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


Seikatsu
Seikatsu rated it
February 27, 2018
Status: c47
While I agree that the concept of the novel is rather good I cannot by any means recommend this novel for anyone looking to read a story with depth. The Main character seems to be a complete idiot who is constantly doing things that just make no sense at all. Despite being a monster who is supposed to be leveling up it seems that he spends his time trying to do the exact opposite which is be a human and become famous and popular. It seems as if he has... more>> some Superiority complex and just has to have attention given to him by society which I feel goes against the whole point of the novel because he would rather look for methods to gain profit and benefits from being a human. The main character conveniently gains new abilities in times of need whether they make sense of not and everyone just goes along with it. He needlessly keeps secrets from the very people he is supposedly close to and it seems that the author himself has forgotten to connect the plot? No explanations for anything and overall just a bunch of contradictions. <<less
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JackStone
JackStone
January 16, 2018
Status: c59
Honestly, I really like plot idea of this novel.

So basically, a guy suddenly turns to a monster capable of evolving into other monsters... That basically sums it all up, and I like it.

But there's also a lot of problems I found about it.

First, it's the constant pedestal placing of the MC; He always ends up getting huge amounts attention and not cause of infamy. It's like every problem that occurs with the public is only made for the MC to be placed in a pedestal... They're not even problems... They're... more>> just fodder.

Second, focuses too much on romanticizing this novel; for example, He always turns to a specific monster that saves people and he never does anything bad intentionally.
Spoiler

first it happened with his wolf form, next it happened with his baby Leviathan form, then it happened with it's orc form.

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it got really repetitive and annoying.

Third, shallow characters; the side-characters here are too two dimensional. They don't have a unique personality, their personality keeps on changing. There's no growth at all regarding character development.

Fourth, boring MC... He barely has a fun side to him... I don't like it.

I thought this would be a good novel, sadly, I was disappointed. <<less
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Isaic
Isaic rated it
December 23, 2017
Status: c76
Decent time killer.

This is a slice-of-life/bland-harem story about a weak/poor guy who awakens an ability that forces him to become a monster the majority of the time.

It starts out pretty solid, the guy who wants an ordinary life is forced to run away from society and live in monster infested woods, fighting to survive. From that you have an interesting few chapters about him overcoming his bland society molded character to become able to fight monsters and level up. He does this while maintaining his morals of not needlessly killing... more>> humans. (Which is actually "do not kill humans under ANY circumstances) I feel he is hypocritical but still pretty solid. Not bad.

From there on it goes down hill. Fast.

The MC starts getting abilities then immediately after runs into a situation where he would have died/something terrible would happen if he didn't have the recently acquired ability. E.g. He gets a power-up ability (doubles strength or something similar) then on his way back to his cave, runs into an arrogant rich, flawless beauty/harem candidate (obviously) then immediately runs into an ogre. Which was very recently stated that he can't beat the ogre. The arrogant beauty refuses to run away and so the MC stays nearby saying he was just going to watch and help if he wouldn't be in any danger, of course the girl is about to die so he jumps DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF OGRE'S CLUB! Wth? But since he just got a new ability he can handle it.

That plot armor repeats continuously.

After that it turns into him having OP crafting skills and getting rich while "kind of" trying to turn into a human. I say kind of because even when he knows how to complete his initial goal he keeps delaying it for random reasons. The author pretty obviously just made him too strong to fast and had to make up reasons to slow his growth.

It continues as a slice-of-life up to where I read.

So if you have nothing else to do and insist on reading a LN, then you can blow 6-8 hours reading this without feeling too much loss. <<less
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Reindeer
Reindeer rated it
November 10, 2017
Status: c47
Ch 47

Coming in to this, I really didn't know what I was actually expecting. Maybe a Re:Monster and Dungeon Master mashup? Maybe another isekai novel? Regardless, I was quite satisfied with what I got.

I was quite skeptical reading the earlier parts of the novel because the author doesn't seem to like explaining things.

... more>>
Spoiler

At first, I thought it was going to be a mutant human in a modern setting with numerous hidden experts living in the modern world. And then monsters suddenly got introduced, so I guess it turned into a modern fantasy world kind of setting? And then there are actually elves and such living within the society too? And then we have knights and hunters too. I kinda already figured out what the setting was at that point, but I wish the author could've presented it a bit better or something.

