The best novel that I read here by far and I would also say that it is even better than my favorite fantasy books. Before reading this story, Coiling Dragon was my favorite, but in comparison to WMW, CD pales in all aspects. While the character names are similar, the personalities are very different. While in CD the MC was a good and naive (I would say dumb) person with ridiculous luck, the MC in WMW is a cunning ruthless devil that doesn't afraid to make sacrifices for his progress.

Pros:

The... more>> story feels realistic. There are no absolute good characters here, nobody is afraid to kill for benefits. The side characters are flashed out and interesting. The author doesn't afraid to kill good side characters for progress of the story. My favorite thing in the series is the amount of smart characters befitting of their high positions and intricate schemes that the MC is involved in.

There is also no bullsh*t progression resets that plague many successful Chinese novels. While in other novels the MC tends to progress too quickly and by ch 200 he becomes a legendary strongest super practitioner. The desperate authors will then try to milk a dead cow by introducing another world where the legendary super black gold adamntium something MC actually has the bare minimum talent to be a janitor. The whole progress is again reset and again until the novel slowly dies out. In WMW the progression levels are constant and known from 1 to 9 where at 9 you become a god of the universe and there are no bullsh*t surprise introduction to levels above it.

Cons:

The MC is an evil character. I would even say VERY evil. Younger audiences would definitely be turned off by is. Another thing is the fact that the MC doesn't try at no point to use his memories from being a scientist in his previous world. The reincarnation thing is quickly forgot after 100 chapters and barely mentioned again. Another thing is the ridiculous AI chip that connected to MC's soul. It can scan his surrounding at a molecular level using what exactly? Seriously WTF? If it was explained that the MC has a personality disorder after reincarnation, I would buy it. But insisting on it being a real AI chip fused with his soul just makes it dumb.

TLDR:

Stop reading the reviews and go read the novel. <<less

I enjoyed this novel especially due to fact that the character is brutal, gets sh*t done, and is actually intelligent. A lot of the time I see some novels where there are Main Characters who are supposedly geniuses or highly intelligent and then they do the s*upidest things or are surprised that something super obvious happened especially when they create their own rivals and lets them go for no apparent reason, etc.

The story world is huge and I love how there's a nice amount of details when talking about character... more>> stats, not too little or a crazy amount. <<less

I am sure many have already said this but this story is a break from the idiotic tropes of a lucky pe*vert, it showcases the reality of the world and doesn't care about glorifying it. The ai chip is being berated by everyone is one of the most logical plot armor I have read in any novel, it grows how technology nowadays develop and I was so glad he didn't become a skirt chasing idiot but my most favorite thing about this novel is that instead of being petty he... more>> places benefit first it is good to see a mature MC and I would recommend it for everyone . PS, power through first44 chapter you will love the story <<less

This jazzi piece of art is very, very good.

Even if it has some plot holes somtimes and is very wieard and unexplanable it still very enjoyable.

Every one should read this sometime, at lesat 100 chapy bois.

Thanks!

I tried. It's an interesting premise of future scientist ending up in a world of magic. Translation is well done.

Unfortunately for me anyway, the main character soon turns out to be some kind of sociopath, owning s*aves, killing hundreds of people in human experiments, and not caring what happens to any of the characters he interacts with whatsoever. As nothing really matters to him but cultivation, it feels as if there's not even a semblance of conflict or drama. And as such, I couldn't really get invested.

MC is completely heartless, he treats everyone as objects to be used. There will be random phrases like "He will be more humble in the future" or "He is generous", they will then be contradicted only a few chapters later.

Author justifies MC's massacres by saying they were all for his benefit so MC doesn't just like wonton massacres.

I rate the novel a solid 5/5 for some of the first arc but as the story drag on, you can clearly see the author running out of ideas to write. It doesn't help that the more OP the character become, the more boring the fight get. We used to get fight that drag on for few chapter at a time and though some of the fight aren't always struggle for survival and most are just a one sided slaughter and it make sense in a way that why would... more>> you want every fight become a struggle for survival. We all want every fight is for the MC and the villain duke it out between each other, trading blow but realistic fight is always one side cornered the other. I would recommended reading up to before the last arc "World of Gods" cause the quality goes down after that. Fight become short and character started to become boring and phase out almost immediately. You can clearly see the author boredom while write the novel cause he seem to just want to rush to end it at soon as possible.

The fight near the end just boil down to who shine the brightest who has more fuel to duke it out. No finesse and little to no strategy. There are unresolved plot hole and unsolved story line left behind after the ending.

