Genius Playground

At last, it’s time for the launch announcement, and I can finally have a proper chat with you all.

I’ve always felt that posting standalone informational Chapters in the middle of the main story ruins the reading experience and immersion. That’s why, for this entire book, I’ll only share my random thoughts in announcements like this or in the end-of-volume summaries.

[1. The Creative Philosophy Behind This Book]

After finishing my last book, *Genius Club*, I took a year-long break before starting the serialization of this book, *Genius Playground*.

In truth, I only really rested for two or three months during that year. The rest of the time was spent toiling away on a new book. The process was tortuous and incredibly painful.

The immense success of *Genius Club* put a huge amount of creative pressure on me. Though I always tried to sound relaxed about it, deep down, I was anything but calm. I was constantly thinking about how I needed to write a story that was even more successful, more popular, and had better results.

And so, I fell into a long and vicious cycle.

Starting in May of this year, I began discussing outlines, settings, and opening Chapters with my editor.

Over several months, I lost count of how many openings I scrapped and how many story frameworks I tried and then abandoned. The reason was none other than this simple fact—

[They were no good.]

Ultimately, a novel doesn’t need to be overanalyzed with technicalities. All that matters is whether it’s a good and interesting read.

Often, you can’t see the forest for the trees. I couldn’t figure out why what I was writing wasn’t good, until one day, my editor said something to me:

"You’re just trying to write a novel worthy of a Galaxy Award winner, of your ’Great God’ status."

Of course, that statement made me very uncomfortable. I immediately denied it, insisting I wasn’t, that my original intentions were still intact.

Here, I have to mention my editor, [Lu Ming]. He’s a chief editor with an incredibly high level of professionalism, a wickedly sharp eye, and a way of speaking that cuts right to the heart of the matter.

Before *Genius Club* was published, I was just a minor author of mindless, gratifying fiction, barely scraping by on other platforms. My great editor Lu Ming was my Bo Le—the one who discovers a hidden talent. He saw my spark and believed I could write a good story. That’s what led to my meteoric rise and achieving ’god-tier’ status with a single book on Qidian.

Of course, our communication process during that time was very rocky, full of arguments and debates. Fortunately, the final result was worth all the trials and tribulations along the way.

Let’s get back to this book.

After being completely unable to write a story that satisfied either me or my editor, I chose to stop writing for two months to really think about what exactly had gone wrong.

I gradually realized that Lu Ming was right. I was indeed thinking about too many things when I wrote, like performance metrics, subscription numbers, adaptation rights, whether the opening was explosive enough, how easily it could be adapted... and on and on.

I had overlooked the most important thing about creation, something I said from the bottom of my heart in the first author’s note for *Genius Club*—

"[I want to tell a truly good story.]"

At that moment, I felt a little ashamed.

I finally understood why the things I had been writing were no good, why I was so dissatisfied with them... It was because my creative motivation wasn’t to tell a good story, but to write a product that could sell for a good price.

Thinking back to when I was writing *Genius Club*, I never thought about things like a hundred thousand average subscribers or huge IP deals. Back then, I just thought that getting 1,000 average subscribers would be enough. After all, the numbers were secondary. At that time, I was truly filled with a burning passion to tell this story that spanned 600 years.

So.

After a two-month break, I picked up my pen again and set off on a new journey.

This time, I didn’t overthink it. I just wanted to write a story that I wanted to tell, a story that could at least move me personally, a story that I would be incredibly proud of after finishing it.

And so, I started writing.

After writing a few Chapters, I showed them to many people. The reviews were mixed.

But my heart was as still as water; I wasn’t affected in the slightest.

Because at that moment, I was certain, confident, and clear—

[This is the story I want to tell, and the one I want to strive to tell well.]

Regardless of its performance, of commercial success, of the market, of profits.

I just want to properly tell a good story.

That’s all.

Telling the story you want to tell, writing the scenes you want to write—it’s truly a joyful thing.

Writing *Genius Playground*, I’ve felt a joy that comes from the bottom of my heart. More than anyone, I’m eager to get the exciting plot points that come later down on paper, to serve up the stunning ending I’ve already planned out.

Ah~ it feels so damn good. That moment when you get it written, it’s just so completely satisfying.

So, after all this rambling, I hope you’ll like this book too!

XOXO!

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[2. Details on the 60,000-Character Mass Release After Launch]

Previously, in the new book announcement, I promised everyone a 10-Chapter, 20,000-character release upon launch. A bunch of people flamed me, saying, "Who’s that even enough for?"

I have to say, there are too many writing machines on Qidian this year; everyone’s tastes have been spoiled. I distinctly remember that just last year, 20,000 characters absolutely counted as a launch-day Chapter bomb.

But the reader is king. If 20,000 characters aren’t enough, we’ll just super-size it and release 40,000 characters!

Then, I’ll add the 3 bonus Chapters I owe to my Silver Alliance Leader and friend, 37 Tianxia Wushuang (bonus Chapters for other Alliance Leaders will be posted in the coming days),

and then I’ll add a *Monthly Ticket Extra Chapter*,

For a grand total of [12 large Chapters, 60,000 characters]! It will all be released at once at 12:00 AM on December 1st, so everyone can read to their heart’s content!

Due to system delays, it might be posted a few minutes late—it’s unlikely to be right on the dot. Please be patient; you’ll get every single one of those 60,000 characters.

A necessary reminder—

[You can only unlock the extra Chapter by voting with your monthly tickets on the *Monthly Ticket Extra Chapter*’s page itself, by clicking the button at the bottom! Remember this! There’s nothing this author can do about such a weird design!]

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[3. Bonus Chapter Rules and Daily Updates]

Readers who followed my old book, *Genius Club*, know that my daily update volume is decent. I’m always on time with fulfilling bonus Chapter promises, so my daily word count is usually over ten thousand.

The rules for bonus Chapters are the same as the last book:

[One bonus Chapter for every 3,000 monthly tickets]

[One bonus Chapter for every new Alliance Leader]

Going forward, the daily update time will be fixed at 6:00 PM.

If there are bonus Chapters, they will probably be posted a bit later.

But the base update time is guaranteed to be 6:00 PM. I guarantee there will be a new Chapter to read at that time every day.

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That’s all.

Tonight at midnight, be there or be square!