The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor

Description

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The man forsaken by the world, the man a s*ave to money and the man known as the legendary God of War in the highly popular MMORPG Continent of Magic. With the coming of age, he decides to say goodbye, but the feeble attempt to earn a little something for his time and effort ripples into an effect none could ever have imagined.

Through a series of coincidences, his legendary avatar is sold for 3 billion won, bringing great joy to him, only to plunge him into despair at losing almost all of it to vicious loan sharks. With revelation of money through gaming, he rises from the abyss with new found resolve and steps forward into the new age of games led by the first ever Virtual Reality MMORPG, Royal Road.

This is the legend of Lee Hyun on his path to becoming Emperor with only his family’s loving heart, his boundless desire for money, his unexpected mind, his diligently forged body and the talent of hard work backing him.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Dalbic Jogaksa
LMS
ปฏิมากรแสงจันทร์
달빛조각사
Related Series
The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor: Dad is a Legend (Sequel)
Recommendations
Ark (21)
Emperor of Solo Play (18)
Overgeared (13)
Ark The Legend (10)
Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed The World (9)
Shura’s Wrath (9)
Recommendation Lists
  1. enjoyed my time
  2. Good novels adapted to webtoon
  3. For the chuunibyou guy inside us all: male centric...
  4. BL books that kind of elevate
  5. Action-Cultivation-Fantasy

Latest Release

Date Group Release
11/24/21 LMSnovel spinoff 3
11/17/21 LMSnovel spinoff 2
11/17/21 LMSnovel spinoff 1
11/06/21 LMSnovel v58c8 part5
11/04/21 LMSnovel v58c8 part4
11/04/21 LMSnovel v58c8 part3
10/21/21 LMSnovel v58c8 part2
10/21/21 LMSnovel v58c8 part1
10/11/21 LMSnovel v58c7 part3
10/11/21 LMSnovel v58c7 part2
10/01/21 LMSnovel v58c7 part1
09/26/21 LMSnovel v58c6 part3
09/26/21 LMSnovel v58c6 part2
09/16/21 LMSnovel v58c6 part1
09/15/21 LMSnovel v58c5 part3
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Review
193 Reviews


hero
hero
Sep 24, 2016
Status: v44c6
For the first 15-20 volumes, I give this novel a 4.5/5. For the rest of the novel though, I can only give it a 3/5. Read below for the reason for my initially high rating and the reasons why it dropped. Beware of some spoilers.

For the first 15 to 20 volumes of this novel, it could be have been considered to be a masterpiece. It was filled with pretty interesting characters, classes, quests and stories. It also had a good number of funny moments. Most importantly though, it contained... more>> plenty of EPIC moments. The epic moments were done so well that despite reading a lot of CN / KR / JP novels, this novel still, hands down, has the best war scenes.

I think pretty much everyone who has read the earlier chapters agree with that statement.

Past 20-ish chapters though, the problems regarding the novel / author could easily be seen. The same jokes regarding the Geomchi's are repeated. The same descriptions of how greedy / selfish Weed is used, except for some minor changes. Descriptions are noticeably drawn out and the lack of thought in it's writing / execution could be felt. It's like the author lost the direction he wanted to go with which led to him having to draw out the chapters / volumes. This is something that happens to almost all web novels though so I guess it's not too surprising.

The main problem from where all the problems stems from for me is the fact that... the main character has ALMOST NO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. In this novel, we have a female character who, due to being traumatized, was unable to get close to other people, much less talk to them. At the 20th volume of this novel, she has learned to talk to the people she found trustworthy and was able to get a job and earn. She developed THAT MUCH in the span of 20 volumes. However, if you look at the main character, Weed, he's almost exactly the same person he was when he was "poor". His greed and selfishness was caused by how poor he was during his youth and how he had to work very hard in order to provide for his sister and grandmother. In the 20th volume, he's already earning MILLIONS every month yet he is still almost the exact same person he was during the first volume. This is one of the reasons as to why everything just seems keep repeating. Hell, even the Geomchis who are simple-minded and "ignorant" and who used to just fight without relying in skills have learned to use skills, do quests, and manage their stats.

I dropped this novel before by around the 30th volume, however, I decided to re-read everything from the very beginning since I had some very good memories reading this novel (the epic moments I stated earlier in particular). That being said, I still can't get past the 35th volume despite trying to force myself to read it. At one point I just kept wishing for Seo-yoon to realize how much of an as*hole Weed is and dump him. (I mean, at one point she helps Weed with a quest which lasts months. During said quest, Weed realizes that he hasn't given Seoyoon a gift as thanks, so he decides to give him jewelry. Why? Because the jewelry was going to disappear anyway after the quest. It was even specifically stated that he prepared a speech and all just in case she rejected the gift.) It doesn't even have to be Seo-yoon realizing what Weed is. It can be Weed getting betrayed by his "people" / living sculptures for his mistreatment, or his friends deciding to ignore him for always trying to use them whenever he needed. Seriously, I'm fine with anything. I just hope that SOMETHING HAPPENS THAT FORCES HIM TO DEVELOP. The sad thing though is that it looks like he doesn't really change even up to the most recent chapters (according to the other reviews).

Lastly, I personally find it annoying how Weed keeps complaining about his class being weak. The class which the first Emperor, who united the contintent, had. He is able to solo quests which other classes would find impossible yet somehow, the complaints never stop. However, I know that this is pretty much normal in most novels, despite how cheat-like the class / ability / treasure the main character acquires is.

I might seem to be overly critical but don't get me wrong, it's because I loved this novel. Hell, I've dropped tons of other novels because it was getting repetitive and never looked back. Yet, for this novel, I tried to force myself to read it again.

It's always sad to drop a novel because of how repetitive / grating it has become to read. Sadly, it's reached the point where, for me, LMS just isn't worth reading anymore. <<less
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Mikleo
Mikleo
Jun 08, 2016
Status: --
First of all, this is literally the greatest LN out there. I read tons, but yeah, this is my favorite by far.

If you're looking for a Story like this:

1) Self- Righteous MC
that doesn't do any Bad at all, in the view of the people, no matter how a douche he is (like so many novels out there).

2) Doesn't have too many Side Characters
because hey, Side Characters are irrelevant, right? They're only there to... more>> 'Vomit Blood' whenever an MC disses them because the MC is OP as hell every god damn time.

3) Focuses on Harem genre
where the females literally want to bed him everywhere he goes.

4) A Suddenly OP MC
contrary to popular belief, if you really read the novel and not just skim past it, you will know that he is NOT a Suddenly OP MC. He conditioned his mind and body for one whole year before entering the game. His grinding is just in another level compared to every other players, or MCs out there, that's why he got so strong. And, honestly, you will see a LOT of grinding when you read this novel.

