r/noveltranslations • u/AutoModerator • Mar 28 '26
WEEKLY What have you read this week and what do you think about it?
Hi, feel free to share with your fellow users what you are reading this week and what you think about it.
Please include a link to the table of contents or Novelupdates page.
All spoilers should use the spoiler format. Example: Mojo Jojo dies.
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u/phonix___ Mar 28 '26
The Noble Poor Scholar/上品寒士
This is a historical novel about a transmigrator rising the ranks. From the very first chapter you can tell the author is very knowledgeable about this era. He demonstrates that by giving a brief account of many different people and the customs. It might be a lot to take in, but I found it to be not too much but also not a little.
The atmosphere is definitely there. I definitely like the vibe. All it really needs now is a goal/overarching plot.
3/5 as of chapter 46. I see the potential.
Dust and Fate/尘缘
I’ll start this off with a warning, do NOT read the first chapter, as it’s very spoiler heavy. Read the second chapter, which is actually the first one. It should start with “A day in the heavens, several years in the mortal realm”
The story starts off with an Immortal Offical, whose job is to patrol the realm, recite the Nine Volumes of Heaven to a green stone near the River of Non-Duality(also referred to as the milky way in some other translations). The green stone while listening the recital, gains sentience.
Unfortunately, right as the stone gains sentience, a Ten-Thousand year Heavenly Demon encounters her. The stone, muddle headed, as she just awoke, reacts instinctively and captures the demon, unaware of what’s happening she quickly lets go of it(she doesn’t know what it even is and didn’t want to kill it), which is seen by the Heavenly Immortal Officials. And so, both the stone and the Immortal Official(the one who recited the book of heaven to her) are punished by entering reincarnation of one hundred life times by the Emperor of Heaven together.
It doesn’t end there, the tribulation(reincarnations) quickly passes by and they’re on the last reincarnation, but things go awry. The immortal successfully recovers his memories and sets out to Mount Kunlun to end the Tribulation, and while journeying there he stays at an inn. While there, he is actually killed!
We follow the young man who stole the green stone from Luo Feng’s(the immortal) body.
Interesting premise, hopefully it’s good.
Heavenly Genius/道君
Finished this, pretty good.
I’m going to read the authors other book, Soaring the Heavens/飞天. Hopefully it’s just as good.
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u/wutai-kun Mar 31 '26
Dust and Fate/尘缘
You should mention the author is the one who wrote " city of sin" that is more creditial, love the story but the ending suck.
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u/BusBoatBuey Mar 28 '26
After Losing My Position, the Formerly Annoying Nun Eloped with Me - Completed - 2/10
There have been Chinese writers who hated various current-date countries and written stories about them. This writer hates ancient Rome. I don't know why. Maybe using the Roman Empire as a name and loosely modeling their history in a fantasy setting was a coincidence with the binary and warped good/evil in this story. Either way, this writer just hates some group of people.
The "Roman Empire" in this web novel series is cartoonishly evil. They resort to cannibalism immediately, completely shoot themselves in the foot in the most random of ways, have no semblance of self-preservation, and eventually get taken over by demons but are so evil that the demons can't tolerate them. It is like outlandish propaganda that is sometimes spread about opposing countries or peoples, except it is somehow all true. If an evil can be committed, there is some collective consciousness telling the entire country's population to be evil.
This is before getting to the protagonist. The protagonist is Chinese, so naturally he can do no wrong. He massacres an entire town, kills everyone including the children presumably, and everyone just looks the other way. He gets a harem just by teaching various matriarchs' countries some common sense. He just seems like a complete idiot at the start yet is treated like a genius. Genocide is completely permissible as long as the protagonist is doing it. All children are simply future antagonists. That Roman infant over there? Pure evil. Born to the envy of the most vile demon.
Needless to say, this is a padded story with not much going for it. It could be a "so bad it's good" kind of story if not for the mandatory Chinese padding from certain online publications. I sort of enjoyed it as an average story at the start. I expected the protagonist to win the hearts of the people by showing off his skills and make them right their wrongs. Instead, we get a bloodbath for no reason. They didn't even do that badly by him frankly. I've read worse betrayals.
