Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 58 will be on break for one day. Normal updates will resume tomorrow.

Actually, my hand injury has been mostly gone from affecting my typing these past two days, but after not writing for a week, I suddenly don't know how to write anymore.

Actually, there's another point: I've been getting a lot of flak from the backstage lately, which has shattered my resolve... My thinking used to be pretty smooth, but now it just doesn't feel right no matter how I think about it.

Perhaps my skill level is still limited.

I've fixed the bug-detection section today and am rethinking how to improve the update schedule. I'll resume normal updates starting tomorrow.

P.S.: Regarding some recent bugs in the comments. If you want an explanation, scroll down; if you want to argue, skip ahead. Explaining is too tiring, and arguing leaves you mentally exhausted and frustrated. You'd be better off spending that time writing...

Among the bugs mentioned, some are due to preconceived notions, or misinterpretations or misunderstandings (for example, why can't the Sim operate in a certain way? This still treats the Sim as a tool completely controlled by the protagonist. If the risk or loss is too great, the Sim will not perform certain actions).

Or perhaps our understanding of the parts left unsaid in the original work differs (for example, the original novel's "Myriad Threads of Flow" is widely circulated, especially among Immortals; however, the extent of its spread below the Immortal level isn't detailed. In my version, the three major families of Kongjing Star clearly focus on studying spatial laws, and they roam freely across a star field. Do they have any other background? The text doesn't say, leaving it open-ended. But the original novel's claim that Luo Feng, at the Hengxing level, had the opportunity to learn "Myriad Threads of Flow," while my domain lord power, which specializes in spatial laws, couldn't, seems too arbitrary).

Also, some readers may have misremembered or misunderstood the original text (for example, that a simulated human could be among the top 1,000 in the universe and the top 1,000 in the entire universe, with a status comparable to a realm lord and the ability to establish connections with immortals; these readers may have overestimated the status of geniuses at this level. A realm lord's lifespan is a thousand epochs, and an immortal can live until the universe dies, experiencing countless realm genius battles. A genius who doesn't become a strongman is ultimately just a genius. Some geniuses can talk to realm lords and immortals because they originally came from their secret realms, which I remember was mentioned in the original text; and their high status during the genius battle period can be understood by comparing the genius battle to our Olympics. Just like when Liu Xiang won a gold medal, the whole country cheered, but once the hype died down, outsiders didn't care much anymore. The influence of a person is different at different times. Unless one can truly rank among the top 1,000 and become a core member of a virtual universe company, their status will not be truly different).

Of course, there are indeed genuine bugs, which cannot be denied. The most recently mentioned example is the Bloodline Evolution Agent; the original text doesn't mention any increase in gene multiplier. Besides this, there are some contradictions in the original work. For instance, in Chapter Nine, the energy difference between Planetary Level 9 and Constant Level 1 is 4 times, resulting in a 10-fold strength difference. Later, during the adventure in the Blood Luo World, a cosmic secret realm, it's stated that the energy difference is 10 times. The more significant bugs couldn't be fixed, so I just left them as they were. For the less significant ones, I quietly and discreetly corrected them.

Swallowed Star is over four million words long. Before writing this book, I read it at least five times. Those with a lot of free time can go back and look at the original work; you can find traces of my comments from different periods. But with so many words and so many settings, even with familiarity, it's impossible to guarantee complete accuracy—at least I can't. However, please note that when writing fan fiction, many parts are verified a second time. Surely no one is so arrogant as to believe their purely ingrained memory is absolutely correct? Subjective memory can be deceiving, my friends.

In conclusion: As I said before, my writing skills are limited, so please be gentle with your criticism. Life is tough, and if my writing doesn't meet your expectations, please be lenient and spare my life.

(End of this chapter)