Chapter Forty-Six and a Half (I hope readers will come and take a look)

Today I had a long conversation with a reader. This reader casts a lot of votes for me every day, supporting me even before I signed a contract. It's clear this book suits his taste, and he urges me to update more frequently.

First of all, I must say that I am truly delighted. This book has finally made it into the top five of the Fantasy New Releases chart. While this achievement might mean little to many veteran authors, for a newcomer such as myself, it is exhilarating. However, I have to work during the day, and my workplace is often busy. Only after returning home and having dinner do I begin writing. A chapter of around three thousand words takes me two hours if I'm fast, and sometimes three if I'm not.

I believe many readers can tell that every creature in the book, even every move made by a character, has a basis. The logic is consistent throughout. I have researched extensively, watched countless documentaries, and the more I learn, the more I realize how difficult it is to write about the habits and actions of various creatures. Often, after writing a passage, I realize it doesn't work and end up deleting and rewriting it. Even the bullet chats in the story are not mere filler; they contain many clues and information. Interested readers are welcome to seek them out. So, my writing pace is truly slow now (here I shamelessly make excuses for my clumsy hands, only to be dragged away and beaten). Once my proficiency improves, and I can better express the ideas in my mind, my speed will surely increase.

I've always believed the most fascinating aspects of another world are twofold: heroic feats achieved through individual cultivation, and the vibrant variety of fantastical creatures. Without these creatures, what distinguishes another world from Earth? But fantasy does not mean the author can simply invent anything at whim; there must still be basic rules. In many books, magical beasts, monsters, ghosts, and demons are portrayed as mere NPCs, as if their sole purpose is to stand around awaiting humans to defeat them and level up. Take the example of a Crimson Flame Tiger—what impression does that leave for the reader? A tiger that breathes fire, and that's it. Nothing more. Some authors even set scenes in temperate or cold, dry forests, yet fill them with fire-type monsters. Isn't that absurd? Animals need to eat, don't they? If they produce fire, surely they use it when hunting? The forest should have burned down countless times already. Do the animals know how to put out fires?

Another thing that frustrates me is illusion-type creatures, or those that affect others' minds. They always appear impossibly powerful. How can that be? At least sixty or seventy percent of creatures hunt relying on smell, hearing, heat sensing, even detecting air vibrations via fur or cilia. If you place an illusion-type creature in the woods, who can it possibly confuse? Are you sure it would survive more than three days? Or is its primary food source humans? Or perhaps the author never considered the logic at all, and such creatures don't need to eat, drink, exchange substances, or metabolize—just like game NPCs, standing around eternally waiting for the protagonist to interact with them?

Here's another example: demons tempting and eating humans, which is common in many books. These demons are even more template-like, as though they all compete to see who can devour more terrifyingly, splash blood farther. I have always wondered: if demons can tempt people and lead them astray with clever words, their intelligence must be high, right? So, shouldn't they pursue some quality of life? When they eat people, do they prefer any particular sauce?

I've rambled on at length, but my main purpose is to convey the narrative logic of this book to my readers. Right now, the story is in its early stages, and the magical beasts that appear are relatively low-level—their animalistic traits are quite apparent. As more "semi-intelligent" and "highly intelligent" magical beasts emerge later on, the book will become even more exciting!

Finally, as is customary for a single chapter: please vote and add to your collections! Dear readers, I checked the rankings and the top two or three are only slightly ahead of me. Please let me experience the joy of being in the top three. My heartfelt thanks to you all!