Welcome everyone.
I felt compelled to add some info on where I intend to take this novel. Half a dozen tags and a 70 word synopsis may not accurately capture what this book strives to represent.
Let me preface this by saying this book is somewhat loosely inspired from real life events =)
If you already intend to read the book in its entirety -- feel free to skip this.
> Novel Structure:I intend the novel to be short, so it will likely end around 80,000 words ~ 75 chapters.
(Free) Arc I (1-8) will cover Murphy's start as a webnovelist, culminating in him signing a contract with a certain very popular website ;)
(Free) Arc II (9-20b) depicts a society crumbling into a cyberpunk-ish dystopia. AI plays a pivotal role in undermining civilization, and Murphy is caught at the forefront of it all.
(Paid) Arc III (Ch 21 onwards) is where the MC reincarnates. He unveils his inherent magical abilities and goes back in time along with his system.
There are 7 arcs planned in total as of this moment.
Even if you don't intend to purchase it, the first 20 chapters will have a small concluding loop by themselves. A bit tragic to end it there, but a finality nonetheless :)
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> Superpowers:If you want to know what's in store for the main character without bothering to read the whole story, I can half-spoil you.
The powers are an original concept I dubbed Numen Codes. They are a set of riddles that open one of 7 psychic Gates. If a human passes the resonance/trial, he inherits a specific psychic power.
These abilities will range from telepathy, to psychokinesis/telekinesis, pyrokinesis, etc.
That said, the MC will not be an unstoppable Magneto tier character. His power will be heavily reliant on another factor, one I shan't spoil ;)
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> Romance & SmutI'm not a very big fan of smut, but there will be a morsel of romance unveiled later on. There are 2 NSFW chapters later on, but you're more than welcome to skip them. :)
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> MoneyEconomy will play a pivotal role in his restarted life. It won't be a grindy poor-to-rich novel, but I will strive to implement a satisfying ladder.
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> Legal Jargon
There are some contract excerbs from a certain fictive* company's contract. I interpreted them to the best of my knowledge as a layman, but may be incorrect or may have missunderstood some of the reaches of their draconin clauses. If so, excuse me.*For legal reasons, everything is a parody guys. pls dont sue me!
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> Antagonists:
Revenge stories are popular, but I find them bland. His main beef will be with an international terrorist organization, and a big tech giant that owns QiE-Novel. There shall be no face slapping, only a life and death struggle.-
> Call to Action:
Please support me with feedback, and share this with your friends if you enjoyed it.
Leave frequent comments and reviews if you could, they are helpful to boosting this novel and helping it get seen by more people.Also, join my community where you can chat with me directly. Check my profile :)With earnest gratitude,
~Raven
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An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead Ch 13 - A New Hope
After spending the afternoon together, Murphy got to know Nella better than he did when she was alive. Though they were friends, he tended to keep a boundary around him at all times. The old man was on the brink, and Murphy didn’t have the heart to let him deal with it alone. So, despite very unwilling to deal with the understated awkwardness, he could only grit his teeth and comfort the man. A few drinks in, and they were sharing fond memories of her. Another few drinks later, and both men had to stifle their tears to avoid making the situation even more unbearable. By the time he was out, the old man was passed out, and Murphy had decided to stay in Romania. He couldn’t pin down a logical reason for it. Granted, it was very cheap and picturesque in the mountains, but there were a hundred other places just as good. Booking the cheapest cabin hotel, Morpheus felt his dreams stir that night. For the first time in what felt like decades, the doors leading to the ethereal realm he
An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead Ch 14 - NeuraBlink
NeuraBlink was a tantalizing offer, one he couldn’t afford to turn down if he ever wanted to make it. At the time, even with the risks carried by its beta release, it promised to offer him the perfect solution to all of his problems. The most significant advantage LACIE had over him was speed. It could unravel thousands of chapters in an instant. What held it back was the fact that it still needed a cursory review from editors before it could be pushed out. If Morpheus could employ his mere thoughts to construct his dreams, then it wouldn’t be impossible to overtake the AI and reclaim his top spot. Even without a supercomputer, he had his mind. The human psyche remained largely unexplored, even as they made huge advances in the technological fields. That unknown and unused potential gave him hope for humanity. That was the dream shared by the creators of the implant as well. Seeing the downfall of humanity as imminent, they sought to meld technology a
An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead Ch 15 - Surgery