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The pacing was really weird too. It was like the author wanted to get to the good stuff right away and expected the readers to be familiar with this genre's tropes so skipped those parts out. It didn't bother me too much, but some people might find it bothersome.

It's another story that is highly dependent on coincidences and overall plot convenience. Normally speaking, I should hate this and all, but I can let this one off since the payoff is worth it. Plus it's not as obliviously annoying as Avalon of Five Elements. It's something that might trip some people off, but no big deal.

Apart from that and some other issues, it's actually quite an enjoyable read. The shortcomings are not big enough and the enjoyment is great. It has glaring plot holes tbh, but not big enough to hinder the experience.

Overall, I would give this a Would follow everyday for now/10. That's a really high rating, since I'm only following AWE rn. Here's to a bright future, *Cheers!*

Chapter 59

It hasn't really taken for the worst, but it's flaws have showed up more apparently. MC's interaction with the golden spoon love interest is starting to get annoying, the crowd, especially the media, is starting to get annoying, his "Oh no I'm a monster" that hasn't really been written too well is starting to get annoying, the lack of world building is starting to get annoying, having knights take selfies like modern youths irl hahaha so funny is starting to get annoying, and other stuff are starting to get annoying. Author is also trying his best to build up that one super strong knight love interest who likes the MC but I don't really care about her. All I ever read in a chapter is how the media thinks how cool the MC is. The scientists don't exist in this world because no one knows sh*t about monsters. Plot is going somewhere, but it's not really written in a way that would've intrigued me. Welp, it's only been 12 chapters but my opinion really changed a lot. I guess it's the difference of binge reading and reading the chapters individually. If you're interested in the novel, it should be good to binge it.

Since I probably won't read the chapter where golden spoon harem member shows off her driving skills and then proceed to crowd reaction to how perfect the couple, I've just about dropped the novel by now. It had its good moments, but I just can't really handle it anymore. <<less
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Soneka
Soneka rated it
October 15, 2017
Status: c24
After reading two dozens of chapters I thought this novel might really suck if it dragged for too long, but since it's only 175 chapters then it might be an okay read.

The idea that the MC is able to change into 3 different races+human but can't remain as human for long was interesting to me, I thought a lot could be done with that, but after some chapters I got disappointed, this novel ended up being about Gary Stu (male version of Mary Sue)...

He is regarded as a genius in... more>> both crafting fields available, he is strong, handsome and even smells great without doing anything.

So far, the characters that are given a bit of time under the spotlight are all women and all three of them have some interest on the MC. So far I don't have any attachment to any of them, they don't have much depth, and the interactions with the MC are so-so.

The MC himself doesn't have much depth, he has a background, a problematic childhood, but I can't relate to him and his suffering isn't touching or anything.

Besides all that I think one of this story's problems is the lack of tension, there isn't really a moment that makes you sit on the edge of your chair, everything goes on smoothly.

I know I'm practically in the beginning of the novel but I'm pretty sure that I won't be much impressed with the rest of it.

I don't think it will be a terrible read, for those that likes game elements and OP MCs that are always making other characters go "Ohh!" with their "awesomeness" this story is fine. But for those looking for something with more substance, a good plot, character development and etc, this novel might be a no-no. <<less
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ChocoG
ChocoG rated it
October 11, 2017
Status: --
Everyone in this world has a "trait" you can think of it as a unique skill, it hasn't been elaborated on too much so you can think of them as fingerprints, no 2 are alike. Traits are only unlocked randomly for some people only and the MC unlocks his which turns him into 3 monsters which he can switch to and from pretty freely, except, he can only stay as a human for a limited amount of time. This is a fun read and I recommend giving it a try... more>> if you like the fantasy RPG genre and Korean names. <<less
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ReadsWebNovels
ReadsWebNovels rated it
September 16, 2017
Status: Completed
Dissatisfying, lazy ending to an otherwise 4 to 5 star webnovel.

The powers and world are largely unique. Boring fights are skipped, and the story is event focused instead.

The character becomes op in the typical korean fashion and is worshipped as basicly the second coming of christ in the typical korean fashion, but that's expected of most korean fantasy novels. Thankfully, it doesn't detract from the novel.

However, the ending is a cop out in every meaning of the word and fails to address any of the mounting complications for what happens... more>> after the final fight.

