I started reading this like 4-5 years ago. Lots of issues with the translation progress. It was a reasonably good read for its time before the onslaught of fantasy cliches.
Overall the story is pretty much generic. So the general idea of the world in this LN is humans living on floating continents protected by a barrier erected by the Tenketsu Palace. They are under threat by monsters that possess Mateki which is deadly to humans. All humans possess Shinryoku which protects against Mateki and helps purify it. Priestess who have superior Shinryoku maintain the barrier and due to their importance, assigned elite guards called Guardians.
Our MC, Sheltis, with a dark past was expelled prior to the novel after falling off the continent and having his Shinryoku replaced with Mateki, he was a Guardian candidate then. Due to certain circumstances at start of the novel, he re-enlisted into the Tenketsu Palace to climb his way up the ranks to fullfill the promise with his childhood friend to become her Guardian. Sheltis groups up with a bunch of misfits to complete missions and rank up. They form a close bond later on and strive to improve tremendously. He also reunites with his old friends one of whom was his partner during his first enlistment and now a Guardian. He also gets acquainted with other Priestess and Guardians who knows his secret(Mateki human and ex-guardian candidate). Occasionally he gets pulled into covert missions with other Guardians due to his history/experience. Along the way he discovers the existence of shady organization, fought with powerful enemies, got acquainted with gov combat elites, learn more about the relationship between Shinryoku & Mateki and also himself etc. The plot progression is just nice, with a little surprise here and there. Though there is a lot of things not revealed/explained yet even at the half way mark.
So Sheltis, being an Guardian ex-candidate is a pretty exceptional, strong duel wield sword fighter. Guardians are thought to be the pinnacle after all. That being said, the story always ends up introducing stronger opponents so yea, he still has to climb that stairs. He is special though cos unlike all humans he fights with Mateki, it gives him an offensive edge but without Shinryoku, he is a glass cannon. As you expect, he is the cliche hero. He is the good guy and wants to save the many without sacrifice bla bla. He kinda has a harem but only sees 1 girl.
His team are all amusing people with some form of social disorder & a past they can't move on from that isolates them. The other Priestess/Guardians all support him 100%(eventhough the higher ups despise him) since of course they know his history and true strength. All in all, there is quite some focus on character development of the side characters over the course of several volumes.
The battles aren't draggy and flashy. I personally am comfortable with it, its not bad but not overdone though most of the time it ends up being the "decisive slash" shounen cliche.
If you're into shounen mainstream then its a good LN to pick up. if your're looking for something unique and new then might not be up your alley.
(-24)
