Taking a leave of absence; I will make it up tomorrow.

I know many long-time readers will likely feel a sense of familiarity upon seeing this title, but I must ask for leave nonetheless.

Writing this book up to this point, although its performance is the worst I have seen in years—and by a significant margin—I personally feel that it is the work I am most satisfied with among my first four hundred thousand words.

This can be seen in my writing speed: from the launch on the 1st to today, the 13th, I have updated 110,000 words. Although I often update in two installments, chapters of four or five thousand words are common. Back when I was writing "Champion's Arrow" and "Low-Key Superstar," I often couldn't even write 110,000 words in a month.

Because I have no backlog, and in order to ensure a stable update every morning, I have been staying up late writing for over a month now. Last night, I worked until past three o'clock, and today I simply cannot concentrate. Fearing that you all might have "update-phobia" and lose confidence, I forced myself to write half of today's second chapter, but I could truly feel that my thoughts were scattered, lacking the coherence I have maintained since I began this project.

After lying on my bed for a while, I have decided not to write tonight. I am taking leave for one chapter, which I will certainly make up tomorrow, and I will resume the fixed 8:00 AM update schedule the day after.

Thank you all for your understanding.

At the same time, I would like to mention something. In my previous works, I was often told I was being "pretentious" or overly literary, which I never actually felt was true and even felt aggrieved by. However, this time, having explicitly set out to write a purely cathartic, fast-paced story, I have finally begun to realize where the issue lies.

I want to emphasize again: I am truly writing nothing but a cathartic, fast-paced story now. Of course, this is not to say that what I wrote before wasn't in that vein—the essence of web literature is exactly that—but my past understanding was lacking, and only now have I slowly found the right direction.

I cherish this clear process of transformation, and I finally have the confidence to produce content better than anything I have written before.

That is roughly all for now. I am going to wash my face, brush my teeth, and get some sleep so I can wake up early tomorrow to write.