Spoiler

They take the MCs memory and powers. Then they have his female companions discover him without revealing his identity to him before leaving him in some harem/stalker limbo where the decide to compete to seduce him.

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koyumi
koyumi rated it
January 27, 2021
Status: all
Well this novel was one of the first ones that I had read, I started reading it in my native language brazilian portuguese, but at the time there only seven chapters translated so because of the hype I started reading in english for the first time, so writing this review is bringing back some memories.

... more>>
Spoiler

The reason I was so hyped was that this was the first novel where the protagonist is a monster, the skill at first moment is tr*sh, literally forces him to live like a monster till he can transform in a human for more time and the heaviest reason, because this was the only and keeps being the first and only novel where the MC is a werewolf. Well those were the first "pros" that came to mind when I thought about this novel so what about the "cons"? The end.

I'm telling you what happens in the end, you better read it, cause I wold had liked to know before reading. The author resorts to a time loop in the end, but that wasn't what made me pissed, the bad part was that he lost his memories because of time travel. Shit, can you imagine it? Watching the relationship of the MC with his lover and friends being buit up just to be washed away with a time loop that does't even make sense.

"Well okay, you're pissed off but what happens after he lose his memories" you might say. His companions and lover who were seaching him find a guy with appearance alike, which is him after losing the skill. "Okay and what nest?" Nothing, thats the novels end. Author if you're reading this review, which I spent thirty minutes writing, have a good day and a good life. (I was almost swearing, but didn't)

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MagicalDuelist
MagicalDuelist rated it
December 11, 2020
Status: Completed
f*ck the ending, aside from that and the occasional SIMP moments, I enjoyed reading it a lot.

Just skip that last 3 chapters and you will be happy, read it and you will hate it.

... more>>
Spoiler

Why the f*ck would you reward you MC for suffering loneliness for hundreds of years just to safe his friends and family by taking away ALL HIS f*ckING MEMORIES!?? f*cking hell, the taking of power was annoying but I can understand the will not wanting to have powered individuals roaming around. But the excuse that "he suffered too much, make him forget" is so dumb that I get angry just thinking of it. Like for f*cks sake, why not just delete the memories after he went back in time?Let me stop thinking of it as I rather not stay angry

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Spoiler

Next up is the impossible paradox, for him to get the laviathan (has been sometime since I read it) he needed the Laviathans scale, but... HE IS the Laviathan that the scale was from, so here comes the question, which came first, the chicken or the egg? So he needs his own scale to give him future (past?) self the power of Laviathan who in turns goes back and does that, so here is the question that makes 0 sense, HOW and WHO gave the first scale?

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But I just shut my brain off at that point. Also thank god it does not become a harem. <<less
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NoTimeToRead
NoTimeToRead rated it
September 6, 2020
Status: Completed
To anyone reading this review and about to read, I'm Telling you stay away, the start has a lot of potential but the author messed up big time.

The author Make the MC Jerk on purpose, he keep collecting Woman but the author keep telling us reader that he only love one woman. This is not a harem novel but a fake one so the reader keep reading it.

... more>>
Spoiler

Woman 1: The First woman he met and the MC admired her, is kind of celebrity has a great family background He save him, he see's her almost dying When the MC in goblin Form has a good personality not looking down to people lower status than her also fall in love with the MC Orc Form. In my opinion, I approved her as main heroin But the author doesn't make it like that. She keep chasing the orc even the other telling her that they are not gonna happen which is literally didnt happen. And you know what the MC do He already have a girlfriend and do keep a distant to the other woman at first but the author keep giving a f*cking event so that the reader expecting at some point that there will be a chance.

Woman 2: the f*cking main heroine which is much younger than the MC and a fvcking annoying character who does not do anything in the entire novel her fvcking role is to become meat hole to the MC. The first time they meet she look's down to MC because she has a influencial family so she think other inferior than the other. What happen next is boom the MC save her She fall in love keep searching him when she find him all she does is seduced MC by giving her v**ginity So that she keep her by herself does nothing in the entire novel there's nothing even romantic about there relationship all I can say is there relationship is force because of the MC libido acting up get s*x with her and the MC force to take responsibility by accepting her as a girlfriend and a f*cking twist create by the author is the reason her family became influencial and become strong is because of the MC itself Giving her granpa a gold. I say all other girl is much more fitting to become heroine.