Time passed fleetingly at first, but then the wait became excruciating. The day of the surgery approached, one slow hour at a time. He lingered around Cluj in the meanwhile, relaxing in nature’s embrace. He trekked through the woods that became less and less welcoming to humans, and marveled at the rebellious Carpathian peaks piercing towards the occluded sky. Without a laptop, Murphy couldn’t publish anything new, so he had ample time to roam and explore. He considered writing in a cafe or from his phone, but couldn’t really get into it. His vacation was awe inspiring at first, but got seriously tedious after a few days. He became anxious in his steps, and no longer had eyes to admire Gaia’s figure. His pre-scheduled chapters were dwindling down one at a time, and before long he’d lose his publishing streak. That would be an unimaginable setback for his career. It wasn’t dubbed a slave contract for nothing, after all. Writers were incentivize
An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead Ch 16 - Darkness
A tremor rocked through the chair, one he felt even with the anesthesia in full effect.He couldn’t see or feel much of anything, but the scrappy ringing in his ears surely meant something had exploded.He tried to open his mouth and ask, but choked on dust and ash instead.His vision black, his restricted touch dulled to the extreme and his ear drums blown, he found himself deprived of all his senses.Panic ensued.His breathing grew labored and his lungs moved with force, but it did little to alleviate the mounting stress.The dust in the room made it hard to breathe, but he had no option but to fill his lungs with it if he wanted to live.Time passed at a crawling pace, but eventually he felt his senses return to him. He felt a thick layer of dust caked on his face like cement, no doubt mixed in with his sweat.He moved a thumb at first, and then his whole hand, but the shackles woul
An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead Ch 17 - Missed Schedule
“Alright, your condition is stable. You can check out at noon.”A nurse smiled amiably, her efforts wasted entirely on Murphy. He was still blind as a bat, his eyes closed and still.The only way to tell if he was awake or not was by his breathing, and the occasional maniacal fit of laughter. No one quite knew what he was scoffing or laughing at, so the hospital staff pitied him as insane.“Thanks, please arrange that.”In truth, he was coping quite well with his new condition. His AI made the transition somewhat bearable, its constant bugged responses proving to be a nice distraction.« Murphy, you have an internal message from NeuraBlink. »‘Alright, print out the summary for me.’« NeuraBlink rejected your refund request. Furthermore, they deny any damage claims and refuse to offer any compensations for your injury. They invited you to read the beta agreement again,
An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead Ch 18 - Resentment
What he feared most happened — his reserves of content ran dry. He missed a few days of publishing while he was hospitalized, and thus forfeited his monthly bonus.The implications seemed very small, but they were merely the start of his downwards spiral towards obscurity.Setting aside the nice monetary bonus, without their front page exposition, it would be very difficult for him to score new readers.As for old ones, they would find new books to subscribe to during his absence. He expected nothing less, and was right to fear it.Within a short week, hundreds of readers slipped away silently, right into LACIE’s welcoming maw. A few hundred here, another dozen there, and before long she would be the sole publisher needed.The company for their part was more than happy to save a few pennies at his expense, and gave him the cold shoulder when he explained his plight. They didn’t care why he didn’t post, only that he hadn&rsqu
An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead Ch 19 - Breach of Contract
It took barely a few hours, and the transcript of his recorded rant wound up on the table of QiE-Novel’s lawyers. With what he only imagined to be smug grins, they closed his contract in an instant.After Murphy finally fell asleep, one of his closest friends immediately re-uploaded the entire thing for the platform staff to see.This sudden betrayal completely blind-sided him. Though, in retrospect, he should have expected nothing less from a competitor. The scarcity mentality on the site had long since pitted everyone against each other.It was for this reason that writers never stuck together in a band or even try to protest their draconian contracts. As soon as someone made the first step, the others would take snippets and ensure they get banned into oblivion.One less top novelist on the site meant a higher piece of the audience pie for themselves. With LACIE taking the largest chunk, they had to scramble with even greater intensit
An Author's Struggle - What Lies Ahead Ch 20a - The End
Months passed, unbeknownst to Murphy who consigned himself to a routine of miserable stupor. He rose at noon and returned late at night, with his cash funds dwindling rapidly. As a new habit, he ignored the broken chip and blinked immediately to spite it, not deigning to read a single message it wrote. Emptying the fifth drink in the cheapest bar he could find, he reached out for his wallet to pay — and found it empty. ‘Ah. And so it ends.’ The barkeep had apparently noticed his plight, but there was nothing they could do to him other than refuse to serve more. No explanations were needed, either. Whisked by two muscular men, he was carried and tossed out in a bush in the parking lot. Promptly disposing of the trash, the men shared a self-satisfied grin. “Don’t come back if you can’t pay, you wretch. Ptooi.” “Forget it, man. He’s just a blind old man.” Once he ensured they left, Murphy coughed and stood up with some effort. His skull was throbbing, but his rib hurt even more.
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