Chapter 81: Thoughts on Going Premium
About 40 days have passed since this book was first published on February 8th.
It’s a little later than other books launched around the same time, which means you’ve gotten a lot more free content, but the day has finally come for it to go premium.
First, let’s get down to business:
The premium launch will be at 12:00 PM tomorrow (which means no midnight release, so you don’t have to stay up).
I’ll be starting with a base of **six Chapters**. If the first 24-hour subscriptions exceed 3,000, I will add an extra Chapter for every 1,000 subscriptions over that mark. These will be released immediately—no IOUs.
Based on the number of monthly tickets received before the launch, I will add one Chapter for every 500 tickets. These will also be released immediately—no IOUs.
Each new Alliance Lord sponsor will get a dedicated bonus Chapter, released immediately—no IOUs.
Six Chapters is my guarantee that you’ll all have a blast. Anything more than six means I, Xin, will be having a blast right along with you.
Regarding future updates:
I’ll do my best to ensure **three Chapters** a day.
The adjusted update schedule from the Spring Festival period is now void. Moving forward, all daily Chapters will be released at once at 12:00 PM every day.
My long-time readers know that I, Xin, haven’t typically been an author who does mass releases. However, I have a pretty large stockpile of Chapters this time, and I really want to push myself, so I’m setting the bar high.
If I can’t do it!
I’ll make Huang Gang eat shit.
————————
So, that’s the plan for the premium launch tomorrow and for updates going forward.
Now, let’s get a little personal.
I, Xin, have been in this industry for about five years, and I’ve really only had three works that could be considered successful.
Two of them were urban rebirth stories, and one was a Naruto fanfiction.
Honestly, for any author, expanding their creative boundaries is difficult. It’s like an office worker changing companies, or even entire industries.
But not expanding your boundaries is tantamount to a slow death.
Of course, I could write another urban rebirth novel, and I’m confident it would still do well. But what about the one after that? The success would only diminish, because my inspiration and the creative space within that genre are shrinking.
Across two books and over five million characters, I’ve explored different paths and sub-genres. I’ve pretty much written all I can. If I were to continue, I’d have to go all-in on the entertainment industry plotlines.
If I don’t break new ground now, in a few years, when I’m no longer seeing any success, trying to transition to a new genre would be beyond my capabilities.
This isn’t about me, Xin, having some pretentious "Xianxia dream." It’s a strategic change I’m making in response to the wider market.
At least, this time it’s not a "Xianxia dream."
So, when I began selecting a topic, I, Xin, set a goal for myself:
To write a *Mutant City* novel. That way, I could maintain a consistent core to my writing while stepping into a new genre.
As for how this "city" would be "mutant," I had about five different opening concepts at the time, each around 20,000 characters long. They included "Dual Worlds," "Sci-Fi," "Supernatural," "Rural"... but after discussions with my editor and editor-in-chief, the one we settled on was this "High Martial Arts" story.
Of course, before I started the book, my editor did warn me that the "High Martial Arts" market has been so-so in recent years. But to be honest, I, Xin, didn’t write it by following the genre’s formula; I wrote it at my own pace.
It’s just that the market perceives it as a High Martial Arts novel.
But in my heart, this is a "Mismatched System" story.
Of course, a mature author also needs to actively absorb the good fortune from successful titans in the field. Before starting this book, I, Xin, referenced many other works, some of which you all have probably already picked up on.
Many authors use their launch announcements to list works for cross-promotion. I’ll take this opportunity to confess my own influences.
The biggest influence was probably *Clustered Heavy Cannon Slaughter of Cultivators*. This book gave me the initial idea for *Mutant City*.
Next is *From Martial Arts Sects to Immortal Sects*, which gave me the inspiration for the system’s design.
For the wit and humor, I studied *No Money, No Cultivation* extensively, though some of you have pointed out that my book isn’t quite as funny.
For the descriptions of Cultivation, I absorbed a lot from *Beyond Deep Space*. The great Chen Dong is, as expected, the idol I’ve looked up to since I was young. Because it had been a while since I’d written about an Extraordinary System, my descriptions of realms and Cultivation were always a bit dry. But Chen Dong can always describe the details of Cultivation in a way that gets the blood pumping.
Finally, I’d like to thank my own novel, *Heaven-Seizing Chronicles*, for teaching me that Xianxia isn’t built on grand narratives alone, and that the field of *Classical Xianxia* is something I’m not ready to touch.
All of the above—the harsh lessons and the gentle inspirations—are blessings.
Lastly, a few thoughts about this book itself.
This book is a "High Martial Arts novel with a stronger focus on the urban setting." The portrayals of people, society, and character emotions will be more grounded. I don’t feel the pacing is slow; rather, it only *seems* slow when you compare it to the typical pacing of a High Martial Arts story.
For an urban novel, the period before the college entrance exams is a crucial phase, and it’s normal to spend a hundred Chapters on it. But in a High Martial Arts novel, the protagonist might have already left Earth by Chapter 100.
Accordingly, you probably won’t see situations like "Ascending from Earth" by Chapter 100 or becoming the *Lord of the Universe* by Chapter 300 in this book.
However, the *Exotic Realm* setting will bring its own unique and exciting story.
Additionally, I’m aiming for a "pseudo-ensemble" cast with clear primary and secondary characters. It won’t be like *Mystic Mirror Immortal Race*, where the protagonist’s role is diminished in favor of the group.
The family’s development will skyrocket after the college entrance exams, but the story will always revolve around the protagonist. It’s just that I’ll try to make the supporting characters vivid and give them their own arcs, and the family as a whole will have its own moments in the spotlight.
Regarding the female leads, as the tags state, this is not a story with a single female lead. There’s no NTR, no cuckolding, and love interests won’t be given away. It’s an "all in, all collected" situation, if you know what I mean.
I’m not having the protagonist madly collect women, because there’s no point. If each one doesn’t have a unique personality and backstory, they just become a list of names, as flat as paper.
That’s all I’ll say for now.
When a book goes premium, that is the one true test of the market. So please, don’t hesitate to show your support.
Authors are all beasts of burden; the better the numbers, the more we write. Your votes and subscriptions are like a shot of nitrous for us. If you want to spur me, Xin, to write from dawn till dusk, all it takes is a flick of your finger.
I’m very easy to persuade~
Also, I still have some merchandise left over from my previous books, so I’ll be holding a raffle for first-time subscribers and for monthly ticket voters.
These are well-crafted physical prizes, and everyone is welcome to participate.
That is all:
See you all tomorrow.
The stockpile is deep, and there’s no limit to the bonus Chapters.
Time to unlock some new moves~