Surviving a Harsh Fantasy with Cheat Items

Description

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This is the story about a bashful and inconspicuous high schooler surviving a harsh fantasy world with valor and a minimal amount of wisdom.

The person himself apparently aims to become a hero, however, unfortunately for him, he possesses no swordsmanship or talent for magic.

The only thing he can count on is his half-hearted knowledge he acquired previously from modern Japan. Now, in order to survive, he’s forced to convert that knowledge of his into money.

While doing so, the main protagonist will rise into becoming a secretary assistant, trade company owner who manages s*ave girls, knight, and a hero.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Kokugensou wo Item Cheat de Ikinuku
酷幻想をアイテムチートで生き抜く
Related Series
Kokugensou wo Item Cheat de Ikinuku (LN) (Light Novel)
Recommendations
Gun-ota ga Mahou Sekai ni Tensei Shitara, Gendai Heiki de Guntai Harem o Tsukucchaimashita!? (1)
Maoyuu Maou Yuusha (1)
Modern Weapons Cheat in Another World (1)
Seiun wo Kakeru (1)
Sevens (1)
Takarakuji de 40-oku Atattandakedo Isekai ni Ijuu Suru (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. My list (Average-looking Protagonist)
  2. My collection#2
  3. Favourite WNs
  4. Favorite Novels
  5. fanservice

Latest Release

Date Group Release
05/27/22 SHMTrans c111 part3
05/26/22 SHMTrans c111 part2
05/25/22 SHMTrans c111 part1
05/22/22 SHMTrans c110 part2
05/20/22 SHMTrans c110 part1
05/19/22 SHMTrans c109 part2
05/18/22 SHMTrans c109 part1
05/15/22 SHMTrans c108 part2
05/13/22 SHMTrans c108 part1
05/12/22 SHMTrans c107 part4
05/11/22 SHMTrans c107 part3
05/10/22 SHMTrans c107 part2
05/09/22 SHMTrans c107 part1
05/08/22 SHMTrans c106 part3
05/07/22 SHMTrans c106 part2
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15 Reviews sorted by


Felix3D
Felix3D rated it
May 12, 2016
Status: c58
The premise is very interesting. It's a slower-developing "build items" kind of story, like Ascendence of Bookworm, and so on. However, it is marred by illogical developments and a forced sense of "Maturity" and "Darkness" that are neither justified nor earned, leading to mood whiplash. Truly, as an earlier reviewer noted, "Too Convenient" can be applied to the novel as a whole. But more accurately "Societal Idiot Ball" - somehow prerequisite tech has been ignored for centuries when analogous developments have flourished. The characters are two-dimensional, and the situations come... more>> off as extremely contrived.

Nobody really has agency, not even the MC, as the Author excessively railroads things in order to get things done. Very little character development happens at all, and even "Situation development", (i.e. like the reaction shots in I Am a Superstar or the "effects on the surroundings summaries" that we get in other novels, like DeathMarch's interludes/intermissions/sidestories) tend to not happen at all.

The premise is still interesting, and the protag isn't some sort of giant d*ck and is inherently portrayed as fallible.

It is a refreshing take that is not that ecchi or gore-focused, but unfortunately the author's naivete, ignorance, and general lack of experience shine through...

It's not good. The idea behind it is though. And maybe it'll get stronger as we go on... but at the same time, the inherent japanese-ness of the writing is getting in the way of a good story.

This story is basically just author fantasy perversion realization. It's just a p*rn fic masquerading as an R-15 story. The author's goal with this story is not to tell a story but to make situations for Ecchi.

No longer relevant -
Spoiler

And this is all before we get to the Translator, ukel2x - DO NOT READ THIS ON HIS SITE. He has clearly decided to milk his translations with malware installing ads! Multiple PAGELOADS with multiple ads, including 3 phishing style ones, 1 drive by download, and a few pop ups (in window pop ups too) to top it all off.

Oh yeah he also as "Block Adblock" on, so you'll have to slug through this hazardous mire.

DO NOT VISIT ON MOBILE. Your browser may crash and it is very likely that things will be downloaded without your permission, leading to serious problems if your phone is Rooted or flashed with custom ROMS.

Edit: He has removed "block adblock" and has dialed back on the redirects and ads, though bad ones are still there. I no longer consider it hazardous to normal browsing

Edit (referring to Ukel2x) : This series has been dropped, because, "I just saw in Novelupdate that RE:trans are translating this series and they already posted the prolouge. Since they are more accurate in translation I think I have to give up this one and also there are 6 people working on that project, so maybe they can update faster.

So to show respect to their Work I decided dropping Kokugensou. below is the link to their TL-site." (sic)

[collapse]

Edit: Update for Ch 58

Um... it's just in like a literary holding pattern, sort of like how slice of life series seems to be at times. There's no real conflict, no real driving force anymore. The Protagonist is almost completely passive and even when people/the author says he does something it's... so hollow. It's like "press F to win at game" but in written form. <<less
62 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Weedisdaboss
Weedisdaboss rated it
April 18, 2016
Status: --
He got powned for thinking he was a hero, so that was fun, give it a try, he is even changing the world, so mutch better than other MC`s that only do adventure jobs and all that... btw this story is filled with PLOT :)
15 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
pomoli
pomoli rated it
October 14, 2017
Status: c10
Meh, too much plot holes, too much nonsense. It could have been awesome, instead it's just below average.

Dropped.

Pro

  • The idea of a transported story without an overpowered hero is good. At least that way modern knowledge is used, instead of being forgotten after one chapter like I see in most stories.
  • Pretty illustrations.
  • Long chapters.
  • Pretty ladies but not a ton of ecchi content ruining the plot. At least not in the beginning.
  • Not a fan of slightly pe*vert MC, but he's not a huge one, so it's still bearable.
  • Translation is OK. No Japanese words kept because they are "cool" like I see sometimes, making it a cringe fest to read. Only honorific titles are left, and that is acceptable.
Con

  • The MC is WAY too carefree: he's transported to another world, nearly dies because of his s*upidity, but no anxiety, everything is alright...
  • Side characters are too open about him not being from there. They accept it just like that. No one is bothered that a totally literate stranger appears like this in a random village? Come on...
  • Side characters lack personality and revolve too quickly around the MC. It's like they were waiting for him or something.
  • Business and people reaction are weird.
    Spoiler

    For example, Lyle helped the MC to make bombs without asking for anything in return, and after that always being with him in his business. Or the MC negotiation skills being non-existant. Or the Earl they see in Est being super polite with someone who is basically a nobody.

    [collapse]
  • Huge plot holes, especially in how he creates his inventions. I mean,
    Spoiler

    there are bombs, and he is able to create them just like that. No explanations. Last time I checked, even an engineer would find that super difficult without any prior base industry to lean on. And also, NO ONE thinks this is great for wars? And outside of that: gunpowder is invented, but no one cares until he does something with it???

    [collapse]
  • The exchange rate between Japanese yen and this world currency is dumb. No exchange of goods, no exchange rate, economy 101.
10 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
wait321
wait321 rated it
December 3, 2017
Status: c18
This is the typical non-realistic Japanese kid's story that I see a lot. Guy goes to a completely different world and becomes super successful without really having to (or even wanting to) do anything. It's a super relaxed atmosphere because the hero never wants anything except to live a peaceful life. He's surrounded by gorgeous women and he tries to stay celibate. He waits for enemies to attack him, never tries to exploit opportunities himself, and just does whatever. Kind of a 'slice of life' story with a fantasy setting.... more>> Extremely boring. <<less
9 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
hellogarry
hellogarry rated it
June 24, 2017
Status: c16
The story's plot is promising but sadly there was way too much plot holes. I love how he is a powerless MC instead he use his brain and created a company but sadly that was the flaw. For example creating the gun and cannon have gone way too smooth.

... more>>
Spoiler

Create Blueprint > Send to Blacksmith > Get Guns and Cannon > Kill enemies.

[collapse]

The author didn't even tried to make it difficult. He was an ordinary high school otaku, even with knowledge from his excessive research, and skilled blacksmith helping him, it's impossible for a gun and cannon to be created in merely few days without any problems. And he even used it already on actual combat. You do realize that guns and cannons can explode in your face if there is even a small defect.

Duke Daughter was the same BUT it took her half a year and more of research (base from the timeline of the story) before releasing her products and she have teams of researcher perfect it.

It would be more realistic if the author made a more "realistic" timeline for creating his products. I can let the harem being way too convenient aside since most story nowadays are like that anyway.

Additionally.
Spoiler

Losgow to Est is 9 days and Losgow to the Capital is 4 days. What the heck? It might be TL problems or maybe the source I got was old but if this way real then it's really s*upid. I mean it takes few days from Est to Losgow but Lyle got the guns way too quickly. The travel back and forth would take 18 days in total and with those number of days the monster army of 200 can already move out.

