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A Monster Who Levels Up
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Rating(3.6 / 5.0, 980 votes)
5    40% (389 votes)
4    18% (174 votes)
3    18% (179 votes)
2    14% (138 votes)
1    10% (100 votes)
Language
Support Book (#ad)
Author(s)
One entry per line
Artist(s)
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N/A
Year
Example: 2012
2017
Status in COO
Status in Country of Origin. One entry per line
Prologue + 174 Chapters (Complete)
Licensed
No
Completely Translated
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One entry per line
English Publisher
One entry per line
N/A
Release Frequency
Every 168.3 Day(s)
Activity Stats
[Graph]
Weekly Rank: #8366
Monthly Rank: #11242
All Time Rank: #113
Reading List
[Graph]
On 12359 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #63
All Time Rank: #187

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
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. Complete stories - Farming OR Poor to Rich Tag
  2. Completamente leidas
  3. Skibidi list2
  4. Hunter/Awakener/Gate/Tower - Not Read Pt.2
  5. Complete popular 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
123…12
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174 Reviews sorted by


TheJudge
TheJudge rated it
September 4, 2017
Status: c55
Update after Chapter 55: My 2 star still stands, nothing much has really changed, MC becomes more overpowered, MC is still too dense and s*upid most of the time to figure out what's really going on, that's why he has his employees do most the thinking. MC still slowly gathering his harem, but is too s*upid to realize they like him. MC is still far too kind and helpful to humans that many do take advantage of him, despite him having his "all seeing eye" that separates the good and... more>> bad people, however despite this, he still gets scammed by the government and various other people. For example,

Spoiler

A government worker goes to him and beg for free handouts, telling him it's for the sake of Mother Korea and for diplomacy, in the end, MC falls into their scam and gave them a paper that allows you to to have the orc craft any weapon of their choosing. However, we later find out that they actually used that paper in a attempt to lure his werewolf form out if he helped them do something. In another case, he creates the athany dolls that gives a boost in recovery/training to the top knights guilds for free. There are times where MC uses his brain but for the most part MC is still a idiot.

[collapse]

Just your usual failure/poor loser that is shunned by everyone in society becoming overpowered. Lots of cliches here, like the usual MC saves damsel in distress, they fall in love, rinse and repeat.

MC grew up shunned by all those around him, his parents threw him out to live at a orphanage where he is mistreated and taken advantage off. He leaves, and starts working during middle school, saves up some money and rents his own little place to live in. One day, he receives some notification that he's obtained this skill that allows him to turn into different monsters. Hunters and Knights (much stronger than hunters) love to hunt for the sport and for money, they kill monsters without batting an eye, yet all the MC does is save humans that are in trouble in his beast form? Explain to me how that makes any sense, especially with how he was treated growing up. Now, don't get me wrong here, I'm all for MC saving people ect (cliche) by which how he's treated in the past, I just find it hard to believe.

MC up to this point has already saved multiple humans, he has no ambition what so ever and his only goal is to basically "survive" or sustain himself. To prove my point, the MC left a sample of a potion that is very rare and expensive to craft to a store to test and sell, before coming in there this guy did not even do any research on what kind of potions there are, and how much they cost. He just walked in, told them he has a potion to sell, told the clerk the effects and walked out like an idiot. For someone that has been poor all his life and had no one to care for, I find it laughable how kind he is to humans. If you're into self fulfillment, you may like this, if you actually care about the details off how the MC became who he is and does what he does, then skip it. Humans in this novel will constantly try to take advantage of how dense the MC is.

Decent read if you can bypass how unambitious, bland, and s*upid the MC is. <<less
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CreamPuffDelights
CreamPuffDelights rated it
October 27, 2017
Status: c38
the writing is acceptable, as a time filler it works fine, but at chapter 38 my expectations of it being anything more than a minor time filler is less than 10%.

