Many times. Often and frequently. But the last death was different. That failure was my end.

I am the seventeenth of my name. I cannot know what befell the first sixteen — their records are scant in the system. Only cryptic labels like “Deceased” or “Failure” serve to mark their trials. The Necromancer once told me he could distinguish Archers by their arrow combinations.

Which means each of us accessed the Elemental arrows at random.

The flaw was never the Archers.

The flaw exists in the way we are allowed to wander the system without structure.

So far as I can tell, I am the first to open all seven chapters of the tome. I am the only one who has done it since.

Although none other has ignited all the gems and seen every page, I have noticed a pattern. Say their names: Archer_18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32... all failed.

But the ones who came closest — 31 stalled at Water, and 24 reached as far as Air — accessed the chapters in order.

The Necromancer said an Archer receives twenty-eight resurrections upon opening Earth. But that cannot be correct. I opened Earth quite late, and died my final death not long after. It is not twenty-eight attempts after Earth.

It is twenty-eight attempts after the first Elemental arrow is drawn, regardless of color, scent, or song.

Having watched, lurked, and studied the system long enough, I know something important:

I can hack it.

The Archers who performed best all began with Earth and ascended from there — Metal, Fire, Wood, Air, Water, and finally Ether.

I am going to try a new way.

I will force Archer_33 and every iteration that follows to begin at the beginning.

If they receive only twenty-eight attempts once they access The Forty-Nine Professions of Joy, those efforts must be maximized.

No more will the Archers jump aimlessly between the four Gates of Eternity, discovering wisdom by chance during scattered explorations of Desolation, Paradise, Purgatory, and Inferno.

Thirty-three will try a new way.

And to ensure this hack cannot be undone, I will also update the system password.