Part 3 is called "The Traveler," so my intended style was more laid-back and the structure quite simple—just as I said before, one person wandering and pausing, taking in some scenery, meeting some people, getting a few things done, but never deeply involved in any of it.
Frankly speaking, this travelogue-style content is rather difficult to write. You finally build up a character, get familiar with a place, develop a sense of cultural differences, and then you have to leave and continue on your journey. It really tests your ability to quickly introduce distinctive characters and interesting events. Looking back now, I think I did a reasonable job before Klein's advancement to Puppet Master. After that, while busy tying up loose ends, there was simply too much to cover and it was mostly revisiting old locations, so I abbreviated and moved forward. Relatively speaking, it felt a bit rushed.
I've seen many people say my outlines are very detailed, but that's really not the case. What's detailed are the various settings and worldbuilding. The outline is usually just about what the theme of this arc is, what structure to use, which earlier threads to pull in, what new foreshadowing to set up, and which mysteries to expand. After that, it's freestyle—I only work out the detailed outline for the next arc once the current one wraps up. For content spanning hundreds of thousands of words, trying to plan every plot point in advance would not only waste time but also make everything rigid. Until you actually write it out, you can't really know how a scene plays out or how to connect it to what follows. And during the writing process, new inspiration often bursts forth unexpectedly.
For instance, when I wrote the ending of the previous arc—Klein leaving Backlund—I already had the image and finishing touch of his return amid undercurrents for this arc's finale, as well as the plan for the brother and sister to appear. At the same time, while organizing the outline, I had the marker for the World within the Book to show up. But compared to the ending, nothing more specific was in place. Later, when I wrote the part about releasing the "Nightmare," I gained the inspiration of having him deliver a message to his daughter—presenting another kind of journey's end. When I wrote Grossel's Travelogue and started setting up the specific characters within the book—creating a Loen soldier—I suddenly hit upon the inspiration of homesickness and returning home. Putting all of this together, I became very clear on how to write the ending of Part 3.
Part 3 overall leans toward the quiet side, which is determined by its inherent structure and planned style—I said so in advance. Friends who wanted to see a major event erupt at the end might be a bit disappointed. As I just described, what I wanted to create at the finale was a sense of undercurrents and concealed crises: Ince's appearance, the malice of the Tree of Desire, and the Rose School's assault—all strung taut to accentuate the image of Klein returning to Backlund.
Now, in Part 3 there were two big challenges: first, the travelogue style from earlier was hard to pull off, and second, I had to write two major dungeon arcs—the God War Ruins and the World within the Book. For me, that was quite a significant test.
Friends who've read my earlier novels probably know that the dungeon sections in Fate-Stealing and Arcane can be described as rather dry and rough, without much appeal. The former's strength was the explosion at the dungeon's end; as for the latter, I've thought about it seriously, and probably only the Dream Analysis dungeon and the scene of boasting about divine prestige in the New World were interesting—the rest wasn't great.
By the time I reached Supreme, many of the dungeon arcs leveraged the infinite-flow framework to expand into full worlds, allowing me to write at a measured pace, introduce elements, and build up gradually. And often there were companions present, so the appeal was considerably higher. But the standalone dungeon arcs, like the True Martial Suspect Tomb section, still suffered from being dry and rough, propped up by suspense alone.
In Martial Dao there were essentially no dungeon arcs—just the warzone segment, and not much of it. Nothing really to summarize. When it came to Lord of the Mysteries' Part 3, I thought very carefully for a long time about how to handle these two major dungeon arcs.
Drawing on my experience with Supreme, I first settled on two key points: "suspense" and "companions." Based on my experience with Lord of the Mysteries earlier and during the writing process, I added "interesting" as a third criterion. But I still felt something was missing.
Then I recalled a conversation I'd had with Douzi and realized our creative methods were fundamentally different. I start by wanting to tell a particular story in a particular world, then based on that story and setting, I settle on a few distinctive main characters and gradually add more. He starts by thinking of a cast of interesting people, then figures out what kind of story their meetings, shared journeys, and conflicts would produce.
Although I've always stuck to my own creative philosophy, I've been gradually incorporating some of his experience. So I thought—what if, in the dungeon arcs, I changed "companions" to "characters"? Build some distinctive, interesting people, let them collide with one another, develop stories, enrich the dungeon content, and make it more appealing overall. That led to the experiment with the God War Ruins.
The result was quite good. This was the first time writing dungeon arcs where my subscription numbers not only didn't drop but actually kept climbing. Nearly a hundred thousand words of content, and I managed to keep it engaging all the way through.
For the World within the Book, I tried something different. Because this dungeon's first exploration would be very brief, I couldn't flesh out the characters' pasts or powerfully, emotionally present their joys and sorrows. So I was wrestling with how to convey it.
Ultimately, the arc title "The Traveler" gave me the answer. As a traveler, you can't deeply enter other people's lives—everything you see is only outward appearance, and from that you form different impressions. For example, on a journey you see a girl drunk and vomiting by the roadside while crying. Some people would think she has no self-respect; others might wonder if she's been through something tragic; still others would just find the noise bothersome.
Based on the theme that "the joys and sorrows of humankind are not the same," I deliberately chose not to write about Grossel's, Mobert's, and the others' pasts or to render their emotions. I only faithfully, objectively, and calmly recorded their dialogue and their outward expressions, without touching on their inner monologues at all.
If you look carefully, you'll find that in those sections I barely wrote Klein's inner feelings directly—I deliberately left that space blank.
So some readers felt the sentimentality was forced and a bit awkward; some friends found it more wistful; and others delved deeper into imagination and extrapolation, trying to piece everything together.
This was exactly the effect I was going for. The joys and sorrows of humankind are not the same, and in the eyes of a traveler, that's even more so. 😄
I've rambled on quite a lot. The overall summary of Part 3 is: characters and story blended together very well, but the tying-up of loose ends was a bit rushed in places, and some sections could have been more expansive.
Alright, the further I write, the harder it gets. I need time to relax my mind and organize the outline, so I'll have to take some time off again. Also, my stomach hasn't been feeling well this week—I've booked an appointment to see a doctor tomorrow. Three days off—well, counting from this summary, two and a half. I'll start updating Part 4 at noon on Saturday.
I'll go update the character list later. Everyone, feel free to mention here which characters you'd like included so I don't forget anyone.
Oh right, some of you guessed correctly—Part 4 is "The Undying"!
Thank you all once again, and I'll also take this opportunity to ask for monthly tickets!
(End of chapter)