Like, he's grinding every chapter.

So, No, he is not a Suddenly OP MC that Suddenly obtained an extraordinary power out of nowhere without doing anything.

If you like those kinds of story, then this story is Definitely NOT for you. Don't even bother reading it, less you'll just send out a negative review.

On the other hand...

In this Novel, you will find:

1) A Greedy, Traumatized but Funny MC
that focuses on obtaining money because he's literally the breadwinner in their family. What's so psychopathic about that? The MC experienced getting harassed by loan sharks in school, not being able to eat and helplessly watched his little sister cry because she's hungry, quitting school so that he could support his family so that his little sister and his grandma can eat. Is it really psychopathic when someone is obsessed in obtaining money so that he could support his Family? If that's your version in the term 'Psychopath', then there will be a LOT of Psychopaths in the world.

Every MC has a quirk, in this case, Weed is obsessed in obtaining money because he was traumatized by his past experiences. The MC is actually quite caring when it comes to his family.

2) An MC that doesn't like 'Romance'
because having a girlfriend is expensive in his opinion, so don't even bother reading this if you want to read a romance-based novel. Who cares if his sister claimed that someone is a perfect match for the MC? Is her sister the MC? Is the MC obliged to be with a 'perfect match'? And Yes, the MC has a 'clue' about the ones who likes him. He just plain doesn't like them romantically. He's not the usual Oblivious MC. Again, you'll know that if you didn't just skim over the chapters.

However, he does get a girlfriend in the end. Weed is simply quite obsessed with her, even if he doesn't realize it himself most of the time. And vice-versa.

Spoiler

The Badass Queen Seoyoon is his girlfriend. Even before they fell in love with each other, Weed is already quite obsessed with her. He admitted that she's the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen. Heck, from all the sculptures he made, Seoyoon has to be the one he most sculpted about. But, yeah, they will only officially get together around Volume 39. So, if you're looking for a Romance-based novel, this is not for you.

[collapse]

3) A Lot of Side Characters
and not just those who 'Vomits Blood' whenever the MC disses them, but also a bunch of interesting characters that makes the overall awesomeness of this novel. They're not just Cannon Fodders (though the Grass Porridge Army PROUDLY considered themselves as Cannon Fodders, LOL!), but they're also interesting in their own ways.

I love the side characters, the author presented them in a way that the MC is NOT the only one who can shape the Versailles Continent. Other people can do it too. Basically, the MC is not the only relevant character out there.

4) VRMMO Elements to the MAX
Yup, unlike other popular VRMMO novel that focused mainly on romance, this novel certainly incorporates and even focuses on the VRMMO aspects. This is one of the main reasons why I love this novel.

I normally don't like to Compare Novels with Other Novels. But it just irritates me that others says tr*sh about this Novel because they prefer Other Novels. So, yeah, this is my backtalk to all those other reviewers. And yes, I know I'm a goddamn hypocrite. Who cares?

Anyways, that's all I can think for now. If you're looking for a good novel to read, definitely try this out. It's been an enjoyable ride thus far. <<less
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Alexander Valdimir
Alexander Va
Feb 13, 2018
Status: v49
I readied up towards Rainbow Turtle translation when I was in the Central African Republic with french marines a while back. I decided to write a review since when reading other VRMMORPG novels, it never gave me that same feeling when I first Readied LMS. I edit this review after rereading the novel again and I decided to leave it at a five star since its one of my first novels however its more incline too a 4 star.

It's not Per SE that LMS is a masterpiece, sure you could... more>> easily find some mistake then and there. However naturally it gave me a enjoyment that couldn't be compared to any other novel in the genre out there. While I may readied few, I know that LMS gives this Allure incomparable to the others. It's only when I thought about it was when I realized that LMS that stood out from all the other VRMMORPG out there. Was Due to the fact that it barely stood with them, It could barely be considered in the same genre. Most novels in this genre I readied, makes it more incline towards Esport. Yes LMS has plenty of MMORPG mechanics as you expect from one. Although IF LMS Author was too put the Royal Road World in another way. Such as everyone was able to enter Royal Road through a dimensional rift, it held the same mechanics, world and somehow nobody dies realistically in that world. Then I could easily believed that much wouldn't changed in this novel. The Author PUT it in a way too which he uses The Virtual Reality as a gateway to a fantasy world making it a setting. Others uses The Virtual Reality as their setting, and while obviously they contain A fantasy setting. They differ in that they don't used the Fantasy world Predominantly as how LMS does it, its more per se like something for the background. You could easily see it as a Traditional Fantasy World Adventure novel, and completely disregard the Virtual Reality aspect at all. Since you don't see much action in the Real World.

I also feel I should mention some other quirks to the novel which made LMS stand so strong in Korea and in this community. The adventure, cannot be understated, it such a grand journey, it would be surreal if anyone done such a arduous journey. Every journey had readers and myself immersive in such a amazing journey. The sculpture in the novels gives a final touch during each end of a journey representing how we would picture when we only readied it in words. The culture that obviously developed due to the fandom of this novel, from The Porridge family. Made the people who readied and enjoyed it will always remember such a fantastic novel. Brought a continuous community that naturally supported the author to still make the same novel since 2007 since it never gets old.

The running gag of this novel, Weed Obviously Greedy nature, naturally some people hates it since it never changes. While he obviously simmered down from Vol. 1, it still persist. While I may say that "Well Its a running gag, a lot of novel uses too so you shouldn't be too surprised.". I don't know about you but I prefer that he hasn't changed that much by his personality. He gained some traits such as his hard working nature but I Am Glad That HE Hasn't Changed that Greedy Son of a bit*h Personality from Day 1. If he was changed towards something such as, giving more damn about his kingdom and perhaps being more serious in waging war against the Empire. For me while it gives maybe a good kingdom building novel, it loses it one very good value, Adventure. It becomes more Esport nature similar towards the other novel in the genre. Since now he cares about his kingdom, there will be more interaction in the real world, I assured You. And then... Who Knows? While he'll still adventure, it wouldn't be as romanticized for how he done it by not giving a damn. The running gags isn't horrendous in it itself, You'll get a laughed if you haven't readied a lot of greedy MC. Some people merely feel its tiring at the running gag. Don't Know About You though, I quite enjoyed the running gag. The Gag is never towards the point of annoying you, in actuality its quite refreshing. While in obviously certain instances, when the gag is certainly going to be used, like taking every damn thing no matter what his doing. The author had made ways in which he uses it different, such as finding many ways to be a amazing Merchant.

