Everyone Else is a Returnee

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Yu Ilhan was always the one left behind. Left out of cliques in school. Left out of social invitations. Just…always left out. Except now he’s been left behind for real.

When Earth’s future is threatened, Yu Ilhan stays behind while the rest of the population flees to other planets for safety.

It’s up to Yu Ilhan to save our planet before it’s too late!

Associated Names
One entry per line
EER
Last On Earth
나 빼고 다 귀환자
Related Series
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Recommendations
Seoul Station’s Necromancer (27)
Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society (18)
The Second Coming of Gluttony (15)
Evolution Theory of the Hunter (13)
Arena (13)
Sovereign of Judgment (12)
Recommendation Lists
  1. KR Novel (Fantasy/Historical/Adventure)
  2. Gates/Dungeons/Monsters/etc on Earth
  3. My Top Novels From the 500 Novels I have Read (KR,...
  4. Korea Novel (Non BL)
  5. My Gem Collection

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379 Reviews sorted by


DarkD
DarkD
January 8, 2017
Status: c124
A typical brains-off type of series. It's one of those fictions with ludicrous plots that make no sense at all with the purpose of glorifying the protagonist as much as possible.

For the first twenty or so chapters, you have to completely turn your brain off. This is "invisible dragon" level bad. For example, the protagonist reads every book in the world in something like a century and masters every martial art in another century.

I honestly think this series is based off of invisible dragon. Someone went "huh, that's... more>> a good idea, just clean up the spelling a little, give it a real plot, change the protagonist to a dragon-like invisible human and voila."

The concept is so bad the side character regularly comments how s*upid it was. The author's own character regularly insults the beginning of his series....

After the world starts moving again and the plot finally starts, the series is good depending on how much you can turn your brain off and ignore everything that came before it.

Around chapter 120 the series starts losing what little charm it had. In chapter 124, I couldn't take anymore because the protagonist literally goes full chuunibyou. Basically, the author felt he hadn't made the power growth ridiculous enough and decided to double down with something so bad it feels like it belongs in the Invisible Dragon.

If you can put up with the opening chapters, which isn't that hard to do, you will probably enjoy the series for about the next hundred chapters. Then it'll slowly start a downward spiral.

Okay, I started reading this again. The trick is to turn your mind off as much as possible. I dropped it before because too much s*upid happened at once and I couldn't go on. But after a years rest, I was able to turn my brain back off.

The first thing I noticed now is that everyone talks like a preteen. Everyone drops F bombs and calls people B****. Even emperors that are hundreds of years old.

The other reviews are definitely right. It's ludicrous how much experience Yu Ilhan gets from his unique exploits and he's only partway into third class. He causes world-wide extinction events killing thousands of fourth classes and that amounts to about 10 levels for him.... Can someone explain where all these fourth classes came from in the first place? How the hell does a normal person level up to that point? <<less
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nick1mname
nick1mname rated it
August 10, 2016
Status: c9
This is perhaps one of the best (web) novels I have ever read. Coming from the forum post the other day, it made my blood pump and my arms flail everywhere while reading. It just gives you a sense of amazement reading it, most would guarantee that after reading the first 3 chapters or even less you'd be hooked right in. The concept itself is, yes full of what you could call plot armor, but it's so well made that it doesn't even matter anymore :).
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Fossil
Fossil rated it
August 10, 2016
Status: c9
The main character's presence is so thin that he wasn't on the list of people to temporarily leave the planet. This list was made by god. So, due to the mistake, he's left on Earth.

If that doesn't make you interested, then just think about what you can accomplish while everyone's gone. That's what the MC did, and it definitely paid off.

Now read the novel. You will not regret it, and even if you do... erm, at least you didn't suffer as much as the MC did?
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ErikHarrison
ErikHarrison rated it
December 20, 2020
Status: c348
Probably one of the top tier Korean Returnee novels. It's well done but if you don't like the concept then it can't be helped.

