- Swift skill change (rank 1). Instead of the first qi point invested giving +2 to Agility, it gives +1
- Swift skill change (rank 2). Description of lingering effects made more generic, vs hard numbers
- Vortex Mark upgrade altered. Instead of doubling when reaching floor 2 it has been upgraded from Static -> Adaptive. Qi regeneration from the mark is now related to the density of ambient qi
- No more impurities expelled when ranking up or clearing meridians (i didn’t want to keep writing scenes talking about how much she needed a bath every time, haha). Impurities are now cleanly 'burnt away' by qi
- The stat page view has changed (yay, tables and blue boxes abound!)
- In new stat sheet, there is now a max approximate attribute value listed that goes up when ranking up or opening meridians. This is based on aptitudes, which is also listed in the new stat sheet
- Silas now has a viewable stat sheet, which contains a skill list
- Skills are now ranked on rarity
- New lore about cultivation and cultivation patterns
- Patterns now have a distinct shape, which is formed in the dantian and is self sustaining. This shape lets cultivators store and use qi more efficiently than natural, hence the differing pool and regen sizes across patterns
- Some quests now have timers in the notification that Sam can pull up and review
- Introduction of a new 'mark' called Oathbreaker marks. A cultivator can swear an oath and a notification will appear with how many Oathbreaker marks they currently possess, and inform that breaking the given oath will give the promiser an Oathbreaker mark
- Blood Toxicity renamed to Draff Toxicity
- Excerpt from ch 23: "When herbs were processed into medicines by alchemists there were usually still some impurities left behind. The better the refinement process was, the less impurities would remain. While safe to consume in moderation, these toxins–commonly referred to as ‘draff’--would build up in the body if medicinals are taken in too-quick succession. Once there was enough draff built up in the body, the consumer would suffer from draff poisoning and become ill or possibly even die depending on the severity. This is why fighters couldn’t just eat handfuls of healing pills to keep themselves going in a fight."
Changes that will stick to volume 1:
- Ch 1-13 almost entirely revamped/rewritten. This took the most time of all the edits I made.
- In addition to smoothing things out, the fight scenes with the spitting viper, iron boar, and Braxand brothers have had significant changes
- Moved some lore introductions around about aptitudes and multi use tomes to the front of the book
- 10,000+ words of ‘fluff’ removed from some sections–esp in the gutter arc.
- General tightening of the story, smoothing out prose, tying up some unaddressed loose threads
- Samantha mentions concern about spirit beast sapience, then never brings it up again. Now there's a new convo with Silas that addresses it.
- She sends a final message to Jacob about justice for Aiden
- She actually gives her parents the gifts she bought for them
- Silas’s conversational ability made more consistent in dialogues
- Samantha’s motivations are refined
- Mega-chapters have been split up to be less daunting to read
If there’s anything else major I’ve forgotten, I’ll come back and edit this ‘chapter’ later :)
Stat sheet at end of Volume 1: