Post-Vacation Report

7/19/2017

I'm home and back to the grindstone this week, but I promised I'd at least let you know what I worked on for fun.

I spent the most time trying to write a dungeon-style novel of the sort that's popular in web novels nowadays, where the primary action comes from the hero progressing through a dungeon and leveling up. I enjoy reading them, they seem fun to write, and they also seemed easy--if I came up with something, I figured I could actually post it.

But uh...it turns out that when I tried to cut out the parts of the dungeon-crawl genre I didn't like, and add in the stuff I liked, I was just plotting another novel. Whenever I tried to just dive in and write off the top of my head, I couldn't do it--who is my main character? What are they after? Why does the dungeon work like a video game? There has to be some sort of logic to it.

It was fun trying, though, so it fulfilled its objective.

Then I spent some time working on a story where the hero actually accepted the villain's offer of employment (quite a few of you suggested something that got my mind jogging along these lines, including Anil, JP, and Alex). My first scene had the hero walking through the dark lord's burning fortress, and the dark lord actually persuades him to join. The hero was so demoralized by his treatment at the hands of the good guys that he was ready to accept a better offer.

Problem was, he had almost defeated the evil army already. Now that he's switching sides, he's the underdog again, despite his personal power.

...I've read things with similar stories before, as I'm sure have you, but it was fun to work on. It raised a few questions, too: is that the right place to start, or should I take the reader through his journey of being worked and exploited by the light side? Is this a standalone or a series? What series of events leads to an actual video-game style confrontation between the good guy and the bad guy? How does the world work that this became necessary?

Cheese Doodle, Adarsh, and a few other people suggested writing with other author's copyrighted characters and concepts (which I could do since I'm not planning to publish any of this). I tried it, but I couldn't quite crack it.

More specifically, I made a roster for a big 2v2 tournament with famous fighters from all throughout fiction, so that I could pair up people who would never meet and imagine their interactions. Locke Lamora (Lies of Locke Lamora) + Saber (Fate/Stay Night) vs. Parson Gotti (Erfworld) + Kratos (God of War), that sort of thing.

I tried to set up each pair for character conflict and then pit them against a similar team, in the hopes that I could draw some sort of inspiration from imagining their interactions.

Didn't help much. Either I didn't feel capable of writing the characters well enough to model their interactions believably (Parson), or they're so simple they didn't teach me anything (Kratos). There's probably some sort of fanfiction-driven exercise here that I would enjoy, but I couldn't quite get there.

Reddan, I loved the idea of an invent-ery where things are spontaneously invented, but I didn't do anything with it. I'm sorry, I have failed you.

And everybody who suggested meta ideas about a writer writing about writing...that's too convoluted for me. What if the story gets too close to reality and comes to life?

Thanks to everyone who left suggestions! I really did read them all during my vacation, even if I didn't reply.

-Will

77 Comments

Eric

7/19/2017 02:35:50 pm

So it sounds like you took a vacation from writing, came back with a bunch of ideas and then none of them worked out.

Guess this just means we're not allowing you to take vacations anymore!

Will link

7/20/2017 08:04:33 am

Not exactly--this is what I do on vacation. I write for fun in order to distract myself from writing for publication.

I didn't expect any of them to turn into another book...but sometimes they do!

A FAMILY OF RACCOONS ON THE RUN FROM JANGO FET WHILE DRINKING LARGE AMOUNTS OF VODKA WHILE FIGHTING THE OTHER FAMILY OF RACCOONS WHO WANT TO FIGHT THE ROMAN LEGIONS

7/25/2017 06:43:15 pm

So what do you do when not writing at all? A life where just writing, while awesome, sounds a little bit boring. How do you focus on it so well?

7/28/2017 11:38:45 am

When I'm not writing, I'm either reading or playing video games.

Daniel

7/19/2017 02:37:38 pm

Your story for fun sounds good except for the video game elements'. Everyone is writing rpglite now days I am so over it.
But I like the idea of joining the bad guys side. If it was me I would of had him form the bad guys side form the beginning have him find out he is a bad guy, then just not care and keep going.

7/20/2017 08:07:09 am

I don't like LitRPG, but I feel like I should.

That's why I keep returning to it. I've never read a LitRPG that I really enjoyed, but sometimes there are light novels with video-gamey elements that really light my metaphorical candle.

So, in theory, there should be some configuration of LitRPG/isekai novel/web novel that l can really customize to my tastes.