Spoiler

The author remembered the old character when MC goes back to the south continent to clean up his past. We got a closure for many old character who we stick with for around 500+ chapter but that goes out the window with the ending. So many question left unanswered. He basically left his family to go playing god and never look back. The guy got the balls to say "I will spend more time with you after I get what I want" and he forgot it after he got what we want. We never heard from his family ever again. I mean looking forward is a nice thing but that the point of getting stronger when you are the best in your galaxy. The MC can blow up planet by sneezing but yet he run around trying to get stronger and the end.

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Disappointing ending. Recommended to read everything until the last arc but in a sense, the quality of the novel been on a steady decline the closer you get till then so just drop at whatever point you desire. I understand that you would have a hard time writing fight for character that could blow up planet with a flick of a finger but at least try. The author just want to give up and write new story so he choose a lazy but kinda fitting ending for the MC in the end. <<less

Warning: In this review I try to explain the flavor of the story. There may be minor spoilers, but I stated everything as vaguely as possible. You should not be able to predict any specific events in this story based off of my review.

There are a lot of reviews up here, so I'll mention one or two things that I think are important, and then I'll mostly focus on stuff I haven't seen in the other reviews. If this is the first review you've read, I suggest looking at some... more>> other ones first. Other people are more organized and comprehensive.

• • The MC is absolutely, irredeemably evil: Everyone writes this and it should be obvious from the description, but it's astounding how many people give this story a one star because they find the MC's actions reprehensible. So let me reiterate:
    • • He r*pes, ens*aves, steals, lies, accepts bribes, tortures, instigates multiple genocides and back-stabs. Anything bad you can think of, he'll probably do it.
    • • If someone shows him kindness, he's the type that sneers at their naivete, uses them for all they're worth and stabs them in the back. He might even twist the knife.
    • • He's completely self centered. Nobody matters to him at all.

If you don't like stories with that kind of MC, then you will not enjoy this one. That said, the evil MC is not the only appeal of this story.

• • The world building is natural: Most wuxia/xianxias I've read follow a formulaic approach to world building. There's no creativity and little variety. Worst of all, a lot of constructs seem extremely forced (for example, splitting cultivators into different realms so that the MC can avoid making powerful enemies until they're ready). This story mostly avoids that.
    • • The leveling system is also well done. Every magus worth anything follows a unique path to power, and if you make the wrong choice at any point in your cultivation, it might become impossible to advance any further. This also makes the abilities of the other magi extremely diverse, which is fun to read.

• • The AI chip grows less important: For the first 150 chapters or so, all of the MC's successes can be attributed to the AI chip. Many people drop the story because of that. But it gets better! As the MC grows in strength, the AI chip slowly grows less relevant. Many of the best scenes in the story are all MC.

• • The narrator is basically the MC: Again, many reviews point out that the side characters are ephemeral. That's purposeful. The MC is extremely self-centered. His main concerns with other people boil down to what benefits he can get from them. The author is exactly the same. Other characters are around while they are important, and they are discarded afterward.
    Spoiler

    This can lead to some side arcs with extremely dissatisfying conclusions.

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• • This is almost rationalist fiction: If any of you are fans of rationalist fiction, this may be appealing to you (at least compared to anything else I've seen on novel updates (with a couple exceptions)). I said almost because MC is lucky, and a lot of things come easily to him. However, his luck mostly manifests in the form of opportunities. He still has to fight and outsmart everyone else to take advantage of those opportunities. While most of his opponents are easy, he will occasionally face an enemy who is much stronger than himself. When that happens, he always uses trump cards that we, as the audience, already knew about. And he does it in creative ways.

• • MC may seem emotionless: Again, the MC is completely self-centered. When you read his interpersonal interactions, he always comes off as apathetic. His romances are like business transactions. That's because he doesn't care about anyone else. He does care about the thrill of cultivation and the excitement of fighting everyone else for resources and coming out on top. That clearly comes through in the writing.

As for why it has five stars? I enjoyed the heck out of it and wasted days I could have spent productively on this story. That's enough to warrant 5 stars for me.

Hope this review helps! <<less

I have reading this novel for at least the time it began, the time when the traslators were releasing 3 chapters each day, was my favorite time, but I realize that was ending, I could say this novel has the best example of a ruthless MC, I love when our Linley always has his plots, plans... In the end, everything is in his hands. A good story, easy to understand (in my opinion), a good MC and what more? (is good, just read it)

Don't let some haters troll you about this novel.

