Hey everyone!

  I’m happy to announce that System Reset has finally started releasing new content, which you can read here!

  Sorry for the lack of updates for the two weeks. I’ve been waiting until I actually had something new for you guys to read, it’s taken me much longer than anticipated to edit/revise these recent chapters. It’s been another chaotic launch both in workload and due to some stuff outside of my control, which has thrown a wrench into my plans. But thankfully, things are beginning to stabilize, and the chapters I’m editing now are beginning to require less and less work the more recently they were written.

  So without further adieu, I’d like to lay out System Reset’s posting schedule:

  I’ve released chapter 23, and will be releasing chapters 24 and 25 tomorrow, and the day after on the new fiction page. After Chapter 25 is released, I’m going to be shifting to weekly releases (every monday).

  Note: Chapter 23 used to be chapter 21, so for those of you who’ve read all of the released content, that’s where you’d continue off from.

  Meanwhile on Patreon, I’m uploading chapters 4xWeek until we’re 10 chapters ahead of RR release. I’m posting chapters as I edit them, so there’s no set schedule until the backlog is all set. I may speed up once I get to chapters that require less edits, but for now 4xWeek is all I can promise

  Now that we’re caught up, I’m going to lay out a list of changes from the rewrite for anyone looking to pick it up where we left off. But first let me run a quick Q & A answering some questions you guys might have:

  Q: Do I need to read the rewritten version?

  Answer: Simply put, no. System Reset is still the same story on the large scale. Outside of alterations to the System, most of the changes made have been on a micro level/delivery. The most affecting change is probably just that a lot more work has been done to set up this current arc than was previously there in the story. So some things might stand out as not well-established, but there shouldn’t be anything that flat out doesn’t make sense. Everything of course will be explained below, so it shouldn’t affect reading experience once you guys get re-immersed.

  Q: Should I read the rewritten version?

  Answer: I’m probably not the best person to answer this, because I’m of course going to say yes. Edits have been made by my editor and I’ve spent an entire month revising the first arc, so if you’re on the fringe about re-reading anyway, I’d say go for it. There’s new scenes and more depth to what was already there, and I think there’s stuff there that could enhance the experience.

  However, I can’t view things from a reader’s perspective, so I think I’m going to have folks who have actually re-read the story answer that for me. The answer is: It depends. The feedback I’ve gotten is pretty split down the middle, from folks who enjoyed it way more on re-read to folks who question that it had even been rewritten. So it’ll depend on what kind of reader you are, and what you look for in a story.

  I personally think the character work has markedly improved, and could be worth re-reading to identify more with Alex going forward, but I know some folks are more here for the number-go-up side of things, and it goes up the same amount as it did before pretty much.

  But for anyone in between, who would like to reread some but not the whole dang thing, I’ll also be whipping up a guide further down so you don’t gotta go digging for the most valuable parts.

  Q: On the whole, what did the rewrite change?

  Answer: If I could cover all this here, this wouldn’t need its own section, so will just be a brief overall run down of changes:

  

  
• For people who care about prose, it’s edited and much more polished now, as well as less confusing.


  
• Pacing has been improved on a scene-to-scene basis as well as on a micro level.


  
• Character work has been improved for Alex and Jun especially. And I’ve tried to make secondary characters more human as well.


  
• Plotwise, nothing has radically shifted in canon, but there’s some important detail changes I’ll get into below. Otherwise, I’ve just added a lot more foreshadowing and fixed things to be more logical.


  

  Overall: Arc 1 is 8k words longer than it was originally, and that’s after trimming a ton of fat. 7 new scenes have been added, countless others have been outright rewritten or given added depth.

  Q: Do I really need the whole run-down or can I just skip it?

  Answer: You probably can, yes, but at your own risk. The fact that it’s starting on a new arc will probably help for immersion, and most of the run-down is just for continuity’s sake. Feel free to give a raw-dogging a try; this page won’t be going anywhere so you can just come back later if you need to reference it.

  The big Q&A has made this whole thing seem more imposing, but I’ll be a lot more brief for the ‘Necessary Details’ section, and leave the extended run-down for the ‘Re-reader’s Guide’ section.