Pros and con after rereading the novel again;

The value of money in the novel could get quite ridiculous at times. The perfect example I could think of is the economy and real world trading of Royal Road. Many unique items that are auction off apparently only sells for a few hundred dollars on the high end. Which is preposterous if you considered that if the whole world is playing this game. Which I can imagine there are many wealthy typhoon that are willing to spend thousands of dollar without batting a eye. This may have to be due to the author lacking the knowledge on the Gaming Industry or perceiving the value of won too greatly. The former would be reasonable since if the author doesn't know that Streamers and Pro Players in our world can make millions annually. Then he wouldn't understand how explosive the Gaming Industry has become. The later is simply really a difference in economics understanding on currency. You see A lot of times the authors state a million won or a billion to overwhelm the Readers. However translating that into USD and its only 888.2 and 888, 195 respectively. Best example (Potentially a typo) of this was when Seo yoon show her purse after riding the bus for the first time with Weed. It was a row of Black cards which state that you need a income of a million won annually to receive one......

One more thing I gotta say which is how Rich Weed would be. Not sure if the author realizes this or not but Weed could be making upwards annually of hundreds and potentially of a billion or two USD. From all the profit coming from trademarking his sculptors, profits from streams, advertis**ent revenue, revenue from hall of fame, and etc. You have to remember that the whole world plays the game, potentially upwards of a few billion. And when you're the most authoritative power in such a game, to the extent that practically every humans have heard of your existence with such a loyal fanbase among them. He would be one of the most authoritative voice in the world listing at least in the top ten. Imagine that, someone who entertains holding more authority than among the presidents of the superpower of that world. It's preposterous to believe it however the scale and influence he has whenever you read it makes it plausible.

Creativity exhaustion especially after the master quest. I have to give credit though towards the Author for giving producing such horrible villains. The two villains, Embinyu Church and Hermes Guild, play a huge antagonist role against Weed. The author manages to slowly introduce them and quite early on giving a crisis for the Protagonist. While the Embinyu Church was involved in many of the problems that was destroying the world. Bard Ray characteristic description really defines this novel. He's a treacherous person, cunning, a petty, a devious one, and his greed is strong enough that he's willing to do anything to win. And even with all characteristic, he triumph over his enemies, and it wasn't simply him being the villain that allow him victory. He implement many spies into the enemies organization, he manages to conceal many hidden cards, his armies were well train and discipline, his advisors were top notch while his guild held unity and professionalism early on compare to the rest. He won because he held the world around him, he knew everything about his opponents. There was no contender as he outplay everyone in the beginning, with a strong military force backing his strategies, it was inevitable that he'll triumphed. Yet him becoming emperor only fuel how villainous he has become, as someone who rose due to many betrayal and dictatorship.

So then after a long time of crafting these villains to face against the protagonist, then what happens after you defeat them? The story has to end, for after all that tension and dust have settle, everything else feels pointless. No matter how grand the quest after defeating those two villains are, it doesn't have the same tension that was built over many volumes. Everything will feels drag out and you'll quickly lose many readers. That's why after the Master Quest, only things that really matters should be the Hermes Guild. Then maybe one last quest to finish everything up but otherwise anything not related towards the two can feel tedious. Although the Author can try to introduce a new villain, it can quickly become the sense that the Author simply wish to drag on the novel forever thus the readers will drop the novel. Only way possible would be if the Author manages to impress us one last time and produce a finishing story that excelled what he has show us before but that's a very challenging task.

People don't suddenly get smart, understandably, Geomechi won't become brilliant especially when they're just playing Royal Road. Focusing on its aspect won't allow them to get smart due to the fact that all knowledge they may perceived is only concede in Royal Road. They may learn some knowledge however that's albeit small since they won't learn the foundation necessary in education. Education may or not be important due to one future depending on the person. However such success if we're only talking about college/university/grad school. As such, due to the fact that most Geomechi have not succeed at least highschool educational wise, their action may dictate differently from the social norm. However that does not allow for the persistence of the lacking game knowledge. They have been playing for a long time, understandably it would be normal for even someone who doesn't have the brightest mind to learn some of the game mechanic that may be useful to them. However the author persist that the Geomechi knows nothing even about the game, while it isn't hugely so dramatic as still lacking the cognitive understanding of the game overall. It could still be annoying when the author state that the Geomechi still don't understand on how the fame or contributions points from the church may be utilize for ones benefit. It taken them a considerable unnecessary lengthy amount of time before they understood it.

So Without a doubt, I think that most people who read at least 20 volumes only to progressively get annoyed afterwards can basically credit towards the fact that Weed Personality never changes. Seo yoon, the female protagonist, when seen next to each other can get quite frustrating as it shows limitation of Weed on the progression of the characters development. Seo Yoon changes, from a cold and callous girl that shuns the world, towards a more healthy pure heart woman. And it was a well develop change, since you had a girl that refuse to talk to anyone for years on end due to a childhood trauma. It taken over twenty volumes before normal communication could be develop between the two. There was plenty of interaction during that time in order to thaw her frozen heart and open it up towards the world. It was never a change that occur simply because he was the Main Character, it was a journey and a adventure through immense hardship with her being bitter silent. That led to her appreciating that such life fill with happiness could be attain.

Although, when you make that comparison against weed, it seems so obvious and gets quite upsetting since there's a lot of character development for one while the other is minuscule at best. Indeed, Weed is such a character that his endless greed from the beginning hasn't change much at all. However, I find that the changes could be seen more subtly and throughout the duration of the whole novel, I doubt that he'll ever change. But He makes compromises and concede in ways that slowly reshape him. I'm not sure if this was what The author intended however I find that Weed is a person who cannot express their emotion very well. He's a greedy person that's for sure however his appreciation of Art itself changes from the beginning. Many emotions that he doesn't display outwardly could be seen when he creates the sculptures. His love and compassion for his family is most likely his only feature that makes him feel normal and reasonable.

The best example of this was around Volume 18 when he was ask to create a Sculpture for a unborn child of the couple for one measly copper. In that sculpture, he create the progression of life from when a child is born until it becomes a grandmother than dying from old age. He uses unique material that nobody else currently has that could easily be worth over hundreds of thousand of gold potentially upwards of half a million gold. Just for that couple, and while he was sad about the amount of gold that he may have received, he never regret his actions. Although much later the sculptor was put in display earning him some wealth, he never created it with that mindset.