The execution is very generic. His rapid power scaling is standard, his attitude (while he does go through well written character development) is expected. The Angels are interesting and well done, some of the other characters are left extremely underdeveloped in favor of explaining more about the MC. The powers and leveling system are cool and you can feel it was thought out from the beginning. Everything... more>> it had to do for a cohesive story was done well and is received in high regard.

The romance is done horribly imo, I don't understand why the author even put it in, there were very little emotional moments and synergy between partners. Fight scenes are decent but not memorable. No enemies or allies really steal the show.

Overall if you were in the mood for this genre I would recommend it. <<less
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Vykato
Vykato rated it
October 27, 2020
Status: Completed
Just to say, this is my first review on NU.

But first, I’ll thank Chamber-nim for the translation, I followed it from chap 20 (i caught up when the last chap was 20) to the last (afterword), and I re-read it 2 times, (for a total of 3), sorry for being a silent reader tho.

And I must admit that, as chamber said in his review, that the story isn’t perfect and has a lot of annoying problems, but if you get over those, then damn this story is great, the... more>> characters are pretty well built, the worlds are well depicted, and even fights are thrilling. The story telling is good and the flow of the story is enjoyable.

I enjoyed it from start to finish, I had fun while trying my best to guess what was going to happen, who was who, and if it would end well. I rejoiced, shouted in anger and cried while reading this.

As of right now, it is still my favorite novel, 5 years that i’m reading novels.

To all new readers, please read it, and even if sometimes it feels like the story is slow, don’t drop it, you’ll see that this is truly good.

To end this, I’ll say it again but thank you chamber, and many thanks to all the early readers of EER who sometimes made my day with funny comments.

Have a great day <<less
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eelyort
eelyort rated it
September 18, 2019
Status: afterword
To those people looking for a masterfully written novel with unforgettable, well-developed characters... this book isn’t for you.

For those looking for an intricate, well-planned plot where the ending is foreshadowed in the beginning chapters... this book isn’t for you.

This book isn’t the deepest, nor is it the funniest book I’ve ever read, yet despite this, it is BY FAR my favorite book of all time.

Though the characters aren’t too realistic, they aren’t 1-D either. Though the plot wasn’t planned from the start, it is still very well written, with multiple... more>> unexpected twists, that, looking back, I should have seen coming.

More than anything else, this book is just really, really fun. From the satire, to the wish-fufilment, to the comedy, and to the MC’s personality, the book is just really fresh. Though many times the book makes fun of existing tropes, turning them into the bu*t of jokes, other times it embraces those very same tropes, feeling wholesome and fun the whole time. But no, even the subversion of expectations, the MC deciding to just “let’s win using dirty tactics, ” the MC immediately planning to make ice/electric/etc armor the moment he realizes that fire resist armor exists, and the MC trying his absolute hardest to stop all events before they even occur, is just so much fun!

Aight I’ll get out of your hair now, my last recommendation is this: read more than the first few arcs, they’re dry compared to future ones, but if you make it to the end of arc 9, “I also do 2nd job advancement” and you’re still bored, or if you finish arc 11, “I carry” without feeling the slightest thrill, then this book probably just isn’t for you, and thats perfectly ok. <<less
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Crosley
Crosley rated it
September 15, 2018
Status: afterword
Overrated and overhyped, which sucks because I had high expectations for its rating. The premise was interesting at first, but as the story began to progress, it got very stale and repetitive—ends up far too predictable. It ended up being the same thing over and over again—"The MC does something impossible and everyone is shocked." It's fine the first couple hundred times, but add on another several hundred and you get an incredibly boring story with no meat or excitement. Crowd reactions are always the same; they always react the... more>> same way, or it becomes fairly evident that the author hardly puts any effort into reactions. I like the 'loner' style idea of a protagonist (though it's nothing too new) and that started the story out great, but later on, the author just gets inconsistent with his character personality and interactions with others. Same would go for his other characters as well.

