The story ends here, but this is also where another story begins.
There are still countless interesting people and places throughout Runeterra that Luke has yet to encounter.
But sooner or later, he'll visit them. I'm certain of that.
As far as endings go, this one might not be perfect. It might even feel a little abrupt. But for me, as the author, it feels like a fitting conclusion to everything that has happened along the way.
As I mentioned before, this novel began with uncertainty. I considered abandoning it early on, but eventually decided to persevere, writing one step at a time until it reached its current length of 2.5 million characters.
A great deal happened throughout that journey, and I thought about giving up many times.
But I always felt that this story deserved a reasonably satisfying conclusion.
To be perfectly frank, I never quite figured out whether this was supposed to be a slice-of-life novel or an action novel.
Even now, I don't think I have an answer. After all, the slice-of-life scenes and battles each account for roughly half the story.
Of course, I could continue writing if I wanted to. But ultimately, that would just mean padding the word count with meaningless content and repeating the same formulas over and over.
For me, doing that would gradually make me more complacent. I would lose more and more of my love for this novel, along with my enthusiasm for thinking up interesting plot developments.
It would become exhausting.
Eventually, my daily routine would amount to nothing more than writing four thousand characters, collecting my monthly bonus, and calling it a day.
Padding the story simply for the sake of padding it.
And if I approached writing with that attitude, I would inevitably disappoint all of you.
That's why I believe it's time to find a suitable place to bring this story to an end.
The ideal stopping point was the Shadow Isles.
It was a place mentioned from the very beginning of the story, and now that we've finally reached it, everything can come to a conclusion.
There are essentially three major threats to Runeterra: the Void, the Shadow Isles, and Mordekaiser in the Death Realm.
After resolving two of those enormous threats, Luke's strength has already reached an exceptionally high level.
As for the remaining one, dealing with it would probably amount to little more than crushing the opposition.
The Dragon King, the Celestial Realm, Bard, and all those other cosmic matters are concerns for a much more distant future.
What our protagonist wants is nothing more than a peaceful everyday life.
He wants to joke around and have fun with the girls, meet lots and lots of friends, and spend each day living a simple but fulfilling life.
That's enough for him.
Why should we bother getting involved in all that cosmic fighting nonsense?
At his current level, Luke can already enjoy the life he wants.
He no longer needs to rush from one place to another.
He can finally relax and become a prince who spends his days doing absolutely nothing.
He can sit in his courtyard, tease the girls whenever he feels like it, and leisurely bask in the sunshine.
Whenever he wants to go somewhere, he can simply take a Hexgate and arrive anywhere in the world in an instant.
What a wonderful life!
If I continued writing beyond this point, I would also have to confront another problem: the power scaling falling apart.
The protagonist has become so overwhelmingly powerful that his strength is already beyond what I can properly manage as a writer.
Sooner or later, the power scaling would inevitably become a mess.
Many readers enjoy the slice-of-life portions of this novel.
And to be fair, I could certainly keep padding the story with everyday scenes indefinitely.
After all, I could write two hundred characters about practically anything a character does, even if she's just lying around and staring blankly into space.
But doing that would destroy the fun.
Endlessly padding a novel simply isn't the way to go.
More importantly, I've run out of interesting ideas for slice-of-life plots.
The purpose of those scenes is to give everyone something enjoyable to read, allowing you to relax and have a good time.
They're not supposed to leave you scratching your heads afterward and asking, "That's it? This whole chapter was just filler! Are you trying to drown us in it?"
That would be pretty embarrassing.
In any case, this is where the novel ends.
From a literary standpoint, I actually consider this novel a failure.
And the root cause of that failure is me.
As the author, I failed to give the story a complete framework and structure.
I didn't manage the distribution of its plotlines properly.
Even after writing 2.5 million characters, there are still so many places I never got around to exploring.
The Freljord, for example.
In my early plans, I actually intended to write an entire storyline set in the Freljord.
But I kept putting it off, and now I've reached the end without ever writing it.
At this point, I can't continue with it either.
This is a problem with my writing.
I didn't distribute the plot properly. Many sections ended up serving no purpose beyond padding the story.
I believe that if I had replaced those unnecessary sections with better plot developments, this novel could have satisfied many more readers.
So, given my shortcomings as a writer, I suppose I deserve the criticism I'll receive for ending things so abruptly.
Even now, I often find myself wondering whether the novel might have turned out better if I had written certain earlier storylines differently.
But there's no point dwelling on that anymore.
It's like making one wrong move and watching every subsequent move go wrong.
What good does it do to regret decisions made early in the story when you're already approaching the end?
With 2.5 million characters to work with, I could have made this story far more entertaining.
But I failed to do so.
That's my responsibility, and I owe an apology to everyone who has read this far.
I'm writing all of this partly as a reflection on my own work and partly as an acknowledgment of my shortcomings to all of you.
When I decided to end the novel here, I was still somewhat apprehensive.
I didn't know whether I was making the right decision.
Perhaps I should have written more about some of the other places.
But after thinking it over repeatedly, I ultimately decided to bring the story to a close here.
Everyone's stories will continue.
They simply won't continue within the pages of this novel.
This is the first novel I've ever written all the way to completion.
The ending might be a little rushed, but hopefully it isn't too terrible, right?
Well...
I suppose this is where I'll leave things.
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me throughout this journey.
Without all of you, I never would have persevered until now.
There's still so much more I'd like to say, but I won't ramble on any longer.
Once again, thank you, everyone.
I truly mean it.
Well then, goodbye!
As for my next novel, I'll let everyone know when I decide to start one. I still haven't figured out what I want to write yet.