If the author express it a little a bit more and made Weed Say something down the line like this,

"I won't change, This greedy nature of mine, you cannot destroy this part of me. I may compromises and do actions that dictates otherwise however This Is Who I Am. It doesn't matter if I become the richest man in the world, till I die i'll remain greedy as ever. From such a young age striving to survive, gathering anything in my reach to live onward for myself and my family. How can I change when I saw the worst of mankind and being force to work under such? A life in debt forcing to scavenge the tr*sh, working inhumane condition where justice doesn't permit entry, and living a life where a future seems so bleak. A human instinctual to live birth from me, gather everything I can to survive even if it mean being humiliated. The love from my family though even in such a desolate time gave life and the thought of where even if I had to sacrifice my future for my sister. Then at least I can be happy knowing that without any regret."

I'm sure that the readers could sympathizes even a little on why He won't change. Although it isn't the best of character development you can expect, if the readers are giving a more through understanding of the character. They can appreciate more of Weed, and know that what he cannot express is done through his ability to sculpt. <<less
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SlightNovelFan
SlightNovelF
Mar 29, 2016
Status: --
In my opinion this story to skim through, but has too many flaws to be read closely (if you spend more than 5min pr chapter, I wouldn’t recommend it) :

1) There are too many people to keep track of both the IGN and RL names. I had to eventually go back and make a list of the characters aliases to keep track of it all... I personally don’t like a story where I’m forced to take notes to understand what’s going on.

2) So, what’s going on with the women? At... more>> one point (around volume 15 I think), his sister claims Dain is his perfect match, however nothing really happens after that.. After 9 years of story telling, I am thoughroughly convinced that the MC is a psychopath (completely unable to feel empathy)..

2, 5) As far as I understand it, in CoM he was a complete a**hole, who bullied and stepped on anyone, completely void of interrest in social activities, yet in one year of doing through (impossible to do and) hellish training schedule, he becomes socially skilled enough to get friends that can overlook his flaws and cause every girl to fall in love with him, somewhat including his sister?

3) The story is all over the place – One chapter can be about 4-5 different people/groups, that then doesn’t appear untill 5 chapters later..? This again leads back to my first point of it being hard to keep track of who is who. The sidestories that gets added along the way, are a bit too randomly thrown in there and jumps all over the place in their progression and completely stops acting when the MC acts on a sidequest. This especially relates to the story of the Priests of Ressurection / Embinyu Church.

4) So after the beginning, what happens to his stat window? It’s just poof, gone.. It really lacks the constant updates and comparasings between monsters stats & the characters that Zhan Long has. Seems to me like a major blunder..

5) Okay, this sort of pissed me off. The MC states at one point that life is 98% about money and 2% desires, friends and one more. I’m sorry, but doesn’t that mean to the MC that his desire for money, makes his life = 100% money? So does he even have a heart, liver, brain anymore or is he entirely made out of won-bills? I suppose this again leads back to the psychopath aspect I stated earlier.

6) You can scim through the entire story and not miss a thing. I read chapter 10-19 this way and I wrote down the events and people, reread it carefully and I didn’t miss a thing. Undetailed and fillers-packed narrating that is straight up dissapointing to read.

There are other points I’d like to make such as his sister's dropping out of a gang with nothing getting mentioned of it later, but people would probably forfit reading this review if I did so.

I liked the story as a timefiller inbetween other releases (currently reading 15 other LN’s), but that was it. I would recommend reading Zhan Long and ARK first, and if you fall inlove with the genre of VRPG, then read this. <<less
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Grosstoad
Grosstoad
May 04, 2016
Status: --
+looks over reviews below+

Well, to start with, I am not sure whether to say that the prose is not that good or the translation quality is sometimes bad, but you have to admit that some of the writings are a bit odd at times.

If it can be said, LMS is not really a ‘serious business’ story. Readers probably better off to consider it as an action-comedy than a shonen story. In fact, there are a couple of running gags (Weed weaseling off things from NPCs, giving ‘tough love’ to his... more>> minions as ‘training’, his ‘songs’, or him going all over a massive battlefield to collect ‘dropped’ loot) that are so oft repeated that is more nostalgic than funny (sometimes stale).

Weed, or Lee Hyun, has a rather sad backstory, and he becomes, well, rather jaded, pessimistic, and obsessed with different values (money) than the norm of society because of it. This is supposed to be the main source of humor, how others expect him to do or go this way, but he does it another way, because of his different values (money!).

A particular running gag about his miserly ways is that one of his major regret is buying up a packet of salt that costs 100 Won extra, or that he swore everlasting vengeance to Bardray (a big shot in game) because he picked up Weed’s rare armor (by then very unsuitable level-wise but never changed because Weed is cheap) after defeating him in combat and selling it for a lot of cash on online action as Weed’s old armor.

Or various other things.

Well, not to say that the story is not interesting, or the personal fight scenes and massive battlefield scenes not epic, but you can definitely say that it is not a very deep story.

It is a humorous story of a poor but determined young man, whose current goal in life is to get enough money to pay for his sister’s college tuition till she graduates and keep his sickly grandmother living in comfort, and he intends to do this by playing an online game (and selling loots and equipment in the internet auction, taking royalties from videos, getting tax from his empire, eating bribes from competing TV studios for access to aforementioned videos, etc., etc., and most important goal, getting more money from selling this particular account after he reached the pinnacle... Well, he had done it once, so he could do it again, right?).

Read it, have fun laughing at Weed and co. antics, whistle in awe at the fight scenes, d’aww or hnnng at the WAFF, but don’t go in expecting a serious kind of story.

PS: There is a big reason why some players are so gung-ho to reach the pinnacle of the game, and spend inordinately amount of effort (also real money, I suspect), the very same reason why the game itself is called Royal Road... But I believe Lee Hyun himself hasn't actually realized that reason, and just intended to sell his Weed account after reaching the top for major moolah, like he did with his maxed-out old game account. <<less
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Trent
Trent
Jul 13, 2016
Status: --
It's a fun story for a while. But, besides its entertainment, it's horribly written. At first, I would have eagerly given it at least four stars. Overall, though, it's worth maybe 2.5 stars. Some of the problems:

Translation quality aside, the author isn't an effective writer and doesn't express ideas well. What's more, he leaves the foundation of the story full of holes. For one example, the story relies upon time passing four times faster in the virtual world. In other words, 96 hours pass inside the virtual world for every... more>> 24 hours outside of it. And that extraordinary function isn't used logically or taken advantage of by anyone—there are no people enjoying much longer lives, no schools holding virtual classes, no company getting a huge edge over others—there are no attempts at optimization, even though benefits would far outweigh the costs. The virtual world exists only for the sake of the MC's success, with little pretense otherwise. Nor does the story improve over time. Instead, the author piles more mistakes onto their growing hill with each chapter, and rarely tries to fix what's bad. The novel endlessly reuses somewhat successful ideas, and seldom tries anything new. It doesn't even stick with its RPG elements very well. Ignoring missions and related things: stats, leveling, skills, and gold lose whatever value they once had—not because they climb up too high, but because the author doesn’t bother keeping them relevant.