Spoiler

You have Liera who, at first was a higher existence that was slightly moved by Yu Ilhan's effort. Later on, all of a sudden, Liera comes back and is head over heels for him and would literally do anything for him. A very huge personality shift with no consistency. Not to mention that Ilhan is dense? Didn't he say that he "likes" Liera way back after the 1st great cataclysm had occurred? Isn't that why he never looked towards Kang Mirae or Na Yuna as potential lovers, as his standards were very high? And then, he becomes dense towards love all of a sudden and doesn't know that Liera is infatuated with him. I'd assume that, after 1000 years spent on Earth and reading every book in the world, wouldn't he have read tons of Psychology books, self-help books, and love stories? He shouldn't be that s*upid.

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Spoiler

I, personally, never enjoyed the idea of an overpowered protagonist that then, later on, has characters that piggyback off of him. Mir is one such character. You're telling me that the amount of effort Yu Ilhan did was somewhat easily caught up with just because Mir is his "son"? Sure he had his little moments of effort which the author just threw in, but 90% of his strength was just passed down from his parents and it hardly seemed like he struggled at all, unlike Ilhan who struggled in the first 1000 years. And then you have his parents who had little to no presence in the novel and it already seems like Ilhan's 1000 year effort was, in fact, a "talent" inherited from his parents? It's like the author enjoys writing about the overpowered MC with the huge gap in levels compared to other characters yet is also desperate to play catch up with all his other characters.

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I enjoyed the elements of the story at the beginning but I think a lot of things could've been done at a better, moderate pace; the random comedy parts, the character reactions, or MC doing impossible things. Characters weren't too interesting as well. Overall, could've been a lot better, just wasn't my type of enjoyment. <<less
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traitorAIZEN
traitorAIZEN rated it
May 1, 2018
Status: afterword
A really good read. I got hooked immediately from the synopsis alone and from then on it never let me down. The MC's experience in the millenium of solitude, the worldbuilding, the characters, and the humor. I really enjoyed everything of it.

I like OP characters with very likeable personality, and the MC is not your bland JP novel character.

That harem tag really bothered me before reading this, but it wasn't as toxic as those JP harem. It's very mild really, and the MC is not that s*upid easily flustered kind... more>> that goes shy and scratches the back of his head (still looking at you generic JP protagonists).

And also the humor, I really loved it. The tsukomis are really funny especially with the angels and their mini angels war. I'd liken it to konosuba type of comedy, not exact as konosuba but the level is up there with it.

When there were times that I thought the plot will get boring and predictable, it suddenly hits me with a new concept/twist and just imagining the possibilities that can come from it gets me excited all over again. This kind of cycle throughout the story is what made it very enjoyable and never gets boring.

I really enjoyed this novel. Yes, it might lack tension even in the finale but that didn't really affect the overall enjoyment for me.
I very much recommed you read this novel. <<less
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Isaic
Isaic rated it
July 6, 2017
Status: c170
TLDR: Decent time-killer. One big plot hole.

This novel is completely average. Not bad, not good, but a decent time-killer.

It has a couple plot holes but nothing major, UNTIL right about where I stopped reading.

Minor Spoiler:... more>>
Spoiler

As the MC levels up it is REPEATEDLY stressed how leveling up isn't easy or quick. So the MC, who is way OP, spends lots of time solo killing beings with far higher levels than him to get to his current level. 2 entire worlds worth of beings! All while stressing that it is VERY difficult to level up.

Then his "Teammates", about 8 people who are far lower levels (and less skilled) than him, get stuck in another, weaker, world for a bit and catch up to the MC's level. All in about two chapters. So,

MC + (2 worlds exp) = approx. Lvl 180

while

Side char. + (1 worlds exp) /8 =approx. Lvl 170

All done in 2 days lol

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This side character power up is too blatant and superbly annoyed me. <<less
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Ararararagi-san
Ararararagi-san rated it
June 24, 2017
Status: c214
Usually not a big fan of Korean novels but what started out as a simple story that I would read when I was especially bored has blossomed into one of my favorite novels which I cannot wait for it to update. The story itself isn't overly complex basically the MC is the embodiment of grinding and he simply grows stronger and stronger and faces new enemies while collecting friends along the way simple right. As the story progresses you can see some world building going on and you start to... more>> get a feel for all of the characters. In conclusion though the story starts off a little mediocre it grows on you and the chapters have more than enough of both quality and quantity and to this day has great translation accuracy and frequency.