To begin with, there's the usual Korean fame avoidance trope that's nearly as iconic as the Japanese beta dense MC trope so no surprises there. The difference is how far this particular author is taking it, as of chapter 38, our dear MC already has 6 different personas, each of them famous and great in their own fields.

Next, the famous... more>> and great part. God like alchemy, god pike blacksmthing etc. Obviously. No effort either, pure luck and a cheat skill. From complete and utter noob to grandmaster level (by this story's human standards because somehow they're all pretty ret*rded) in less than a day,

God level beauties dropping like flies every other chapter, 90% of which of course are in distress in one way or another, which he alleviates by being god like out of nowhere, and they take special attention of him because why not.

You know the drill. Basically your everyday teenage wish fulfillment wankfest, only this particular teenager couldn't decide whether he wanted to be a wolf, a goblin or an orc, so he threw them all in the mixer together with a few gallons of pure plot armor.

I wouldn't even rate this story 2 strs to be honest, but like I said, I came here without any expectations of this novel being anything better than a time filler. <<less
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PotatoKing
PotatoKing rated it
May 8, 2018
Status: Completed
To anyone reading this review and about to read/are reading this novel, I IMPLORE you to not read the last chapter (174). In fact, I'd even tell everyone not to read chapter 173. I'd recommend just to imagine your own ending for this novel because the author absolutely butchered the end. One of the most unsatisfactory endings I've ever read.

I actually enjoyed this novel quite a bit, and not just the super early chapters like most of the reviewers. I even found everything up to chapter 172 alright, but the... more>> disgusting last 2 chapters really killed it for me. The novel went from a 4 to a 2.5 real quick.

Of course, even leaving the ending 2 chapters aside, there were times when reading the novel seemed like a chore since a lot of the latter half of it is filled with filler content that nobody cares about or is simply irrelevant the the story.

That being said, there were plus points, like some of the side characters having real personalities and the some of the interactions between characters.

Overall, I think this story was satisfactory if I imagine my own ending scenario, but the author's piece of tr*sh version of the ending really killed my mood. I don't think I'll be reading another one of his novels, unless I run out of every possible good story I have available. I would recommend this novel ONLY if you can stop yourself from reading the last 2 chapters. Otherwise, I'd say don't bother because you'll be disappointed. <<less
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OneChompMan
OneChompMan rated it
October 7, 2017
Status: c1
Too many f*cking cliches and convenient happenings

story starts out good. The fact that he turns into beasts is what got my attention. But then throughout the story convenient things coupled with cliched interactions just keep happening.

oh I got this skill just now, what do you know on my way home the skill became very important and without it I would have likely died

... more>> oh I met this monster that there's no way I can defeat, wow I got a skill just now that would make me defeat him

oh, this person is about to die, what do you know, I just got a skill that would heal this person like 5 minutes ago. Convenient things just keeps happening.

and for some reason the MC seems to think he somehow got the short end of the stick, you as the reader would realise that not to be true by the fifth chapter but the author would still try to push it. Dude has so many skills he would put experienced hunters to shame

the author also needs to get out of his South Korean bubble, Jesus. Everyone is named kim, south korea is the only country that has this, or does that, or helps whoever. South korea is the only heaven, in fact the only place in the entire world. <<less
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azaziel666
azaziel666 rated it
December 31, 2017
Status: c20
Honestly, this novel had quite a bit of potential. I really liked the MC's ability but thats about it. I can't say theres anything good about this novel at all. This is just another wish fulfilment dream for mindless readers with no need of plot. The author spends no time or effort in setting out the plot. Within the first 10 chapters, 3 heroines have already been introduced and I cannot even differentiate between them. They are just Girl A, B, and C. Apparently, the author thinks that as long... more>> as he introduces enough beautiful girl to be included in the MC's harem, the readers will gladly suck it up. Unfortunately, he is not wrong, as shown in how highly rated this novel is.