It true that MC is ruteless and heartless. But these are already mention in early story, he will save who he can. He isn't a typical MC who those haters like.

He won't risk anything except for the thing that make he stronger. Because since the start of the story, it was mentioned that he will seek the peak of margus, not to be a hero or a family man.

What I want is, if you are the hater I mention, please just leave.... more>> Or just review without rating with your feeling. The writer did a good work, right? And the story is flow. So I don't appreciate the bias rating.

***I create this new id to repost this review. My old post is on page 11 and I think almost none of new readers will read reviews until that. <<less

Decent read, IF you into a VERY self-serving sociopathic Machiavellian main character. It's interesting to bring a scientific perspective into a fantasy world with the AI Chip and MC's scientific background (concept of radiation, etc). The plot twists and scheming get taken up a notch after chapter 300, but it's a long read to get there. Translation is good, translator does take liberties when compared to the original chinese content, but makes it better in most cases.
Plot does get tiring and one-dimensional, but at least there's no major flaw that makes it unreadable (no random pe*ophilia, etc like other Chinese novels).

On the major negatives:
(1) Combat system is poorly developed
- A lot of random skills/spells appear midway as plot armor without being introduced, you're just left to assume MC picked it up from the random assortment of treasures he accumulated.
- The concept of "degrees" of power and innate spells/resistances seem kinda odd and inconsistently applied. Many times low-degree spells can overpower another.
- No idea what the point of "agility" is. Never used in anything.
- Arcane energy points never adds up. MC spams a ton of spells and never tires. Why even have that stat?

(2) MC is an extreme sociopath and thus quite hard to relate to
- A lot of reviewers claim that MC is just purely logical/rational/reasonable/pragmatic/etc and a product of coming into a cruel fantasy world. There's a misunderstanding here. If you've read anything on psychology or just check the DSM-5, the MC was already an extreme sociopath before he transmigrated -- A sociopath is defined as a person with antisocial tendencies, lack of empathy, and pervasive disregard for the rights of others since an early age. MC already exhibited semi-evil scientist behavior in his original world. He just finally got the powers to act out on his sociopathic behavior in the new world.
Note that MC is not a psychopath seems he have a tiny bit of conscience.

- All potential love interests are deemed by the MC as being "too smart/scheming for their own good" and are thus just useful to satisfy temporary s*xual urges. Huh? So what's supposed to be a love-interest? It's still the same at 400 chapters (1/3 of the novel). So basically MC doesn't love anything or anybody, just the relentless pursuit to climb to the top. That's really bleak and boring.

- There are tons of other dark/cunning/Machiavellian fictional characters that appeal to people (most of the "Game of Thrones" characters, Frank Underwood "House of Cards", Tom Ripley "Talented Mr. Ripley", Artemis Entreri "Forgotten Realms"). MC is pretty subpar and mentally unhinged compared to them.

(3) MC seems very shortsighted
The one main inconsistency is the MC's extreme shortsightedness despite author's attempt to portray him as a clever schemer. MC will repeatedly claim he's not a bad guy and is willing to help others if it gains him benefits/doesn't cause him trouble. But there were obviously many situations were aiding others (or at least adopting a wait-and-see attitude) could bring much more long-term benefits. Just walking away or backstabbing everyone doesn't make any sense.

(4) All Magi are sociopaths
Every side character that MC meets (esp Magi) just HAS to be a hypocrite. Claiming that that's how all Magi behave is pretty lame. This makes ALL Magi one-dimensional characters as well, which is really really boring.

Ahem* I can agree wholeheartedly that this novel is not for everyone, it is however, a very refreshing novel if you have been feeling that, as of late, every Xianxia MC has very little originality (another novel with a quite interesting MC is AWE if you are not already reading that) now if you feel it's a bit hard to self insert into this cold MC, 2 things, go read my magical s*x adventure into another world where I get magic op item at the start with a side of... more>> grandpa cooldude, second, leylin has quite a few layers of depth to him as revealed in the story, so if you think he is a bit lacking, read a bit further.

I also understand that this novel isn't exempt from some of the criticisms similar novels share, E.G, op item in which the MC relies on to get crazy powerful, I can't really validate this one, the AI chip is a big point of criticism, which is fair, but hey, at least he doesn't have god tier talent like shmun scmee from ashments shma shmods over there, (i have some prejudice, moving on) lastly, my way of rating a novel is how much I enjoyed it, and I f**king love this novel, after reading a bit of the same so often it feels nice to take a breath of fresh air, but it's not just that, this novel can stand by itself without just the title of refreshing, with excellent writing it doesn't fall short just about anywhere., sidenote on the controversies around characters, yes some characters are underdeveloped, but that's mostly when they are unimportant to the story, unlike haerwho over there, this novel never forgets it's characters, even 500 chapters after being introduced and forgotten about, every character that isn't dead and was introduced, will likely return. That's why my final rating, is Pick it up unless you read for self insert!. <<less

I enjoyed this novel soo much to the point of enduring the pains of reading Machine Translation to satisfy my Thirst of Knowledge.