PS, from time to time the MC and co will will make anime references as well as funny self assessments of their own Op-ness making it not only cool but funny as well <<less
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pandicorn
pandicorn rated it
October 18, 2016
Status: c35
I honestly didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The story though had a very interesting new concept wasn't given the proper balance between the direction the story wanted to go. It felt like the author just decided on what the MC would do that morning and fleshed it out in the story in the evening. Pro's
- New concept

- I liked the author's reasoning for him to be OP but I thought the premise wasn't well used due to the simplistic power up system.

- A good translator

Con's
- Japanese MC, a bit of an airhead for me.

- No suspense factor, imo one of the main selling points of post-apocalyptic stories would be the mystery and suspense transitioning from a world of humanity to this savage environment accompanied by the mystery of what will happen next and finding out who screwed them up so bad. And though the story didn't follow that route, it didn't provide any sinkers and hooks to replace it.

- A bit of dessicated humor. The puns might be funnier in Korean but I didn't really get it. References feels forced as well.

All in all, it has that light hearted vrmmorpg novel feel actually. Its like somebody placed vrmmorpg, post apocalypse, Korean and Japanese MC's into a blender that that's what you get out of it. But overall, 4/5 would recommend to read because its not bad just not exceptional and its quite early on. I'll update the review once it reaches 100
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DekuHero
DekuHero rated it
October 11, 2022
Status: --
Came back after a long time because I wanted to re-read this story because it's just that good, but I came back to see a lot of negative reviews. I was shocked.

Then again it's not for everyone. This story is for those that like a good power fantasy and don't mind it to be occasionally slow reading. It's honestly one of my top 5 stories to read. If you saw the reviews and got discouraged from reading, please give it a try at least, it's worth it.
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Totally
Totally rated it
June 11, 2020
Status: c140
It was fun in the beginning. But now it just feels repetitive and it drags on and on with nothing really new.

First, who is this novel for? If you just want an OP MC, who pretty much never struggles with anything, a harem and a bit of comedy, then this novel is for you. You really need to turn your brain off to enjoy it though.

Everyone else really shouldn't read it. My biggest gripes are

    • MC never faces any problems (even though it is written that he may have a hard time fighting SOME people 100+ lvls above him, it certainly doesn't feel that way)
Mild spoiler examples:

Spoiler

During the 1000 year isolation the MC travels the world, reads every book, learns Martial Arts, learns every language and smithing BY HIMSELF.

He usually spends 100 - 300 years on one of those skills. Once the 1000 years are over the MC gets ridiculous skills because of that. He automatically understands every language. He becomes the best Blacksmith across all worlds (it's literally his title) within 50 chapters or so... In a universe with worlds full of elves, dragons, beastfolk and other high lvl beings, who can also be hundreds of years old, it is hard to believe how the MC gets all these amazing skills by learning them by himself for 100 years+ and no one else

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    • The women end up loving the MC for no reason. It just happens by spending time with him. Even for a harem novel it is bad IMO.
    • While the MC says he is no hero/saviour, the author clearly tries to portray the MC as such. Even when the MC acts villainous, the author tries to justify it by saying "SOME guys on the other side started the fight", so it's alright for the MC to kill everyone (directly AND indirectly).
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redexplosion
redexplosion rated it
May 19, 2020
Status: c348
Dont read it. Dont waste your time. Whenever I start reading a novel Ill read it till the end.

Yea I finished reading this and its a very agonizing struggle.

Dont even know how come its rank first when there are more better novels than this shit
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dorn
dorn rated it
August 8, 2017
Status: c200
This novel is currently a bit overrated because of a few reasons.