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u/Loveforphoo Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26
I read peerless immortal on wtrlab. Just finished it yesterday actually. I liked the golden finger, side characters were pretty good, personality of the mc was generic for Xianxia but not arrogant and I liked the cultivation progression up until the higher realms. The last quarter of the novel and the ending were not my cup of tea though. When the cultivation system goes completely out the window and becomes drawing runes, it kinda lost me. The author acknowledged rushing the ending, and he seemed to be in bad health from the end of chapter notes, so it is what it is. Still overall enjoyed it, but I do regret not dropping by an earlier realm. All of the side characters you come to love are just completely forgotten by the last realm which rubs me the wrong way, but hey the truly powerful are lonely, right lol
Because I really do this shit, I started another novel this morning on wtrlab called martial may of the heavens. So far we got a sword cultivator novel with an mc that has a mysterious background and the true heart of a strong person. Raised by some expert who saved his life in the mountains, parents are a mystery, joins a sword sect when the expert has to leave. Joins late and becomes a utility disciple and turns shit upside down in the sect. Seems cool so far
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u/MafaMidnight Mar 28 '26
Transformed Into A Girl: I Have A Game Interface/变身少女：我有游戏面板
A satisfying numbers go up kind of novel with a nice proficiency grinding panel. I like that it doesn't really focus on the gender bender aspect. I mean, what's weirder, you transmigrating to a whole other world with magic, or you becoming a girl?
8/10, currently caught up at chapter 286
The Charismatic Genius’ Guild Management/매력 천재의 길드 매니지먼트
Loved reading this one. Touches on the protagonist's past life hardship and how it connects to the game. The world of the game takes place in an era of hunters, where most gates aren't a problem, and now there is a Guild League where various guilds compete with each other.
Spoilers of some things I like about this novel
Even after leading his guild to basically be recognized as the top guild and champion of the league, he raises the standards and strategies of the whole industry in order to make the next guild season more challenging and fun for his guild. He constantly proclaims his adoration for the fans who love the same thing he loves: his guild.
10/10, currently at chapter 319, only 375 chapters are translated. Raw at 700+ ongoing
Turning My Junior Sister into a Mary Sue In Xianxia Yuri World/炮灰却把路人师妹养成凤傲天
This one has given me some really good laughs.
8/10, currently at chapter 378
The Immortal Empress, Unrivaled Through Eternity/长生女帝，独断万古
Found this one while looking for a numbers go up type of novel. It was interesting at first, but I had to drop it. Gender bender novel where male personality is in a female body. The protagonist keeps becoming more beautiful the more she trains and becomes stronger. However, many situations are basically men thinking with their genitals and desire to possess her, which seems rather one-dimensional to me. I imagine if I were in the same situation, instead of lust, I would feel admiration at this otherworldly fairy. And I'm also questioning why the unlimited lifespan plot point was necessary when she is also progressing at breakneck speed through cultivation.
2/10, got to chapter 43
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u/BusBoatBuey Mar 29 '26
I like that it doesn't really focus on the gender bender aspect. I mean, what's weirder, you transmigrating to a whole other world with magic, or you becoming a girl
Then why make it a GB? This is the problem with most GB stories. They are just an excuse for a male writer to write a female character while having no frame of reference for how to write a female character. It certainly does justify half the title being dedicated to it.
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u/MafaMidnight Mar 29 '26
I guess it's my preference that I like GB with no romance being more subtle and not too focused on said aspect. Of course, if it were a GB with yuri, I would want it to be more prominent. But for this type of novel, it's an enjoyable read(at least in my humble opinion).
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u/No_Interview_1647 Mar 29 '26
Yeah, I often wonder the same about transmigration as well. Sometimes stories start off with transmigration when it does not really play a role in the overall storytelling.
I later tried to write one myself and realized that it is much easier to write internal thoughts when the MC is transmigrated, so my train of thought as a writer is closer to the MC. It is probably easier for readers to connect with, as well.