There are also very annoying things, like how no one on Earth apart from the MC's crew can accomplish anything, or how women only exist to be beautiful and circle around the protagonist. Some females are given little thought or description for their debut, and suddenly become very attractive when the author decides to turn them into love interests for the MC or another male character. Others are "love" interests from the beginning, as considered by an author who can only mock the word.

On another note, the protagonist is not only terribly written, but unlikable. The problem isn’t that he's an antihero—he starts out as a potentially interesting one, with awesome if bland determination, a history and perspective that induce musing, and a purpose that could have been interesting or at least consistent. But his purpose becomes murky and he increasingly ignores logic. He'll throw all of his money at risky endeavors, but inevitably waste time pinching pennies. He doesn't understand, or care, that other people might need money too. Since he doesn't even have much empathy, there's little depth left to him, and he remains selfish and unlikable. He fails at providing a refreshing viewpoint. His potential complexity never arrives at an intriguing dissonance; instead, he falls into the underworld of failed characters. His holes aren't intended, he simply isn't well constructed, and the same applies to the story as a whole.

So. Depth, plot, writing skill and effort: everything's bad. But the novel's enjoyable for a while, until it finally suffocates underneath its shortcomings. Still, if you have a pair of sunglasses and an oxygen tank handy, you can determinedly ignore the novel's failings and have a good time reading it. <<less
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lekhoa88
lekhoa88
Jun 14, 2016
Status: v43c6
Pros:
- EPIC major battles!
- Stories are sometimes told in separate people's views.
Downside:
- MC doesn't develop any real personality + MC's personality isn't all that great to begin with => MC constantly complains about how under-power his class is & that he puts money above everything else.
- Girls fall in love with him despite said personality
- Every other chapters other than the the major battles are sub-par.
- Repetitive writing - MC gains xxx experience, levels, stats. Got xxx items, which increases stats by xxx... more>> amount.
- Names - Lots of character names to be memorized. 1 character has in-game name & real life name. Multiply it by 20 or so, and I'd lose track of who's who.

Original rating is 6/5, but as of now, it's 3/5 & I'm dropping it. <<less
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false
false
Dec 29, 2015
Status: --
Read until volume 11.
It's like weed is the only guy with enough brain to think. Something like grinding your stat, trying out your options onto the NPCs, exploring every skill and class for their every single effect, prioritizing those with "percentage effect", prioritizing passive skills and playing a whole lot. They're common sense, any gamer would've done it, weed with his 2 years of handicap (8 years in game) wouldn't have a chance at RMT. You would've need to be at cap level for something like RMT and yet,... more>> weed with his low level could get enough money for living AND PAYING FOR HIS MOTHER TO A HOSPITAL. I also can't agree how his 1 year of swordsmanship training could be any better competed against players with 8 years of in game experience (I mean, they teach you how to fight other human fighting with swords in dojos), no matter how great his teacher is supposed to be. Only sleeping for 3 hours doesn't help, "sleep deprivation" exist, or else anyone would love to play game without sleeping at all.

It's like the whole story is spitting on the face of "gamer", "professional RMT gamer" and especially "paying gamer". Paying gamer are the game side for super players as far as my experience go. <<less
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razgallo
razgallo
Dec 31, 2015
Status: --
Its a weird thing that I can't stand this story after 10 volumes in but I kept going up until 26.

Exploring the vast game world is fun to read and the statues he makes are also funny in relation to the characters. He changed the way the game is played but persevering in his own class, its a unique class, he also gets to master other crafting classes. The interaction between the characters are humorous solely because of the MC behavior.

Many forgot the main goal of the story and that... more>> is for weed to amass 3 Billion real world money to show that korean mafia and his money back. This however was just glossed over by the author after many volumes and completely forgotten altogether. Instead we get the feeling of adventure which is nice but its disappointing that the main goal is glossed over when it should be focused more.

Weed is a fantasy character and it is in all aspects. I can't relate to him after a few volumes in, he sleeps for just 4 hours a day, he is a master swordsman that the dojo leader was impressed by him in just a year, he has superhuman survival skills that his classmates was surprised even though he never has been training aside from basic body training. I can tolerate one of these... no actually if there is just some explanation how he can sleep for 4 hours a day and feel fine I would consider it.

He is a despicable person everyone in his circle of friends know it but they still agree with him. That is one of Gary Stu's defining characteristics. Everyone also fawn over him its not even funny anymore, I mean all his acquaintances go in-game to be with him even the Dojo masters. Weed's love life is also written badly.

The story also suffers from bad handling of perspectives. We go back and forth from reality and the game world but I really can't see the point of going back to reality. At first it was to check on his financial savings and his grandmother but afterwards it just boils down to "How can weed be more superhuman than anybody else."

I can't say much about the game world because I am not really a fan of MMORPG. Just the fact of "First Discovery and First Drop" mechanic I can't relate to. When discovering a new dungeon you get a bonus drop rate for "the first" monster you kill and it is totally rubbish. Weed even tells us that it should be reserved for the boss, are you kidding me? So we are just going to waltz to the boss room with a mob train, it is ridiculous how the author planned this out.

I am mixed about recommending this story, I did have fun reading it but the bad parts just doesn't subside so No. <<less
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Kerbasi
Kerbasi
Mar 09, 2016
Status: --
This is the second MMORPG game novel (my first being overlord) I've read ever since I stepped into the world of light novels, and I swear, it's because of THIS novel that I got seriously hooked on light novels, be it Chinese, Korean or Japanese!

I couldn't literally put this novel down! I gobbled up the 23 volumes (when I first read it, it was up to 23 already) and daydreamed about this novel during my classes AND would even find it in my dreams! I was seriously obsessed lol. Anyway,... more>> this novel is really epic. The best one out there, IMO. It's just so exciting, the battles are so fleshed out, and weeds charisma, leadership and his brains are top notch! He really thinks the battles through, and always comes out victorious even in quests you wouldn't think anyone would succeed! I think this is what makes this novel so great. The author really knows how to twist and add different schemes each time for every battle! It's really amazing how the author can not make this so cliche when tons of battles have already been fought, and yet the readers still find immense excitement and pleasure being derived from it. That's why this novel is so EPIC.

this is probably the only novel I religiously wait for for updates. Thank god it's updated regularly or many grass porridge members such as I are gonna go berserk :))) <<less
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saffu
saffu
May 29, 2017
Status: v26c4
The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor is set in an MMORPG, and the author does his best to remind you of that by making the novel as boring as possible.