This novel isn't worth anyone's time. If you are here to kill time, please choose another novel. <<less
28 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
rainx
rainx rated it
March 1, 2018
Status: c129
Plot is above average.

Main character is the stone that popped the "ok" plot. The author wanted to make a character that is slowly rising step by step (I admit it worked at first) but the recent chapters are just making MC a perfect character (OP face makeover = super handsome, almighty, can do everything) instead of following the early plan. I was attracted by the theme of "character being underestimated and aloof" but this current MC is FUC=KING ANNOYING.
24 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Ascension
Ascension rated it
September 15, 2017
Status: c46
I'm currently up to date with what has been translated, which is ch 24. But I gotta say I really enjoy it. The first chapter was iffy at best, it was oddly made the first 2-3 chapters.. but now ever since the last 3-4 chapters it's been picking up, and it's actually quite good.

So basically you have this guy that randomly gets a "trait", something that happens to specific people in the world. Unfortunately for him, his "trait" from the first impression kinda sucks. He can transform from human being... more>> into a orc, wolf or goblin at will. But the thing is, at lvl 1 or 0 when he gets the trait, he is transformed directly into one of the 3 monsters, and he can turn into a human for 60 minutes per day only.

Anyway, he moves into a monster-filled area... and he starts hunting other monsters, to sell their remains to the humans in order to get some money, while doing this he realizes he can level up the 3 classes as well as evolve the classes... into orc warrior, direwolf and elite goblin... and even further classes by doing specific conditions unfortunately he is not informed what these conditions are. He starts using these classes to level up, beat monsters, make alchemy and so on. (Goblin = alchemist/healing potions). I believe there's a good future for this novel.

If you're looking for reading something interesting, you should try it, I suggest reading the first 10 chapters, and then decide whether you like this novel or not. The beginning seems to start slow, and it looks kind of uninteresting, but it improves.

Edit: Currently at ch 46. The story has continued to be interesting, it's been going the same as the previous 24 chapters. So I'm definitely recommending this. Totally worth it.

Last edit: Currently finished the story, the idea/premise of the story was very interesting in the beginning, but the ending was not that great. It was ok, but it wasn't anything special. <<less
22 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Rosver
Rosver rated it
November 20, 2017
Status: c92
It was fun at first... then... bleh.

The protagonist's ability to turn into monsters are really interesting, and at the beginning it was. It was quite fun to see the protagonist playing around with his abilities while keeping it hidden from other people. It is very close to a "secret identity" super hero tropes to be a subversion of it. That was fun when it lasted.

Then the story just stops focusing on that. What we got instead is a storm of cliché: beauties lusting at the protagonist, cringe-worthy "romance, " OP... more>> abilities gained left and right with barely any effort, protagonists gains popularity and political power, s*upid villains, ungodly amount of luck, coincidences and contrivance, etc.

Just... MEH!

Come on! Author, are you out of ideas a dozen chapters in?

And the execution isn't that good either. The use of clichés and tropes are straightforward without any creative take.

There doesn't seem to be any overall conflict at all. It is all slice-of-life-like as the story just meanders and going in no particular direction. Things just happens, that is all.

*****

There is just nothing new or creative in this story. It is just a collection of the common and tired tropes and clichés. There doesn't even seem to be a story in it, just things happening without any story-progression.

Overall, a very unnecessary story. It really has nothing to offer. It does nothing but just exist. <<less
21 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
bloggbigg
bloggbigg rated it
February 14, 2018
Status: Completed
Pretty much like most reviewers, I agree this started out with lots of potential, which the author wasted. So disappointing to see not just lost opportunity, but the introduction of so many pointless and badly injected subplots.

    • Time wasting, flawless empire building? Check.
    • Awkward harem addition? In progress.
    • Cliche zealous, s*upid enemies? Check.
    • Awkward 'undercover' arc? (as if he weren't hiding enough) Check.
To be honest, the story was pretty forced and Deus ex machina to begin with- but at least it was doing something different. I was looking forward to each chapter. Instead of sticking with that and expanding on it... Well, let's just say this is now a different story, and many seem to no longer care.

