A Monster Who Levels Up

Description

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This is a story of a man named Kim Sae-Jin, who one day, inexplicably wakes up as a Monster. Follow him and his perilous journey to get his life back as a Human, all the while growing even more versatile as a Monster in the process. This should be… complicated, somewhat.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Monster
Seviye Atlayabilen Canavar
레벨업하는 몬스터
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Seoul Station’s Necromancer (8)
The Second Coming of Gluttony (7)
Lv1 Skeleton (7)
Everyone Else is a Returnee (7)
Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society (5)
Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (WN) (4)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Novels I have read
  2. Not masterpieces, but enjoyable enough.
  3. Enjoyable read
  4. Favorite
  5. Best cultivation novels

Latest Release

Date Group Release
05/04/18 Novel Life c174 (end)
05/03/18 Novel Life c173
05/02/18 Novel Life c172
05/01/18 Novel Life c171
04/30/18 Novel Life c170
04/29/18 Novel Life c169
04/28/18 Novel Life c168
04/27/18 Novel Life c167
04/26/18 Novel Life c166
04/25/18 Novel Life c165
04/23/18 Novel Life c164
04/21/18 Novel Life c163
04/20/18 Novel Life c162
04/18/18 Novel Life c161
04/16/18 Novel Life c160
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173 Reviews sorted by


hk
hk rated it
August 26, 2019
Status: Completed
This is one of the novels I don't mind rereading. (3.8/5)
One of the things that I appreciated was the end tied up pretty well compared to lvl 1 skeleton which left a bitter taste in my mouth because of how convoluted it was.

Main character gets progressively stronger and progressively more OP. (Which I personally like)

One of the issues would be that some of the chapters are a bit tedious and it does not have that many memorable moments.
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Eriht
Eriht rated it
August 19, 2019
Status: c1
Protagonist was homeless for past 15 years. He lived on streets, all this years struggling to survive.

He got powers, yay! And yet first thing he do is save some random Adventurer, person who risked his life at his own violation. He is struggling to survive in society, desperately lack funds, but still mindlessly defend FeLlOw hUmaN.

Only one chapter was needed to display MC as mindless, naive, white knight. After all there will be countless people to save, most of them being peerless beauties.

That being said, world building don't make much... more>> sense. Like if humanity was really struggling against monsters, then most of humans would be incorporated into army and sent at front-line. Yet instead we have free Adventurers, sometimes killing monsters. Which show that monsters don't pose any threat to civilization, and most of Adventurers do it simply for fun. <<less
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Finore
Finore rated it
June 17, 2019
Status: Completed
I'd give it a 5, since it was good enough to push through all the chapters in three days, but there are a couple things that irritated me.

... more>>
Spoiler

A good portion of the chapters is spent with the girls going crazy over the MC. Especially the "love interest" which for a very long time, until the last 10 chapters or so played the overly attached, stalker, jealous girlfriend (apparently some people around here consider that love, whatever).

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The second thing that kind of blew the story for me...

Spoiler

... was the solution to the problems. Basically, he gets handed a diary that his future self provided, to use that to save the world. How does that even make sense?

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For those whining about the ending... drop dead. You gave me some negative expectations and it turned out pretty damn nice. <<less
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Weylin
Weylin
May 4, 2019
Status: Completed
It was acceptable as a fluff read. I feel like the ending was a little anticlimactic, and the harem tag isn't really right... he is only ever with one girl.

I think this story did okay. Not the greatest. But I finished it, usually if it's really not good, I'll just stop reading it. Or maybe it was good enough for the length it was. If it went longer I might have tapped out.

Overall, if you just want to pass some time, this story will do that. If you want something... more>> mindblowing, this will not do that.

Spoiler

the main character does get OP like others of this genre, but I like that he loses it in the end... though the execution is a little ahhh! to me.