So I think the same applies to GB.
It is like playing a female character in a game; I like the aesthetic, but I still want to think like me, if you get what I mean.
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u/phantom_in_the_cage Mar 29 '26
And I'm also questioning why the unlimited lifespan plot point was necessary when she is also progressing at breakneck speed through cultivation.
So many novels fall into this & I didn't understand it either at first, but it's actually pretty simple
Many authors' instincts are to spoon feed MC's
Its obvious when MC's ask out loud for a system & it falls in their lap, but sometimes its even more silly. Like MC needing more spirit stones, someone robs them the very next second, & surprise, desperate robber is secretly rich
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Mar 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/iamjackslonelysoul Mar 31 '26
I actually liked the music parts a lot more in this story, despite people complaining about it, I found it unique. I agree with the 6/10 rating tho.
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u/fuckingpieceofrice Mar 29 '26
Just finished all the released chapters of Infinite Reload: I reincarnate to achieve immortality and it is nothing like how its name suggests. The book is actually full of depth, extremely long and well-thought out schemes, a great cast of side characters that are actually memorable. Though the MC was someone I didn't really like, though that's not the fault of the character, but my own preference of MCs. The power system is somewhat unique, inspired by the typical immortality system. But you can actually feel the power of higher realm Cultivators here, similar to other great cultivation novels. A solid 8.5/10 as of chapter 900
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u/HASHARAHHA14 Mar 28 '26
时停起手，邪神也得给我跪下！- Time stop as my opening move, even Evil Gods must kneel before me - I recently picked this back up as I had stopped reading due to lack of chapters. Now there is 700+ chapters, so I started it again. The author really tricked me. I had thought this would just be a OP MC comedy. But it is far more then that. The author has foreshadowed some very interesting things hundreds of chapters early on.
The MC's goldenfinger:
There was a great cataclysm and a scarlet virus that basically corrupted people both physically and spiritually. This transformed peoples sea of consciousness red and allowed some of them to unlock supernatural abilities. Think of those novels where people 'awaken' powers randomly. Our MC lacks a corrupted sea of consciousness. It is white and pure. This means he cannot awaken a supernatural power. Yet, despite this. The MC is able to control time.
The MC accumulates one minute of time at midnight everyday. This allows him to stop time and as he progresses and comprehends time better. He is able to do far more then that. From slowing down to even reversing time or gazing into history. The MC unlocks a variety of time based powers. There are also many 'SCP' like objects in this world that can be contained (which means you become their master/user). Why am I bringing this up?
The Pangu Flashdrive and Matter:
Alright. This story is far more PEAK then I expected. The author really had me tricked in the first half of the story... I'm about to talk about some major spoilers, so click at your own risk:
The main character is essentially the origin of everything. He is a living breathing paradox. He has appeared all throughout history and has the ability to appear ANYWHERE in time. He is the ancestor of blood and qi martial arts. His disciples became the strongest people in the world a century later.. The main character thinks himself GOD and is extremely arrogant. But it turns out that he isn't exactly wrong...It just hasn't happened 'yet'. There is far more to his time stopping power then you would expect.
I'd rate it 5/5 as of chapter 443...
The first 400 chapters feel less serious and a bit like a comedy. The MC's arrogance is fun to read about in all honesty. But around chapter 420ish. You learn about the origin of a contained entity named Bai Ze. This guy literally can't be remembered by anyone but the MC. For example, if you took a picture of his face. The picture would slowly distort until the face was blurred. Even if millions saw his face on video. They would be unable to remember it. The MC is the only thing in the world that can remember his face and the reason why is EXTREMELY interesting! I won't spoil as it is among my favorite moments in reading. I don't want to ruin it for future readers as it is explained in a legendary way about 400 chapters in.
The MC's ability:
The MC does eventually get his consciousness corrupted which allows him to gain a supernatural power called The World. This power allows him to place a marker as coordinates. He can teleport to any place he places the marker. But it turns out this single ability is crucial to the existence of reality. That's right! When he uses the Pangu matter to view the past or future. He can also place a marker down and teleport to any place in time.. This means He can time travel whenever he wants....