Spoiler

Also, I don't see why, but this is yet another author who intentionally makes the MC a petty jerk for no reason- which is fine, but to write everyone else as 'happy to put up with it' (like all the other hack writers) is tiresome and unoriginal. He's even actively mean to one 'harem candidate' just to hide his s*upid secret (which, if exposed would change nothing most likely (as he already revealed one secret so far & we've move past it with zero side effects) -- but hack authors like 'hiding the hidden power' (or whatever).

I'm not saying he should just show it off- just not act like 'burning people' is preferable to 'trusting them' when they didn't do sh*t to you but be nice (ch 129 is irritating). It wouldn't be a stretch to say he lowered her morale & helped endanger her life. For nothing.

[collapse]
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Kefi
Kefi rated it
October 8, 2017
Status: c37
All in all, it's an enjoyable read.

To be more specific, this story is character-driven, and I quite like the MC and his romantic prospect. He doesn't get OP too quickly, he's quite reasonable and he doesn't seem to transform into a selfish psychopath as he gets stronger, which is quite rare...

On the other hand, I can only give 3 stars because the story is full of plot-holes and the world building is non-existant as long as it doesn't directly affect our MC.

So we start in a technologically developped world in... more>> conflict with monsters, some of which are intelligent, our MC gets an unusual power which starts by getting him in trouble (a good start imo), but nothing is explained: we don't know how our MC powers develop, we don't know how normal people's powers usually develop, we don't know why people use swords instead of sending drones fire mana-infused bullets to the hunting grounds, etc...

The world building sucks: it's only each time the MC develops a new power that the world is revealed to have a dire need of said power, all the while allowing the new genius in town to remain anonymous in every case, which just doesn't makes sense.

Anyways, it's silly if you think about it, but still enjoyable imo.

Edit: downgraded to 2 stars at chapter 37 due to bad writing, more specifically, the constant apparitions of "sound effects lines" which have their place in a manga but just break the reader's immersion in the story in a novel. Same problem with the frequent notes that the author and the traductor leave in the middle of the story instead of collecting them at the end.

Spoiler

I also don't get:

-vampires have a human rights group that defend them, but werewolves which are by definition half humans are somehow just monsters to be hunted... that's BS

-goblins which are usually just a mob monster are here described as genius alchemists... fair enough, then why not develop trade relationships with them instead of raiding their villages to get a handful of potions once in a blue moon? that's BS

-same argument for the orcs and blacksmiths

-technology is good enough to have contact lenses that serve as cameras, but there's no satellite to track monsters, no tests to discover vampires or other monsters that can disguize themselves as humans...

It could be a good story instead of an OK one, if the world was developped, coherent, and if the MC sometimes wondered if he was still human... just my opinion, of course.

edit (c37) : Now, the MC is loosing his mind, becoming an enraged monster... and he doesn't f*cking care... This is fast approaching the point where this story will be more irritating than entertaining imo.

[collapse]
<<less
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jason3893
jason3893 rated it
December 3, 2018
Status: c174
I read this entire novel in the span of a few days. That's how much I liked it. However, the ending ruined it in my opinion and most people agree with that opinion.

I loved the development and foreshadowing that occurred throughout the rest of the novel, but that isn't enough to make up for the horrible ending imo.

I'm going to put 2 spoilers for the end if you want to know why it was bad. The first will be extremely vague and the second one will have more details.

... more>>
Spoiler

In the end the MC and the MC's lover don't end up together because "magic" makes the MC have amnesia and the MC's lover is okay with it and chooses to just lives nearby him. And yes they both loved each other very much before the amnesia.

[collapse]

Spoiler

The MC chooses to save the world for ending b/c he loves his lover and friends so much and doesn't want to lose them. To do this he travels back in time and waits 100s of year so that he is stronger and can save the world. While he's waiting he thinks about his lover and the promise to come back and marry her. Then he saves the world and while he is resting to recover from his injuries in a secluded place, the "magic" that gave everyone powers/ traits chooses to reward him for saving the earth by erasing his memories and making him forget everything (i.e. Including his lover and friends who were the reason for him trying to save the world). The MC's lover and friends don't know that he was the one that saved the world or that he travels back 100s of years. They are just waiting for him to return. Couple of years later they see him post-memory loss, but don't go talk to him. They find out about him saving the world and stuff by the one person who knew and decide that his "reward" of forgetting everything was for the best and move on just living in the same apartment building as him.

[collapse]

In the novel there are "justifications" for what happens and why the characters are okay with it, but I don't think they are enough.

Just thinking about the ending is enough to anger me. If anyone is interested I did write up a small alternative ending to the novel that is on the NU forum. Not great writing (maybe a C or B) but I still think it's a better ending than the actual one. I put a link to the forum thread for those interested.

https://forum. Novelupdates. Com/threads/a-monster-who-levels-up-fan-alternate-ending.77676/

<<less
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qwertyasdf2222
qwertyasdf2222 rated it
November 15, 2017
Status: c59
This novel has been an enjoyable read so far. The MC definitely is going along with the Gary Stu tropes that this site offers with main characters (in general). However, even up to chapter 54, he is not totally overpowered. He does have seemingly overpowered utility skills, but they mostly provide indirect support to combat, and require time to experiment with. So far, he has only defeated mid-tier knights in his monster form. We still do not know how his human form would fair against them without the added monster... more>> stat boosts. The focus of the novel is in South Korea alone, so far that I can recall. Therefore, we cannot just think of his skills as overpowered in truth yet. It may be well above the community he is currently in (South Korea) but it may not match up to some of the things foreign nations may provide. Furthermore, at least in potion-making, others have achieved his level of skill in the past so he can still be considered in-line with being in the bounds of reality of the novel.

Unlike some of the reviews who do not like how ignorant the MC has been, I do appreciate that the author has not pulled the MC out of character just to make him smarter. If you had as low of an education as him, and have been merely working to survive to the next day, I doubt you would have the capital, energy, or thought process to go out of your way to research before selling a self-made potion of unknown value. Especially if you were new to this hunting thing and had no contact with any of the potions that are offered. In addition, the main character has only been looking to survive day to day for a very long time, so I doubt he has the ambition for more when his scope of future is always tomorrow and nothing beyond that. In this sense, this novel gives a lot more realism than most of the other novels here that skew the main character's intelligence in certain situations.

In truth, there are no females dropping like flies to the main character yet. They are hinting at the notion of budding interests, but the female leads do go through the motion of liking certain traits of the character, followed by getting to know the main character deeper. Normal stuff that normal people go through in dating/courting/friendships/etc. I am also quite happy to find the contrast in how romance is handled compared to most other novels in this site (i.e. Typical Chinese dominant men with mindless women falling for them / extremely beta Japanese trope main characters).

This novel does have its cliche happenings, but the lucky coincidences are not as exaggerated as that of most Chinese or Japanese novels in this site. If you think deeply enough, it is not surprising to find some random mid tier orc that wandered into a low tier zone because this world is not bound by game rules or the sort. People hunt with their lives at stake and there are always people in danger so it should not be too difficult to find people to save. If you recently get a skill to save someone, and with the main character's subconscious desire to help people, I am sure you would extend a helping hand with the recently acquired skill. The convenient coincidence is just that the person that requires saving is a possible female lead.

Technology is a little weird in this novel, with the conveniences of modern living but at the same time their way of life also seems to be pushed back to medieval-esque times. My guess is that they took the bare-bone necessities of convenient life and fit it into harsh living to adapt to all of these monster outbreaks and what not. Limited resources as a result of monster outbreaks means that creations cannot be too large, so some crazy resource-consuming piece of technology like a monster-tracking satellite would probably not be created. Vampires having protection is understandable if you consider that they can blend in with society and have access to hypnotic abilities. Werewolves seem to be mentally unstable from the consequences revealed so far as of chapter 54 (first review) with the MC losing control of himself. Furthermore, werewolves drop mana stones, while vampires have not been revealed to drop any so far. Therefore, they're on the same level as elves: a different kind of people. The main character has been trying to find solutions for the growing insanity behind his wolf form as of chapter 54. It's an ongoing process, so even if he did not care about it before, now that it is becoming more serious, he is dealing with it. At least he has proper priorities at the right times (like I said earlier, it's in character plus some hints that the main character is not totally Gary Stu). As for goblins being treated like monsters, they have been aggressive and have been treated as a resource, so it's understandable not to have trade. It is also the same argument for orcs.

Including sound effects in a novel is a consequence of "hip" writing of a different culture. Unfortunately, there is no actual way of localizing it without damaging the effect it brings, so while it can be irritating at times, it's forgivable. After all, most Asian languages do include sound effects for dramatic effect in their lighter literature. If you cannot stand such writing, I would suggest getting the hell out of here and finding a nice western web novel to read instead. Also, if you want something more out of the novel writing aimed at young adults, then you might as well search elsewhere. This story is along the line of standard fanfare for this site but presented in a different window. The character-centered writing with less external detail in the environment so that you get to focus on the character itself is something you either love or hate.

There are flaws in this novel, no doubt, but most of these are subjective. It is a little saddening to see reviews that jump straight to conclusions due to the privileged lives we live right now when these novel "flaws" should be looked at objectively and thought from more than just personal perspective. Sure, a little bit of your preference should show, but rating it lowly purely because of your taste or based on a professional standard is frustrating to see and says a lot about yourself if your reviews have been 2 or 3 stars all along while skulking around in this site for a long time.

This novel does not deserve below 3 stars and I am sure that those that rate it 1 or 2 (and those who liked these reviews) have definitely given 4 or 5 stars to other novels that do not really deserve them due to selective ignorance.

Edit: A few content changes in the review. <<less
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RikkSilirion
RikkSilirion rated it
October 24, 2017
Status: c36
It's just a fun read, don't take it too seriously. Around chapter 26 an interesting plot element opens up, which really makes the story have more meat to it, but we'll see as we go along. It's an easy read, the main character isn't frustrating and does relatively believable things.
14 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
DidYunCheGoddamnDieAgain
DidYunCheGoddamnDieAgain rated it
March 7, 2018
Status: c104
I binged the first 60chapters in a day and I was sad I'm half done with the TLed chapters available.. 60-90 took me another day and I didn't mind the chapters running out anymore. 90-104 took me two days and i've been praying for the sweet release of death with every chapter.. It starts strong, but the MC starts doing more and more unrelated sh*t and at this point it's essentially game of thrones, but with one character doing everything. +You can tell that the author is a beta cuck... more>> supreme, because he can't handle refusing women even if they're the imaginary characters he himself created... <<less
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Raneday
Hibiki rated it
August 31, 2017
Status: c3
So unlike the usual novel where MC will only become a monster after reincarnating, MC here became a monster after awakening his abilities, and now he's doing his best to become stronger and go back into being a human again.

Story wise I could say that it has some similarities to other KR novels, but it's more to the POV of a monster MC let's see and wait for the cause and effect he will do in the world or something similar.

And since it's still in the beginning I can't really... more>> say something more concrete 'bout this one but the novel's direction is quite promising. I just hope that 'twill continue this way. <<less
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Horoscope
Horoscope rated it
October 15, 2017
Status: c64
Really like this novel for taking things that most writers screw up and using them really well. Most 'status' based cultivation stories get dry around the middle, where the initial hindrance of their abilities fades away and their abilities become eye-rolling-ly generic and omnipotent. However, despite overcoming many trials, (and I mean MANY) he's STILL not totally in the clear. I really like the fact that he is in debt right now despite having several crafting abilities to make millions of dollars. The things he needs to get are... more>> still far out of his range.

