This book 2, or rather, this book 2 in this form, wouldn't exist for two things. COVID-19 and Royal Road's Writathon Challenge.

You see, I believe that every book should have an underlying crisis. Even if your book isn't about the Hero that Saves the World, a book that has a crisis, and a resolution to that crisis, usually find a slightly better reception than a book that does not. That's something that is often a critique of mid-trilogy books: The first book is usually semi self-contained because the author is checking how good that story will be, and then, he can afford to make a lengthier plot to conclude the global story, so you have a book two that sets up the crisis, and a book three that solves it.

Note that this is not intended to be a trilogy in particular, but that’s what does happen in trilogies often.

Book 1 had a crisis to solve. The Gate is closed, the British Empire tetters on the brink of destruction, and someone comes and break it open, and hope flourish and life is restored, end of crisis (even if the way it is solved is a cheat).

Book 2 did not have a crisis to solve yet when Royal Road called for a Writathon to help people in self-quarantine pass time. I would not force myself to write for NanoWriMo or something. For something that big, I would. Which means I would write book 2 even more by the seats of the pants than usually: take the pending events leftover, take the mechanics I intend to write about, and go. Off to see the wizard we go, I have a book to write.

(meaning, I need to find out the actual crisis for the next book. Really)

I usually have half a dozen interludes and a dozen scenes in advance. When I started the USA episode, I had exactly ONE

That’s not to say I didn’t have a guideline. I had a very good idea of what I wanted to put as the final arc (the trunk zone) and maybe how it would go. But in terms of actual plot and events? Nothing. I did not even know if I was going to have the epilogue we have. I had lots of interludes that provide elements for the story, but none of those has made their way to book 2.

By the way, I have to thank Andrew B. Salmon for providing me with a hint about the Cores. Back in book 1 author notes, I said that my first idea was to have the orbs be XP/Milestone boosts. But that was a bit hard since there are not that many of them, there was no real way to get enough of them to make a difference in a build. Kinda cheesy for a Raid Boss drop.

So when one of my readers suggested that it felt like some cultivation setup, I went ‘hmmmm… what cultivation stories do with spherical things’. And immediately, you got Cores. And thus, I got the idea: What if those Cores were basically a new item slot. That rings and necklaces came only in later tiers was established. They hadn’t been mentioned in-story, but they appear on Cowen’s build (and maybe I should go back and edit Myrl Douglas’ descriptor to show that she does wear rings & necklace). So… a twelfth item slot, one with only Artefacts. That’s not a game-breaking boost, but that’s a significant one…

(And if I want them to be game-breaking, I can always have an Adaptation step that opens up a second Core slot. Everyone knows you should split your core for more pure madra power)

Speaking of the USA arc, it is a horrible mess. I got a bad review, I got lower ratings, comments, all the thing.

And I agree with some of that. It isn’t the kind of story you would expect at that point, and it feels completely botched. Because it is – but then, I was writing under a semi-imposed deadline.

My goals for the USA arc were exploring the Gate descriptor, some implications, but they were primarily about the USA itself. What’s the difference in culture between the British Professionals and the American ones. How do the colonies feel to a British leatherworker apprentice bumped to Knight Commander of the Bath because he died kicking a door?

Those were the primary goals of the USA arc, with the side-show of showcasing a first non-goody-two-shoe Professional. Because let’s face it – so far, Professionals are unrealistically devoted, law-abiding, etc, etc.

So what do we got out? Very little.

The USA arc was one that required careful writing, for two specific reasons. The twin lightning plates that will cause you a shock, no matter how you try to approach them.

Racism and Slavery.

I’m not even sure on how to write about it in those notes – let alone in the story. Yet they should be considered.

But with a deadline for writing in Writathon, I couldn’t. As I said, I was literally writing a chapter, posting it, and moving to the next. Writing properly about the alternate-history conditions that historically charged would require very, very careful writing. The thing that requires careful re-reading, changing until you find the right tone, over a few weeks at least.

So I slashed it all. There’s probably about 10-15k words missing from book 2, and they come almost entirely from this arc. The only thing that’s left is the barebone Mata-Hari plot, with little examination of the Professional culture and the Jonas Sims cultural shock (remember, he’s never left London until… the Labyrinth). You haven't seen a black Professional despite there should have been one.

Another of the aspects that are wasted here is that John Henry Blackeye has Swedish roots. The colony of New Sweden had lots of trading – in and out of bed – with the local Lenape. If you’ve wondered why Napoleon invades Sweden just before the arc, it’s not that I just wanted some potential dynastic marriage of immortal Professionals. It’s also that I wanted to get Blackeye to comment on the difference between your ancestors (Swedes) and your roots (Lenape).

Not a peep.

I am horribly tempted to revisit the arc, because it’s a sore in the book, in my opinion. But I’m a realist. It won’t happen unless I do serious editing for a traditional publication. But the fact still makes me sad.

Every story has deep roots. Good ones have lots of seeds, and they sprout sometimes strange plants. So, what are the roots of the Infinite Labyrinth?

The first is The City and the Dungeon (and those who dwell and delve within – yes it’s the entire title). It is one of my favourite books. Got the ebook, got the hardcover – yes, there is a hardcover. Go buy it!

I almost made Jonas a healer, just like the hero of that book. A badass combat healer, but a healer. In the end, I made him the second-best – the ranged DPS class. Every litrpg ends up with the main character being the guy up and front of every battle. Nope. Not this one.