Woman 3 The dark elf he met to sell a potion that he create to make money and the author emphasized that the if the elf fall in love it will last until they die of some sort and the elf itself told it to the MC so he keep a distant because he already have a girlfriend but no the MC keep seduce her so that she will deeply in love with him what a jerk.

at the last arc he met a vampire lord they have a ambigous relationship which author does it intentionally they have some romantic scene biting each other in bed. There's a lot of beauty but I'm not gonna tell it you already know what happen.

Please if you ever started reading it I suggest that you don't read the last two chapter which is destroy the entire novel I'm gonna approve the previous review. And lastly this is a Open ending he does not end up with anyone instead add another woman lmao.

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Gsichtselfmeter
Gsichtselfmeter rated it
January 10, 2019
Status: c172
The story starts great, as most korean novels do, the MC is motivated, uses his unique skill set to overcome all difficulties and manages to establish himself as a global player. That happens in a reasonable pace in the first ~100 chapters. Afterwards however the MC loses his focus and pace and is all over the place - even the author himself acknowledges that! There is no clear "win-con", the love interests are a mess, the global threats devolve to another unnecessary feature that wastes 3-4 chapters and even the... more>> MCs skill set doesnt feel as if it fits the story anymore. The author just loses track of his changes, forgets features and is all over the place. Around chapter 150 I didnt care anymore and skipped directly to the end, knowing that I would not be missing anything important - a very poor experience. <<less
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Angle
Angle rated it
November 11, 2018
Status: Completed
So,

sigh

I've finished this novel.
... more>>
Spoiler

The beginning was great, but the longer it went on, the sloppier it got, and the worse it got.

This review will not contain spoilers.

This is a standard story to OP'ness, but he successfully kept the protagonist powerful, but still in successfully kept a semblance of tension up.
The characters were likable and interesting besides the actual character he ended up with.

Although I wouldn't consider them unique, I would consider them better than most.

The ending was horrible. I legitimately wish that the novel ended without the ending. It would actually make for a better ending that way.

The story is full of plot holes. And plenty of motifs which are used throughout the story are merely dropped or ignored.
And many scenes which I would have loved to see were skipped.

In all honesty, I can't say this story is worth reading.

I legitimately recommend you stop reading at around chapter 140.
Or at the very least, not read the last 2 chapters.
The beginning was a 4, the midsection is a 3, and the end was a 1.

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Verycoolname
Verycoolname rated it
October 6, 2018
Status: c174
I loved this story for most of it, then it s**ked. The problem is a lot of the bits that made it cool become less relevant or disappear entirely as the story goes on. The step by step growth on the path to OPness starts out interesting and cathartic, but ends up as a crutch and turns into the uninteresting king of OP growth. Interesting plot threads tend to be set aside or awkwardly resolved so the 'story' can keep going.

Then there's the ending.

It's anticlimactic, feels unfair, and is generally... more>> a betrayal to the characters and the reader. It feels like the author just stopped caring and didn't want to bother writing a proper ending.

I loved this story so much, which is why I feel betrayed by how lackluster the later parts of the book are and how s*upid the ending is. <<less
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d0ngv0d0i
d0ngv0d0i
June 4, 2018
Status: Completed
Pretty disappointed like the rest of readers finished this novel out there. I guess the biggest disappointing thing is the thought that the author is too lazy and bored with this novel of his so ended up creating the last epic fight and the sacrifice of memory seem nothing but a wasted-elementary-student-art and a meaningless yet convenient sacrifice leaving nothing but disappointments : (
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Crimefridge
Crimefridge rated it
May 27, 2018
Status: c175
What everyone is saying about the ending is true. The genre throughout the entire story is "OP wish fulfillment", but the ending feels rushed, tr*shy, and the wrong type of ending.

The novel goes downhill from the beginning, where the OP struggles the most and you empathize with him having to keep his power hidden with his limited "human time". I'd have rather had an entire novel dedicated to his early moments as an adventurer dealing with his time limit and scraping his way up than this awful disappointing "bad end... more>> with hope" ending. 3-Star might be generous. Might be a 2. <<less
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sesamechikn
sesamechikn rated it
May 4, 2018
Status: c174
Honestly I felt that it started as a good novel but slowly tapered into one of the most disappointing endings. The initial premise of the main character grinding and leveling up into various monsters intrigued me very much. Then he got involved with a whole bunch of honestly unnecessary characters. The novel became less of him and more of his interactions with others which would be ok if done correctly. However, the author completely ruins any intriguing characters especially the women. They all seemingly go from strong independent characters to... more>> wimps that can't do anything without either the approval or blessing of the MC. Also the romance in this novel is complete dog poop. As stated previously, although very weak there was a decent romance initially but then gets completely uninteresting and almost "filler-ish"and finally the author says screw this and just blows it all up.