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mitre27
mitre27
April 15, 2019
Status: --
Other reviews tell you all you need to know, one thing I have to say, to the idiots tagging this as an overpowered MC, you're wrong, the MC frequently struggles and gets hurt, that isn't an OP MC atall.
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SunderHero
SunderHero
February 14, 2019
Status: c93
It was a disappointment at this point of story, chapter 93 is where most of the readers will find it disappointing but still continues to read. Hah, the bratty girl is the most hated harem girl in my opinion but author just tend to put useless characters like them. Sigh. Hazel and Yu Rin would have bren better for the 1st, not that one.
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Mighty Action X
Mighty Action X rated it
January 31, 2019
Status: c174
It offered everything except an ending that didn't leave a bitter taste. It got into a good start, actions-actions-actions, and then glorifying the MC, and lastly, it was then the serious stuffs finally. Another I like about it is that he really had an actual girlfriend. He never remained dense until the very end and then ended with a harem. However, it ended with a very open-ended ending where his girlfriend is on the quest to bring him back to her life. The author could have at least ended the... more>> story with the two of them being together. <<less
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andreyjb15
andreyjb15 rated it
January 29, 2019
Status: c174
I don't know about others, but I really enjoyed this story.

It has a rarely good character development of the side characters. The story has a good development speed and good abilities. A romantically loyal MC, with some girls liking him on the side. His acquiring new abilities is really interesting too.

The last chapters, where the actor alternates between 1st and 3rd person perspectives also was a nice idea.

Not a real spoiler, just my pinion on the type of ending.
... more>>
Spoiler

I would say that ending was not what I would like, being a little open and all. Well, nothing compares to one's like EEIAReturnee, but it is still quite inspiring.

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Kylarin
Kylarin rated it
November 26, 2018
Status: c174
Sadly this novel suffers from what I would guess is the author not really knowing what to do with the story after the beginning bit. It simply meanders about with no interesting twists and turns, the romance isn't getting anywhere while new romance plots are tacked on that feel equally hollow and if you like the "powering-up" aspect where he unlocks better, cooler Monster forms along the way... well, that is also put to a screeching halt making any sort of real progress minmal at best.

It started out pretty great,... more>> but sadly the author was too inexperienced and may not have had a solid enough plan with what to do after getting the "easy" part out of the way. Compared to his next novel it's like night and day, so just take "A Monster who levels" up as the "growing pains" novel and drop it once you get bored. It's not super bad by any means, but there is a lot better out there. <<less
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Simple As It
Simple As It rated it
September 29, 2018
Status: c174
I would like to rate it 1* simply because the terrible ending, at first when I read the story, it was interesting, I had a high expectation about the ending but guess what? It was so terrible that made me feels like I'm wasting my time reading all of these chapters, I didn't expect happy ending or anything.

What I'm expecting is good story execution, so far when the story progressing was fine but the ending simply rubbish.
... more>>
Spoiler

The ending was MC got his memory wipe-out clean, not amnesia or anything, but simply gone forever. I might say the ending was neither happy ending nor bad ending, perhaps the author wanted to be sad ending but it was truly terrible execution, and made it like disappointing ending. MC struggle was paid with nothing.

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Not recommended unless you're bored and simply looking finished novel story. 3* because Translator effort for translating this piece of garbage. <<less
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Kergonan
Kergonan rated it
May 14, 2018
Status: c174
This novel has interesting premices, but it's delivery is ok at best, until the end.

The protagonist is good and has an origonal and interesting power, but it is undermined by a whimsical power progression only explained after the raises in strength occure. The rest of the cast is quite archetypal, although thankfully the author avoid the harem. The plot is skeletic a best, same goes with the world building, which serves to explain the plot while leaving a lot of questions open. It would make this novel a raw but... more>> good filler between two big novel, if not for the ending, which feels like crashing after a enjoyable roller coaster: rough and painful. The ending is awfully written, too open, gives the impression that the main character's progress, both in power and as a person, goes backward to the start of the book, and made me regret reading the novel.

So, while the translation is of great quality (A Passing Wanderer, the translator, even takes time to explain the korean puns of the author), A Monster Who Levels Up is a poor novel. You should only read it as a filler between two big novels, and even then, only after you read the "good filler". <<less
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faraonj
faraonj rated it
May 14, 2018
Status: c174
Future readers, be prepared.

