Hello, Author here, giving his book a biased review.
I'll say again, the book is slow at the start and takes time to tension build. And the side character outshines the main character in the beginning (trust me, I planned that), though the mc starts showing his colour after the first arc.
PS: the RPG elements do not appear until chapter 7 (and it's not a RPG element heavy book either.
Give it a try. Thank you.