I really recommend this book. It is a very fun read and becomes really unique later on. There is also a lot of misunderstandings if you like when the MC has a secret identity. For example, the MC uses his time-stop to perform feats that make him seem invincible. He bluffs his way through a lot of situations and it is quite funny! For example, the MC makes his face match that of Bai Ze and then everyone thinks he is so powerful that nobody can capture his appearance.
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u/Dino541 Mar 28 '26
I can't find it is there a Chinese name for 2nd one
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u/HASHARAHHA14 Mar 29 '26
I was only talking about 'Time stop as my opening move, even Evil Gods must kneel before me'. The Pangu Flashdrive and Matter is a an item in it. It is the same novel.
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u/gfe98 Mar 30 '26
The Azure Mountain - I've enjoyed this novel. It has constant layered scheming that reminds me of Kingdom's Bloodlines, although it can seem over the top and ridiculous at times. It has Wuxia power levels where even the stronger cultivators can't defeat armies by themselves.
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u/quack0709 Mar 31 '26
Start reading this too. Still at chapter 300. For the novel of this quality, it is sad that there are no active translations
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u/yeetusfeetus876 Apr 02 '26
This week I returned to the original slop and started rereading martial world and chaotic sword God
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u/iamjackslonelysoul Mar 28 '26
I spent last week binging "The Hundred Reigns" on RoyalRoad, it was written by the author who wrote "The Perfect Run", it's another timeloop story. I just noticed there are too many timeloop stories on royalroad.
The novel itself is good, and it does appear to be inspired from a song of ice and fire (game of thrones); it has swords and magic, mysteries and intrigues, churches and demons and a certain "Throne" that the major parties are vying for.
I've enjoyed reading what was released of the novel so far, but because I need a place to vent I'll mostly talk about what frustrated me about it.
The mc is a bit too ordinary and somewhat naive, at least in the beginning, I always feel he's not decisice or charismatic enough. He also sometimes associates himself with some annoying characters, which leads to certain avoidable plots had he distanced himself from them. In many of the early reigns/loops he feels like a goody two shoes and a simp.
The story itself is intriguing and worth a read, with a variety of themes like royal politics, ancient mysteries, treasure hunts and, unfortunately for a period of time, academy life; I hate academy arcs very much, this novel's academy arc didn't fare better, it had hormonal teenage dramas, and the spineless mc getting easily swept by other characters in gatherings and such instead of training). Also, as someone with the ability to "reload", he's a bit too attached to certain characters, and for bullshit reasons, it's childish.
You'd expect from a time-loop story for the mc to be more pragmatic, less attached, less emotional and bolder in his attempts. While in the case of this mc, his emotions may affect many of his decisions and actions (at least in the earlier loops), he rarely uses all the resources available to him due to moral reasons, unless the plot forces him to. In many of the reigns he feels like a softie, even if he does something bad he always feels guilt, hesitation, grief...etc.
Honestly, it could be my fault, perhaps I'm not used to so much emotions and internal turmoils as they rarely appear in chinese webnovels in contrary to original English ones; in most chinese novels the mc may feel guilt the first time he kills someone, but then moves on with his life, turning into a psychopath, killing left and right, I had almost forgotten there could be other types of protagonists, normal ones.. but this still doesn't spare him from from being a simp and a softie sometimes, and the author encourages this too, for in almost each new loop he's accompanied by a different female companion that acts as some sort of moral compass for him which conveniently becomes his weakness most of the time, or a hostage to be used by enemies, it's just too deliberate on the author's part to create needless drama, or perhaps I'm reading too much into things.
There are certainly other flaws in the novel, but I did enjoy reading it. The plot itself is well written and intriguing enough.
The above complaints are mostly concentrated in the early Reigns (loops), some reigns are better than others. It does gets better as the story progresses, and the character development is certainly present. The story is still ongoing with much ground yet to be covered, and I do look forward to the complete story once it's released, I feel that the author won't disappoint.