This novel is interesting and goes just enough into fantasy that its fun to read. All the supernatural stuff doesn't get explained too much, but the plot is somewhat okay.

Story: 3/5 - Felt like it was just the progression of a regular dude that got an awesome power. It didn't feel like he had much of a personality and just went with the flow. That said, the background story was pretty good around the ending. Before that, it was just getting stronger and better in the modern/fantasy... more>> world.

Ending: 1/5 - The ending is total crap. I don't really like cliches, but its better than crap. I would have just preferred a "Happy after ever after comeback" instead of what this author wrote up. No offense.

There are other parameters to write about, but I think these two are the more important ones.

Overall, read this novel if you want to, but be prepared to feel like the ending of an anime and the despair of what to do now. <<less
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GrisiaSun
GrisiaSun rated it
May 12, 2018
Status: c174
Spoiler

Letme rant a little first since I'm writing this right after finishing the last quarter in one go...

Dammit! Despite the warnings in the reviews not to read the last 2 chapters I still did in order to respect the author on the story, there was still hope until the 2nd last chapter but it only got drained at the last chapter...

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Overall, with the main scoring on world building and action, I would rate this a 3.5, due to the skimming of details as well as the ending's direction. So much more could have been built on instead of torn down.

Just don't expect too much especially the epilogue (would have been a 4 if you excluded it) and you would find this an enjoyable read while you're waiting for your longer novel updates.

Expect a Larry Stu with a dark undertone if you focus on it because it you don't, the MC sure didn't:

For the sake of 'survival' and 'growing' his cheat, glossing over it and taking all the correct logical actions sure doesn't cover how a human would react with increasing pressures and revelations that seem so far out of his background shown (which is an orphan since 7, a civilian living in with less than prosperous conditions, a highschool dropout and sudden circumstances). I'm not judging but unless there's a hidden mental fortitude linked with life's wisdom in the background of the MC, sure that's- oh wait, plot armour and GPS-doh!

The translating group has also included several footnotes for cultural and language references/background to their best ability, puns not translating well are expected and they did try to find close English equivalents when possible.

Honestly speaking, character building isn't a strong point in this novel. Thoug, the interactions are enjoyable between the different love-interests and the upkeep of fighting descriptions despite frequency is appreciated.

Spoiler

Though there's no point in trying to develop some feelings when it's not even going to be used on paper.

I don't mind having open endings but this is an unresolved ending after the plot folded on itself! Even after building up a grand-ish universe, what's the point of throwing it all away?

Despite that, who did the MC end up with and what their possible future is like is completely unknown. No sense of direction is left after the 'great' showdown.

To those who are looking for a story with a satisfying conclusion of the MC and who/how his love-interest turns out at the end, CEASE AND DECIST BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! No where can you stop before the finale happens here.

Not to mention that the main FL had so little screen time compared to the others and character building that the reader would only sympathise with her because she had 'first' dibs on ML.

Sigh the ending just seem rushed and unfinished, just like what was mentioned in the author's note itself.

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Boredgasm
Boredgasm rated it
May 7, 2018
Status: Completed
First off, the story is not a harem despite the tag. The main character stays loyal to one chick. The first half of the story is pretty good, but the story steadily declines throughout the second half. From other comments, there are a lot of people complaining about the ending but it wasn’t that bad (it tidied things up and gave the story a resolution to say the least, although no harem ending). Four stars for the first half, two stars for the other half.
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AndrewReads
AndrewReads rated it
May 6, 2018
Status: c174
Story is good but ending could've been better.

The pace is pretty fast but at least it has long chapters.

Relationships in this novel is different from what I thought of. Yes, it is harem but not in the usual way. There's are three girls who's sexually attracted or interested in MC which is definition of harem.

Spoiler

He has relationship with one of them.