But I can't figure it out.

jim

7/20/2017 10:23:33 am

Maybe you don't like them because they are across-the-board terrible.

Or maybe the genre necessitates terrible writing/prose/90% expository dialogue and action.

I did like the "dungeon-crawler" serials from the perspective of the dungeon, but again, they're all terrible.

7/20/2017 10:32:00 am

To add on to my previous comment, I think if litRPG authors just stopped trying to write dialogue, the books would improve. Just stop any dialogue at all.

Their books would literally get better if none of their characters said a word the entire time, because everytime someone opens their mouth, my suspension of disbelief goes out the window.

Like being a passenger in a car with a driver that slams on the breaks every few seconds.

7/20/2017 12:18:57 pm

Will I'm sure you can too for instance one of my other favorite authors Eric Nylund just started writing novels again and of course it's an rpglite! Needless to say I was disappointed but since I like his work a read it anyway. It was good took a different way in why it was a game world. It was Hero of thera if you want to give it a shot. It also had a reference to an eralier series of his which I love the mortal coils series. I would recommend that series if you like God's and goddesses in morden day. But be worwarned that series is in limbo after book 2.

Mathew

7/21/2017 07:49:26 am

I am on your side on this, Will. I never liked LitRPG's as well.. Those blue boxes are so distracting and strongly disrupt my reading flow. Some authors completely leave these boxes out, which is already a plus point on my books, but I honestly don't know what I am suppsoed to do with all those hundreds of stats, special effects that increase your abilities under certain circumstances. There are simply way too many numbers that probably don't even play a role later on.
The authors themselves probably don't even know what to do with all those numbers and simply ignore them.later on.

Darryl

7/24/2017 07:35:50 am

The best story line for any litrpg I've read has to be the emerilia series. It starts off like a typical litrpg but it has some helacious twist that turns out Earth is the simulation. It might give you some ideas if you ever decide to try the genre. It written by Michael chatfield. He's on Kindle unlimited and posts his new chapters on royal road for proof readers.

Captain Spaulding

7/26/2017 07:27:49 pm

I've gone through quite a bit of LitRPGs, and not all of them have good standards of writing. My favorite by far is Play to Live by D. Rus. Just give it a shot, if you don't like it, I will never say another word on the subject of LitRPGs.

Scweeb

7/19/2017 05:28:38 pm

I wonder jas anyone tried a litrpg but also adding a city building element?? That might be a different take.
So not only does the MC have to become strong but the MC has to build or rebuild a city and help the people survive and become strong. I think you could add some interesting parts where he can advance some of the technology used because he comes from the modern era so maybe threw magic or other means helps advance the city to help it stand on its own.

Sean K

7/19/2017 06:36:11 pm

Most of the litRPG I've read has had some building aspect in them. I HIGHLY recommend "Awaken Online Book 1: Catharsis" which is about a high schooler who is upset with his apparent powerlessness and starts to play an online game. After doing a personality test in the game, is puts him in the role of an "evil" character who eventually becomes a necromantic lord of an entire city.

What I love most about this game is that the characters, PC and NPC, are actually believable following actual human desires/goals. The author "Travis Bagwell" has only released two books so far, but BOTH of them have been good!

7/19/2017 07:08:58 pm

Sweet!! I am actually looking for a new book series!
Yea most of the ones i have been reading are the MC just geta way strong and might look out for a small group if that. The one exception being the Choas seed. But i like the idea of the city builder cause i think it helps to tone down the MC being a big power house solo.

Lyrian Rastler

7/20/2017 04:14:02 am

Another really good one with just a bit of city building is Awaken Online. I am not going to spoil the story, but the author has sort-of given a nice balance between the traditional fight scenes and the more political-city-building. Also Viridian Gate is another rather good LitRPG. Ill throw in the link to a Facebook LitRPG community/page. I am sure they would like the influx of readers.

P.S. ill throw off giving the link for now, probably wanna ask Will if this is breaking one of the holy testaments of his blog or something. I am in no hurry to get cursed with endless frogs

7/20/2017 05:45:46 pm

So, Awaken Online is EXACTLY what I was recommending, lol!

7/22/2017 05:09:57 am

Ascend Online*. Yeah, I'm dumb

7/20/2017 08:29:58 am

Apparently everyone else has already addressed this, but I'll add my two cents anyway.

One of the things I considered was a webnovel-style story based on survival games instead of RPGs. There could be RPG elements, or whatever, but instead of leveling up being the primary focus, most of the action comes from a small group trying to survive in a vast, hostile wilderness.