On the quality of the translation, I have to say that it is very good. They spent a lot of time on the translation and it shows. This is why I give the novel 3 stars instead of 2. I just want to say thanks to the translation team.

Ultimately, the story starts out good and really draws you in, but shortly thereafter devolves into a convoluted stale mess that ultimately leads to a very lackluster and dull ending. I respect the views of those who disagree, but I can't stress how disappointed I was in the ending. It seemed rushed and completely disjointed.

Anyways once again I want to thank the translators for their high quality work and look forward to their other translation projects. <<less
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fortunefish
fortunefish rated it
February 26, 2018
Status: c109
I really enjoyed this novel until recently as the author has incorporated romance more and more into the novel. Don't get me wrong I like romance, but this really does not make you feel good at all. Without revealing too much, the MC is just a complete and utter a** most of the time, and every heroine is obsessed with him to an unhealthy extent. It's a pretty perfect representation of terrible/abusive relationships. The MC also goes the extra mile to be terrible due to his secrets. This will come... more>> in both the form of there being no reason for a secret to exist in the first place, and the MC doing an absurd action due to a secret. It really comes across as non-sensical actions done only to create drama. As someone who is in really into worlds and characters making sense/continuity, this is god awful to me.

Spoiler

The straw that broke it for me is when the MC in his orc form beat the crud out of and coldly said, "leave and never come back or we will kill you because I'm bored of you" to a heroine who had fallen in love with his orc form. He did this for the reason that he knew she was being targeted and thought that her coming to duel with his orc form was too predictable of an action. So dumb! Why not just say she's being targeted? The author has clearly shown the precident that as an orc he doesn't ever explain his actions or reasons. If he wanted to be secretive about it he could just assign her an undercover security detail, or just send information to her through channels that he can't be traced back on like his Lycan persona. It's literally pointless to eliminate one weekly routine when she almost certainly has many other routines with the same level of danger where she is completely unaware that she is in danger. It is so dumb and just obviously there to create drama in the story it makes me rage.

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I know that my review is almost entirely just talking about the romance part of the novel, but unforunately that is about 75% of the novel for the past 20 chapters or so. I currently feel like I am reading a poorly written romance novel with action elements. Before this arc I think the novel was a solid 4.5, but currently I am going to drop it. <<less
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1life4death
1life4death rated it
February 8, 2018
Status: c44
Don't know why but just boring for me. The cliche of him just so happen to help out a possible harem candidate and the fact the he becomes OP at everything he does is just mehh. I guess what really kill it for me is the switch between his human form and monster form. Its just annoying to follow the story back and forth for some reason, personally. Initially I came here because I thought this was a story about an MC living as a monster and building up a... more>> story like that with his interaction with the world and what not, but guess not. <<less
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DanielUchiha
DanielUchiha rated it
February 5, 2018
Status: c112
This novel had a nice concept and started out great, then the author ruined it. If you looking for a novel with character development and well laid out plot, then this is not for you. It is however a good time killer while you wait for your regular novels. By the way great translator.
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Lt.butterfly
Lt.butterfly rated it
December 4, 2017
Status: c73
Honestly I have liked this series but there are a few issues. One is that currently he is way to caught up if retaining his “humanity “ that he doesn’t realize that no matter what changes he goes through as long has he still does what he believes in he won’t lose it. Two it has the typical Korea is the focal point for everything in the world and the strongest of everything is in Korea. Three the protagonist is a complete idiot he refuses to come clean about his... more>> trait to people that wouldn’t betray him just because his trait allows him to turn into monsters. Four so far with this losing humanity thing the only thing that has happened is emotions that already existed being amplified. Finally it said that the lycanthrope is both human and monster so if this path led to that wouldn’t all of them, I personally don’t thing the affect is as life changing as he makes it out to be. <<less
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