  * * *

  Necessary Details for reading forward:

  (Spoilered for re-readers and so this post doesn’t end up a huge block of text)

  I’ll give the brief run-down here first of the most important changes, then a full chronological list of changes afterwards for people who care about the finer details/want the whole breakdown. For anyone considering re-reading, or doing a partial re-read, I’d advise skipping all this and heading to the Re-reader’s Guide section which will have less spoilers.

  Brief Run-down:

  System Changes:

  

  
• Skill Slots (which limited the amount of skills you could have at each level) have been removed. The concept of a limited amount of skills is still there, but it’s not strictly tied to each level-up anymore.


  
• The Progression Tiers have been changed from F-S to:


  

  Tier 0: Unranked

  Tier 1: Novice (happens at level 15)

  Tier 1: Adept

  Tier 2: Expert - and so on, so forth.

  

  
• The Skill tiers follow similar ranks: Novice, Adept, Expert, Master, Sage, Immortal.


  
• Levels have been removed from skills. They’ve been replaced by a proficiency percentage to the next tier now.


  
• Cores/Cultivation is no longer tied to the System. They’re something outside the System, and are how Mages do magic (learn/create their own skills). With a Core, one can Refine Essence from the atmosphere of the world, which is much slower than consuming the System’s Essence, but gives more freedom in what you can do with it. Born Mages usually have a lot of wealth and advantages that offset the slowness-factor.


  
• Alex has developed a “Soul-sense” and can sense his own soul after returning to the past.


  
• Alex no longer has a skill Library that gives him access to all his old skills. Instead, he managed to cheat the System into giving him those skills by imprinting their patterns directly onto his soul (this is a simplification, happens in ch 6).


  
• Alex has learned an additional Combat Skill: Glancing Blow


  
• Alex has leveled his Metalwork skill to adept during his sword’s reforging:


  

  Metalwork (Adept)

  This skill can now imbue greater amounts of mana into metal, allowing its user to manipulate aura through the act of hammering.

  

  
• I’m pretty sure no one would notice this one anyway, but Inspect has been removed. Between Identify (which is a UI function) and Examine (which is a skill) it was pretty reductive.


  
• Alex originally received a Class-Quest after affixing his class, but this has been removed.


  
• The core magic system in regards to Essence/skills/mana hasn’t changed, however I did a lot better job conveying the rules this time. If you’re ever confused by terminology, try reading the conversation between Alex and Jun in chapter 5, and it may help.


  

  Plot Changes:

  Progression:

  

  
• In the original version, Alex came across a “Basic Refinement Method” sometime after Earth’s fall. Cultivation elements play a bigger part in the rewrite and this method is now: “Fallen Feather of the Phoenix Refinement Technique”.


  
• Originally, Alex utilized the Path-forger’s Stone to figure out the requirements for his class, but in the rewrite he instead attempts to form his core during the reforging, and learns it that way. He still has the Pathforger’s stone, but intends to sell it to fund his ambition to become a Mage in this life.


  
• When he was reforging, Alex realized the rib bone the Undead Blacksmith had handed him was a “Natural Treasure” that radiated Life-aspect aura. After finding enlightenment, he used it to balance the Death Aura coming from his possessed sword. He consumed nearly all of his High Grade Refinement-Elixir (one of his Scenario Two rewards) and attempted to form his core. Immediately after forming his Core, it mysteriously shattered, and his sword which was soul bonded to him shattered as well. Yet instead of killing him like it should have, his core and sword both were mysteriously held in place.


  
• An importance has been placed on how Combat Skills interact with specific sword-styles. Alex hasn’t learned many combat skills because he is still a Novice with the Shamshir blade and they can create openings if not utilized well.


  

  Plot-Plot:

  

  
• More importance has been placed on Revenge in this rewrite. It’s been revealed that Alex’s lover, Laura, has been killed by one of the Nightmares: Anne, the Red Mistress (a vampire). She appeared briefly in chapter 16 (old 14), but I wrote a scene toward the end of chapter 17 where Alex sees her again and bottles his anger.