Kind of like the novel version of something like The Martian mixed with Subnautica or Terraria.

There's probably something there, but I couldn't mine it out yet.

Adaen

7/20/2017 10:32:39 pm

So not exactly what you might be referring to, but you when you said survivor in a hostile wilderness I immediately thought of Sanderson's Sixth of the Dusk. Its a very quick read, but well done and might be interest to you if you go down this path.

7/24/2017 07:37:50 am

Yeah you DEFINITELY need to check out emerilia

7/25/2017 06:47:14 pm

I think that the terraria style world (minus the 2D) combined with the Martian ideas/technology would be VERY interesting and a must read.

7/25/2017 07:41:55 pm

Think *a potato farm getting eaten a a massive wall of bugs. When the protagonist kills the bugs, he finds out that the bugs were drones from an ancient civilization coming back from deep underground to destroy the earth!!!

Brian S

7/19/2017 05:52:21 pm

I would also urge you to avoid LitRPG, at least for now. The market is so saturated with LitRPG crap that it has become difficult to find any traditional fantasy novels. It's even started to spread into Science Fiction.

If you really really want to explore virtual reality, use your creativity to create a VR pod that we can climb in, then use your billions to have a group of programmers create the Cradle MMOVRRPG.

If you start to run short of cash, you can always post a link to your marketplace on your website and sell more t-shirts.

7/20/2017 08:14:50 am

The T-shirts don't make money. They're far more hassle than they're worth.

But anyway, that's the rub with LitRPG: I don't like it either, but I feel like I should. I enjoy fantasy with videogame-esque elements, but I never enjoy LitRPG. Why not? Surely there has to be some kind of LitRPG story I would enjoy, so I keep running at it to see if I can tweak the recipe to my tastes.

I haven't been able to do it yet, but maybe someday...

Incidentally, out of those web/light novels that I enjoy with RPG elements, I'm almost always irritated by the statistics. Not the existence of a stat page, which I know bothers some people, but with the fact that it eventually fills up to such a degree that it effectively becomes white noise.

When the hero has four stats and two skills, then it might be interesting to check in and look at his progress.

But inevitably he gains new skills, and the stat numbers get so high that they're meaningless. When the MC has a page full of 127 skills and their fifteen sub-skills apiece, I just see this big brick of text that says "He's great at everything."

As for stats: when he starts with 10 STR, and through painstaking labor raises it to 20 STR, I get a sense of accomplishment! But I know that as the series progresses he will inevitably end up with 24,567 STR, which is a number so high that it makes tracking it meaningless.

So I know what I don't like about the system, and that makes me think I can fix it!

Too many skills? Why not give everyone a limit of three skills? Or make skills more like classes, so everyone gets one? Or have it so that everybody has a Weapon Skill, a Trade Skill, a Magic Skill, and so on and so forth?

Stats too high and meaningless? Why not make it so that each point in a stat is a rare acquisition, and going from a 2 to a 3 means going from being a pro boxer to Captain America?

It SOUNDS like it could work, right?

But I can't fit it in there...

Jay W

7/20/2017 09:30:54 am

Valid point with too many skills making it ridiculous.

I've read all of the story thus far for that title, Reincarnator, from Gravity Tales you had recommended a while back. Really good "people are in a game story". I like the way they do it with the main character only being able to take on 7 different skills. That cap makes each one really important and doesn't bog down the reader.

Walter

7/20/2017 01:17:00 pm

You could always have a set number of points as your "capacity" and to train in a way such that you advance a skill quickly takes away from your other stats like speed for strength, but REAL advancement comes from increasing your "capacity" so that increasing in one doesn't detract equally from another.

Also, I would totally buy shirts with your vision of Madra channels with their aspect and core/two cores on the front, with a description of the imagining of the breathing technique on it or on the back. I know it's silly, but I try to do this with my breathing when I feel like maybe magic exists 😝

Diego link

7/20/2017 11:25:40 pm

Sometimes the answer to your confusion is right in front of you. Will in my eyes you already kinda do add some basic game mechanics in your books. In cradle advancing is pretty much leveling up. Traveler's gate? Earning a new power is exactly the same as learning a new skill. Jai Longs spear is pretty much gives you exp for each kill.

Out of curiosity if Jai Long killed an Underlord with the spear what would happen?

