I Made Edits Based on Feedback & Changelog

Edits and Why:

Hey guys, sorry for the second weekend post in a row, but after yesterday’s poll, I spent pretty much the entire day editing the 30 chapters between Royal Road and Patreon to bring everything up to date based on the poll and other reader feedback in comments.

There were a few chapters (44, 62, 66) that got more noticeable updates than the rest, so I wanted to make it easy for anyone interested to see what changed. That said, none of the edits are major enough that you need to reread anything. Seriously, at most, a skim through the changelog below should be enough. But if you want to reread the updated chapters, I’ve linked them in the list for easy access.

Unlike the Book 1 edits, these are mostly small tweaks, additions, and polish — not full rewrites. Some changes came directly from Patron feedback, becuase you guys give great feedback and I'm always trying to improve! Now that the edits done, I can finally start scheduling them to autopost on Royal Road for the next several weeks and take a breather from all that negativity that can come from the site.

Friday’s chapter (Alex losing to Ryland at the Podium Event) got a lot of heat, and instead of stressing over RR reactions, I want to focus on doing my best here with you all as I start digging into Book 3.

The changelog below has timestamps and direct links. These changes were made around 2am EST, so if you read any chapters after that, you’ve already seen the updated versions!

Thanks again for being here — your support and feedback seriously means a lot. And to anyone who binge-read while I was making edits… sorry! Hopefully the changes don’t frustrate you too much.

Change log: (04.05.2025)

Chapter 40. Tyrant’s Challenge

• Alex thinks about his reasoning before fighting Rylan.

• Fight stays the same, though before going to Aethon, this might be edited slightly to make it so that Alex puts up more of a fight, though still loses to Rylan.

Chapter 42. Training Wheels

• Adjusted the conversation between Olivia and Alex a bit, adding some more context and Alex mentions potentially leaving the Guild and what that might look like.

• Olivia mentions that Rylan was officially reprimanded as well

Chapter 44. The Price of Knowledge

• Added a few lines to explain WHY Alex’s growth for getting Expert Level knowledge is so out of bounds for what the planet should be one.

• Makes it clear that only the bare minimum is now removed.

• Alex now keeps/gains:

  • +2 Levels to overall level

  • +3 Levels to Parallel Mind

  • Ritual knowledge for mana siphon ritual at Novice/Journeyman level

  • Journeyman Ritualist Title (gives stats) - gained for profession knowledge at a journeyman level.

  • Gifted Mage Title (gives stats) - gained for getting knowledge a Rank above his current rank. Alex is E Rank here still, and Journeyman is technically D Rank.

  • Runic Apprentice Amulet

• Alex now loses:

  • Knowledge of the Gods

  • Knowledge of Ritual at the Adept and Expert Level

  • Adept Ritualist Title

  • Expert Ritualist Title

  • [Ritual Insight] - to prevent him from reusing the skill combination

• My thoughts behind these changes: This was done due to Patron feedback and comments. There was a poll held and I agreed with the feedback. What Alex lost before was unnecessarily harsh. The purpose fo the System’s intervention was to prevent him from having knowledge outside of the integration parameters. Not to take everything away. Now, he only losees the minimum to keep it within those parameters, though still loses the skill.

• Losing the skill is critical, as you all know, since it pushes him away from Rituals and is the catalyst that pushes him toward learning runes. Maelis also acts as a mentor moving forward.

Chapter 45. Rituals End

• Adjusted what’s mentioned here as lost to line up more with the previously mentioned changes in Ch. 44.

• Sarah is also not supposed to be here (was stated earlier that she was at work and couldn’t make it) so she has been removed from the chapter.

  • This does mean that she doesn’t make the comment here about Alex’s aura being cracked, so it will be mentioned in a later chapter to make up for its removal here.

• Here are the two titles that Alex got and their benefits:

Title: Journeyman Ritualist

A ritualist who has proven their worth through consistent success and deeper understanding of magical formations. Their knowledge surpasses novice practitioners. *+5 to all stats* **Title: Gifted Mage** This title recognizes those rare individuals who master magical concepts beyond their Rank. True potential often manifests before power catches up. *+10 to all magical stats*

• Of course these titles adjust hit stats, but not so much that he’ll be crossing a major threshold. So I’ll be updating future chapters to reflect the changes from the titles.

Chapter 46. Spirit Item

• One small change here when Alex mentions his Max Mana, which increased with titles.

Chapter 49. Workshop

• Just adjusted what was here so that Sarah mentions a small crack in Alex’s aura since she was not supposed to originally be there on the day he experimented.

Chapter 52. Sleep is a Waste of Time

• For some reason, Mark mentions here that 6 people were injured, but doesn’t say anything about the two deaths. He should mention this here, since it’s probably what eats at him the most.

Chapter 53. Connecting the Dots

• Adjusted a bit here based on Patron feedback. When they are looking at Devon’s social media, they now scroll through his page and see many pictures with Devon and Rylan going back a ways, rather than just a single picture.

• Also due to reader feedback, this chapter got shifted to now be Chapter 55, meaning that it comes after the two Olivia POV chapters so that it flows a little better into then finding out what’s going on with Sam.

Chapter 57. Home Front

• Had Alex mention Rylan’s class being Tyrant here when he’s laying out his thoughts to Olivia.

Chapter 60. Big Boom

• Alex clarifies that Rylan isn’t getting what’s in the pouch if he loses.

Chapter 61. Childish Fantasies

• Added a sentence or two just to clarify that the offered Class Evolution in the window can change as some feedback said it was a bit vague.

Chapter 62. Shadow’s Beneath the Sun

• I changed quite a bit here. This might be worth going back to read for some of you, as we had some lengthy discussions about this chapter in Discord. Though nothing truly major changed, hopefully it just feels a bit more realistic.

• I added a section about Rylan having previously and successfully bullied the elves into giving him crystals before. Hopefully this makes him seem a bit less impetuous when he goes in and demands more.

• He now takes and specifically mentions two precautious that he has prepared before heading in to see the elves. A tracking app on his phone and explosives that he planed before the elves broke out the first time and began setting their camp.

• When the elves call in the two guards to subdue Rylan, he now fights back a bit before being subdued with the collar.

• The elves then reveal that they knew of his “leverage” and neutralize both contingencies that he had.

• Again, hopefully these things just don’t make Rylan out to be quite the dummy I accidentally made him out to be. I mean, to be honest he’s still pretty dumb and delusional, but that’s his character, not me!

Chapter 66. Divide and Conquer

• Got some great reader feedback and changed a few things in this chapter

• Alex now comes in and has the discussion with Elana a bit more calmly, using his Willpower to quell his anger.

• Then when he interacts with Devon, there is more calm and calculated approach as well. Using a ritual and a clever lie to get Devon to admit to what he did…. then Alex still punches him because that was definitely necessary.

Chapter 68. Divination

• Added a small line here where the director mentions that the HA have people who are higher level than Alex and they are recalling their teams.

• My logic here, was that after brainstorming with some people in Discord, there should likely be some very specialized, military / special operations teams, that are basically willing to completely live in Rifts and especially those with time dilation. This would lead to a few dozen people easily being around the level 40 mark by this point. With a threat like this, I could see the government flying these people over to assist.