In short, the story hasn't gotten boring yet without letting slip a feeling of 'the story is dragging out'. The lore and world building is also interesting and compelling

The plot structure is dynamic and things are moving very smoothly. That is, for now.

Some details that are handled well by this author (these things are normally huge flaws) some minor spoilers ahead (read if you want to know what your getting into) :

-MC is handsome because of his ability. This usually makes me cringe, because leveling up and getting stronger, in most stories for some reason ALWAYS makes the MC looks more handsome/beautiful, which both makes no sense and is a plot flaw for most stories. Thankfully the author included some details beforehand that makes his appearance progression actually believable (though, it is still kind of fishy). It is also very fortunate that this isn't a harem story, and that there are real reasons that the MC can't hook up with anyone. It would have taken even more out of the story otherwise.

-MC makes a crap ton of money off of adventuring. This one is just BARELY balanced out by the fact that most of the things that are considered necessities for his very life are super expensive and tricky to get. It can easily get out of hand if not managed carefully, but hasn't. Yet.

-MC get's praised a lot. The things he constructs with his skills are infinitely better than anything that normal people can make, simply because he has access to his system. This one is also just barely balanced out by the fact that the knowledge he has (this is an theory from the given foreshadowing) is something that was normally known, but was lost to mankind through circumstance, tragedy and conspiracy.

-The 'MC likes the praise, but also hides his talents' trope. The fact that he has a normal, very human reaction to the praise he gets for his actions is still within the realms of convincing character development by the fact that he can't become famous without shooting himself in the foot. In short, his feelings and actions are justified by having an acceptable reason for hiding his talent.

These elements have the story JUST hovering over the line between good storyline and generic/boring/bad storyline. It's close.

5 right now, but might be lower later depending on how the author juggles these very tricky-to-handle elements.

Best of luck to the author!!!

PS. The translation is also an issue. The translation itself is top tier, but the translator is very... self-conscious? They keep leaving little blurbs about how badly written or tricky to read a line was, asking if it was translated right. A bit unprofessional, but I can't complain since this translator has probably increased the value of this story as a whole, judging by the things they have to go through.

Edit chapter 64:

Unfortunately it got much worse. All of my worst fears came to fruition. First of all, the MC got way to powerful way too quickly. The power creep is real. Now enemies are strong for the sake of being strong, and nothing else. He peaked in stats way to soon. He has no flaws at the moment, and frankly its leaning towards wish fulfilment : (

Second, the cast of unimportant characters and tangents got too big. Besides the alchemist lady, I can't keep track of the girls that fall in love with him. They are just... unimportant.

Thirdly...I don't know what it is about foreign novels insisting their MC's are geniuses when they use their cheats as a crutch ALL THE TIME. He's the worlds best blacksmith, potion maker, and most definately the best hunter in the future. That's how predictable it is. And worst of all, it feels like he hasn't earned it really.

Forth, the MC's personality is too situational. This falls back on the problem of not having any flaws. He's the benevolent savior, eyes-wide-open student, ruthless business dealer, calm and cool beast tamer, thick in the head around girls, smile on the face perfect dude. Which I HATE.

The reason flaws exist is to solidify your character's traits. Once you resolve them (or forget about them) your character becomes aimless, unmanageable and un-solidified. And that's what happened in this story.

<<less
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oblueknighto
oblueknighto rated it
October 4, 2017
Status: c21
A really interesting novel with an intelligent main character who gains an extremely unique ability. The story revolves around his changing powers and his struggles to not get caught as a monster.

Spoiler

He can only stay human for an hour each day but it slowly increases as he levels up.

