Heroes' Prison

Chapter 562 - 540 Section 3 The Team Champion is Finally Decided_3

The initial intention of this volume was to craft a marvelous competition. I’ve had readers reflect to me several times before, saying that in the first million words, the protagonist is only fighting NPCs, which feels like playing a single-player game. I also truly felt that the confrontations between the protagonist and other characters were too few, with battles against players ending in a single axe swing without any room for twists and turns.

Therefore, I planned a martial arts tournament to fill this gap, but as the tournament progressed, everyone started saying the matches were boring. I was anxious, so I made a last-minute change to the plot, introducing an invasion by the Seven Demon Lords’ Vanguard to spice things up, and I wanted to reverse this trend for the competition as well. I aimed to write the final match thrillingly, full of variables, with the protagonist achieving victory in an exhilarating fashion.

Unexpectedly, this change deepened some readers’ dislike. Many said, "Couldn’t the protagonist have just used XX skill earlier and have it over with?" Such thoughts arise only because they know the course of the match. Before the enemy deploys a skill, no one knows what may happen. The protagonist thought using 5% of his strength was enough to win, keeping his remaining tactics secret for future battles, not wanting to reveal them prematurely. The Martial Arts Guild held the same philosophy, not using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. However, the continuous power struggles forced them to keep unveiling their next trump card.

Additionally, each skill must be used at the right moment, taking into account the various aspects of the entire competition. Sometimes using a skill seems very apt, but when placed in the macro context of the whole match, accounting for everyone’s skills and sequence, it just can’t be used. The text spent considerable ink explaining motives.

The protagonist was cautious about using skills, always guarding against the enemy’s counter-attack. For example, readers asked why didn’t the protagonist just copy Mass Resurrection and revive his original body? Because Skill Copying can only be used once. If it’s used up and the enemy has stronger moves, it would be much harder for him to counter. Hence, he copied Corpse Fusion, which is a much stronger approach than just reviving his original body with Mass Resurrection, saving it for when really needed.

Some readers asked if it’s necessary to write so much about a "small" Japanese character. Actually, Japan ranks 10th in the world population; it’s not a small country by population—only small in land area. It’s emphasized in the text that they are very strong, a team with the nation’s top masters, nearly invincible. If a mere Guild defeated them too easily, it wouldn’t make sense.

If the Martial Arts Guild emerged victorious, readers would be even more displeased. How could the Heroes’ Guild lose? Wouldn’t that detract from the enjoyment?

So the outcome could only be written such that the Heroes’ Guild won but did so with great difficulty.

Some readers said Zhitian Shi’s Corpse Fusion is an invincible skill. I’ve mentioned before that the Energy Value is its limitation, but it was only briefly touched upon and not detailed, so I need to spend the effort to elaborate on the formula for the Energy Value consumption of this skill. Many such issues are intertwined, which makes them hard to address one by one; after all, the story takes precedence, not the setting collection.

I know that after this Chapter is published, some readers will surely ask me on QQ why Huang Yi, after being fused by Zhitian Shi, did not copy Time Rewind, instead of wasting three major tactics. I originally wrote an explanation for this, but upon review, it affected the fluency and I deleted it. In fact, the reason is simple: after Time Rewind, Zhitian Shi could just attempt the fusion again, while Huang Yi’s Skill Copying opportunity would have been wasted, unable to use Corpse Fusion anymore.

This issue is actually very straightforward, and one would understand by carefully examining the skill effects, but readers skim through books, so to prevent misunderstandings, even minor issues must be explained as clearly as possible—yet the explanation must be seamless, almost imperceptible, so as not to disrupt reading flow. Of course, some deeper reasons requiring an extensive explanation were omitted, as that would affect fluency even more.

Of course, I don’t exclude the possibility that I’ve missed some details, as I am just one person, and can’t compare to the thousands and millions of reader brains. Perhaps the more I explain, the more loopholes will appear, and addressing one confusion might lead to more.

Reflecting on this martial arts tournament, the part I am most satisfied with is the segment where the protagonist concedes the individual finals; what I am dissatisfied with is that the tournament was too long and became somewhat dragged-out. Writing this tournament has been quite painful. As a writer, I strained to write it well, but it wasn’t as appealing in the readers’ eyes, making the experience disappointing for both sides. This is a sign of my lack of experience. If I had to do it all over again, I might not choose a plot centered around a martial arts tournament.

This is a hard lesson to learn! It has made clear the shortcomings of my experience. If I were Tomato, Tang family’s three young master, or Tudou, I surely wouldn’t have made such mistakes.

Last but not least, thank you to all who are still willing to stick with this book! Perhaps I am somewhat dense, having written for many years and completing several books, but I still haven’t completely mastered the art of satisfying literature. For that, I am sorry. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote with your Recommendation Ticket and Monthly Tickets at Starting Point (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)