Respect our translators to keep translate this tr*sh novel (very very extremely junk) . This novel is beyond what I can describe (in a bad way). Overall story line is very bad. waste of time.

MC's life has three purposes: 1. increasing his power (like a mad man), 2. killing and destroying everyone or everything that he does not like, 3. interc**rse with women who will be left over and never mention again. MC is scientist... He just asks AI to do everything. Fortunately, this AI can do anything and everything...... more>> one-stop shop. You can not even call it AI. It IS GOD. If AI is this good, why it does not have a brain to take over MC's mind?

Do not recommend to read this novel. <<less

Seriously guys? No matter what you guys think of the personality of the MC as a cold hearted, ruthless etc. It doesn't change the fact the decisions he made really had logic behind them. Unlike some dumb morons who gets into conflicts just because the other party laid eyes on their girl, Laylin perhaps the most rationale MC I've seen till now and those that say he doesn't have ethics let me remind you that he decided to never submit to anyone not when the Light Magi and Dark Magi... more>> persued him or when the Ouroboros Clan wanted him to concede or when the Snake Dowager tried to suppress him. Although he opposed everyone that tried to suppress him he never acted out in hotbloodedness, openly spouting nonsense like "I will kill you" or "I will get revenge" or anything like that. It's true that he doesn't show any emotional attachment to other characters in a normal way but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any. Previously he made sure that his family on the archipelago can be revived again, even in World of god's he loved his family in his own way. It's just that the way he shows his love is different than normal MC that's all. Overall it's a nice novel to read for the fans of Dark fantasy.

Edit - 1200 chapters complete - end of the novel

Well, a great novel has ended. Although it entertained me throughout the 1200 chapters I somehow felt the story a bit rushed at the end. There were a lot of ways to further develop the characters like Rafniya or Isabella etc. But even with great introduction and meticulous development into the plot, in the end the author kinda ruined their presence.

Spoiler

Personally I hoped Rafniya would at least get a lot of attention from betraying the Justice God Tyr and the aftermath of that but unfortunately the author didn't write about it at all.

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Actually more like 4.5 star rather than 5. Having read a lot of novels and mangas I can understand that a lot of people give this title 1 or 2 stars but that's not objective and only their preference since what they want to read is a superhero OP MC that will ALWAYS DO GOOD THINGS even though that ISN'T GOING TO give them benefits.

All I can say is if you're looking for a novel with a very humane OP then this is the title you're looking for.

BUT if you're... more>> looking for a fantasy novel where doing good things will always benefit you then GTFO. Go read japanese novels with their godlike power where they can do things without worrying for the repercussions simply because they are GOD since chapter 1. <<less

First review in August 2017

It is not a habit of mine to write a review before reading the complete novel, but I got to make an exception here.

I have just finished reading the first major arc of the story, and I got to say I am a bit disappointed. The main character is partly the cause, I am not a fan of the high-functionning sociopath and utterly self-centered protagonist (especially one who goes out of its way to bring unnecessary cruelty), but the quality of the writing and the... more>> translation make it a relatively smooth read and do a fine job at expressing the very dark mood of this universe.

No, the main, big problem of this novel is that a good deal of its content (a big part of the background, the power progression system, the magic...) have been shamelessly taken from the novel "The Wizard World" (written and completed over a year before Warlock of the Magus World began). As I started my reading of this genre of "western magic" by this novel, it really leaves a sour taste in my mouth, especially since a number of character whom the protagonist of Warlock of the Magus World fights, beats and often humiliates have powers and abilities similar, if not identical, to the ones of the protagonist of the Wizard World. It's as if the writer was not satisfied by stealing the ideas of the original author and wished to ruin him through this novel.

As a result, I will put my reading of this novel on hiatus and resume it once I have finished the completely translated Wizard World. I will then write another review, but I can't give it a higher mark than 2.0 to this novel right now.

Second review, October 2021.

So yes, it took me over 4 year to come back and finish this novel and sadly all of my previous impressions were confirmed. True, the story (by this I mean the narration) is very good, not excellent, but perfectly shows how the main character succed through his intellect, prudence and preparation. Sadly pretty much everything else is a source of dislike for me.