Plus Lyle alone traveled from Est to Losgow and back to Est with all those monsters rampaging. Plain s*upid to be honest.

[collapse]

The antagonist are way too s*upid.

Spoiler

Aside from the brainless monsters.

The noble knights are prideful but seriously the author made them way too s*upid just to glorify the MC. It was done way too openly so there was no thrill to it.

[collapse]

Finally the MC is getting in my nerve.

Spoiler

For some reasons he is getting in my nerve. Who the heck call themselves 'kind'.

[collapse]

This fantasy world is not at all HARSH to him. It is way too KIND to him to be honest. The only hardship he got is getting bitten by dogs so far.

I'm still in the beginning of the story so it might get better hopefully though. <<less
9 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
slay_mithos
slay_mithos
May 24, 2018
Status: --
Yet another of those stories where they make higher tech items than what exists in that world without ever having to deal with failure and large amounts of testing.

They make gunpowder sound like "just mix this and that and you have gunpowder".

It's also funny how Japanese authors tend to forget that they compare Europeans dark ages (the stagnant part of the middle ages where technology barely had a chance to evolve) with the period they had right before they met the American fleet, which are quite a few years appart.
Obviously, the result is that japan had significantly more advanced technology (fairly high-end steel forging, cesspools, agriculture and so on).

The... more>> worst part of this story is that the main character is just the "idea guy", ideas pop out of nowhere (the author even admits it by writing things like "somehow ideas came out one after the other"), and it just so happens that there are very skilled people around that are capable of not only financing but also figuring out and making what he thinks off.

It would have been better if at least the first few things would have been things he made himself to make his farm work easier, or if he had to really work hard to convince people to help him with funds and workforce, but all of that is solved by a convenient noble-ish person that has too much time, money and curiosity.

As a comparison, take "ascendance of the bookworm", the story is really slow paced, but the thing I want to point out from that story is that the main character has to do all of the prep work and come up with a working proof of concept before it has any chance of being accepted and funded.

I am not saying that the story is something to throw away, but it's just one of those fairly basic ones that you only read when you have nothing better and need to waste a bit of time. <<less
6 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Aho555
Aho555 rated it
November 22, 2017
Status: c29
It's not great. Lacks depth, very cartoony in it's characterization and plot development. I wanted to like this because the LN illustrations are really nice and would have made it very easy to picture the characters. The translator very helpfully inserted pics relevant to the chapters too. Alas, even the translation doesn't help in enjoying the story. It was fine up to around chapter 20, then suddenly became almost complete machine translation. Come on, you can't differentiate words with double meanings like "lick" (lick/underestimate) or "sweet" (sweet/naive) ??
5 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Chaosrune
Chaosrune rated it
February 11, 2022
Status: c25
Classic isekai jp novel, with an every beta jp MC than usual, and worse explanation for the sudden creation of modern stuff like guns.

Characters are at best one dimensional, with little to no character development for even the main cast
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Otiina
Otiina rated it
March 18, 2018
Status: c38
Started out pretty good and I had high hopes for this series. The weak protagonist and the fact that the backstory for some of the inventions were glossed over wasn't something that negatively affected the story. The slaving girls only thing and 12 being the right age for something or the other was weird and the affection between the s*aves and the MCs were forced but it felt like a nice slice of life kind of story.

There are some huge plotholes though and the middle chapters feels like things happen... more>> because the author thought they should happen. There is no rhyme or reason for a lot of the plot developments. <<less
3 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Amithvishal
Amithvishal rated it
January 6, 2019
Status: c23
The story outline was good.... but author didn't put much into world development. When science and magic is introduced together it's important to explain mechanism on which world revolves. ... more>>
Spoiler
[collapse]
In world where magicians are hard to come by which idiotic king would allow a new invention like gun which can be used pretty much by anyone with little training? To boot it up, magiacians are scarse to come by.

Oneof chapters general stated that guns and cannon could be washed away with water magic? Wtf! Can u imagine a span of battlefield getting washed with water with few magicians?

Negotiationsas a merchant?nil!

Which idiotic general would allow some barely unknown girl to barge in and alter military command line? In military, hierarchy is bloodline for efficient management.

Andmore even during medieval period france, Italy, Poland, south east asian countries, Persians every1 had thier own sophisticated food cuisines.