While I do understand that this was the first korean novel for many people (including myself), I really think this shouldn't be rated as high as it is. I'd like to apologize in advance if this review is outdated or misinformed, as I last read the novel in early 2016.

First, let's talk about the MC. Everyone likes Weed, right? But why? He's literally... more>> every money-grubbing Korean MC out there, except that he has literally no other defining characteristics. This flaw is made even worse when you realize that 90% of the novel is following Weed around, so while you might find his antics funny at first, you'll surely be tired of them the 50th time they make a joke about him being a stingy ass.

Surprisingly, Weed isn't even the worst character. The entire supporting cast also lacks character. From what I remember, the goddamn NPCs are more memorable than most of the cast. The only character whose name I remembered was Weed, and that can be boiled down to two reasons:

  1. Everyone on NUF makes jokes about him
  2. The novel literally follows him 90% of the time
The setting is also kinda lame. LMS takes place in an MMORPG. While this can be ignored most of the time, 90% of the novel takes place in the game, and the entire thing comes off as an extended play-through, if the player in question was just making the same joke over and over for hours on end. Somehow, though, the 10% of the novel that isn't focused on Weed's shenanigans in game manages to be even more boring than the MMORPG parts! The characters somehow manage to do LESS in real life than in the MMO! It's like reading a novel where the entire cast is just me!

I'd comment on the pacing, but nothing ever actually happens in the novel. The only character development is the kind that makes your stats higher and your skills more powerful, and the romance is laughably slow. Two romantic interests had appeared in the story when I'd dropped it, and Weed had just rejected one of them, after not even seeing her for months on end. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention: Weed isn't even in contact with his love interests half the time, and when he is, it's hard to feel anything, because both characters are so bleah that you don't even care what develops between them.

The novel is pretty fun at the start, but you'll eventually get tired of reading the same thing over and over again with slight variations. Despite the genres, it's more similar to a SoL than anything. Give it a shot if you're a fan of that genre, but it's not for me. <<less
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Godleydemon
Godleydemon
Apr 07, 2020
Status: v55c5 part3
This is honestly a spectacular novel. I binge read it in about a week and enjoyed just about every second of it. While reading through the various reviews I noticed a few things that made people drop the novel. One of them being, the main character Weed not going through any kind of character development.

Spoilers Ahead!
Weed's character development is almost to the point of excruciatingly slow, that's why it's hard to notice. He doesn't change very much inside the game, but in the chapters in the real world he... more>> changes in subtle ways as time goes on. Especially in regards to Sayoon the main love interest.

I think the best way to see Weed's character development is to observe his relationship with Sayoon. He starts out being terrified of her, she's absolutely gorgeous, but she first appears with a mu*derer mark while he's still new to the game. He immediately jumps to conclusions thinking she's a Pker, going so far as offering some statues to her if she won't kill him. The next time they meet is after the creation of the statues of Freya that Weed carved in the image of Sayoon smiling. Though this touched Sayoon greatly, Weed was terrified she'd find out. Because in his mind, she's a brutal blood thirsty mu*derer out for my items. Weed was disguised as a tiny Orc trying to get back to one of the cities when he ran into Sayoon. Without revealing his identity he followed behind her, cooking, bandaging, repairing and taking care of item collection while heading towards the city. They didn't talk, because Sayoon's child trauma caused her to be unable to.

But as they travelled together, Weed's thought's constantly went all over the place. He admired her fighting and watched her expressions, and studied her. He'd at one moment go, "That's a beautiful form" then switch to, "though it's unrefined and lacks direction". Every compliment he would find, he would immediately refute.

What changes some of this is the moment they were relaxing before she left, she sat on a rock and admired the field of flowers they were in. For the first time, he saw the corners of her mouth had a slight smile. But as he looked at her, even though she was even more beautiful smiling, it was lonely and isolated. He decided to carve another statue, he spent some time on it. He couldn't carve the statue smiling, he couldn't give it a happy expression, when he was done. The statue of Sayoon, laying in a field of flowers cried solumenly. After he left, Sayoon logged in and witnessed the statue. She had not cried since her trauma, and seeing the statue she broke and began to cry uncontrollably. It's revealed much later in the novel Weed hadn't actually left yet, he witnessed what happened and because of the shock he tried to put it out of his mind though.

Eventually they end up having to travel to the frozen north, where he's on death's door dying of a severe cold. He wakes up to Sayoon taking care of him, her cooking is a disaster and he thinks to himself that she's trying to poison him. Eventually as he got better, Sayoon instead got sick. Instead of leaving her, Weed took care of her as well and briefly thought to himself, "it wouldn't be that bad to be with a woman like Sayoon.. " Then he would try and remind himself of everything bad he thought about her and all of the misunderstandings he pretty much invented.

Out of frustration he goes to the back of the cave out of view and begins to carve a statue. When he's finished, it's a man and a woman, the man held the woman close as they tried to survive the cold knowing that they were going to die soon. The two were looking into eachothers eyes and both had a content look on their face. That if they were to die, at least they would die together. He convinced himself is was a coincidence that the two looked like him and Sayoon.

I think your getting the point by now, what he's thinking in his head, isn't always the truth. Eventually his inner thoughts go from trying to find flaws in Sayoon to, "She'll get tired of me soon enough", "Their are men in this world much better than me for her", "I'm completely unworthy of her attention". Then finally, after she had helped him out immensely in a romantic quest. He offered his anything she wanted, "You helped me out, so whatever you want, let me know and I'll do it". Her only response was, "Date" she wanted a date. In which afterwards, they kissed for the first time.

From that point in the story Weed's character development seems to pick up some speed. Sayoon understand's Weed's faults, probably much more than Weed could ever even possibly know. She actually forces Weed to hold true to some of his promises that even he had forgotten about. Much to his dismay of course, but the outcomes from those promises end up bringing quite a bit of fortune and public opinion because of her actions. Eventually, through just letting Sayoon take care of alot of the Empires development it starts expanding like crazy with huge profits and everyone seems to just love the hell of out him for it. Sayoon is trying to slowly change Weed's attitude from, "distrust anyone and everything, exploit everyone for profit so that my family can be safe" to a more subtler version of that. Sayoon is a genius when it comes to anything administration or business like. But she never knew anything about hard work or what it was like to actually have a job or even the value of money, and even though it was slightly unintentional. Weed taught her the meaning of those things through his suggestions to her, to the point it healed her and she was able to talk to people. So she's trying to do the same to Weed and trying to get him to open up to people too.