Linley Farlier is confirmed to be a true sociopath whose relationships are based on usefulness and grudges. He will do close to anything to accomplish his goals, including multiple gratuitous genocides and toying without the lives of the few positive characters of the setting. Even his closest family, his wives and children will only recieve limited care. Also, beside the very few truly good characters of the story are always shown to be naive and survive only if they can shed this naivete and embrasse the utilitarian ruthlessness of the setting. Everyone else exists in shades of evilness and pragmatism and most of the good characters are shown to be hypocrites putting a nice front for the suckers (here "good" equals "s*upid"). And what puts me off the most in this tales, is that the author applies this law to the setting.

For, as I said above, the setting itself is not an original one. The well monikered "Plagiarist" takes some of his plot and about 80-90% of his settings from the work of other authors. And I don't mean only Get Lost's "The Wizard World", I also mean anime like Guyver and for the last third of the novel the Dungeons & Dragons setting "Forgotten Realms". In this last case, he does not even bother to change the names of the gods and the main characters of the world, but he gives them the "Plagiarist treatment", turning every good character like Elminster, the gods Tyr and Mystra into selfish hypocrites with a nice front. "Forgotten Realms" was a key part of my childhood and my introduction to fantasy and RPG, so this kind of attitude toward it really upsets me and even the quality of the storytelling could not take away this feeling of anger I had at the end of the story. For once, I was glad the ending was a bit rushed.

For the translation, the quality is good but not great, the OMA team doing a correct job, but with a number of typos and misuses of words, even in the last chapters.

So, if I considered only the quality of the plot, even with the remarkable but dislikable evil protagonist. That novel would be a 7, maybe a 8 out of 10 if it is your first Chinese wizard story. But the plagiarism and deformation of the settings (some of them I really like) is such that this novel is not worth more than a 3 for me (and I think for anyone who likes The Wizard World or Forgotten Realms, especially the latter). It is one of the very few novels who left me both angry and relieved (for it was over). I only finished it because I don't like to leave a novel half-read. If you want to read a good magic novel, read The Wizard World and if you want to read an excellent one, read Throne of Magical Arcana.

P.S: good job to team OAM for translating this novel. For the Plagiarist, you have all my scorn for trampling on my childhood and teenage fantasy memories, and I hope you stay away from others' settings and start writing your own. It will be a long time before I read another of your novels, if I ever do so. <<less

[Contains spoilers] It's like the author is playing with my soul and I don't like it...

This story is tough to rate objectively.. I really love it due to being different from most other Chinese novels. Similar as the attraction of Coiling Dragon had on me..

MC schemes, betraying, bullying, basically does everything so long as it's in his best interest. Wouldn't really call him rational, more like egocentric.

However, if you take a critical look at the story, it also has lots of flaws. Big issue is side characters, they pretty much mean nothing, nog developments etc. Actually Leylin himself also lacks emotional development, lots of... more>> stuff about being a scientist, rarional mage etc.. But its better to describe him and an egocentric, power mongering, scheming teenager who doesnt seem to grow up. The whole AI chip is an interesting feature but apart from the first few chapters it doesnt really add anything anymore. Just the forceful spam of wanting to see his stats each chapter again..

All in all I really enjoy reading this novel. Definately something interesting to read and due to the translations by OMA also of a really high quality. But just dont expect too much of the wroting. Plot twists en unexpected schemes plenty, but quite a lack on other parts of the story.. <<less

Not only is there 3 new chapters translated every day, it's also with impeccable quality. The best translators!

By far my favorite Light Novel. The protagonist is cold, calculating and utterly ruthless. Everything decision he makes is to benefit himself further down the line, although he doesn't mind taking the route of helping people if it costs him nothing (After all, people owing him favors could benefit him further down the line), he wouldn't skip a beat if sacrificing his companions benefits him.

He doesn't mind swallowing his pride and pretending to... more>> be a cripple if it is the most efficient and smartest way to achieve his goals, not one of the self righteous protagonists of most other reincarnation LN's, who's plot is only progressed by pissing off spoiled nobility of the previous rank +1 every time they arrive at a new location.

His "cheat" is an artificial intelligence that was integrated into his mind upon his reincarnation, using this extremely cheat like tool to his advantage, he quickly outperforms everyone around him.

The vast setting is amazing, a 12/10. Translation quality and speed, 11/10. Protagonist, 10/10. Overall score, 5.5 stars. <<less