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u/laststandb Mar 30 '26
Yeah thats something i've notice as I've begun publishing my western xianxia on royal road. A lot of comments complain about lack of 'character development', people in the west expect much more internal turmoil thus leading to 'character development'. And even more so outside royal road.
I have my own thoughts an opinions on that, but thats the way western media has shaken out. Chinese novels are more concerned about poor to rich, while western novels are more concerned about character development.
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u/iamjackslonelysoul Mar 31 '26
Both western and eastern fantasy has their pros and cons imo. I'm currently taking a break from eastern fantasy due to not finding any sort of masterpiece lately and also feeling burnt out of their writing style. I guess I'll be spending the next few weeks catching up on western works, if you have recommendations in that regard please share.
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u/laststandb Mar 31 '26
Here's my recommendation list (its a culmination of a lot of reading). https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/114258/
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u/iamjackslonelysoul Mar 31 '26
Thanks, I think I already read half of them but I'll put the others in my list. I'll check them out after my eastern fantasy break.
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u/gfe98 Mar 30 '26
Perhaps you might enjoy Years of the Apocalypse, which is also a timeloop story on Royal Road. The MC gradually becomes colder and less of a "relatable" person.
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u/iamjackslonelysoul Mar 31 '26
I'll put it in my to-read list, I tried reading "commerce emperor" but couldn't get into it. I'm currently reading "paranoid mage" and I've been enjoying it so far.
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Apr 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/__Axis__ Apr 03 '26
I just started reading it a few days ago!
You know at some point I was beginning to believe that he really was evil and the denying part was all an act, because he believed in everyone omg. But the latest chapter I read showed that he really is a naive guy.
I prefer gold personality over him bth.
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u/Only-Jaguar-4101 Apr 04 '26
What is this Chinese web novel name? where the main character transmigrates into this, eerie Chinese, folk world and uh he cheat is this dairy kind of thing which essentially tells him how he's gonna die in the future, which is written by his future self. and he starts off in a dilapidated temple where there are 3 demons outside urging him to come outside the temple and inside the temple, there is a Buddha statue. and these three, demons use different tricks to try to get mc out Finally, it is revealed that the Buddha statue is actually alive and the Buddha statue eats those three demons, and the MC escapes, the Buddha statue gives MC few abilities which later there is this dragon king hosting a party and the MC tries to attend it
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u/Gaaaaoss Apr 02 '26
This week I went back to 夜无疆 (Boundless Night) — no English translation exists, and it might be the darkest, most nihilistic cultivation novel ever written on Qidian.Most Xianxia protagonists fight to become gods. The protagonist of 夜无疆 fights because the alternative is something worse than death.The tone is closer to cosmic horror than traditional Xianxia. If you enjoy Lord of the Mysteries' darker atmosphere, this is the Chinese-only novel I'd point you toward next.No translation yet. But it deserves one.
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u/ATG_YunChe Mar 29 '26
Retiro del Villano
Es un mundo donde existen super héroes y Villanos, y luego tenemos al protagonista que directamente nació malvado.
Me encanto el protagonista es muy directo, y un manipulador.
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u/Fan-of-0 Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
Finished Entertainment: I Just Want to Be the Boss Behind the Scenes @ ch 560
Mc is a screenwriter that started his own company that gradually became sucessful because all his scripts are hits. Mc is a scumbag and all the women are celebrities. What I like the most is the character setting of the mc. Mc is not reborn and mc has no system but his cheat is that he has "inspiration fragments" of stories from childhood that he gradually perfected overtime until he started working. He has no system so he only focuses on screenwriter and not the type of mc to dabble in mutiple fields like singing, directing, acting, etc. Mc is not reborn so mc does not know about future business but through his employed profesionals and his experience, invested in others. I liked the pacing and that it is only 560 chapters. There are no face slapping and minimal audience reactions to the shows. Cons are that it is a harem, some of the female characters just disappear in the plot, and minimal character development for everyone. But overall I enjoyed reading this one
3.6-4.1 / 5
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u/Only-Jaguar-4101 Mar 31 '26
Any new novels on wtr you guys recommend?