Finally, on his last quest to become a sculpting master he's presented with creating and carving a new star in the night sky by the goddess Hestia. He starts out greedy as hell and makes the thing out of gold, diamonds, platinum and nearly every mythical metal he had access to. He named it baby star temporarily and tried to think of something to carve. Eventually he smiled to himself and began. What he carved was a small baby, that looked remarkably like both him and Sayoon. Then he carved Sayoon holding that baby and looking down at it lovingly. As he carved, he has a ton of self reflection with the relationship between him and Sayoon. It's incredibly touching and more and more people refer to Sayoon as a Goddess in game.

Weed begins to change alot more in the real world, where he even mentions to himself, "I can afford a can of coffee everyday now", even owning a brand new computer. There is alot more food on the table and Sayoon often cooks for him or with him. Sometimes he'd ask Sayoon what she wanted for dinner, at one point she goes, "Crab" and he starts to make an excuse that it's over priced. Then stops, thinks to himself and says, "You know, crab sounds lovely." He gets enough money to finally buy a building to rent out to people and rejoices in that. Sayoon ends up taking all of his animals though XD, something that is of a little bit of annoyance to him as they listen to her more than him now lol

He even goes so far as finally telling his sister, "If you find a man you want to date, go for it, it's time to have a little romance in your life" and my god, he even thinks to himself, "I hope she finds a good man, I really need to teach her money isn't everything". So Weed does go through character development but it's very subtle and you can't expect to see it in the early stages directly from the main characters thoughts. Another way to see it is through his statues, when he carves one, he's thinking about all of these various things but it doesn't pretain to anything artistic, just value. But what he's carving, he puts meticulous effort care and thought into it as he actually carves it. It's only afterwards, he'll either say something or think something abnormal. I'm willing to bet this is his coping mechanism. He doesn't want to have his family suffer because they became poor again. He enjoys sculpting (even though he doesn't want to admit it), he still finds the skill worthless in earning money.

If he didn't like it, he actually wouldn't have started to do it in real life. Which is something that's mentioned a few times, that he started learning how to carve wood. Even making one of Sayoon sleeping. So every time he creates a statue, immediately disregard nearly everything he's thinking about it afterwards. That's him making an excuse on WHY he spent so much effort, emotion and time on a statue. <<less
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bloggbigg
bloggbigg
Aug 30, 2017
Status: v46c4
This was a tough one to rate.

I like it, but there's a lot to dislike to be honest.

I guess if I had to describe it, this would be an event based novel documenting the development of a fictional nation and the character that reluctantly helps develop it. That's not what it's supposed to be about, but it really more works that way in the end. Yeah, it's also about a certain OP protag as well. How unique...

The Good:

  • Lots of interesting situations and interactions. Some humor.
The Bad:

  • MC is dense protagonist savior wrapped in ill-fitting 'vicious money grubber' skin. Tragically, he learns nothing nor is really challenged (or even questioned) by anyone for his bad attitude/actions.
  • Characters are all shallow, mostly caricatures who additionally see almost no development, choosing instead to mindlessly follow his lead with token reluctance.
  • Lots of 'coincidentally that happened', 'somehow things work out' & deus ex machina plotting.
  • Plot is so focused on the MC, that significant oversights regarding the rest of the world occur frequently. It also seems no one can do anything right without the MC- or at least others don't exist till the chapter where the author remembers them...
The Different:

  • For some reason a surprising number of authors want to write novels with heroes who do heroic things, but are actually 'totally not heroes' due to 'really being selfish' (or whatever- 'vengeful' is quite popular too). I give this author some credit because a fair amount of his character's created mentality fits the desired mold. Even so, a whole lot more doesn't- and considering how smart the MC supposedly is, him trying to do selfish things which obviously wouldn't work- only to be undermined by 'unavoidable plot complications' -- I don't get why it's so important to even try. Well, magically it works out anyway...

    That said, the idea of a 'cash poor protagonist who wants to do anything to raise his sister' is initially established pretty well- it just fails in so many other places as the author forces so many events and situations which water down that bond. As important as the sister supposedly is, she is almost always little more than a prop for his motivation, some minor plot point or what she can do for him.
  • There's a lot to be said about things happening after v30, and while approaching the endgame- where all sorts of things that should have more impact are hastily changed (almost as an afterthought).
    Spoiler

    Including:

    The initial money lenders being pretty much written out.

    Weeds hastily accelerated & assisted romance.

    Bardray's sudden & ridiculously easy path to stat increases.

    etc.

    [collapse]
  • I won't even get into the 'real world' over-the-top, disastrous in concept nonsense regarding super-advanced tech and the prizes to be given to the uniter of the continent (regardless of personality, suitability, or methods used) which looms in the background while they fight out comparatively petty VR issues.
  • Yup- other than being able to make money/fame/relationships- everything else is in the game (for now).
Anyway, as much as I have to say about it's issues- it's still quite entertaining. The MC is a jerk, but the story is pretty good- at least till v30, where a lot of things are 'jammed in'/rushed, and overall is not quite as good, but still workable.

Spoiler

We won't even go into his class change, which seems more 'author forced' than 'character chosen'. It's 'barely' logical considering the character's supposed stated purpose. I also seem to remember there being an excavator class which would be both better suited for that purpose & draw less wrath from the gods...

[collapse]

Still, it's worth keeping up with.
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TheAsianHacker
TheAsianHack
Nov 07, 2021
Status: v58c8 part2
I'm writing this review a few minutes after having finished the last chapter. I would say that this is a pretty good novel that an addicted reader could finish within a month. The main character "Weed" has fun relationships with his companions and friends as well as hilarious moments. But the biggest reason to read this novel is because of the heroic and insane adventures Weed goes through. It boggles the mind how hard these adventures seem to be and you are just in awe as he brilliantly makes his... more>> way through them.

Compared to the other popular VR novel Overgeared I think LMS has its ups and downs. I think it's a shame LMS didn't have national competitions similar to Overgeared's. But I don't believe the difficulty level of Overgeared ever reaches the same batsh*t heights as LMS.

At the moment of writing this review, I'm feeling a bit empty seeing the end of a long journey and so I bid you farewell. <<less
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JinVodka
JinVodka
Jul 01, 2016
Status: v39c9
Superb, Excellent and Amazing work!!!

This novel pretty much suit my needs and doesn't bore me. It always excite me when Weed is in major battle and always amazingly surprising me.

There is no unnecessary romance, the cliche drama romance between many girls chasing the MC? bored with that. Some women might show interest with Weed but his not dense and knows it but don't want it cause its expensive. Sometimes fast pace romance destroy stories so I like the pace in this novel.

Plus, this not only focus with the MC. I... more>> enjoy reading about several players reacts about Weed and the players who will have a role on Weed adventure. There is a lot of comedy that always make me giggle.