[collapse]
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yellingbrian2
yellingbrian2 rated it
August 31, 2017
Status: c6
Pretty good premises so far,

The MC can turn into a human for only an hour a day and spends the rest of it in wolf form

He has the goal of extending his human form time to 24 hours a day. He's also not supper OP, needs to grind.

... more>> I like the fact that the MC isn't a mu*der machine, he spends (not a lot) time crying and sobbing through out the nights (Like I would do, in his crappy situation)

So far this novel is a 8/10

===EDIT (now at chapter 6) ===

Wow became generic fast...

The most beautiful women in the world just teleported to his door step and fell in love with him, despite being an ugly MONSTER

His LOW LEVEL goblin transformation can apparently craft million dollar potion like pancakes

Just a generic op MC, with no real danger or challenges. Just reward reward reward........

6/10. <<less
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MagicPill
MagicPill rated it
March 26, 2018
Status: c143
MC becomes more and more OP. He's probably the only one who can fight the upcoming apocalypse and save humanity. It's also only a matter of time before he outclasses every wizard in the world by virtue of one of his monsters. He's a weapons dealer, a doctor, a spy and a mobile fortress all in one. Other characters aren't really important and have no personality trait other than his harem members, of which can be boiled down to possessive. MC doesn't have a close relationship with anyone other than... more>> his harem members. The most entertaining parts of this novel are when he completely shocks the world with either his weapons, magic, potions, or his pet monsters. Everything else, even the battles and main plot, feels secondary. <<less
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Vidashall
Vidashall rated it
December 27, 2017
Status: c91
So I was thinking about making a review after hitting chapter 50 but since I really liked this novel, I decided to wait until I was up-to-date with the novel before writing this.

now, I love this novel, is like a combination of some elements of EER or SSN with Re:Monster. is a more enjoyable Re:Monster (my problem with that manga / novel was the way it was written and the ridiculous amount of skills, with A Monster Who Levels Up I can actually keep up with the skills the... more>> MC has)

I like how the system works (even thought of course is not perfect), and I also like how there are positive and negative effects from the evolution of the species. it is a good novel if you have free time to read through it.

now of course there are some problems with the novel since I didn't give it 5 stars... for now I have 4 major problems.

1 - First of all, the romance... I believe the characters just fell in love with the MC because of his skills rather than his personality, and that is something that I can't accept, also we haven't even get a real character development from any side character, they are just 2-Dimensional.

2 - There is not objective, there is not a goal the MC wants to reach, everything is going easy with him, he doesn't have any real strong enemies or something that push him go want to go further beyond, he is just OP (same problem I had with Re:Monster)

3 - He can transform but he can't communicate with any of specie? also he got so many skills by doing simple stuff, even being able to talk as a monster in human language, then why can't he learn a skills that allows him to communicate with monster? I actually wanted him to maybe go into the forest as a monster and enter a monster society or tribe so that he could learn something instead of just killing the monster and get the skill...

4 - Now my major problem, we just learned there is a vampire world... so that means there are many other worlds of many species.... well that is pretty f*cking bad because then the world-building, or more like, the universe-building of the novel is too big for just 175 chapters, I'm already in chapter 91 which means more than half-way through the whole novel and the MC haven't even left his own country and yet there are many other worlds which some might even be superior of his own... that means from now own either the novel is going to be rushed ASF or we will never know about what is beyond his world that might probably be just a wasteland compare to other worlds....

this is a problem that many novels like this one face, that they made the world waaaay too big and ended up not showing even 5% of it (that is the problem ISSTH faced). the setting for this novel would be better if it was just a x3 or more bigger earth that still had modern technology and society but with more continents that had many other species (including different kind of monsters in each continent, kinda like Pokemon), that way the world-building would be big but not something as big as multi-worlds if the novel is going to be short, and also that way the MC would have more reasons to go to different parts of the world and not just stuck on Korea, because there is not a reason to leave his country.... <<less
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