Its a generic regression manhwa. But so far the initial chapters were good.
Medieval fantasy with magic and fantasy races & monsters. Plot picks up immediately and pacing is fairly quick, due to that there's not much world building. I reckon author will touch on that later. Basically a revenge plot on the people who destroyed his family and righting his wrongs as he was a spoiled brat in his youth. So far no boring filler plots but its still early in. Main plot is engaging with a fluid narrative. A touch of comedy here and there, though i personally find it unnecessary.
The action & fights takes a third of the chapters and they're pretty solid. Art is to my taste.
Main character is likeable for now. A straight forward guy, with capacity to analyze, think and plan. He can be ruthless but also rational if he needs to be. Charismatic with promising leadership skills. Hopefully author keeps these traits and not turn him into a dumb brute or a cheat character carried by plot armor.
The secondary characters don't have much screentime so not much can be said about them, but so far his allies are pretty cool while the enemies fulfill their roles well as obstacles.
If there's a couple of negatives, its from the Novel
The author has a warped perception of time. Novel keeps saying that recovering the economy and rebuilding will take years but the plot moves within weeks or months. The fiefdom suddenly becomes fortified, stable and combat ready within weeks.
The plot heavily shifts to kingdom management as well as modernization and restructuring of the fiefdom. A good 70% of the novel to be exact. So this might not sit well with some readers.
I always welcome kingdom building and management plots as long as they're well written, with prior research and planning of the storyboard like the novel 'Release that Witch'. This novel though, is a mess. A lot of liberties were taken; because fantasy and magic. Processes and details were touched only at a superficial level. For example new modern tech just works with the excuse of magic. Implementation of political/national reforms or construction of infrastructure that takes only mere weeks with not much details on the process as well as on ground situation, moreover its an immediate success with no repercussions. Its all far fetched and too simplified. I get that it want's to follow in the footsteps of 'Release that Witch' but so far its just horrible execution. Author does not have the capability nor skill for this type of storytelling.
There's also the fact that the obstacles in kingdom management are so easily resolved and dumbed down. Not enough wood for houses, let's chop some of the neighbour's trees. Not enough money, let's secure that infinite runestone mine. Not enough leather, lets hunt monsters in the other kingdom. In reality resource procurement isn't that easy. You'd have to consider budgeting, sustainability, reliable & secure supply chain by diversifying the source, effects on supply and demand in the market, bureaucracy & geopolitics of kingdoms and merchants, the sheer scale of logistics required, production input/output efficiencies and many more factors. Its not as simple as depicted in the novel. Life is not like a game where you harvest 15 iron nodes for 30mins, store it in your bag and it basically provides enough ore for an army of thousands for 10 generations.
Also the over reliance on the main character to solve all problems. He is the strongest fighter, the top sciences, research & innovation expert, the most talented politician, the pro infra & city builder, the best strategist, the best leadership as a general, the... You get what i mean. What's the point of headhunting talented people when you're the one providing solutions and doing everything, being the SME(subject matter expert) of every field. The excuse of having knowledge of the future due to his regression gets abused to the point of absurdity.
There's also little to no cascading effect from altering the future. The protagonist takes full advantage of his knowledge of the future however it results in very little change in the timeline. All major and minor events proceed as per the future. There was no butterfly effect, minimal divergence from the timeline. Its stupid that an enemy gets countered by the MC due to his knowledge of the future but still chose to use the exact same strategies that got him countered. The writing is just atrocious.
Having said that, the chapters dedicated to the war were good. Personally i find the battles boring, its basically people shouting and screaming. Author isn't very good at translating a fight into words. Things like tactics, strategic & movement though were enjoyable.
Of note, i find it amusing that the writing has the style reminiscent of chinese writers, specifically wuxia and xianxia writers. Some may cite murim inspired but there's clear characteristical differences between Korean Murim and Chinese Wuxia/Xianxia. The humor feels like the 90s chinese sitcoms, the level up system has similarities to xiandao cultivation while the characters mirror that of xianxia/wuxia sects.
In all honesty, the novel does NOT instill confidence in the future of the manhwa adaptation. Purely because the novel is worse than mediocre, a 3/10. This is a cheap and poor quality knockoff of 'Release that Witch'.
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