I'll be honest with you: right now, I'm kind of feeling my way through things.
The clear ideas I had at the start have gotten a bit blurry. Even the question of whether Narume should remain "dead" has me conflicted. The real problem lies in the Overlord universe. It's not an overwhelmingly destructive world in itself, but some abilities are clearly overpowered—especially if you go down the necromancer path… which I did.
Honestly, take Madara before the Rinnegan: he's more destructive than anything we've seen so far in the Overlord anime. And yet, against a level 100 focused on combat, he could still lose. I'm not saying he would lose for sure, but you see the dilemma.
Ainz, for example, is supposed to be a necromancer who wins thanks to his minions… and yet, look at his fight against Shalltear. And keep in mind, Shalltear is undead and had the advantage over him, yet he held his ground without the core of his fighting style.
That's why I didn't go with the "Ainz" model for Narume, but chose Kunievella instead—to give her a real weakness in close combat. That way, jōnin—or even elite jōnin—can still be threatening.
I'm not joking: Ainz, on his own, could create craters with his physical strikes WITHOUT using "Perfect Warrior." Just that kind of raw power would already make him a special jōnin in the Naruto universe.
But… I was kind of stupid and added the Cursed Knight class, because I felt Narume's child body was too limiting. I had written a whole piece explaining this, but I accidentally deleted it. Oh well, I'll keep it short.
Yes, there's a bit of ChatGPT in this part since I lost the original draft. Yes, it's still sincere regardless.
And there's something important I need to tell you:
I've got exams going on right now, and I'm struggling. I'm at risk of repeating the year, and I really want to avoid that. So I'm going to have to step away for a bit.
This break will have a few consequences:
The posting schedule will clearly slow down (you've probably already noticed that).
There might be a few chapters from other projects, which I'll publish as an apology—even if I consider them rough or pretty shaky in some places. I'll try to polish them over time.
But know this:
I'm not abandoning this story.
I promised I'd say it clearly if I ever did—and I haven't.
I want to see it through to the end. It's my first real work, and there's still a lot I need to adjust—even if I have to rewrite things—but for now, I've run out of chapters in reserve.
Just pray I survive data science.
And most importantly, there's something I should've said a long time ago:
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments, your Powerstones… I'm truly grateful.
Special shoutout to the Powerstones, but I won't list all the names, okay?
Until I can get back into a stable rhythm, I think you'll probably want to invest your time elsewhere.
That said, my friend (yes, the one whose device I'm using) has started writing. Just from the story, you'll know his gender.
Yes, I'm promoting him—but don't expect much, he's one of the most unreliable people alive.
His story is called: "Narume: Start as Litten", and so far, I think it's pretty good.
But please don't abandon my story to go read his, or I might just delete his account… he'd kill me afterward, but eh, it's just one life.
With that said, have a great evening.
By the way, the other stories are free, so if anyone feels inspired, they can pick it up.
Just saying so I can remove my version if I don't plan on continuing, but this one is mine.