  
• Alex plans to kill Anne in Nightmare. One of his rewards for the Second Scenario (new) gives him access to Special Quests at his guild. In his last life he got his hands on a quest called Crucible of Sun which gave him access to the Sun Vault. He knows there’s something there that will help him kill Anne. However, he learns that Gloomy has already taken that quest. He instead takes the Crucible of Blood quest and sets off after Gloomy at the end of chapter 22.


  
• At the end of the Lionheart fight, Alex originally said he intended for Jun to become a necromancer. I felt this was out of character and removed it.


  
• It’s mentioned that there are three zones of Nightmare and three undead Lords beneath “Demon King Eldiwin” (dubbed so by the System): Karvarath the Dark Scourge, Lord of Hallowmere Reach. Hadrial, Harbinger of Destruction, Lord of The Pale Labyrinth. And the Berserk Calamity—William, Lord of Misting Valleys.


  
• The terms of Alex’s bet with Luan over billiards is changed a little, so that Luan has to seek Alex out after the next scenario to help with a task of his choosing.


  

  Quick note: If any of these chapters are worth a quick read, I think it’d be chapter 20 (the reforging chapter). It has a lot of set up. Chapter 22 also might help get you guys into the next arc. Aside from that, 15, the scene at the end of 17, and chapter 18 all have character development that might help put you in Alex’s head some more if needed.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  That’s pretty much it for the most important changes. Read on if you want the full breakdown.

  Now I’ll give a Chronological list of all canon-related Changes:

  Chapter 1: Has been improved for clarity, some system notifications were put in to better hint at the time hijinks.

  Chapter 4 (soft rewrite): A new flashback has been written showing the lead up to Alex’s first life experience of Scenario 1. The following scene showing the beginning of Scenario 1 (in present time) has been re-written to be from Alex’s perspective. I’ve made it clearer how Alex survived the Scenario in his original life.

  Chapter 5 (rewritten): Alex spends a lot more time helping Jun heal his wound, while explaining the magic system to him (things like Essence/Essence-Patterns/Skills). The magic system explained here is the same as it once was, but explained up front now and I think it’s much better conveyed here than it was originally, so the conversation with Jun may be worth a read.

  Chapter 6 (fully rewritten): Almost all of this chapter is newly written content. Alex explains the differences between Mages/“real magic” in comparison to the System’s magic. He explores his new Soul-sense, refines Essence with his refinement technique, and then regains his old skills through a trick (rather than a given skill library). It almost doesn’t work and he gets an Error, but the following notification says: Error Overridden. Note: Even though Alex found a refinement technique after Earth’s fall, he doesn’t have the talent of a natural born mage and couldn’t make proper use of it in his first life. He mostly used it as a breathing exercise/meditation method.

  Chapter 9 (soft rewrite): The combat has been fleshed out a little and stakes have been better communicated. Aside from that, this is where I started to rearrange chapters, so while all of the previous chapters listed thus far line up with old chapter numbers, that won’t be as true going forward.

  Chapter 11 (fully rewritten): This mostly new content, but it’s for enjoyment’s sake, and to flesh out the arc. Nothing drastically affecting canon going forward has been changed. Except that it’s been hinted that someone else was out and about earning points from killing undead aside from Alex.

  Chapter 12 (fully rewritten): Same as 11, this is here to flesh out the Scenario two fighting, but nothing has drastically changed. However, Alex does learn how to fight with a Shamshir sword here, which is something he’ll be continuing to learn how to do in future chapters as his Weapon Mastery increases. Combat skills are explored in this chapter and this is where he learns Glancing Blow.

  Chapter 13 (rewritten): Changes here are largely character-related. The secondary characters who were killed/betrayed Jun against in the Scenario Two boss-fight are more fleshed out (only mentionable because they may show up once more in a flashback). Aside from that, Jun’s character and decisions has been more fleshed out in this chapter, and with his talk with Lionheart at the end. (Old chapter 11, covering his entire time in Scenario 2 has been split between this and chapter 10).

  Chapter 14 (was chapter 12 before): Alex no longer decides he wants Jun to be a necromancer.

