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I realised that trains in Snezhnaya only run in one direction on each track, so if you want to go to the station that’s just before yours, you need to take the train in the opposite direction and make the whole loop that will bring you to where you wanted to go. A bit like that weird loop there’s on Line 2 of Seoul metro.

I took the train, did some exploration but not much, unlocked the talent domain… I really love Snezhnaya map, the region is beautiful, and it feels like there’s a lot of mysteries to uncover, not just puzzles planted here and there. Just looking at the map it makes you want to go out there and explore.

I didn’t continue the AQ, but I made it to the village where there’s the current event. I wanted to unlock the Teleportation waypoint but immediately got caught in the event, then I wanted to unlock the viewpoint and started a WQ. I’m really confused because Paimon said “oh we wanted to go in that place anyway” and I don’t know what she’s referring to.
Not only that, but the NPCs were talking about a town called Aoguluofu (in Chinese), and Paimon calls it jiligulu (it’s like some sort of mumbling or unintelligible sound). She said that we wanted to go to jiligulu town, so first it’s weird to call it like that, and second, I didn’t know I wanted to go there? I’m really confused… Did I miss something?

I’m only a few pages short of finishing the first part, but we suddenly decided to go for a run as the rain had stopped, and I don’t think I’ll have the time to continue tonight.
This novel is so so great, if it continues like that it will be my favourite book of the month for sure,

Finished the second chapter, really good!!
I really hate reading this on ebook though, I don’t know if it’s the same on paper, but some fonts are in bold, and I had 書 appear as a solid black block, though it was strangely easy to read at the same time? There’s also a font I hate that’s used for transcripts of audio, I’m still not used to it…

I cleared two stages of Focused Flashback with full stars! My Corvus dynamo team cleared the Lingering Glow stage in 4 rounds - that’s thanks to P5 Charon and P5 Rhiannon - but was really surprised me is that Liang Yue cleared in 6 rounds!

Did people complain and the made the stages easier? Because my FUA team hasn’t changed, and they were not clearing this fast before…

I couldn’t resist, she’s now P5. I decided to buy Charon with the package where you can get a standard 6 star. So they’re both P5 now, I’m really happy. I’ve been skipping all the recent meta, I don’t have lingering glow, conduit or bloodtithe, but I’m much prefer maxing the characters I love.

I continued the story and finally met Odette in game. She is so so pretty, she looks so different from other characters. I’m glad the MC got the new skin, because Lumine would have looked so fade in comparison with the old design.

One thing annoying is that there was a situation described as urgent, but to go there you have to take path that starts a side activity automatically. It’s annoying because you’re told you must go somewhere to help an emergency and all of the sudden you’re chatting with an NPC about something else. Not only that, but Paimon was there too! So the whole thing completely breaks the immersion. It happened twice to me on the way to where the AQ continues.

Otherwise the story is still as good, I’m really enjoying it.

Continued a bit, there was a chapter with abstract concepts, I’m not sure I understood everything, but otherwise, most of the story is rather easy. I kind of stopped on a cliffhanger, but I also want to play Genshin today.

Couldn’t finish part 1 today, but I’m really loving this book!

I had a complete change of plans about my next Japanese book, because my husband saw the Korean translation of 閲覧厳禁 by Mikito Chinen and said he wanted to read it. It was the perfect opportunity for a buddy read, so I picked up the Japanese original version on Booklive, and that’s my next Japanese read.

I was a bit on the fence, because I read two books by Mikito Chinen, one I loved and one I hated, but 閲覧厳禁 seemed more similar to the one I loved (more medical mystery fiction, especially revolving around mental health and schizophrenia among offenders) rather than the one I hated (pure meta honkaku mystery), so I thought it was worth a try.

Books by Mikito Chinen read so far

硝子の塔の殺人

がらすのとうのさつじん

閲覧厳禁

えつらんげんきん

十字架のカルテ

じゅうじかのかるて

All the warnings at the beginning are pretty bold, haha, I hope the book will not disappoint.
I finished the first chapter and it’s very good so far.

The reading experience on e-reader is miserable though… It’s really annoying. The layout hasn’t been reworked for ebook at all, it’s just the paper version pasted as is like all the pages were pictures. I can’t change the size or the font, but everything is really too small. I basically need to zoom in on every single page, it’s super frustrating. It’s a recent book from a successful author, why didn’t the publisher put more effort into the ebook version? I could see the bunko version being unreadable too if they just make everything smaller without rework.

Oh well, at least the book is not too long and reads quickly.

I wonder if they made the Arcade mini game easier this time? Last time I didn’t clear difficulty 3, and I remember needing a lot of runs to complete it. This time, I cleared each difficulty once and maxed the rewards pretty easily.

Characters keep complaining about the heat, so I checked it out, and indeed, 1939 was an unusual hot early Summer in Seoul. It kept the record of hottest early July day for 86 years.

I started it, and it’s so so good!! I love the beginning, it’s perfect: set up the time and place, give insights into some characteristics of the period while building interesting characters we care about and slowly hinting at what could happen in a delightful way. I also love the structure, I only read the first two chapters of the first part, but it looks like each chapter will introduce new characters while also giving a good portraying of the period (daily life of people under Japanese Occupation). It’s really well done so far.

It’s also a relief to see that it’s not difficult to read at all. Not the easiest novel, but much easier than I was expecting.

It’s a shame that both Snezhnaya and Reverse 1999 anniversary patch released the same week. These are the only two live-service games I’m playing, so it’s unfortunate the patches come at the same time, it’s a ton of content all at once…

August will probably be a dry month in terms of reading, because I will spend much more time playing games in the next weeks. It also doesn’t help that I am stuck with a book I don’t enjoy and never feel like picking up. I did start a new Korean book that’s very good though, so at least I have something to carry my readings this month.

I continued the AQ a bit, still very good!
It actually allows us to unlock the main region quite soon, so I was able to start farming for Odette much sooner than expected.

I started the main story, only did the first three episodes but 1- I love the beginning and 2- it’s quite easy to follow so far, which is really not always the case with R1999 stories (I mean, follow with Chinese text).

I don’t like all Reverse stories, but this one will most certainly be one of my favourites, because I love Merel. I can’t wait to know what happened and understand who Rhiannon is exactly.