It's that time again, a book completed. I wrote a total of 198 chapters, roughly 620,000 words. On average, each chapter was over 3,000 words, though I didn't deliberately control the word count. Sometimes I posted at 2,500 or 2,600 words, and other times at 3,500 or 3,600.

The title of this volume is "Destiny," and the opening words were "This is the spring of hope, this is the winter of despair." Originally, at the end, like in *The Lord of the Mysteries*, I considered reversing the order of these two sentences and placing them at the very end: "This is the winter of despair, this is the spring of hope." This might have been a more precise expression of the theme and overall atmosphere of this book, a state of spiraling forward amidst despair and hope. Different sequences would emphasize different points.

However, I didn't want to repeat the same writing style, especially such an obvious repetition. How else would I show off my skills? (Big lie.)

So, ultimately, I used "Winter is over, spring is here" to conclude. This gives a stronger sense of brightness, and within the same chapter, I used other examples to highlight the despair mixed within hope, which could better establish the previously somewhat vague "investigation into the source of the apathy disease and the cause of the old world's destruction" main storyline.

For the entire book, and in terms of laying the groundwork for future plot tension, this is very important.

Speaking of the volume title, "Destiny" is taken from Beethoven's *Symphony No. 5 in C Minor*. The focus isn't on fate or destiny itself, although that is somewhat reflected. However, those who enjoy classical music or have read my *Arcane* should be able to directly associate this name and its source with the meaning of "seizing fate by the throat."

The main storyline of this book is the investigation into the "cause of the old world's destruction," a journey to constantly new places. Because investigations usually don't yield very exciting results at the beginning, it's difficult to build up plot tension or effectively plant hooks using suspense. Therefore, the story structure is closer to a travelogue, relatively loose in form.

To maintain thematic unity despite the loose structure, I gave it a hidden main theme: "People and Destiny," including what it means to be human, and the shouts, questions, regrets, and unwillingness of different people when destiny knocks on their door.

In this hidden storyline, I used a "resonant structure"—a term I made up myself; I don't know what it's called in formal writing classes.

Basically, for the same or similar question, at different stages, from different angles, and from the mouths of different people, voices are repeatedly raised to form echoes.

Finally, Shang Jianyao superimposed these echoes to make his own voice and complete the grounding of his character.

In the entire "Destiny" volume, the Wild Grass City refugees, Han Wanghuo, and Gerna are a relatively obvious set of echoes. The silently deceased servants within the "Underground Ark" are an echo of the massacre of the Black Rats Town residents in the first book. These two sets of echoes together roughly express the hidden meaning I wanted.

In Tarnan, I also created a small "resonant structure," centered around the phrase "Everything is a dream, why take it seriously?" constantly spoken by Zhou Guanzhu and Shang Jianyao, forming a comical and hilarious echo. Finally, the sadness behind Zhou Guanzhu's words is revealed, achieving the effect of tears beneath a smiling face, tragedy behind comedy.

I felt pretty good about that part, all the sadness surging in calmness and darkness, haha.

In addition, the entire hidden storyline, all the echoes, also serve to shape the characters. After all, I can't write Shang Jianyao's inner thoughts. How to ground this character, write him fully, is very, uh, to use a Sichuan dialect, *hen da nao ke* (very brain-racking). This method of having him make the final echo and give his own answer is one way to go.

After discussing what I wanted to express and what was actually expressed, let's talk about the problems.

The biggest problem is still the travelogue writing style.

Travelogues, of course, require changing maps, and that's every few dozen chapters. This means that characters who are painstakingly created disappear in the blink of an eye, or there isn't enough time to create more compelling characters in different locations.

Without good foreshadowing, trying to stab doesn't have strength or feeling. It's better not to stab, so the echoes aren't as full or powerful.

Of course, there are other reasons. Because the echoes come from different people, not the protagonist himself, the reader's emotions can't be superimposed, leading to a natural release of emotion after a plot segment, and even a certain degree of forgetting the content.

I've written about other issues in the previous monthly summaries, such as character empathy and the burden of too much team action and interaction. I won't go into detail here. These are being addressed through continuous adjustments to writing style and entry points. I believe everyone who has been following along should be able to see this.

New stories, new writing styles, always have all sorts of problems. Constantly finding them, constantly solving them, is both pain and joy for me, and also a harvest. It's pretty good, haha.

The fourth book will also be a long one. This time, it won't be a travelogue. After the intermission at the company, it will mainly focus on "Initial City," and many of the previous characters will reappear.

Well, the volume is called "The Emperor," taken from Beethoven's *Piano Concerto No. 5*.

Because I just finished a long book of almost two hundred chapters, and the next volume will be a similar length, I need to relax and refine the corresponding detailed outline. So, as usual, I'm taking three and a half days off.

Three and a half days would originally mean resuming updates at 12:30 PM on the 29th, which is Thursday. But that morning, my wife has a prenatal checkup, and I have to go with her to a parenting class, so… let's count this summary as a chapter. The three and a half days start now, and updates will resume at 7:00 PM on the 29th, which is Thursday evening.

Thank you all.