The author is good at creating tense situations for the MC and cast, but there are some really annoying details that make it hard to read without feeling how ridiculous much of it is, in addition to how unlikable the MC is, quite frankly.
For one thing, the MC is ENORMOUSLY foolhardy (ie: dumb) and consequently he gets into such huge trouble that it is only through repeat deus (ex-machina) interventions that he survives even to adulthood.
The author also tries to falsely portray the MC as a genius, when in fact he only keeps winning due to being so lucky and so OP. Far from being a genius, the MC seems more like some poor autistic kid with limited social skills and shallow, thug-level political awareness and goals.
The imaginary combat arts are completely broken, since they increase in speed by orders of magnitude that constantly imply infinite speed in reaction from the protagonists, who somehow are hitting (and defending!) fairly early on with trillions of sword blows, with the imaginary arts frequently shifting from cosmic-scale annihilation back to human-scale kicks and punches (except that punch is a million, trillion times faster and power powerful than Mike Tyson's left hook - ORAAAAAA! Oh but the enemy had time to activate his magical defense so he took just 10% damage!!! OMG! The tension! What could be imagined next!?).
So the author makes up for his lack of many things by having constant advancement by the MC in his insane sequence of increasing to greater than a trillionxtrillionxtrillion times more than a human being could hope to do - this works out positively in that there is a constant feeling of advancement, even though in reality nothing has changed: the next enemies just all end up being in a one-order of magnitude increase in speed/power/defense so everything is essentially the same.
The problem though with this is that most of the items and people that the MC binds himself with (to form a big thuggish gang, nothing more) - these people and items end up losing ENORMOUSLY in value each time the MC powers up, since hardly any of them can keep up.
A greater problem though is that the MC is so soul-less. He has basically nothing in him other than training and fighting, but worse yet, he is also very callous. For example, once he reaches immortality, he stops caring for mortals and sees no problem with a system of constant artificial war to thin the masses.
So regular people living and dying miserably because they weren't born totally uber OP and lucky is of no concern to him, but his personal heartache is for reals, and his commitment to his gang-bros and hos is FOR REALS. Y'know what 'm sayin'?
Other than that, a very LONG part of the beginning is filled with insane punishment for a totally lame reason:
The ridiculously lucky and OP teenage MC gets dumped by some dumb broad and you would not believe all the SHIT that happens to that poor girl afterwards to make her learn how, really, she should NEVER have dumped the MC/author/reader!
First the MC's best friend uses his immense financial power to wreck the jerk's ENTIRE clan's income, which forces the clan into contraband, which once discovered is used by the vile kingdom to extort 90% of the clan's wealth (the result of millennia of their hard work robbing and extorting from others!)...
But that's not enough! Nuooooo. After all that, when the poor jerk and his dumb bimbo gf are finally celebrating their wedding, the MC's 'cool' and uber-noble buddies all show up to make fun of her right in her face (at her own wedding!), and to then bear witness to the freak attack that occurs and obliterates not only the jerk but also his jerk father - luckily though all this happens before the bimbo gf was set to spread her legs on wedding night, so she's still pure!
So of course, the MC later shows up in the nick of time to once more literally save his ex-gf's life from the JAWS OF DEATH, only this time around, he's so cool and blasé that he doesn't even bother talking to her as he just takes care of business and then leaves - dude has 'grown up' and has more important things to worry about than some has-been 'ho, y'know!?
LOL. That'll learn her.
Oh? Did I mention that her cattiness and lack of judgement for value was also immortalized in a sculpture that EVERYONE agrees is amongst the top works of art of all time, worth hundreds of millions and with huge crowds forming and waiting for hours for just a few minutes' experience of the amazing 'art' highlighting the little pouf MC's momentary heartbreak!
As you can imagine, being such a focus of attention is so bad that the ex-gf is now a marked woman that is no longer socially 'good enough' to be considered a 'first wife' by any leading man, unlike before...
FWIW, my main problem with all this is that this poor girl basically did nothing more than dump the freaking MC - but even if she had done far worse, the clearly better strategic choice is to just re-adjust your unrealistic expectations, then MOVE ON (emotionally) while also excluding her from serious consideration henceforth. Seeing the MC get so bent out of shape about his poor little failed 'first love' is pathetic, especially considering how vapid the girl is.
The lamest thing though is that the MC ultimately does not have any better morals than the jerk - his only advantage over him is social, in that he later gets far more power and wealth. So I guess the LN serves as a cautionary tale for social climbers: pick well and be prepared to suffer, 'cos the space is full of self-absorbed manginas that dream of nothing but to inflict the most intense suffering (ie: the dearest lessons) onto those they 'love'!
LOL.
(+1)
(-60)