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shatandv
shatandv rated it
May 6, 2018
Status: c174
Even though you can say all that about the character becoming really OP and things getting repetitive, I feel that shows us the MCs development as he encounters some twists of fate and adapts to his new lifestyles, as all of us do (sure, he is a lot luckier in that sense). Loved the whole romantic thing too. Found myself being quite worried at some points, at some it was really heartwarming. Maybe it's me being overly romantic though, haha :)
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Krios
Krios rated it
May 6, 2018
Status: c174
Only reason im giving 2 star is because of early chapters, it was a great novel at start with great character development, you can feel everything MC has gone through from the first chapter clearly and how he changed, but last 10-15 chapter, especially the ending literally f*cked it up. Author clearly didnt even try to think about ending and just gone easy with it.

Its a good story, you can read it but be prepared to get dissapointed at ending, its the whole reason im cutting the 3 star.
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JapaneseFandom
JapaneseFandom
May 5, 2018
Status: Completed
Alright I'll just ramble about why this series deserves this rating. I though of giving this a solid 1/5 but taking into consideration the early chapters I decided to shoot up the rating. The first 60-70 chapters were really intriguing, the story kind of drew me in. Character development was actually a thing that existed, good fighting scenes were MC wasn't as victorious and also had difficulty beating his enemies and such, it really grabbed my interest, but then came the next part of the novel.

After these 70 or so... more>> chapters the novel becomes something like MC introducing something new --> shocking the world --> harem starts growing more affection towards him, or just replace the introducing new thing part with the repetitive fighting which doesn't contain any ounce of excitement, since we all know he'll win the fight. Then we have these repetitive "tadaima-okaeri" scenarios that happen in the later stages of the story (google the term not gonna bother writing the meaning) and annoying moments were MC tries to ignore other harem members feelings and such, hell there was basically no character development at this point only harem trying to grab the MCs d*ck, we didn't even get any decent back story time for them, they just exist to raise the esteem of the MC in some way.

Now towards the end it gets even worse, story devolves into a big pile of bullsh*t and rubbish and author trying to find a an excuse to add those things in there, and the last 5-2 chapters were so unbearable I wanted to close the tab but refrained from doing so to see how this will end, and I was disappointed.

I think I'd recommend anyone reading it but they should just know what they expect in the latter stages won't happen at all. (Props to the translation team for working on this, joined in at around chapter 50 and been a devoted reader to every release, would like to also apologize for reading the last 2 chapters on another website because chapters 173-174 didn't work on the official site when I was reading) <<less
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Taidakitsune
Taidakitsune rated it
May 5, 2018
Status: c174
So why a rating of 2/5.

The positive part, for me, in the novel is the evolution of the main character (from beginning to middle of the novel). The way his different monster forms evolves is interesting, the different abilities he gain from those forms make sense. But this is where the praise end.

The main bad part is most of his interaction as a human when he gains the ability to have a long time as a human. He stays secretive about his power for way too long which make his... more>> relationship with other awkward most of the time, the author puts a setting for harem, but chose one of the candidate very early which cause even more awkward and annoying to read/bear situation with the other girl and for the rest of the world, it's "hey, a mysterious guy can do crazy thing" then "oh, it's that guy (protagonist) again".

Another point that annoys me a lot is the way of thinking of the protagonist of the protagonist/author about other country, which can be resumed by "Korea is best, the rest of the world suck" kind of mentality, which is reminded to you several times during the novel.

Lastly, the ending, clearly rushed as one of the announced monster form was never used
Spoiler

Fenrir

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and as some comment says it would have been the same ending if it was "He woke up and realise it was a dream all along".

Conclusion : It had a lot of potential at the beginning but ended as a bad one. <<less
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Reaper
Reaper rated it
May 4, 2018
Status: c174
A fairly decent read and first novel from this author, but in truth a fairly constant tease with no payoff. I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend you to read it as well, for it presents a character who has the ability to shapeshift into different monsters in his pursuit to help people, as well as bit of a story about an orphan come world celebrity in his tale of philanthropy, sacrifice, and self-indulgence. However, much of the ideas presented are left unexplored or abandoned, like certain monster... more>> forms or plot points. The ending, too, was thoroughly unsatisfying. <<less
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