Marek

7/24/2017 11:05:20 am

Judging from what happened the first time he used it all it did was syphon madra into his core. He would either be able to contain it and expand his core or have a core-splosion. It doesn't sound like he would get access to soulfire which is the real difference between underlord and the lower levels.

Patrick

7/24/2017 11:34:25 am

Will,

Have you ever tried the web serial the Wandering Inn? It's an interesting take on it with litrpg elements but not too bogged down with stats, etc. I'm not into litrpg in general either but I did like this one.

Marek link

7/25/2017 10:34:58 am

Yes but from what i understand advanced stages have a more "refined" core. Im going out on a limb here but underlords should have higher quality madra. Gathering soulfire might just be a trait inherent to being an underlord much like how an iron body is a trait of an iron. So killing an underlord "might" refine your madra is all im saying maybe not to underlord but close. Depends on what Will decides to do though. Im not a soulsmith so all im doing here is conjecture.

7/25/2017 10:37:04 am

Whoops i posted that sorry. I wanted to say Marek but i must be sleepy or something sorry

7/27/2017 02:10:14 pm

They made a big deal that the difference between underlord and golds wasn't strength, but some nebulous insight that the golds lacked. That is why the Sand Viper true gold was pretty confident he could help Jai Long break through.

Later it was shown that soul fire is what true golds lacked. Granted I have no idea how you get soul fire, haha, but amassing strength (quantity of madra) does not seem to be the MAIN factor.

7/27/2017 02:17:29 pm

Sorry for the repeat post, but I realized I had another thing to say.
When you see Jai Long actually absorb the madra of the disciples he kills it is described as a huge influx of "pure" stellar spear madra. It's up to him to cycle and incorporate it. This doesn't seem different in effect than if he had just swallowed a whole bunch of stellar spear scales.

The couple of times we hear soul fire get mentioned it is floating invisibly above the artists, not in their core (unless I am completely mis-remembering)

7/28/2017 11:05:30 pm

Marek your comparing the consumption of a gold to an underlord. They are of different "quality". All I'm saying is maybe the underlords "insight" refines their core which allows them to collect soulfire. If so maybe the spear will bypass this insight required and add that quality the the absorbant. I know it's probably not likely(the part of turning them into underlord), but what I'm saying is gathering soulfire may simply be a quality underlords possess. Like an extra power gleaned from their now more advanced core. The insight required might simply the discovering the method of said core refinement.

Adarsh

7/19/2017 09:15:39 pm

Well, I hope you get cracking on Skysworn now.

7/20/2017 08:15:05 am

Already cracking, Adarsh.

Charles

7/22/2017 03:54:37 am

Please give a estimated publish time

7/25/2017 06:51:59 pm

CRACK HARDER!!! I have literally been looking at this post at least 3 times a day, and *your lack of progress is diiiissstttuuurrrrbiiiinngggg* In all seriousness please give us a release date!!!

7/19/2017 10:30:24 pm

Welcome back and I hope u had fun. :D Pretty cool u decided to try a dungeon crawler but why even add the litrpg? I've found in most stories it does more harm than good to a readers interest with the almost infinite number of skills and perks. Not to mention the numbers, who can keep track of how much health 10 monsters have at the same time offscreen? I would envision a dungeon crawler closer to something you already have. The steel labyrinth Tartaros. Rewards could vary from monsters possessing soul power/potential energy in abundance that transfers fully to you upon death without the ethical dilemma that you killed a person to get stronger or other more material rewards. Maybe prolonged exposure to the environment makes u crazy which is why everything is so hostile and why you can't permanently exp-camp and set up cities or towns.

7/20/2017 08:24:26 am

I actually responded to this in a comment slightly higher than this one, and I don't want to copy-and-paste another wall of text. But it's a pretty decent explanation for how I feel about LitRPG and stat pages.

That said, I'm not exactly talking about LitRPG. Something more like Kumo Desu ga, Nani ga?, or Terror Infinity, or Infinitely Competitive Dungeon Society, or Acquiring Talent in a Dungeon, or The Gamer, or Arifureta, or Life Howling, or Reincarnator, or Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, or Dungeon Born, etc.

Where it's a real world, there's a real reason for a dungeon to exist, and the primary action comes from progressing through the dungeon and revealing the secret purpose behind the dungeon's existence.

It's another sub-genre that I feel like I should be able to write easily, but I can't bring myself to boil my writing style that far. Now it feels like a challenge.

Also, you're dead-on right about Tartarus. When I kept tackling the dungeon-crawler novel over last week, I realized that my ideal version of a dungeon-style world is basically Traveler's Gate.

