Life got in the way, I'm going to be busy for the next month so at least until end of July, I'll dial the release down to 3 per week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
The Terminology for Phong's name is as below: Phong meant wind, Trần meant dust. In Vietnam, Trần Phong was pretty normal name, but when you wrote it in English, it became Phong Trần - a word used to describe someone who had gone through hardship and rough paths in life. So his name is a word play that only bilingual would understand
Vân meant cloud. And Feng Yun (Phong Vân) is a popular wuxia manhua in Hongkong. Personally, I prefer Jin Yong, but I couldn't help but include the wordplay
I don't like how some Vietnamese / Chinese American authors always had this inferiority complex when interacting with western culture, almost like they were ashamed of their own origins. While you can argue Phong did sort of follow a "Asian get the white dude / chick" with him and Alex, his problem was never his race, but rather his class and social standing (he was bullied because he was a level 1 farmer, not because he was Viet). He's proud of his roots due to being born and raise inside the culture at home, rather than in a community of old refugees who hatred and admiration of the west defined and shaped their culture
Now, for Emma. Her class is designed after Ning Rongrong's Seven Floors Crystal Tower in Doulou Continent (Soul Land, depending on the media) - the best support soul in the verse. Each time she unlocked a blade her buff go up by 10%, and she gained another buff. So with 6 swords she will increase all stats by 60%.
I couldn't find a good moment to explain how qián copy work. Basically, it turned her into a walking Schrödinger's cat. While the secret is activated, she's always in a quantum super position and can jump from one possibility to another (that was why she suddenly return to where she was floating when hit by the backlash from Vân's lín
Tara's class was designed after Li Gui - the Black Typhoon - a character in the classic "The Watermargin" (the tv series was translated into All Men Are Brothers)
The elf seeds Phong planted to fend off the Soerai should have grown by now, but they didn't. So keep an eye on that thread for the future. Same goes for the Mushroomires situated in the scorched land. The fact that older one slumped down into structures and houses is not randomly there
That's about it. Tomorrow / today chapter gonna be about Phong and Alex engagement, then the death of Daniel Harlan.
Book 4 gonna get wild. Minor spoiler to maybe create some hype:
Spoiler:
Azure Dragon / Sky Emperor gonna show himself to the whole world and usher in the next stage of dungeon diving
Kay, bye
I ran out of trivia off the top of my head for now, so here's a cooking recipe for a comfort food: braised pork
You will need: pork (belly would be the best since you get skin, fat, and meat all for the price of one, but trotter would work great too, you need the fat otherwise after braising you'll be left with sandals soaked in sauce), eggs (quail or chicken), fish sauce, sugar, pepper (if you can get the whole, green one it's better), chilies, MSG, coconut milk or coconut water (optional)
Here's what you do: you slice the pork into pieces that was 2 fingers thick, and you stir-fried them a bit so their outside shrunk and caramelized a little. Then, you caramelize the sugar to have a slushy of caramel water (it's mainly for the color). Then you add the braising liquid: fish sauce, water, peppers, chilies if you like it spicy, MSG, and coconut. Keep tasting the liquid and adjust the taste to your flavor. It should started out a little bit on the sweet and spicy side since once the water evaporate, it's going to be saltier. Now, after you boil the eggs, make some small cuts on the egg white and fried them. They should blister up and turned golden after a while. Basically making tiger skin eggs. Then, after the pork had been braised for 30 mins to an hour, you add the eggs and keep braising for another 30 minutes, add more water if you see the braised liquid getting too low. After 1-1,5 hours, or until the meat is tender to your liking, it's done. Serve it over rice