  1. A lot of people on here overly value comedy at the expense of story. This author often creates hilarious moments by having truly ridiculous circumstances pop up. There's no arguing that it's funny but the story has ends up as a sort of joke.
  2. The novel has an extremely strong start. The MC has a very unique reason for his OP strength. The circumstances of his growth are very good. Unfortunately later on the author just starts making it silly. The character stops growing through hard work and simply starts getting obscene powers via author gifting. The worst kind of deus ex machina.
  3. The author does have some interesting skills in writing about human emotions. It gives his characters depth. This depth ends up very jarring though because they exist in such a nonsensical environment.
Basically if you enjoy light novels that make things silly for the sake of laughs then jump in. If you're looking for a serious story then pass this one up.
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shylight
shylight rated it
April 24, 2017
Status: c141
Bland. If I had to describe this story in one word it'd be this one. Both characters and the story are bland. Not that well written either. Author tries to use a common "game mechanics" crutch to substitute for writing skill, consistency, logic, etc, but the result is the worst of such systems I've seen so far. The thick plot armour that MC possesses dispels any kind of tension.

All that said, it isn't a bad novel. It isn't a good one either. It certainly doesn't contain anything that would make... more>> me want to keep reading it, rather doing so feels more and more like a chore, hence 2 star rating and the story goes to the dropped list. <<less
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Sairony
Sairony rated it
January 9, 2017
Status: c77
It's 'decent' but not much more. MC is incredibly op, more so than any other novels I've read. Basically the majority of the novel can be summed up as: MC tries to do something which is 'impossible', but succeeds beyond the realms of possibility. Afterwards the two side kicks chimes in with their 'wow' commentary about how it should've been impossible.

This wouldn't have been bad if there was some other aspect of the novel which was awesome, but in my opinion there isn't really anything which sticks out. The comedic... more>> aspects aren't that great, in my opinion. The personalty of MC is incredibly boring, he kind of feels like your average JP MC in a lot of regards. Oblivious to the incredibly obvious fact that the girls are into him, so we all know jack sh*t is going to happen on that front. He's a reclusive loner, and so there's very few interactions between MC & others outside of his small party. Overall it's a cheeky power trip gamey fantasy novel with poor characters & everything landing in MCs lap. <<less
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Arafell
Arafell rated it
December 5, 2016
Status: c58
An interesting premise, but ultimately fails to deliver.

I thought it was funny that the MC was literally so unremarkable that God pass over him. The thousand years of grinding was pretty cool, and appealed to my shut in sensibilities. Imagine what you could do if someone gave you 1000 years of internet access? Most likely play a lot of single player games, then get really bored and start dressing up mannequins. Luckily, our MC is inhumanely tolerant of being alone.

After the first few chapters, the quality goes downhill. MC uses... more>> his Presence Concealment EX to make every fight as dull as possible. The series lacks any real direction, possibly from missing any real antagonist. Occasionally, he'll fight a tough monster, but that'll be all. There was an interesting bit where they theorized that the monsters were far stronger than they should be due to an extra thousand years of mana mutation, but all that's happened from it is more chances to show off how OP the MC is. <<less
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Teunayven
Teunayven rated it
November 4, 2016
Status: c51
This story is amusing as hell. One of my favorite MC's and I really like the authors mind set. The ideology of the author, that I gather, is that as long as you put your mind to something and work at it you can succeed. The MC shows this the most. All of his skill and power are attained not through talent, gifts, or luck. They are achieved through hard work and sheer force of will. There is also a slightly tragic tinge to the MC's mind set which makes... more>> him even more interesting to me personally. It is not uncommon to see MC's that have strong force of will to attain some goal they hold dear. It is a bit weird that this MC developed his iron will as a defense mechanism against insanity.

I have seen some complaints about the MC's personality, but it makes perfect sense to me why he the way he is. He has lived most of his life alone and as an outsider. Estranged from other people so much that others can barely recognize his presence. He desperately wants social connection but has absolutely no clue how to get it. It is not a contradiction that he doesn't reach out to the people or accept those who try to get close to him. Its his natural defense mechanism. It feels far safer to continue being on your own, especially when you have always been an outcast, because it is what you know. The pain of accepting the hand reached out to and finding out it is a joke or a lie hurts much worse than refusing that hand yourself.