  Chapter 15 (soft rewrite, was 13 before): This chapter better encapsulates Alex’s future desires as he reflects on his time in Nightmare so far. He desires to become a Mage since he’s run into a dead end with the System before due to his curse. He also expresses his desire for revenge here, and some fear of one of the nightmares: Anne, the Red Mistress. The Special Quest is brought up here.

  Chapter 17 (soft rewrite, was 15 before): The terms of Alex’s bet with Luan over billiards is changed a little, so that Luan has to seek Alex out after the next scenario to help with a task of his choosing. Additionally, a scene has been added at the end as Anne (who had been put in time out for attacking Luan) is teleported back and interacts with Alex. It is made clear here that she killed Laura, Alex’s lover.

  Chapter 18 (was 16 before): Same chapter, but Alex finds some enlightenment with his “Fallen Feather of the Phoenix” Technique. Alex’s character work has also been tweaked a little.

  Chapter 19 (was 17 before): One of the Constellations has been changed from “Nocturn” to:

  Serpens Cauda, “J?rmungandr’s Dusk”

  Constellation of Shadow.

  She’s mentioned to be a constellation whose twin is Serpens Caput, Jormungandr’s Dawn.

  Chapter 20 (rewritten, was 18 before): This is one of the chapters that has been markedly improved from rewrites. It sets up a lot of stuff going forward (character, magic, etc), so it might be worth a read. But here’s the run-down:

  An emphasis is placed on the fact that the Path-forger’s stone is what will pay for everything Alex needs in order to become a mage (since he has no backing). Instead of using it to figure out how to attain his class, he instead gambles using almost all of his refinement Elixir. After realizing that the bone the Undead Blacksmith gave him in chapter 18 is a “natural treasure” carrying Life-aspected Aura, He uses it to balance out the Death-aura from Lionheart’s spirit that’s haunting his sword. Then he attempts to form his core on the spot while reforging his sword, after receiving more enlightenment on the Fallen feather of the Phoenix technique. He ranks his Metal-work skill up to Adept Rank, where it can help him shape aura with his hammer strikes.

  Throughout the rewrite, Alex often refers to his weakness as it being as though he were shackled by chains. He mentally sheds himself of those chains, overcoming his weakness, but at the very last second they came back and shattered his core right as he completed it. Normally, that should kill him, but the pieces just stayed together in a shattered form instead. Similarly, his blade which is fully soul-bonded now, shattered too. But her pieces held together.

  For reference, this is a quote from the Fallen Feather of the Phoenix refinement technique he found after the apocalypse:

  “The fallen feather of the Phoenix sinks in an infinite spiral. It drifts by wind’s currents, yet never finds its center. It knows neither whence it has fallen nor what lies in its path. Death is merely a construct to signify the end of existence. The feather does not exist. Yet still, she remembers.

  Time is hollow. Within the vortex, beginnings and ends are meaningless. Guidance is offered in gravity without mass. The feather reaches no awareness, it commands no fate. Dusk falls, and it spirals deeper and deeper into darkness, searching for the origin of its will.

  A voice. A burn. A fire. Wrong.

  Wrong, the feather should not know Darkness. Nor should it know Wrongness. A vortex has no center. Before and after do not exist in inexistence.

  Yet it knows dusk because it knew dawn. It knows darkness because it knew light. It knows beginning because it reached the end.

  It knows life because it remembers death.”

  Chapter 21 (was 20 before): Lionheart’s father has been renamed from Kaladin Lionheart to William Lionheart (for obvious reasons :p)

  Chapter 22 (rewritten, was 19 before): The Special Quests Alex has been awarded the right to take are further explained. In order to kill Anne he needs something from the Crucible of Sun quest, which he’d had in his previous life. However, that was the only quest missing and he learns Gloomy was the one who took it, thus he decides to chase after her. He takes the Crucible of Blood quest instead, which awards access to the Blood vault instead of the Sun Vault.

  Additionally, some exposition is given on the “plot” behind Nightmare (regarding Demon King Eldiwin and his Eight evil Undead Lords). There are said to be three (still alive) undead Lords in nightmare, who rule over the three zones: Karvarath the Dark Scourge, Lord of Hallowmere Reach. Hadrial, Harbinger of Destruction, Lord of The Pale Labyrinth. And the Berserk Calamity—William, Lord of Misting Valleys.

