Swords of the West - Against the Storm

Hello Everyone! I am kicking off the return to Swords of The West with some of the initial cover art for book one (tentatively - Against the Storm). The first 25 chapters are up on my patreon (and Against the Storm is 47 chapters/145k words so roughly 550 pages). I already have the first 8 chapters/100 pages of book two done so hopefully everyone likes the series. I am currently waiting on a more final cover (my artist has some moving going on which is delaying the completion at the moment) and then the series will be going up on Royal Road.

General Questions/Vibes regarding Swords of the West:

Genre
Fantasy/Bildungsroman - The main character starts as a low level warrior (swordsman that can use mana) in a never ending war. He becomes disconnected and disillusioned with his army and the rest of the story is about him trying to find himself and what it means for him to be a warrior all while getting stronger.

Is This A LitRPG?
Kinda? I have a stat sheet that I'm using but it is closer to a progression fantasy. The major variables are Affinity, Image/Tier, and Skill/Level. Warriors have affinities for various elements that are the most power they are able to channel for that element. The amount of power they can use from those affinities is defined by their Image which is a central idea that serves as the animating force behind their magic. If your image is more powerful than your affinities you will level up incredibly slowly. If your image is weaker than your affinities, you cannot use all of your affinity's power. With each tier of your image you can learn one elementally attuned skill such as a sword style or a finishing move. I have all of this recorded in a spreadsheet and it will be occasionally referenced but there won't be explicit skill sheets saying "Tier 2 Image, Level 3 Two Handed Sword."

Vibe
A major theme of the series is exploration, internal and external. The main character is going to be going to new places and discovering new things, all while trying to figure out who he is and what exactly it is that he wants. He is not going to be defeating a world shaking evil and he is not the chosen one (although he will have a lot of magical potential- writing books about weak characters has a tendency to be boring after all). Instead it is going to be the story of his travels as he tries to survive in new and hostile lands.

Is it good?
I think so? What kind of question is that?

Are you sure?
...

Did you at least include an otter in this one?
Of course, what kind of uncultured Philistine did you take me for?