Review Detail of Windvally in Embers Ad Infinitum

LOTM Discord Windvally here. Let me help with some context so more people may be interested to give this novel a chance for it to reach Chapter 61 and beyond in EN translation. Cuttlefish’s New Book Exclusive Interview Reveal By Yuewen Official Weibo Account (11-18-2020) ------ The Interview - Translated: Question 1 Interviewer: 《Lord of The Mysteries》 Book 1 has already concluded for over half a year now. Aside from playing games and occasionally updating the side stories and setting reveals for LOTM, what else did you do to recharge yourself during this time period? Cuttlefish: Wouldn't playing games count as recharging? (laugh) No, I'm serious, many decent quality single player games can give you inspiration for novels very effectively. For example, the entire Fallout series. Aside from playing games, I also read some books. However, in a genre like "Fallout", every writer has their own understanding of it. There isn't exactly a homework list of very special, mandatory materials that I need to read in order to prepare writing this genre. ------ Question 2 Interviewer: New novel 《Ember in Long Night》is up and running. Can you use your own method to introduce this new novel to us? For example, please give us three key words? Cuttlefish: New World, Civilization, Humanity. ------ Question 3 Interviewer: Can you secretly tell us, how many chapter drafts have you already saved up for the new novel in advance? Cuttlefish: That's a trade secret ahaha. To be honest, I didn't actually save up that much. Because web novels are a profession that requires interactions. Especially when it comes to the adjustment of certain details in your novel. These small details are often hard to get an accurate grasp of, and are made easier when you manage to receive reader feedback on them. Most Importantly, without the compliment and praise of your fans and readers, where do one even get the motivation to continue writing stories? ------ Question 4 Interviewer: Once upon a time you mentioned in your personal Wechat Official Account that: "Many writing's inspiration and ideas do have their places of origin". For the current new novel, what is its source of inspiration? Cuttlefish: I would say the Fallout series games. But my story is also a little bit different from the game series. It isn't a pure "Fallout series" breed, so to speak. It's more like my novel is set in a time period after a Fallout's dust has completely settled and normalized. It's more about the situations and events that happen after 'Order and Civilization' have already been rebuilt under such a norm and are flourishing in a world with gaps in history and technology. That's why in my novel, readers will see traces of settings influenced by the manga drawn by Tsutomu Nihei, such as <Knights of Sidonia> and <Blame!>. Some cities in the novel will also give you feelings of familiarity, as they are inspired by the city within the game <Disco Elysium>. ------ Question 5 Interviewer: When Volume 6 of 《Lord of The Mysteries》 concluded back then, you also informed us of the potential genres of the current new novel at the time. What kind of events/chances lead you to finally make the decision of tackling and challenging this genre that you have never touched before? Cuttlefish: Because I really like this genre ("serious" face). It's fine, since everyone is already used to me changing genres. ------ Question 6 Interviewer: Last time when you started writing LOTM, I heard you did some preparation that resulted in a whole cabinet being filled with research materials and books on topics such as Victorian England, steampunk, and Lovecraftian lore. What power level did the preparation work for this current novel achieve? Cuttlefish: This time, because the 'Fallout' genre is a topic that's more characterized by freedom of imagination, as well as depending heavily on the writer's ability to express themselves, there instead aren't many books needed for reference. I've only read several materials in regards to culture and rituals, hoping to find some inspiration from them. ------ Question 7 Interviewer: Why did you want to write this genre? In this novel, will you be pondering on some philosophical questions? such as the relationship problems between human nature and civilization? Cuttlefish: For me, the reason for starting this novel is very simple. I had certain ideas and images flashing across my mind one day, that's related to the ideas of 'Fallout'. And thus a topic that I want to write about is born from within those few flashes of imagery. I have to point out here, that the topic/genre of 'Fallout' can shoulder many things. Regardless if it's human nature, or civilization, or human themselves, all can be reflected and presented in this genre. ------ Question 8 Interviewer: Cuttlefish, your ability to construct world views and settings is witnessed by many. Have you already finished outlining a complete world, factions, and power system setting for the new book? Or have you created settings for parts of them, and requires the rest to be filled in slowly as the story progresses? Cuttlefish: I have mostly finished making all of the settings. However, one can never completely finish creating every single detail. Because many of those details are dependent on the progression of the story. Thus, I will mostly have some very iconic/symbolic moment/story checkpoints, the rest are waiting to be filled in as things go. ------ Question 9 Interviewer: Before the beginning of this new novel, we saw a group of people in the setting post you created, that sounds very similar to what we know as ESPers. This profession/class setting, will it have branching class advancement, class change, or class variation similar to the beyonder pathways of LOTM? Cuttlefish: The power system and road of progression this time around is mainly represented by one word: Entertaining. I will be purposely blurring and reducing the feeling of "character leveled up"in this novel. Of course, story-wise the characters will not be lacking growth or change. One key difference from LOTM, is that in this novel, each ability’s categorization and ‘strength differentiation’ is not entirely described through a ‘level based system’. They are more primarily based on ‘Application, Usage, and Effectiveness’ during practical situations. ------ Question 10 Interviewer: Who's your most favorite character in this new novel? What's the most unique quality and/or characteristics that you love about him/her? Cuttlefish: I will choose the MC I guess, because I can't write anything without an MC. The most unique quality I love about him would be, Mental Illness? ------ Question 11 Interviewer: Who are the 'most beautiful', 'most intelligent', and 'most combat capable' characters in the MC's team? Have they made their appearance in the novel yet? Cuttlefish: Ugh, I haven't even completely finished on deciding who will be joining the MC's team down the road. I have to take a look at how good of a control I have of the story first. Because the story will be 100% naturally harder to write with more and more characters. There's a threshold, or limits of sorts, that defines how many maximum characters you can have in the MC's team without losing control. On a side note, if you question is about who is the 'most inhuman/heartless/lack of humanity' in the MC's team, I could answer that. Because there will be a robot showing up down the line. ------ Question 12 Interviewer: Do you have anything you wanted to say to your fans? Cuttlefish: I won't desire unreasonably to have everyone love what I write. But I hope to bring you guys a different type of reading experience at least. ------ Question 13 Interviewer: Will you be doing extra chapter updates to show gratitude to your fans? Cuttlefish: Ah, what are you saying? I wasn't able to hear you very well!