This is my second major featured promotion. Compared to the difficult and bumpy ride of *Destruction of Fate*, *Arcane* has gone smoothly from the very start. I know this is thanks to the accumulated readership from my previous work, thanks to all of your support, and thanks to the help of editors Starfish and Qingshan. At the same time, I'm full of confidence in the content of *Arcane* — compared to the green and immature writing of *Destruction of Fate*'s early days, my prose has matured enough to tell the stories I want to tell.
But this confidence is relative, because even though the book is categorized under "Xuanhuan otherworld," anyone who's actually read it won't doubt that it's a niche fantasy novel. On top of that, the inspiration I drew from Dolphin's Library of the Future, the Quantum Summit, Crazy Person, Heavenly Thunder True Lord, and all sorts of other things makes it an even more niche setting.
Niche plus niche often spells commercial failure and obscurity, and it also means the story is hard to pull off. So before I started writing, I wasn't entirely confident. But I've always been stubborn, so I dove in headfirst anyway — because in my heart, fantasy isn't just about medieval darkness and nobility. It's about steampunk and countless other styles. And the period of human history I drew from for this novel is, I believe, the most "fantastic" and the most magnificent there is.
Without the spark of creative inspiration and passion, I'd rather not write at all.
In this regard, chief editor Starfish had always hoped I'd continue writing xianxia, but once I made my decision, she gave me plenty of guidance and support all the same. I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.
As for adding the musical storyline in Part One — it wasn't just because it enriched the world and added color, or because pieces like "Destiny" fit so well with the themes, and it wasn't just because I needed to introduce several important supporting characters. More than anything, I was feeling insecure, and I wanted to ease readers into this world in a way they'd find easy to accept — revealing things gradually, drawing them in little by little, rather than dumping the whole setting on them and scaring them off.
The early success and smooth sailing exceeded my expectations. Though the music storyline sparked some controversy, both subscription numbers and monthly ticket votes were incredibly strong. The twenty-four-hour subscription count had climbed to around four thousand by the end of Part Two. But the more successful things went, the more worried I became — afraid that once the Magic Council arc truly unfolded, many readers wouldn't be able to accept it.
So I entered Part Three with a heart full of anxiety, doing my best to move at an unhurried pace, describing things slowly, so as not to drive away my dear readers.
But just as hard to believe — after I started Part Three, the twenty-four-hour single-chapter subscription count kept climbing steadily even after the promotional event ended. In just a little over ten days, the growth matched the entire gain from my new-book launch month: four thousand one hundred, four thousand two hundred, all the way up to four thousand seven hundred for yesterday morning's chapter. At the same time, the premium subscription count hit the threshold for a second feature promotion and is charging toward ten thousand, while monthly tickets — with only a single-chapter spike and no major surges — remain stable in the top twenty-five of the overall rankings.
All of this made me laugh as I "demanded" of you all: "Just how much do you enjoy tormenting society?" — but it also finally lets me say with confidence: "Welcome to my fantasy world!"
"My ability to control the story has grown, but my sincerity has never changed!"
Today and tomorrow will both be four-chapter updates. Urchin is asking for your monthly tickets and recommendation tickets — can we push even further?