It's never easy for me to write an afterword. After all, doing so means putting a conclusive end to a novel, to a certain chapter of my life.
Especially when I'm finishing a novel that kickstarted my entire career as a writer.
To start this one occasion when as an author, I can freely nag about everything, let me put an emphasis on the above once again. If not for this novel, I would never set on the path of professional writing. As insanely bad as the first chapters are, as cliche as this story is in some moments, it's still the greatest piece of writing (popular wise) that I completed.
This novel guided me from the days when I could barely create a proper sentence, to the times when I'm doing it without as much as a thought for it. From the times when I was naive about what writing really is about to the times when I can treat it seriously.
Yet, no matter how attached I am to this story, it's not only about it. In reality, it's about you, the readers. You are the ones that brought this story to life by reading it. It's you guys who gave face, looks and quirks to Bart. It's you guys that supported me as I wrote this novel to let me give it my all.
But ultimately, it's also me. As little as an average reader thinks about the author of the novels he is reading, it's still about me. Just a little bit. Why?
Battlesmut (how I grew to call this novel) was a novel that changed my life. I'm not embarrassed or edged by saying this. This is a novel that brought me from the pitiful depths of writing like an amateur, through the hardships of writing like a novice all the way to the joy of writing professionally. It was this novel that allowed me to vent my emotions, my ideas, my creativity.
Ultimately, the last days of this novel were far from being glorious. The rapid update rate that I prided myself so much in, turned to a single chapter every few days, then even every week. By the end, I could only produce a chapter every ten days or so. Why though?
There were many reasons. Attachment and unwilling to end this chapter of my life. The marking point in my carrer, given how this would be my first and greatest novel I have written so far? A bit. Laziness? For sure. Financial concerns about the future, deprived of the earnings of this novel? Certainly. But all in all, there was one thing that held me back the most.
The perspective.
Battlesmut started as just a simple idea of merging all the cliches and writing the most trashy piece of literature that I would be capable off. What for? I don't even remember anymore. But during over a year of writing this novel, it grew from a simple joke to an incredibely ambitious project of mine. In truth, it ended up being so damn big that the small limits of the world that I put in place relatively soon quickly came to constrain how much I could extend it. So rather than giving justice to all my ideas by forcing them into this novel… I decided to do something else.
To create a Slothverse.
I'm not going to lie here, certain MARVELous company inspired me a lot. But ultimately, I wanted to somehow connect all the novels I have been writing. Maybe this thought splurged from how my other novels weren't doing anywhere as good as this one? Maybe it was just a creative moment of my life?
But as this idea grew on me, I quickly started altering all my novels. Even before ending battlesmut, even before writing the cosmos mini-arc, Bart was already appearing in my other novels. Because as everyone should know by now, every single novel of mine happens after the end of the battlesmut and before the beginning of… one of my future projects.
That's why, if you truly want to understand the entire plot of the battlesmut in its entire glory, I can only invite you to read through my other novels. Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, Phoenix saga and basement/multiverse will be finished, allowing you to dive head-first into the complex and interconnected worlds of Slothverse. Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, the continuation of this little series will already reach its peak.
Because if any of the above will turn out to be true, then it will mean I didn't give up on my dream of creating the Slothverse, and no matter the success rate, prevailed till the end.
Cheers!
PS: To those interested, the next novels in the series are not a direct continuation. To a huge degree, they are a standalone novels, where you can see the influence of the Bart. They have their own plots and problems, own worlds and rules. In terms of a direct continuation, there is none yet. So here I will publish a list of the series in the "chronological order" for everyone to know
1) While Others Cultivate I Use My Unique Leveling Up RPG System To Cultivate Smut Romance
2) With Their Girlfriends (finished)
3) Road to the Crown (finished)
4) Rebirth Of the Phoenix God (Finished)
5) Raising of the Phoenix God (Coming out this year)
6) Fall of the Phoenix God (TBA)
7) … (To Be Announced)
8) While Others Cultivate I Use My Multiverse System (Ongoing)
9) Undying Alchemist
10) Genius Mage In a Cultivation World (Ongoing)
11) … (TBA)
12) … (TBA)
As you can see above, Road and Phoenix Sage are the most direct continuation of the Slothverse, but the saga only has one tome published. According to my plans, I should be able to pick it up this year. As for when, then you have just as much of an idea as I do.
What's next though?
Outside of writing Phoenix saga and my other ongoing novels, I plan to reedit the initial 150 chapters of battlesmut. Sooner or later. But most likely later.
Cheers!