But what nourished me is the tier system that’s in there. The City and the Dungeon never really goes into detail about how everything works. You almost never get straight numbers, there’s no blue box anywhere, except for maybe half a dozen total items that are shown in the book.

But in the story… you get a glimpse of that terrible complexity. Of intricate pre-requisite for classes, with sub-classes more and more powerful as you progress. From the weakest classes (“tier six”?) to the top (“tier one, some say even it’s a tier zero”). And you have the top-level characters who spend a lot of time adjusting their build, up to the point where they can finally take that class they wanted.

Sounds familiar? I knew it would sound familiar. I took the feeling and made it in an excel spreadsheet. 35 years of computer science will do that to a guy.

I still have my hopes for the sequel. It’s been too long since you saw the Deepest Core floors, Alex Kenderman.

The second book that nourishes this story is The Tower of Babel: Speedrunner. Mostly the first one of the series, as the second book is quite different. Alas, the series seems to be on indefinite hiatus, which is quite sad, as it leaves you with so many plot points hanging (and an unfinished story arc – the second half, which was book 3, never came out).

The idea of a tower, with its successive zones, and the boss you have to defeat to enter the next zone isn’t that exclusive to the book – it’s a very, very common theme used in multiple settings across litrpg (basically, search for any litrpg with “tower” in its name. No, not Stork Tower, sorry, wrong tower). But it’s where I read my first tower ascension story. So… I’m giving credit to this one. It is one of the various sources of Labyrinth geometry.

Just like on Earth in 1818, the Tower opened, humanity discovered a world beyond the Gate and nothing was the same afterwards. Corporations moved in to farm resources and advance technology using magical materials. Albieth Steel is farmed in the first tier and replaces aluminium and composites practically everywhere and it’s now a critical industry. Here it’s Power Crystals – condensed quasi-perpetual motion machines (they do wear out after a while) that provide at will either motion, heat or light. That’s how you go from an army that has to rely on shoes to cross the great winter of Russia to one that is ferried in comfortable (if cramped) heated wheeled troop transports.

You have that and your opponent doesn’t? You win the Campaign of Russia. Okay, that one’s not from the book.

Another thing lifted from the book: Do something stupid (like running to hide behind a Gate while saboteurs are firing fricking laser guns at it), and then end up shunted to a location you were not supposed to go for your sins. And that’s where you get your special class, by the way.

Not every one of my inspirations are from existing litrpg. There is some stuff you get from general fantasy or science-fiction. Here, it is harder to pinpoint a precise source for a precise bit. And, well, some sources, if mentioned, could act as spoilers for aspects you’re not supposed to know yet.

A few more sources of inspiration. Of course, first and foremost, the loot system is a twisted and mutated version of every ARPG there is, starting by Diablo 2 & 3. It is retooled from an earlier draft, where I had item quality based on an expanded version of the colour scheme of World of Warcraft: white (trash/basic), green (common), blue (quality), purple (exceptional), red (heroic), orange (artefact). WoW ended up dropping the red – there are a few remnants of it dating back from before beta - and keeping only the orange. Apparently nobody goes one level of an item further with yellow gear. Maybe I should have.

And of course, the cow level makes an appearance from D3 as well. But that’s more of an easter egg rather than a true inspiration. Although, who knows how my subconscious works. But the idea of a special zone, with lots of XP and treasure that you need to do special things to unlock?

Totally not a cow level.

The world also draws quite a lot from the venerable ancestor of every modern 3D MMORPG there is, Everquest (never played the first true 3D ancestor, Meridian 59. Alas). The zone structure with very clear gates at the edges comes from GuildWars 2 in particular, though.

A few more details of the System in the Infinite Labyrinth are also straight off Everquest. The idea that, since your world is not instanced and lots of people can come for your kill, but not everyone gets keyed is a throwback to the old days of the Planes of Power expansion. You needed to kill a Raid boss to get access to the next… plane of power (oh god – that idea came so long before Tower of Babel???). But each kill distributed only a limited number of keys. Show up with too many people? The extra miss out.

Six people being the maximum party size is also straight out of Everquest. Everyone else does five-man teams? Ah, you’re playing World of Warcraft I see. You’re not real players, only those who played EQ…

What’s next?

Well, I’ve seeded a few more plot points, notably in the epilogue. I am probably going to go a bit more explicit when book 3 opens, but I don’t know yet. Our heroes need to level faster if they want in the offensive, so that’s what they are going to do, that’s one.

I need to make sure there is a proper crisis in this book. I still think it is weaker for not having really any. I got a few ideas, but they will require maturing before I start writing.

I have finally decided to chuck my first interlude ever written. I wrote an interlude that basically was showing the Truth about what was happening. Then I needed to mutate it. Then I needed to mutate it again. And now, there is exactly one character left, who didn’t even have the correct name, let alone the correct profession, from the original.

Instead, it will become a prologue. A prologue that will build some of the aspects from the epilogue of book 2. And notably maybe hint at why “someone” may be very, very surprised, not at what Mhambi Meshindi Mor’ed’va’el is doing, not where it is… but what he did.

After he witnessed the fact that people who fall in Tarilfen’s endless cloud do, indeed die a Final Death, and never come back.

And oh, boy, once I've placed this Prologue, I have a ton of interludes to use, that I couldn't.