Author's Note at the End of the Volume

Actually, once this volume is finished, "I Am the Man Behind the Scenes" will come to an end.

The reason I started writing this book in the first place was, firstly, that my previous work, "His Royal Highness," was truly dead—abandoned to the point where even I couldn't save it through revisions.

This book was an attempt to continue with the same protagonist and the same story, but in an alternative way.

Of course, the protagonist's golden-finger setting from "His Royal Highness" was discarded, bringing it back almost entirely to the original roots of the story.

Secondly, this book could be considered a prequel to "The Palace of Xia." The ending of this book actually marks the beginning of "The Palace of Xia."

According to my initial and most complete plan, I would start writing from this book, and then completely overwrite and reconstruct the entire "The Palace of Xia," using my current abilities to retell the story of that young man.

At the time, I was truly terrified that I wouldn't be able to persevere and would abandon another book halfway.

I believed that if I rewrote the story of "The Palace of Xia," no matter how difficult it might be, I should be able to keep going.

In reality, however, it proved even harder than I imagined.

Let me state first that "The Palace of Xia" back then struggled for a long time without even being able to secure a publishing contract. Even after barely managing to sign one, its final performance was merely around ten average subscriptions.

True—writing for free.

Yet I genuinely love the story of "The Palace of Xia," because there are truly so many pure and lovely children within it.

My original intention in writing this book was: since I had already achieved a certain level of success and built a certain reader base, if I used my better writing and techniques now to retell that past story, at least the performance would be a little better than before, right?

I wasn't chasing grand commercial success.

I simply wanted to rewrite the story, starting from the very beginning of Su Ziye and ending with the final moments of Ye Qing.

But I failed to accomplish it.

That was the greatest lesson this experience taught me.

An author should never overestimate their own abilities. Moreover, the structural framework of "The Palace of Xia" is truly, exceedingly ill-suited for web novels.

I still believe it is a good story. Just like Christina at the very end of "The Mastermind," the brilliance she radiates is genuinely deeply moving. That is why, when I first chose to write "The Mastermind," the scene I anticipated most was the story of Christina cutting out her own heart in a desperate situation.

I specially invited His Royal Highness Prince Su Ziye to act as the camera.

There are many similar characters and stories in "The Palace of Xia." These are stories capable of touching people's hearts—they are wonderful. Even looking back at them now, I feel they are truly great.

Yet that is all there is to it.

"The Palace of Xia" does not fit the mold of web fiction.

That is the final, unappealable death sentence.

No matter how much I might rewrite "The Palace of Xia" under its current plot framework, even if there is any surpassing, it will be extremely limited.

Just like how I already made numerous compromises and modifications to "The Mastermind" to cater to web novel preferences, this awkward chimera still failed to win the affection of the majority.

The only silver lining is that when I chose to return and complete it, I had a tremendous amount of fun writing these past nearly two hundred thousand words.

Furthermore, the story just kept getting better as it progressed.

By the time I reached Christina, I had practically made sure to write down everything that was within my current capacity to express.

Of course—I had originally expected this to span four to six hundred thousand words.

Because the academy life still needed space.

Because the journey through the Withered-Shade Forest and the time spent with Xingxi also needed space.

Because the mission in the Dark Star needed space.

And of course, the ending and climax in Kunka City would have required even more space.

At the very least, the highest-tier battle currently between Douglas and Yi Lanshan should have been given some room.

None of it was written, however.

I cut out a massive number of subplots and battles, relying almost entirely on dramatic dialogue to advance the plot. The further I wrote, the more I realized just how fast one can rush to a conclusion when they truly want to.

Though it wasn't necessarily that fast, strictly speaking.

Yet it was still swift.

Starting from December 8th until today, December 12th—a total of twelve days—I averaged around eleven thousand words per day.

I have never experienced such writing speed before.

Before this, I even managed to squeeze in the completion of "Immortal and Indestructible."

"Immortal and Indestructible" is also worth a read; everyone can check it out when you have time.

As for this completion, I am personally extremely satisfied because the overall quality is high—truly high, surpassing almost any chapter in the front half of this book.

Because "The Mastermind" was initially just a tentative "sit-up" attempt to revive a dead project, I started writing before many of the narrative joints were properly figured out, which led to the complete inability to continue once its performance floundered.

However, the quality of this completion is genuinely very good.

There isn't a single perfunctory chapter; every single one was written with genuine dedication, and most are far more interesting than the preceding parts.

That is all.

Next, I will start a new book. My favorite title for it is "The Furnace of Destiny," though that isn't set in stone. It might also end up with a more light-novel-esque title like "An Otherworld Life Starting from Blacksmithing" or "Blacksmithing? I Got Over That Long Ago."

The new novel will strictly adhere to the conventions of web fiction, and it will probably be the work that best showcases my current skill level and understanding of the industry.

It will also be quite entertaining. For the sake of convenience, the setting of the new book will also be placed within this world—since a fantasy backdrop is all that's required anyway, I might as well use a world I am relatively familiar with.

However, the new book should have no connection whatsoever to any existing characters.

After all, whether it's "The Palace of Xia" or anything else, the main characters exist mostly on a background-board level.

As for this book, it won't actually end here either. Next, I will migrate the chapters of "His Royal Highness" and "The Palace of Xia" over here as a continuation. Both of those books are currently unavailable anywhere else, so moving them here serves as a keepsake.

After all, "The Mastermind" was essentially just adding a prologue to "The Palace of Xia."

The rivers and lakes are vast, and the paths are long.

We shall meet again in the days to come.

Or rather, we shall meet very soon.

I have finally fulfilled my promise, completing this novel strictly according to plan.

I feel quite happy, yet quite exhausted.

Life is even more exhausting, but there is still a distant horizon ahead.