20K. Wow, that's very weird saying now. I didn't think this would happen until next year, after Season One had already finished. But, on the very last day of this cursed year, it happens. Utopia breaks twenty thousand views.

  I mean really, what can I say other than "Thank You". Not just for 20k views, but for almost 200 follows and favorites, the ratings and the reviews... all of it, thank you so much, you are very kind. When I first started writing The Utopia Project, I genuinely didn't think it would get as big as this has. I mean look at the story, it's all over the place. Royal Road is a website for a very specific genre and its related field. Utopia falls very far outside of that zone, and with my kind of upload schedule I never expected the story to gain much traction. Even with advertisements. It isn't competitive and really that's fine, The Utopia Project is a Passion Project (Pun intended), and I'd keep writing this thing because it makes me happy. But to see that there is an actual audience for this, and that people like this story, has been nothing short of amazing. I'm truly happy with not just reaching 20k and coming this far, but also at the shape of Utopia overall.

  This is gonna be me patting myself on the back, so you can go ahead and tell me that I suck in the comments if you wanna. I'll understand. But I'm very proud of the Utopia Project. It's not the greatest, it's got its flaws, and it is so very far from perfection. But, it's my own work. I did it, no AI writing. No freelancers. Nope, this was all made with my own two hands. And keyboard. And mouse - You get the idea. And so far it's the best thing that I have ever written. Nothing else I've written in the past really comes close, and I still feel like there's room for improvement and a way to do better. Which there is.

  It's kind of hard thinking of the fact that I'll have to write something that somehow tops Season One in the future... but that's a challenge for later me to figure out. For now, we celebrate 20,000. A major milestone, I'd say even larger than just 10k. I feel like 20k is a very huge hurdle for any story on Royal Road to surmount, especially the ones that are still in progress. Odyssey (The last story I wrote here) reached 20k after like two years of being in permanent hiatus. Utopia reached 20k, and we still aren't finished. As a matter of fact (depending on when this chapter gets released) we haven't even reached the main climax of the story just yet. And I'm hoping you guys enjoy the next few chapters because... oooh boy, I certainly enjoyed writing them.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  None of this would've been possible without your support, once again. Thank you for following, favoriting, reviewing, reading, everything. You guys rock. This is genuinely one of the biggest achievements of my life so far. And I chose this point to traumadump to you guys because, like I said, 20k is a huge milestone and we're so close to the major peak of the story. The Act 3 Climax. The final confrontation. The Avengers Endgame moment, whatever you want to call it. Everything else after is just cleaning up shop. So again, thank you for reading, I would be over the moon if you kept reading, and thank you for being awesome. I loved writing The Utopia Project (Even during the moments when I really hated it), I would do it all over again. And, now that I think about it, I actually have to do it again because... season 2...

  Shit.

  I forgot about that.

  Ugh... Look I love writing the Utopia Project, but I genuinely have no clue how I'm going to go about writing Season 2. It's kind of a daunting prospect. I'll talk more about it in a different A/N chapter, probably after Portals wraps up, idk we'll see.

  For now, thank you for 20k, thank you for reading. If you'd like to help contribute to The Utopia Project, please favorite, follow, rate, all that good stuff. And... oh god... it's 2025.

  >>>[HAPPY NEW YEAR]<<<

  >>>[Here's to a great 2025, for all of us!]

  If you have resolutions, I wish you the best of luck. If you don't, same here. Happy Holidays to everybody who celebrates, and to those who don't, have a great 2025. Thank you, and as always, I'll see you on Friday with the next chapter. Adios!