7/20/2017 11:03:22 pm

It's why I love Traveler's Gate. Really I'd love a comprehensive guide through Valinhall written either by the Dolls or the Eldest. Detailing all the challenges and the rewards as well as Simons embarrassing moments like maybe his first corny pick-up line for losing a bet with said doll.
Btw I was wondering who makes the Abidans equipment? Is it spoilers?

"A Procrastinating Sci-fi Writer"

7/21/2017 03:05:26 am

Hey Will!

Glad your R&R went well. What no mention of Log Horizon or Sword Art Online? ;)

LitRpg is a tough subgenre to get a handle on because of the statistics. Include too much and you bore your readers. Don't include enough and you offend the purists. While I was bogged down a.k.a. blocked on my other work, I took a swing at it. Challenging but fun as a thought exercise. What skills make for an interesting leader character. To guild or not to guild.

Personally, I think as someone mentioned you have a touch of the genre basics in Cradle and TG already. Much of both involve skill acquisition and building I.e. leveling.

Still I'm glad you had a good time on break. It can be nice to just let the brain zone. Now about that next Cradle or TG novel... ;)

J/k Will. Welcome back!

Michael

7/23/2017 12:57:16 am

Isn't that basically your travelers gate series? If you ignore the parts in those novels that quantify strength(stats), then they're similar. You have these foreign areas that require some affinity or strength to enter and by exploring and fighting deeper into it you are able to get stronger. Both through new equipment and abilities.

In fact ignoring other territories, doesn't valinhall work pretty much the same as dungeons in those novels?

wthidden

7/20/2017 07:40:49 am

Will thanks for sharing your writing adventures while on vacation. I especially appreciated your description of the challenges you faced with writing different scenes/styles/characters. You do make it sound that some thought is needed to successfully create a story :)

7/20/2017 08:25:57 am

I feel like I'm overthinking it, honestly. There are certainly many challenges in developing a story, but some of these things feel simple enough that I should be able to just write a draft off the top of my head and keep what works, discard what doesn't, and start again.

...right?

7/20/2017 12:03:27 pm

Ah.. No. Let me 'splain.
If you just wanted a 'follow the bouncing ball down the road' type of story, as I feel many of the LitRPGs do, then sure its simple and someone with your experience should have little difficulty banging out a draft and then polishing as needed. However from reading your published works, I'm starting too see a story teller that likes layers and nuances in the stories they tell. To a lay person, as myself, hues and subtlety take planning/spit-balling/brainstorming/luck(?) than your normal a -> b -> c. stories. Thus your conscious mind might want to do a simple a->b->c story, but your subconscious wants to do z->a->m->b->a'->c story. And so you end up fighting yourself.

That will be $0.05

:)

Azqa

7/20/2017 08:03:59 am

Did you also, you know, relax at all during your vacation? Take time to do things that were not writing?

7/20/2017 08:27:38 am

No.

...jk. I do enjoy writing for fun, but it's not ALL I do. I read ten or eleven books, did a bunch of hiking, went swimming, killed a man, hid his body in a freight elevator, changed my name to hide from the police, and then pinned the murder on a Polish housekeeper that I happened to know was a secret necromancer.

All in all, it was a relaxing week.

7/20/2017 10:09:00 am

Excellent, glad to hear that you were able to help out the authorities finally nab that pesky necromancer. Good vacation!

7/24/2017 11:09:56 am

Does that mean we need to change the name of the Willverse? And get a new web page? And a new amazon profile?

This sounds pretty inconvenient for your fans, Will. Or whomever.

The Man link

7/20/2017 07:15:39 pm

What is your favorite anime? You have named a few. Also on a completely unrelated note how old is Jai Chen from Cradle? I have a suspicion that she was Lindon's fated wife and that is why she looked familiar.

7/20/2017 10:50:40 pm

I think Suriel pretty much confirmed it. On the original prediction it was probably their shared weakness that brought them together as they understood what hardships weakness brings.

Nift

7/23/2017 01:13:32 pm

I know, thats what I thought too!

7/28/2017 11:43:24 am

Favorite anime: Code Geass.

7/28/2017 11:11:02 pm

I <3 Code Geas. With how Lulucio made himself hated. I'm all for him surviving and living a peaceful life later. Damon them for making it a guessing game!!. I think he was driving the cart!! T.T

Tim

7/21/2017 07:54:11 am

Will, have you decided which short story you are going to write?
Cradle or Travelers?