This story is nothing but jargon of author's wishes. Btw his writing style is even crappier. I cannot find a spec of character development, principles, world development/movements, individuality of sub-characters, narrative style, action & consequences like in Arifureta, shield hero, overlord, ISSTH, Altina, invincible saint. Dammit this was huge waste of time. <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
firedrake110
firedrake110 rated it
November 1, 2017
Status: c8
All the chapters from hachidori translations' wordpress site suddenly went private, so chapters 1-18 have poofed. RIP anyone that was planning on starting this post-October 2017.

Apart from that, it's a fun time. The guy is given a harsh wake-up call after making a fool of himself and nearly being eaten alive by wolf/dog monsters right out the gate, and from then on understands he's not meant for the harsh life of adventuring or hacking away with a sword in combat. Makes good use of his practical chemistry knowledge, handle on... more>> basic arithmetic, and layman's understanding of several different industries (i.e. mining is easier to do with explosives than with just raw manpower, selling simple detergent to commoners will get you tons of business, meaning immediate capital, etc...).

That people being summoned into that world has established precedent makes it easy for him to get by, without being dragged off and hung/burnt/drafted by the local royalty. The handy sidekick of alchemist/scholar sensei is a little too convenient, but it lets the plot take off much more quickly than it would otherwise, so I'm not faulting it. The first meaningful companion/acquaintance being a notable figure from the royal capital out in the countryside due to plot contrivances is a little less reasonable... But the girls he gets to help out with his business are all adorable, so it's all good! Yay for lots of fun/cute characters <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
rusticsoldier
rusticsoldier
September 6, 2017
Status: c42
I read to here... I like the ideal the MC not great. The plot holes are large. Things go way to smoothly.

I cought up to 42 awhile back... and never even thought about checking up on new chapters. I had forgotten I had this story in my read file. So when I looked up the title I was like.... ah kinda remember it but not really so I had to re read chp 40, 41 and 42 before I was saying mehhh there more chapters to read but im not... more>> even interested that much.

Its an barely okay story.. there are worse out there. And there are some that are much better. <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Adastria Lillith
elhessan rated it
August 30, 2017
Status: c51
Good premise, don't know what they mean by cheat items though, average of everything, inconsistent MC growth (when you thought the MC has grown, you will find yourself disappointed) three stars because of average.
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Zeikfried
Zeikfried rated it
June 19, 2017
Status: c31
Like others have stated, the story started off strong with a great premise. It was nice to begin in an idyllic setting without the inherent McGuffins to drive the plot along. It was nice to see a protagonist trundle along, hefting his britches, and working his ass off like anyone of us normal plebs.

However, this story falls back onto track of light novel tropes very quickly. You'll see 2 dimensional villains, cavalcades of lolis, hot spring gags, and easy answers to hard questions. I imagine anyone interested in technology/industrialization, genuine... more>> romance, or even action will be disappointed in the long run. <<less
1 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Dobber1k
Dobber1k rated it
August 4, 2022
Status: c15
What even is this story? It's ridiculous. It spends so much time in the weirdest places. Delusions. Internal dialogue about idiotic thoughts. Or hitting on men? Like constantly. Complaining about not wanting to be labeled a lolicon but staring down the same loli's with impure or sadistic thoughts.

He's redundant and says conflicting things often. The characters too. After about chapter 5 they just show up don't do anything significant and then have this larger role after making them back ground mobs. Also they become super aggressive. Or talking about... more>> something in the plot getting deeper where you're interested, but it's resolved in the next paragraph with little to no explanation. I've been waiting for 2 chapters to figure out where a missing adventurer went.

Or he the author made it super ominous that the dwarf is missing but she is back in a paragraph with nothing. She was just working. But the MC was worried, and asking about her whereabouts and what she's doing. So much emphasis on dragging out a chapter. Also the MC is naive, dumb borderline deserves to be evaluated. Reads all kinds of books wanting to know all these topics but is not able to execute or think in the least bit. I read the tags but there's a limit to how underprepared someone can be right? Someone gives him some strong plot armor just to survive even. He doesn't stand up for anyone and takes a b*tchmade mentality on seeing others suffer or being a coward when it comes time to stand his ground. I'm sure it'll change it always does but... you'll lose your readers interest before any of that happens. He cowers before "stronger" people and shys away from praise but begs for it. Redundant. Be a hero? Yea try being a proper man first.

Also what is his f*ckING OBSESSION WITH A GODDAMN DRAGON COMING OUT OF THE MIASMA HOLE?! is this foreshadowing?! f*cking do it already or dont <<less
0 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
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