This story is new and fresh for me. From the all novels I read this is the only the one that doesn't bore me and cringe. But if you don't like greedy characters and like goody two shoes then just move along... <<less
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frfr
frfr
Dec 31, 2015
Status: --
Its an amazing adventure story.

As @false mentioned below MC’s earlier achievements and time scaling are somewhat questionable (there is no such thing as 2y handicap, though – its 1year and he learned real life skills applicable to VR mechanics during this time), but Weed’s character and vastness of adventure part makes up for it tenfold. And, unlike Ark that shares a lot of similarities, MC’s somewhat twisted character is coherent.
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luckymorris
luckymorris
Jul 24, 2019
Status: v44c1
At first, the novel was fun, good world building, interessing quests, nice side characters and funny moments. The novel had plenty of originality, but it just get worse and worse.

The MC is frustrating to no end, a f*cking a**hole, doesn't change one bit. Sure, there is MC out there that are evil, except that the author doesn't portray the MC as such, resulting in someone that you grow to hate more and more. WE GET IT, HE IS GREEDY, CAN WE MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE? I feel like reading... more>> peerless white emperor where the same jokes were used again and again but even worse.

Spoiler

Let's talk also about how the MC keeps abusing the main heroine just because he once saw her with a red name (meaning she killed human player), he kept thinking that she was an awfull person while the girl really was someone who didn't expressed emotion or speak because of her past, she proved numerous time that she was kind, but the MC kept f*cking do mental gymnastic to still think that she was bad, saving his life by taking care of him while sick? "ShE MuSt Be TrYiNg To ToRtUrE mE", that just one of the many example and that just frustrating to no end

The antagonist is complete tr*sh, at the level of a young master in chinese novel, except that this one stick around for all the story and doesnt seems close to GTFO. The antagonist is a guild called hermes guild, the author make us hate them, but this dumb f*ck keeps talking about how strong they are, how one of their player is the best in the game. The reason for attacking MC? He is more popular than them so they try to kill him. Sure, ok. They control cities and put high taxes and players hate them? "We don't care about public opinion" MOTHERf*ckER WHAT? Then why did you try to kill MC?

This so called "best player" killed the MC once, while he was surrounded by his teammates, with reinforcement incoming, with great gear, started one year earlier than MC and still almost losed despite MC having sh*t equipement for his level and was alone. Then the author managed to say something along the line of "it isn't an excuse, he losed" WTF? YES IT S A f*ckING EXCUSE THE f*ck IS WRONG WITH YOU?

[collapse]

Anyway, the novel keeps digging in the pile of shit, but depth seems endless because it keeps getting worse and worse, don't waste your time, you'll only end up frustrated seeing something good turning to shit. <<less
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KirbyReviews44
KirbyReviews
Jun 21, 2018
Status: v14
Some people may like it, I did not.

The story about a sculptor who is basically a god at every single thing, and on top of that he can make OP sculptors that are apparently "super artistic" and give "a lot of buffs to players". I just found the whole premise of the story really dumb. Its just the standard MMORPG story where the MC gets all the main story quests, gets all the rep. Gets all the exp, gets all of the gear. These kinds of stories are absurd and... more>> s*upid for someone who has actually played MMORPGs. Such stories need something else to grab my attention, and this novel just doesn't have any of that. I find this novel similar to Overgeared, there is a large percentage of people that will like it for some reason but I don't like it the same reason I don't like Overgeared. <<less
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Zackarotto
Zackarotto
Jun 02, 2016
Status: v45c7
This has woefully inconsistent translations, and later volumes only have machine translations (though proofread to be more grammatically correct), obliterating all nuance -- that is, if there was any to begin with. I would recommend dropping this series by that point. I had a great time reading the earlier volumes, so I don't want to say it isn't worth reading at all. If a day comes when it gets official or at least better translations, it might even be worth picking up again. But it gets to a point where... more>> it's frequently repeating itself, and loses all momentum.

It's a funny series. I liked Weed's rotten and irrational personality (I've since seen the same type of hero in numerous other webnovels, though). It's very amusing and bizarre to see a novel that embodies the Korean MMO player's mindset of "grinding is not bad game design; being able to grind a lot is a hero's virtue" and other ridiculous ideas. It doesn't take itself very seriously, but it's very engaging, at least for a while.

The really good stuff is in his creation of sculptures and accumulation of other overpowered sculptor skills, and his exaggerated reputation with other players. The author even has some smart takes on virtual economy and market strategy -- it's not so academic in its approach as Spice & Wolf, but it's still a treat for some types of readers.

Some of the more interesting women of the series tend to get underutilized, but the main heroine Seoyoon is pretty fun herself. Though there are a lot of bad "mute heroine" tropes, as a comedic device it works better than usual due to the running gag that due to her inability to communicate, everything she does is misinterpreted as viciously as possible by the protagonist. She's also a magnet for "exaggerated public reaction" moments because of her joke-level good looks. But generally the characters aren't too interesting. You should be reading this more for the gags and the sense of progression from skill-growth.

Sadly, a lot of the impossible quests that get thrust upon the hero are resolved in the exact same way--he rallies an army of NPC followers and crawls across the map to grind up their levels. The speed of Weed's growth in sculpting and other skills hits a harsh plateau as well. It's at this point, where readers start to notice the formulaic nature and the tedium of it all, that I recommend putting LMS down, perhaps for good. <<less
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GeraldoAGP
GeraldoAGP
Jun 08, 2016
Status: v25c5
LMS (Legendary Moonlight Sculptor) was my first light novel, the one thing which made me so into novel and light novel was LMS. Thus, I tell you truthfully that my rating is quite biased, but still without the bias-my rating to LMS would still be 5.. Why ?
1. The Characters and especially the MC are likeable, they are true to their purposes. The Prota to be liked and the Anta to be despised or annoying (that's what an Anta is for).
2. The story (at that time) I could... more>> say original, and only after LMS getting popular, then many LNs used the same or almost same plot.
3. The Feel of the story is real, you weep when the story sad, you laugh when the story funny, having an adrenaline rush when the story climaxing.
4. The World building is very amazing, well not like xianxia in which there would be a new world, but you would still feel the adventuring and even the places are quite memorable.
5. The description on things are not too much, neither does it lacking.

To tell you the truth I can go on and on about it's good point but I'll leave it for you to explore yourself by reading it. Trust me, the only bad thing about LMS is it's translation are in pieces (the 20 volume onward). But you will be hooked after 20 volumes anyway so it wont meant much to you readers.

LMS is a great story with new kind of Plot, MC, Heroine, and adventures in virtual reality AND real life (reality) with good humor and great feels.

May Freya blessing always be with you. :3 <<less
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