Aaron T.

7/21/2017 12:17:15 pm

I am reading Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe, and came across this: "his hair was shorter and he looked closer to my own age and build. The mask was the wrong color, too. He carried an impractically huge sword like it was weightless. With the blade rested against his shoulder, it almost brushed the ceiling of the shop. The swordsman had a blonde-haired doll in a powder-blue dress poking out of a pocket in his cloak. That was unusual enough in itself, but I could have sworn that when I looked away and looked back the doll’s expression had changed".
Is it just me or is that Simon??????

7/22/2017 05:11:20 am

Yeah, I read that book a long time ago. It will probably revealed later who it is, but there might be some referencing or stuff

7/23/2017 01:20:02 am

Im not sure if it was here or on Andrew Rowe's site, but i commented about this and was told by the author that it was an intentional reference, but that it doesn't actually mean anything.

7/25/2017 12:01:58 am

I read that book and i enjoyed the magic system. The story was pretty good as well. Though the author could have given us a bit more of a heads up warning about the cultural relationship norms before surprising us. I was scanning the earlier chapters to make sure the protagonist was male. Overall was a fun read though.

7/25/2017 07:02:17 pm

Yes, it is. He confirmed it on blog or Reddit, can't remember. There was some Kai/Simon confusion, and he cleared that up with confirming simon as the swordsman (the cloak). I believe Will also posted something earlier about that, something along the lines of him giving Rowe some advice.

7/28/2017 11:44:21 am

It's Simon! Andrew gave me a cameo; he was a beta reader on Soulsmith and Blackflame, and I beta-read SAM.

Reddan

7/21/2017 01:42:16 pm

I'm glad you liked the idea of the invent-ery. It's always been a fun concept to me. I haven't the faintest idea how to go about developing it into an actual story though.

Ihsan

7/21/2017 02:26:13 pm

Locke lamora and saber omg I'm so waiting for the next installments.

How bout a book where the heroes adventure both in and out of dingeons while stopping a nefarious scheme or evil that's coming from the north. I'll buy it if you write it.

That's not litrpg is it. Never read those, but I did read the Sanctuary series

7/21/2017 02:26:35 pm

Kaden

7/23/2017 10:47:09 am

Out of sheer impatience I read the EE series again. is syphren dead it's says so on one page but then later debuted it is this a typo or mistake. And if not does shera have one or two vessels now. please just give me a straight answer as I have already given in to the fact that OKAK might just be the book never finished. Because how could you possibly tie the book to an end making both sides happy without doing the thing were each side takes place on a different world.

7/28/2017 11:38:24 am

It's dead for now.

7/28/2017 11:45:03 am

*Syphren, I mean. Not the series. I was actually working on OKAK just a few minutes ago.

7/23/2017 11:53:53 am

Will, just took a closer look at the Unsouled badge.
If I recall correctly, then the above chinese sign is "six", while the one beneath it means "work".

Can you tell me why you chose these signs, because I'm rather confused what "six" and "work" has to do with an unsouled one. Do they mean something together that I'm not aware of.

I read often in xianxia's, when they refer to a very talented cultivator, something like "Heavens chosen one".
So, wouldn't it fit to use chinese characters on an unsouled badge that says something like "Not chosen by Heaven", or "Heavens unchosen one"(I admit, it sounds a bit odd)

7/23/2017 12:08:57 pm

Ok, I was already rather confused when I saw the character for six, after looking it up I noticed that it means something completely different.(shoul have done it before I posted it -_-)

It seems to mean "hole" or "cave".

Does it perhaps mean something along the lines like: no matter what he does, he will never be able to climb out of the hole.
The "hole" is probably referrign to his inaptitude to cultivate.
So, it doesn't matter how much he works, he wil never be able to improve his cultivation stage.

Lightsyde

7/24/2017 05:01:17 am

Seems like you hit a lot of unexpected deadlocks. I wonder how that felt like

7/28/2017 11:37:17 am

Not entirely unexpected. I never expect to emerge from vacation with a finished product.

Jon

7/25/2017 01:16:17 pm

When is your vacation going to end?

7/28/2017 11:37:37 am

I wrote this post two days after I got home and started working again.

7/27/2017 02:11:17 pm

Is it possible to get an update on the progress bar to the new book? I miss having it taunt me.

7/28/2017 11:36:54 am

Soon, Marek. Soon I will taunt you once more.

In which we ramble on.
And by we, I mean me.