Volume One: Reflections and Summaries-The Psychic of Sky City(Prince 2326)

This update concludes here; the next update will be in two days. Dice... oh, there’s no dice this time.

When I tried to write a summary, this sentence was the first thing to pop into my mind. Habit truly becomes second nature.

Let’s not waste words—let’s begin the summary for Volume One. Though, to be honest, this is my rambling segment anyway, so saying “let’s not waste words” sounds rather odd.

Without the usual image separators from the main teacher, things feel a bit off, so I’ll use the · symbol to divide sections.

First, the customary reflection.

It’s my first time writing an original story, and there’s a lot to reflect upon. I tried hard to make each character stand out, but I focused so much on designing their abilities that I neglected their unique traits. It’s a clear sign of my lack of experience… Especially Old Xu. I intended him to be a cold, stern man, but his abilities required so much explanation that he ended up like a diligent game master during a campaign—truly, my apologies.

Creating original abilities was indeed difficult. Almost all abilities have some prototype. What discouraged me most was Miss Shiyu; I came up with a great idea for her and enthusiastically finished the detailed setting for Water Mirror Fairy Shadow, only to realize while writing that—ah, it’s somewhat similar to the Light of Judgment (from A Certain Magical Index, the ability of the Right Hand of the Saint).

Ah, truly, I felt like digging a hole to bury myself. But since things had reached this point, I couldn’t change the plot at the last minute, so I had to push through (sigh).

Being used to writing forum posts led to an abundance of dialogue, and my lack of skill resulted in somewhat homogenized speech among characters. When there are many characters interacting, it’s practically disastrous. I’ll work hard to improve in this area. I mustn’t let the next villain become as verbose as Old Xu.

Controlling the pacing of the narrative is also a challenge. The world introduction and setting explanations (the idle chat when Alice and Azhe first met) took up three chapters—my goodness…

The Bad Beast battle involved too many participants, making Mr. Takizawa, already a background character, seem even more so…

The reasoning and underground segment after the Bad Beast battle took up several chapters—longer than the initial world and setting explanations…

Looking back, it’s hard not to cover my face and sigh.

I couldn’t strike the right balance between detail and brevity. I always want to explain every point thoroughly, to clarify everything related, which is a terrible habit of mine.

Additionally, the story’s timeframe is too tight. I wanted to add more daily scenes of Alice’s dates and banter, so the emotional contrast at the end would be greater. Unfortunately, with only half a day, the two rushed across half the city, only managing a few hurried exchanges—truly a pity.

For the next volume, I must extend the story’s timeframe.

Even now, the prologue seems quite baffling, doesn’t it? I think so too. But I really wanted to write it, to make that scene the beginning of the story, so I kept it.

There are many more points to reflect on, but if I continue listing them, it’ll turn into a full-blown self-examination. So, let’s turn the page and talk about this volume’s story.

The title of the first volume is “The Psychic and the Impermanence Mage,” and as the name suggests, it mainly tells the story of Impermanence Law. The Impermanence Mages featured in this volume are mostly mid-level Communers, a few high-level Manifesters, and a single Creator at the pinnacle. I wonder how you all felt about them?

Impermanence Law is fundamentally connected to one’s inner self. By seeing someone’s ability, you can grasp, to some extent, who they are. This is the tone of the story.

Many characters in the first volume deliberately have “dual identities.” Shiyu transforms from a charming gentleman to a battered friend; Mo Yuan Kai shifts from a background chubby guy to a big brother; Yan Qi goes from a minor masked man to a formidable opponent; Qin Qianbai changes from a simpleton to… a masked simpleton (laughs). The most deliberate, of course, is Miss Alice, who transforms from a helpful hunter to a hunted prey, from a good woman to a bad one—the first hunter wanted Azhe’s heart, and the second actually did too.

The heroine of this volume is, naturally, Miss Zero Shiyu, who doubles as the ultimate boss.

What happens when a character who has always been kind to the protagonist suddenly betrays him and becomes the main villain? That was the concept behind her creation. Malice churns in her heart, yet her lively conversations are not false; she loves only herself, but quite enjoys occasional encounters with the talkative gray-haired man. How much of what Alice says is true, and how much is false? That’s something Azhe should ponder at the end. As for the truth, only she herself knows.

At first, I wanted to have Miss Shiyu exit decisively at the end of this volume. Heh, time to kill off a character! When writing forum posts, I always had to hold back, but this time there’s no reason not to have someone die, and Zero Shiyu, you’re up first!

—But as soon as I started writing, I realized, uh-oh, this isn’t good. You see, she’s awful but also quite endearing. So, perhaps not.

Anticipating my own softness, I prepared two slightly different outlines: one where I ruthlessly kill off Miss Zero, and another where I spare her. By the tenth chapter, the first outline was tossed in the trash. Thus, Zero Shiyu survived, thanks to Azhe’s mercy and her brother’s sacrifice. As for reasons to stir up trouble again… for her, there shouldn’t be any, right? Probably.

In the process, it became clear that it’s impossible to deeply portray every character, so the stories of Miss Qin and Shiyu will be left for later. Since Alice is the heroine of the first volume, the stage belongs to her.

The first volume is intended as an introduction to the most important aspects of this world, thus a sudden event was chosen. As for the second volume…

After a whole volume of Impermanence Mages, it’s time for the psychics to shine.

I also want to let Azhe catch his breath and enjoy daily life in the City Beneath the Sky, with some psychic school comedy to showcase the city’s everyday side. And maybe a bit of anime flair.

Romantic plotlines? Ah, no rush, no rush.

Regarding chapter length, I previously asked in the comments, and some friends said the current word count is fine, while others felt shorter chapters would be better. I plan to compromise: relatively dull setup and transitional scenes will be condensed into 2,000 words per chapter, with others kept at the current length. If anyone has better suggestions, feel free to comment or leave a chapter review—whether about length, pacing, or anything else. I have many shortcomings, and only by listening to advice can I gradually improve.

As before, seeing comments always makes me happy.

By the way, I won’t use the “female character deception” trick again—it would be boring to repeat.

Lastly, thank you so much for your comments, collections, recommendation votes, monthly tickets, and tips! I’d love to write a thank-you at the end of each chapter when I receive them, but that might disrupt the reading experience, so I’ll express my gratitude here all at once. Thank you all so much for your support!

With the first volume finished, I’ll need some time to revise the outline for the next volume, so I’ll take a break for the next two days, and serialization will resume on Wednesday. As before, I’ll post some character settings for this volume in a dedicated thread in the comments tomorrow.

So, this update concludes here. The next update will be in two days, featuring Volume Two: Stable Non-Daily Life.