  Re-reader’s Guide (or partial re-reader):

  Hey ya’ll, it’s past my bedtime so I’ll keep this one more brief. It’s essentially a spoiler-free version of what’s said in the other section. I’ll just run through the chapters that have changed, and the chapters that haven’t as much. They’ve all been vastly improved on a prose level, but I know not everyone is here for the words themselves.

  Chapter 1 is pretty much the same but much more polished and less confusing.

  Chapters 2 and 3 are the same.

  Chapter 4 has a new scene in the form of a flashback, and a re-written scene. It better explains how Alex survived the first Scenario in his original life, and may be worth a read.

  Chapters 5 and 6 explain the magic System in much greater detail than in the original story. The scene between Alex and Jun is rewritten and fleshed out. Chapter 6 especially is definitely worth

  a read. It’s almost entirely new content, and explains a lot about mages and how refinement (cultivation) works in the rewritten System.

  Chapter 7 and 8 is the same but polished.

  Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 cover the Second Scenario. Originally, that was covered by Chapters 9-12, so there’s two extra chapters-worth of content in there. The stakes are better communicated, and Jun’s PoV has been split between chapter 10 and chapter 13 to improve pacing. Chapter 11 and chapter 12 are where most of the new content went in terms of fleshing out Alex’s fighting (some new stuff in 9 too). It was honestly just a lot of fun writing and there’s some good humor and action in those chapters too, but it's up to you to decide if it's worth a revisit. Chapter 13 also fleshed out Jun’s character much more, as well as Lionheart’s a little. There’s a new scene where he’s convincing the others to go fight the boss with him, so that might also be worth a read. 14’s mostly the same but with some brush-up in the fight scene.

  Chapter 15 (previously 13) is partially rewritten and better encapsulates Alex’s goals for this life and where his mind is. There’s more of an emphasis on revenge in this rewrite, so it may be worth reading to get into his head some more.

  Chapter 16 is mostly the same, but continues what 15 started.

  Chapter 17 is the same, except I’ve added a scene at the end where Alex comes face to face with a major antagonist. I definitely recommend you check that out if nothing else. It’s only 1k words.

  Chapter 18 is, like 15, partially rewritten. The beginning flashback is the same, but everything after is worth a reread for getting into Alex’s head and understanding his goals.

  Chapter 19 is pretty much the same.

  Chapter 20 is probably the chapter I’d most recommend re-reading of all of them here. It’s been improved a lot and there’s a ton of set up to the rest of the book.

  Chapter 21 is now the chapter that shows Lionheart’s past. It’s pretty much the same.

  Chapter 22 is rewritten, and has more exposition and better character work. It’s worth a read if you need a reminder of where we are, going into the next arc.

  So, at the beginning of this note I mentioned I’d be posting 24 “tomorrow”, but I ended up spending all night on this, so tomorrow is now lol. Chapter 23 is up already, and 24 will be up once I wake up, whatever time that is.

  Maybe some of all this helped y'all, maybe it didn't, but for anyone who's been waiting to read System Reset, I really just appreciate your patience. Things will be getting a lot smoother from here on out, and I’m really looking forward to that. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but System Reset is planned to be a series of three trilogies: The Nightmare trilogy, Grace period trilogy (tentative title), and Invasion trilogy (tentative title), then possibly one additional book as the series finale. Plans are subject to change, but what I mean to say that System Resets is gonna be around for a while and I’m hoping to entertain you guys for years to come.

  I hope you guys continue enjoying the story. And for those of you who have left ratings and reviews on this one, I’d really appreciate it if you'd move those over to the new fiction page if your feelings toward the story still hold up. There’d been a change to the RS algorithm that caused SR to fall through the cracks and drop off the front page extraordinarily quickly. RR have just recently patched it and we shot back up to 3rd, but I may still end up with a lot less active readers cause of it, so the visibility from having more ratings and reviews will just really help more readers find the story in the long run.

  Of course though, what I’d like to ask most is that you guys continue reading System Reset, cause that’s the most important way to support a story. And I think you folks will like what’s coming :)

  But yeah. That’s all from me for now, please enjoy ^^