GrandpaPeng

It's a good novel. Reminds me a bit of Immortality: My cultivation Has No Bottleneck, but this Grinding one is somewhat more realistic, the MC isn't as extreme in avoiding karma and conflicts and there seems to be more action.

It's one of these novels packed with action, where MC can barely find time for rest as he is almost always on the run & in high stress environment. Quite good in the first 27 chapters, but not sure how it will unfold later. As for the story, as far as I understand it's an apocalyptic/horror world setting in which humans survive in several isolated divine realms based on some entities. But these divine realms need power to operate, grow or shield its inhabitants from danger, and it just happens that the divine realm MC lives in is quite weak overall and starts to run out of power, then becomes a sieve penetrated by evil from main world and begins to fall apart.

Yeah, in the author notes, he wrote that a novel wasn't his plan when he first got encouraged to write a fragment or essay in some chat group. He also mentioned that later it was supposed to be a pet novel, with a system of teaching pets, but when he saw so many pet novels, he switched to something else. After the beginning chapters with focus on teaching, the usual sorcerer novel seems the main part, with the team of apprentices as an addition. I don't mind. The plot is in my opinion already gentler or less complicated than the older famous sorcerer novels, while fights and solving ,,bosses" are quickies, they flow more naturally. Just due to that, these opponents may feel somewhat weak or lackluster.

It's actually quite similar to the serious bloody sorcerer novels from the past, just that the MC isn't a lone wolf, but grows through cultivating apprentices. He can bind an apprentice to a slot permanently and once the apprentice learns something new e.g. a spell, he can obtain a modified, better version of it. If the apprentice is in proximity, both get a buff. Etc. And although he has few slots to assign apprentices, he doesn't only cultivate the apprentices in the slots and ignore others. His life goal is apparently to make the sorcerer world a better place, which also means a better place for these cannon fodder apprentices whose death he thinks is often meaningless, apprentices who are exploited, cheated, treated as toys by cruel, stronger wizards.

So this will be my next novel, I decided.

As of chapter 618, well, not really. They are pretty much in name only. First it was one monster girl plot-forced on him due to political reasons as a concubine, but she isn't really his concubine anymore, it was just a design on MC. Second, a young warlock's apprentice that was originally sent to observe and spy on him. He proposed her to join his forces, took her as concubine due to her status, it was convenient. She acts more like his right-hand as a dean of an academy of warlocks. There's nothing romantic going on between them, but she's still his concubine. Then there is one shy and weak princess, also plot-forced on him, she was finally saved and moved recently to his territory and they treat each other with cliche words of husband and wife. But that's pretty much it. In the arc she awakened her bloodline, there was a foreshadowing that people with this bloodline are all ambitious and that she might not remain so simple. Looking at the plot, she might become some new unstable factor for MC, like, she might be some ancient guy lurking, no idea as of now.

It's the newer book of the author of "I have a bunch of players on Earth". The author has skills and potential to write top novels, I had enjoyed his previous novel despite the unnecessary addition of "china number 1" and other flaws. "The Demonic World I Designed" also starts out well and goes strong for about 300 chapters. It feels rushed around Dragon Palace arc, but then it goes well again until like chapter 500 where we get reveals as to what the world is, who the MC is, the developers, players etc. We basically switch back to what the author likes the most - sci-fi stories, instead of the dynasty, medieval vibe from first 300 chapters. And then... the author inserts nationalism and stuff. I don't mind him gloryfing the place where he comes from, or his people, but hey, if he can write a good plot, why can't he write this part in a more reasonable way? Why does he insert such primitive characters who have no respect for other people and are full of themselves, why does he keep talking for chapters about how white people are stupid, short-sighted, vulgar, feel color supremacy, make conflicts etc.? This doesn't even make sense, he's either rac..ist himself or does it for social credit store, hence he doesn't bother writing it better. Because why would he raise this flag, and continue to insert this flag in plot to sabotage his own story, if in the setting he designed these "stupid" characters to be not even humans of body and flesh, but DATA uploaded to the CLOUD after catastrophe 40,000 years ago? Why so many DATA people, who are given chance to start fresh, and are like living dead - souls in non-human bodies - make their life choice based on color skin? Guys, if you died and were uploaded to the cloud and exist as AI, and then could reincarnate as a newborn and live from scratch in a horrific world filled with death and catastrophes, would you choose color skin and harsh conditions over prospects, welfare, resources, good family and stable environment? Of course no. This makes no sense. So for now I stop reading at chapter 618 "The name is unreadable", I give -2 stars for this. This low, primitive effort that he stuffs in every few chapters just kills the mood. A shame. A blonde girl gets a new chance to live. She gets one of the 500 very desired spots and can keep her whole memory. Author makes her choose white color in harsh conditions over good life that women enjoy, he makes her protest as if she was completely re*tarded, and then makes her show middle finger to an underworld city lord to get killed and have her soul imprisoned. Wt.f is this plot all of sudden? I can't, I just can't.

If he still writes with habits from his previous novel, then there probably isn't any or it's a pure, delicate and innocent type, one that you can get engrossed into. The author writes very lifelike characters, so pretty much any human interactions flow nicely under his pen.

A pretty interesting novel, it gives TLM vibes but is also different and has its own strengths. We get some foreshadowing throughout the novel for a huge plot twist around chapter 617 titled Deprivation. It becomes less gamey for both MC and the players.

It has more depth to it than legendary mechanic, as shown in chapter 616-618.