Hi All,

I'm very sorry for being completely MIA for the last several months, the story wasn't in a place I was all that happy with and I let it slide a bit and suddenly months had passed and I was working on another project that I was really excited about (not a royal road one). But I never intended to leave you guys (or Bethany) high and dry. So I'm back, with some chapters in the can and I've really missed having this community as part of my day to day/week to week. As such i wanted to make some promises.

1) We will be out of the woods (metaphorically and literally) soon. I've already written to the end of this chunk with time spent climbing the three sisters something that was intended to be a short step to get the overall plot going. Clearly that wasn't exactly how that happened. This leads nicely to point 2.

2) This second book does have something it is working towards. Unlike when i started book one i actually have had an endpoint for this book/volume in mind since more or less it's beginning. As such while we might meander we are heading to an ending that i hope will be suitably satisfactory. Narratively i think we are only a third of the way there but that depends on how the details come out in the wash Safe to say things are happening back home while Beth is away... Whoops have i said too much?

3) This isn't me just reappearing for a month to vanish again. I can't promise there won't be a late or even missed chapter here and there because life happens but i don't want to vanish for this long ever again (or at least till the end of the volume).

4) I'm not going to do the writeathon. An odd promise here but I know I'm the type to say I'll give it a go and end up horrifically burned out and will allow quality to fall further. If i turn around and say I'm going to go for it feel free to message/comment calling me a silly goose who needs to manage his expectation (or something more harsh if you wish).

5) I will fix this section at some point. Of everything I've written this walking trial is the bit i've been least happy with. It won't happen any time soon (possibly not even happening on royal road) but i didn't love the writing in the latter part of this chunk and i think it's apparent when reading it. That doesn't mean I'm about to pull a star wars and pretend none of it happened. Nate and Pauline are characters i like and the character journey's shown here (for better or worse) are things I value.

6) You won't like every choice i make. Readers are nothing if not opinionated people, and it's always tricky when a character changes or makes a choice you disagree with (the number of times I've read a character pick the 'wrong' class upgrade can't be counted on one hand). But while some things may in the moment seem to be the wrong direction I hope you guys will trust me to know the core of my characters and to have their best interest in heart. I know vanishing for a quarter of a year without warning and then asking to be trusted is hypocritical but I plan to rebuild our writer/reader trust, even if only with new readers as you guys have (validly) left this project behind.

7) Beth and Lewis will never become BFFs. I don't think i could ever have accounted for the amount of hate Lewis got but with or without that the plan was never to have him suddenly become a good guy. I'm not even sure when or if he will reappear but i do know how his story continues and it doesn't into becoming frenemies with Beth who do dungeon runs together and have moments that make you go "This better not be an enemies to lovers trope".

8) I Will be open and honest with you guys going forward. Final promise here, the joys of a webnovel is the interaction between writer and reader and if you are going to continue to read and in some cases edit my story for free then I'm going to be open about the steps I'm making and how I'm feeling. That includes reading and responding to comments (I promise I read them all even if i don't reply) responding to questions or concerns (without giving spoilers obviously). In the spirit of that honesty i want to say I love you all if you have been on this journey from the start are just finding me or have left but are just popping in to say hi. I can't tell you guys how many times I've gushed to my housemates about a lovely comment I've received on here (or gushed about constructive criticism because i couldn't imagine people actually caring that much).

To conclude I'll be back to Tuesdays and Fridays normal time for the foreseeable and look forward to rebuilding trust and community with you all.

PS I'll leave this up for a month or so in the spirit of transparency but will probably remove it after that point.

PPS I've stuck a quick poll to see if you guys want a recap or not, , it wouldn't be in the place of a new chapter either way.