After a lot of thought (and a few dozen cups of coffee), I’ve decided the story will benefit from a full rewrite. Refining the early chapters now will strengthen the pacing and worldbuilding, so we can all enjoy a smoother ride later.
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Target date: I’m aiming to launch the rewrite by the end of the month—sooner if all goes smoothly.
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Quality over speed: I’m taking the extra time now so we (hopefully) won’t need another overhaul down the road.
Your feedback has already been invaluable, and I’d love more!
Drop a comment with anything that felt confusing, slow, or could simply be cooler. I’ll fold as many suggestions as I can into the rewrite.
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Manuals & acquisition
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Names updated, and Hassan earns the first manuals instead of receiving them automatically.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
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Early manuals focus on fundamentals; advanced energy concepts return in higher-tier versions.
- More diverse ways for earning manuals.
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Quest stakes
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Quests now have a time limit—failure means a heavy penalty or even death.
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Dying in system space carries a penalty.
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Pacing & exposition
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Faster opening arc.
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Info-dumps broken into smaller bites spread across chapters.
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Excerpts move to the bottom of chapters (unless you vote otherwise).
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Magic
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Introduced earlier and through experiments.
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Richer character arcs – tighter backstories, clearer motivations, and growth that ties directly into each quest.
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Leaner prose & streamlined exposition – cutting fluff and sprinkling information naturally instead of long info-dumps.
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Higher stakes throughout – every choice carries visible consequences, so there’s always something meaningful on the line.
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Reader-driven tweaks – I’ll fold in any extra feedback you share, so keep those comments coming!
I’ve added a poll below:
Should the current version stay online as an archive or be taken down once the rewrite launches?
Cast your vote and let me know why. As always, thank you for reading, commenting, and generally being awesome!
Quick question for you all:
community Discord helpful—somewhere to peek at my progress, swap ideas, and beta-read chapters?
Drop a comment below if you’d join, and I’ll spin one up if there’s enough interest. Otherwise, we’ll keep everything here on Royal Road. Thanks for letting me know what works best for you!
Should the current version stay online as an archive or be taken down once the rewrite launches?