"Blood Tax" is a story I have been preparing for many years, and the earliest idea came from "Red and Black", and even the original title of the book had a similar name in mind. The red army and the black mystical side also happen to be at the heart of the book.

It's just that the novels of this era can't make Griffith lose himself in his interactions with Galadia and Sonya, and finally die worthless. Stendhal, the author of "The Red and the Black", makes a cameo appearance in this book with Julien, the secretary of the Count of Lamour, in the name of his representative, Armand Solon (Sorel), but this time Mademoiselle Lamour will not be given away in vain.

1. Worldview

The world map of this world is similar to that of Byzantine Rome. I have hinted at it many times in the book, for example, in 1453, the capital of the two sea regions (the Aegean and the Black Sea), the eastern province on the other side of the capital strait, and the southern province with flooded rivers and grain-producing areas (the Nile) from south to north. I even used the place names of Odessa, Sevasto, Izmir and so on, and almost wrote out the word Byzantium.

This world is the world of the real Cthulhu, and the true gods will hardly appear, and once they do, they will be unable to resist the despair. It's like a sailor on a ship looking down at the never-ending waves, with strange shadows and strange things beyond common sense from time to time under the surface of the sea. If these things show up, he's going to die. However, he may not have encountered these strange things in the end, only to drown in the sea because the ship was torn apart by the storm.

Based on this background, under certain circumstances, people in this world will lose their san value due to the radiation and scattered power of those terrifying existences, and say crazy words (referring to JOJO stalks) or become crazy (referring to the behavior of P social players).

Second, the combat effectiveness setting

Sequence 8 is the backbone of this society, and many important magic items require at least Sequence 8 to activate. This condition is also the minimum requirement to become a knight class and a mage stationed in remote areas. Sequence 7 is a strong combat force, and can serve as the leader of the Extraordinaire squad or the army commander in a certain area. The vast majority of extraordinary beings will be at this level for a long time. Galadia has a special setting that allows her to do things that no other Sequence 8 or Sequence 7 would have dared to think of.

Sequence 6 and above are called Extraordinary, and their extraordinary abilities have been able to project under certain circumstances, forming an effect similar to that of a Noble Phantasm, and the level of power is very different from Sequence 7. The protagonist's squadron leader, Elusa Valkyrie, is one such character, and she has a very important plot in the later stages.

In addition, extraordinary strength is not the only measure of strength in this book. Physical forces and other unknown forces are also powerful, just less common. For example, a demon wolf with no extraordinary characteristics can defeat an entire army of cavalry on foot by charging (see the battle elephant charge garrison in the Roman War).

Organization, technique and quantity are very important. A team of armored cavalry in sequence 9 can basically succeed in besieging a sequence 6;Powerful mages are more like artillery units,If you don't have proper cover, you are likely to be defeated or killed;Lana, who is very strong in the setting, can be overturned by several goblins without helmets and equipment;The protagonist repeatedly gets stuck in the terrain and collapses the superior enemy。 The story of the future will also show that extraordinary power is not the only factor that determines victory or defeat, which is one of the themes of this book. This can be regarded as some of my own innovations after reading so many fantasy and fantasy novels.

3. Money and Society

The city prototype of Bayerland synthesized Constantinople and Paris. The victory in the war brought more colonies and investment opportunities, and the flow of money into the farms and mines of the new provinces diverted the direction of investment that could have been used to accelerate the industrialization of the world, such as the steel and textile industries, and the Beyeran would have become rich and empty. The powerful wizarding class can claim that the city belongs to them, not to the craftsmen, vagabonds, and traditional military aristocracy, and that studying magic is their highest pleasure, completely ignoring the fact that most people can't use it. There are also those who are not happy with this, and they will try to push the wheels of the times and involve the protagonist and his friends all.

The monetary system synthesized the franc system of the late 19th century, with reference to a large number of famous works such as "Pretty Friends", "Red and Black", and "Les Miserables", and I adjusted it according to the different stages of wartime and foreign trade and investment. At the beginning of the first volume, due to the wartime state and the shortage of materials, 1 silver lang is almost equivalent to nearly 100 RMB, and at the end of the first volume and for most of the period after that, 1 silver lang is about 75-80 RMB.

The first volume was the one I was most satisfied with, and although I couldn't expand all the settings and foreshadowing due to the space and story layout, I thought that I had reached a high level before and after the winter camping after repeated revisions to the plot and pacing control. This will be followed by several small volumes and small plots, and the core of the first stage will be arranged in volumes five and six.