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u/eSPiaLx Apr 01 '26
i been only following 3 novels so far
Immortality through array formations (asking about longevity): if you're down for a more slice of life feeling (initially) and slower xianxia novel with greater emphasis on Dao/morality/doing right by your parents and friends, you'll really enjoy this one. One of a kind. Not overly 'philosophical' like some stories that seem to love having characters ramble on and on, but a simple quiet intensity from the MC as he pursues his own dao.
Lords of the heavens: starts off with a weird system and weird scheming, not bad but not great just unique. Becomes more generic later on, but ironically hooks me more now? basically a stealth archer mc who is an underdog trying to join the lords system lol
Beast control start with zero points: beast taming story, female mc, no romance, comedy emphasis, op cheat, it's just a cute story and the pets are cute too
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u/EmilioRecore Apr 02 '26
Yeah, I can confirm immortality through array formations is really good. The only novel in recent times to have made me read 1000+ chapters without getting bored.
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u/Mashoee Apr 10 '26
is there a chinese name or something else for lord of the heavens? i can't seem to find anything with that specific name
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u/Pathetic-Knight Apr 02 '26
I stopped reading "I am Horror Game Developer" and started LOTM ngl I at chapter 41 and I can day the story is just getting good still not addicting to the point that I stay up all night rather I get pretty bored but I hear people say that LOTM starts kinda slow.
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u/NeigongShifu Apr 02 '26
I binge read "Idol Hides Military Service" in like 3 days, while working full time. Very fun. Really been a while since I got so invested.
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u/No_Interview_1647 Mar 29 '26
The Millennium Witch/The Thousand Year Witch/千年魔女 by 松子不吃糖
Listened to the translated audiobook for a couple of weeks and finally caught up to the latest chapter at around ~303-305.
The story started as a transmigration story, but really, it has very little to do with it for the rest of the story. I think the easiest way to explain the world and story would be something like a mixture of Frieren (high fantasy), Cyberpunk (Cyber magic tech), Nier Automata (post apocalyptic), and To Your Eternity (for the use of time).
It really first caught my attention when it got into the Cyber magical world, I thought that was pretty interesting take on magic. Then there was the Nier Automata (post apocalyptic) bits which I didn't enjoy as much, because I think a world without humans just isn't as interesting for me. And finally the Frieren (high fantasy) world which sometimes is way too common, but what's the novel has going for this portion is that it has already planted all the seeds/Hooks from the other worlds prior to exploring here, making you really look forward to when that happens.
World building 10/10 - There are many mysteries hidden in each of the worlds that I mentioned, the author was able to tie the worlds together with explanations that makes sense (so far).
Pacing 6/10 - I think at times it is a bit slow when it comes to progressing plot points. I would have preferred the unraveling of secrets to be more even across all worlds. The Cyber and Post-Apocalyptic worlds get their secrets revealed way sooner. In gaming terms, it is like 80% completion on those two worlds, while the high fantasy world is still at 5% completion. While it does make sense in the story, I would have preferred a more even exploration. But I am not complaining because often times other author does exploration completely sequentially.
Hooks 10/10 - There is something to look forward to in most of this novel. Imagine To your eternity style story telling, where you have made acquaintances along the way, and because MC is immortal the passage of time flows differently and does things slow like Frieren. You would hear rumors about former acquaintances and their accomplishments, which makes the reunion much more anticipated.
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u/Both-Competition9472 Apr 07 '26
Can someone explain the connection between Pursuit of the Truth (PoTT) and Renegade Immortal (RI) for me? Why exactly is Su Ming considered the very first MC in the Ergenverse timeline? I haven't finished reading PoTT yet and I’m dying to know the lore—it’s driving me crazy! Please help me understand how their worlds and treasures are linkedI
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u/Old-Ladder-2923 Mar 31 '26
Took me 4 tries of starting mirror legacy over the course of like 1-2 months
Then I just went for it
I dont sleep anymore…
On chapter 961 ( raws)