I would also say that it is not that amazing for a loner to be really weirded out when you go from completely ignored to being good at something and everyone suddenly wants to be your friend. After that happens I would be more amazed if he did open up to them.

I really enjoy the authors weapons choices. He pulls from some fairly esoteric but amusing items to have the MC wield. The battle scenes are awesome as well. The detail and the viciousness of the fights is too much fun. The MC's fighting style is also pretty amusing and brutal. He goes for any vital area he can reach which often time means the eyes to try and get to the brain.

There are some complaints that the MC is too OP, but to me it is power he has made for himself. Everything he has was achieved through his hard work and effort. He even has a handicap that the rest of the people of earth aren't dealing with, but still has managed to prepare and focus his strength. He has managed to fight and kill stronger enemies more often thanks to his precise judgment rather than his overall strength. I think people see him as OP because he has so meticulously prepared for his fights. He constructs weapons and strategies to hinder his foes. He also observes their movements and abilities before striking at the most opportune time. Some call it cowardice, but the world has become law of the jungle the one who lives wins. There is no need for honor in battles where your opponents are desperately trying to take your and other peoples lives.

For the actual story there is definitely something happening underneath the surface. The MC is mostly desperately trying to get stronger just to survive in the crazy changing world while sh*t is going off the rails of God's plan. I love how the Author kind of inverts the MC is transported to a different world by having everyone BUT the MC transported to different worlds, lol. There are a lot of interesting subversion to expectations that I find really amusing in the authors style. The banter between the MC and others has an interesting silliness to it where they sometimes comment on foreshadowing of different things. I could understand how some might find that pretentious but I would suggest giving it a shot. The story is worth it and not like anything I've read before.

All in all, I strongly suggest giving the story a try. I realize that I am pretty predisposed to it since the Author seems to share my overall philosophy that humanity can do anything as long as we keep working at it. I also like the somewhat tragic aspects of the MC that are mixed in. This gives the MC an interesting depth I don't see often in other stories. <<less
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Brasdf
Brasdf rated it
March 12, 2023
Status: c152
I'm writing this months after I dropped the series while I still remember something as a note to myself. Maybe this genre is not for me, but it becomes a slog. The following rant works for most of this genre.

I don't care about his exceedingly predictable journey to be the strongest blabla ever. There is no clever logic here and the battles aren't fun. The way he advances isn't interesting, he sort of just grinds. Amazing, I'm sure no one thought about that before. Maybe he is the best at... more>> it, but why should I care? And why is he the best at it ?

This is what kills me. I don't feel like there is any justification for him to overcome his limited human self. At first I believed the novel was a parody, but it turned serious. So disregarding the ridiculousness as a plot device, there is no justification for him to be able to grind better than anyone ever in the universe. It is just his in-born super power, grinding. This is basically the same as just starting with the power since he doesn't undergo actual growth in character. Actual character I mean, his character stats go through the roof, I'm sure; The excitement...

So fine, he is the most powerful and bestest and he grows to be the most beautiful (at some point, can't remember if it actually happened already), I don't care. He is boring, his multiple love interests are boring. There are no actual emotional stakes. His random
Spoiler

dragon child

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is boring. As a human, I'm not sure I want him to be as powerful as he is, he cares about 10 people maybe and in a childish emotionally stunted way. This is fine for normal people, but horrible when you have almost god like power. He is a boring anti-hero who is an anti-hero due to apathy and lack of depth. There is nothing heroic or inspiring here.

Can you imagine having the power to kill or save millions or even billions of beings every day and just not caring ? Not thinking about it at all ? It boggles the mind. Even Spiderman thinks and struggles with the relationship between power and responsibility and has like 1/1000 of the power of the MCs in these stories. If your novel isn't even close to the moral and intellectual pillar that is Spiderman maybe it shouldn't be this freaking long, okay ?

There is also something to be said about the most powerful being on earth not being able to say to a girl he likes her or acknowledge it to himself or even normally reject a good looking girl. This is a problem, okay ? I'm not fine with this and it doesn't make sense. There is no way a person with so little courage and self awareness can be seriously taken as the best humanity has to offer. <<less
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