I think the new story progression is a good thing. (Huge walls of text sorry 😭)
I've been seeing a lot of talk about how the story is "not like Hand Jumper" or that the new characters are good but the story is going downhill. While I do think that some of that is applicable to the current story, I feel like this has been set up for a while and, as much as it feels wrong to say, even with 2 seasons out (almost), the story is still in its introduction. We are just now getting more Godling info. While the idea of them just looming over the narrative as an old story / a failure of past society is amazing, I think that the Godlings have the perfect amount of impact right now. I think the concept of forgetting them = their death is a very impactful way to explain their absence. Only the strongest make it, and as we see with Selume (the actual god of the moon), who can't even remember someone or know the year, they clearly have almost no known way to interact with others. So, it makes sense that only the best of the best with connections to level 10s would be able to speak to the godlings.
Another thing that points towards Hand Jumper still being in its introduction is the fact that most gifts/essence just are NOT understood that well. We know a total of like 20 gifts, and half of the essence types still have a wall of mystery set up. I think the story should be progressing with Godlings and the overpowered villains because that shows exactly what we have been told about the corps, that the hardest part is just surviving. It means a lot more to us when they show how quickly everything can go wrong just from one powerful gift.
Lastly, I believe that we still don't have a true final villain/antagonist, which honestly we don't really need. Currently, we have Officer Ahn, who is Sayeon's main antagonist; the Begonia group (best introduction of them I know of is chapter 76), who are in control? of a Godling; Vorago who is seemingly the one trying to communicate with Sayeon (also without a known relic which seems strange compared to everyone else); and lastly, the Corps / Crimson Society / Sea Wolves which while all are threats to Sayeon none of them have really shown off the intentions needed for the "big bad" of the story. I think that we might not have a main villain based on how the story is right now. Instead, I think that it will just be a bunch of separate hurdles for Sayeon to overcome and not something that truly is the end of her story. ( We also have to remember that no matter what she loses. Society is against her and she has no reasonable way of fixing that.)
Thank you for reading all of this 💖 (or not lol). It means a lot to me as I don't really have anyone to talk to about stuff that interests me. Also if anyone notices anything wrong with what I said, please tell me. I am reading consistently, but I have diagnosed memory issues, so I hope I'm not missing anything major lol.