Before the Main Text

This section, posted before the main story, is to test the book page and pass review, so I’ll just ramble a bit.

This new book is, as usual, a game-themed novel, but there’s a big difference from my previous game novels: this time, the background is a real game, so I can’t just make up whatever I want in terms of setting.

Fortunately, I’m fairly familiar with this game—Honor of Kings.

This is important. I’ve received quite a few messages from friends and readers asking why I chose to write about this game, why not that one, or that other one, or yet another one—in short, recommending many games they like.

The fundamental reason is right here.

Because I know this one, and I don’t know that one, or that other one, or yet another one!

It’s just like how I can’t write military novels, hard sci-fi novels, or novels about tracked excavators, because I don’t have enough knowledge. And this kind of knowledge isn’t something you can make up for by glancing at Baidu Encyclopedia; it takes considerable time to learn and accumulate.

Writing a game novel set in a real game is the same. You think I’m just playing games, but actually, I’m studying and accumulating knowledge—I’m working hard, okay?

Only after accumulating enough did I dare to write a book like this. I’m not joking.

I don’t know if you all have played Honor of Kings like I have. If you have, this book will be easy to get into; if you haven’t, but know a bit about this type of MOBA game, it’ll still be easy to get into; but if you know nothing about either, then you’ll be learning something entirely new. Just like back in the day when we learned terms like MT, OT, PK, aggro, etc., this time you’ll be learning terms like top lane, jungler, laning, BP, tower pushing, 666, actor, report, and other professional jargon.

Of course, making game novels understandable even to non-gamers has always been my goal when writing this genre, and I’ll work hard to do the same with this book. So don’t be intimidated by those terms above—after all, there are still 78 heroes and over 300 skills waiting for you to discover. Speaking of which, today’s game update added another hero, making it 79 now. All of these will be gradually introduced in the novel.

This brings me to the issue of the real game’s version.

Because of version updates, the game’s heroes, skills, and equipment are frequently updated and adjusted, but the novel has its own plot progression and can’t keep up with the game’s updates in real time. The initial design for this book actually started quite a while ago—I vaguely remember that Ming Shiyin hadn’t even been released yet, and now, after Ming Shiyin, there have been four more heroes: Gongsun Li, Yang Yuhuan, Pei Qinhu, and Yixing, and today another one, Kuang Tie...

New heroes will be added to the novel at appropriate points, but as for version issues, I’ve already decided to ignore them, so please ignore them as well. The versions definitely won’t match up, and don’t try to apply your understanding of the current version to the novel. The game version updates in the novel will exist, but they’ll follow an imagined timeline.

The same goes for KPL, tournament formats, teams, pro players, etc.—these all exist in real life, and I’ve even visited pro teams. But in the novel, they’re all fictional and won’t strictly follow reality.

These are the areas where I have some creative freedom. So I have to remind everyone: after all, this is a novel, with plenty of artistic embellishment and fictional elements—it’s not a comprehensive Honor of Kings strategy guide. Whether the in-game content described in the novel can be applied in the real game environment, please use your own judgment.

After announcing the new book these past few days, I’ve seen some readers say they’re not interested in a realistic game setting and will wait for the next book. Isn’t that too much trouble? No need to wait for the next one—why not check out my ongoing serial, "The Road to Awakening"?

Finally, a word about the update schedule, which I’m sure everyone cares about. I believe no one expects me to update quickly, right? That’s right, this book won’t update too fast either—about one chapter a day. Also, this book won’t be especially long; I hope to keep it around a little over a million words! I’ll do my best to write it well, and I hope you all enjoy it.

It feels like I’ve written quite a bit, but looking down, it’s only about a thousand words. The review document needs to be over two thousand words, which is a bit awkward, so I’ve carefully prepared some game-related terminology to pad the word count. For those who know nothing about this game, you can enter the novel with the following glossary. If you find something you still don’t understand, feel free to consult a search engine.

Below is the glossary.