Volume 1 helps with that, giving Bob another developed ILS character to interact with. As a result of all these things, Londyn as a victim instead of the perpetrator fits better overall, and her losing some agency and focus isn’t an issue.
[collapse] - The Aftermath arc has some other additions as well besides the arc related stuff, including a new Nemesis mission! Because if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that more NSLICE-00P screentime == better novel.
- The Tale of Therapy No Chiyeko and the Tale of Political Process no Keizo have both been moved to this volume for better integration into the overall timeline. Some additional backstory has been added for the shinobi villages. Likewise, Isekai Bob Chapters 2 and 3 have been included in this volume, keeping with a two Isekai Bob chapters per Volume distribution.
Likewise, other smaller optimizations and additions here and there to match up what was changed in Volume 1 and what is planned for Volume 3 and beyond!
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy! If you enjoyed the series, consider leaving a review on Amazon! I'd super appreciate it!
Congrats on the release~