Allure of the unknown

Allure of the unknown
A list of memorable stories I read on novelupdates that covers mostly survival stories, reincarnation in non-human beings, second chances in other worlds and novels that felt unique in some way.

More often than not, stories I included had some grim parts to them. Where I find it necessary, I'll put a warning. 

Some stories are simply positive. Not everything needs to be dark.
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SassyCanoeWizard
Created: Jun 5th, 2020, Updated: Nov 28th, 2022
Created Jun 5th, 2020
Updated Nov 28th, 2022
JP (3.8)
67 Chapters Every 92.3 Day(s) 2171 Readers 18 Reviews 11-13-2020
Class got reincarnated after a deadly accident. Evil entity offered them to choose skills. Unfortunately most skills had downsides unmentioned in description. 
CN (4.1)
491 Chapters Every 0.5 Day(s) 4494 Readers 78 Reviews 04-29-2024
Female lead. Survival game. First ~200-300 chapters are good.  Starts with the protagonist thinking that her boyfriend is after her life.... more>>
KR (3.9)
21 Chapters Every 189.3 Day(s) 16851 Readers 182 Reviews 09-09-2016
SPOILER WARNING!... more>>
CN (3.9)
106 Chapters Every 283.9 Day(s) 3963 Readers 59 Reviews 09-07-2017
A survival game situated in virtual words. If you are looking for survival games made after more or less known games/movies, there's 'My Cell Prison', which is absent on nu.... more>>
JP (4.1)
1 Chapters Every 2556 Day(s) 773 Readers 3 Reviews 05-01-2017
A short funny story. I liked the ending.
KR (4)
0 Chapters Every 2000 Day(s) 9918 Readers 79 Reviews 11-12-2018
"So, what you desire is... an immortal body and infinite growth potential? Got it imma make you a skeleton," said the goddess. Mc travels in... more>>
CN (4.6)
131 Chapters Every 46.1 Day(s) 17442 Readers 408 Reviews 06-22-2023
CONTENT WARNING!... more>>
JP (4.1)
1 Chapters Every 2000 Day(s) 241 Readers 1 Reviews 12-13-2019
No magic. Unique teaching method.
CN (4)
1073 Chapters Every 1.9 Day(s) 5007 Readers 43 Reviews 04-29-2024
CONTENT WARNING!... more>>
JP (4.1)
6 Chapters Every 367.2 Day(s) 1824 Readers 15 Reviews 06-21-2018
CONTENT WARNING!... more>>
CN (4.5)
94 Chapters Every 79 Day(s) 9697 Readers 119 Reviews 03-01-2024
Second chance. Zombies. Gender Bender.
CN (4)
39 Chapters Every 168.1 Day(s) 8391 Readers 114 Reviews 06-09-2017
Blind protagonist. Cultivation.
CN (3.6)
70 Chapters Every 110.6 Day(s) 1120 Readers 22 Reviews 10-22-2019
Videogames. ... more>>
JP (4.8)
13 Chapters Every 114.5 Day(s) 2974 Readers 10 Reviews 06-03-2020
No magic. Boy discovers that his classmate will die soon because of a disease. Strong aftertaste.
JP (4)
128 Chapters Every 14.5 Day(s) 16941 Readers 184 Reviews 04-24-2024
Boys have muscles so let them fight. Girls don’t have muscles... let them control the boys! Our protagonist, male, is reincarnated in the world controlled... more>>
KR (4.1)
488 Chapters Every 2.3 Day(s) 14901 Readers 192 Reviews 04-17-2024
Survival game. Second chance.
JP (3.9)
324 Chapters Every 6.7 Day(s) 5502 Readers 50 Reviews 04-28-2024
Survival game. A class teleportation with abilities trope. The former classmates are scattered across a dangerous labyrinth with many stages. The protagonist teams up with a tall and a bit chubby girl. Note, that the protagonist is a relatively feeble, so read it only if you are not after an op protagonist.... more>>
KR (4)
12 Chapters Every 243.7 Day(s) 11495 Readers 88 Reviews 09-29-2020
Second chance. Mc is one of 72 demon kings. Owns dungeons. Dungeons appear in real world. Mc also impersonates ranker - one of those who... more>>
JP (4.4)
65 Chapters Every 65.1 Day(s) 5867 Readers 55 Reviews 10-01-2021
He was a prodigy. Strong, smart and cool. So after graduating(or almost graduating) university he became a shut-in. The new game he started playing was unusually realistic(magical. Kingdom[initially it’s village] building. There’s a sacrifical stone in the village. Whatever is sacrificed will be delivered to his house by post agency)... more>>
JP (4.2)
194 Chapters Every 15.9 Day(s) 5404 Readers 25 Reviews 04-09-2024
Humanity got a test. One of those u need to fill forms of. As a result those who didn’t believe that humanity should live on... more>>
JP (3.6)
121 Chapters Every 145.2 Day(s) 2508 Readers 11 Reviews 07-31-2018
Beginning is great. Mc doesn’t remember what kind of events made him the way he’s now. He wanders labyrinth’s corridors in search of answers. But,... more>>
JP (4.4)
79 Chapters Every 159.6 Day(s) 13830 Readers 122 Reviews 07-26-2023
Initially it was mediocre. But one of the arc’s ending made me change my opinion towards the novel. ... more>>
JP (4.3)
0 Chapters Every 2000 Day(s) 1521 Readers 7 Reviews 11-12-2017
Yoraikun translated a bunch of good short stories, lazy king, sevens and few other novels
CN (2.9)
204 Chapters Every 112.1 Day(s) 1086 Readers 17 Reviews 09-30-2019
This novel has a strong beginning. Chain of drastic changes occurs on our planet. First ~50 chapters are interesting enough to read.
KR (4)
23 Chapters Every 124.2 Day(s) 7004 Readers 85 Reviews 08-07-2022
One day a tower appeared. For the sake of humanity to conquer the tower many sacrifices were made, many lives were lost. On one of... more>>
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Comments (17)
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  1. SassyCanoeWizard
    SassyCanoeWizard· Author · Jun 16, 2020 05:14 PM

    So i found a list made by user @Tallrice https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/10686/ about reincarnations into different creatures

    It mentioned a notable novel on Royal Road site called “threadbare” about magician giving sentience to a plush bear

    "Nothing became something, awareness flooded in, and suddenly, everything was.

     Button eyes wiggled, as they looked around at a cluttered room. A furry neck moved as a cloth-and-fur head twisted, using its newfound ability to look at things. It didn’t enjoy it, not precisely. If you asked it, and somehow gave it the ability to reply, then it could have told you that it didn’t know what joy was. It didn’t know much of anything."

    Author is very capable at describing. However, as story progressed, It lost its initial flavor of being extraordinary

    There are also notable novels Fork this life, everybody loves big chests, tree of aeons, chrysalis

    Chrysalis is best perceived among them

    Reply · 3 Likes · ·
    • M.A.T.R.
      M.A.T.R.· Jun 21, 2020 07:59 PM
      tree of aeons is dog sh*t though, oh, oops, I'm not on that cursed social media app anymore, what I meant to say is that Tree of Aeons is not a great read at all.
      Reply · ·
    • SassyCanoeWizard
      SassyCanoeWizard· Author · Jun 21, 2020 08:16 PM

      It has many positive reviews on royalroad, some people do find it quite good. Reincarnation in tree is a relatively novel idea. At some point of time it becomes kingdom building genre. Most of kingdom building genre are prone to become boring as new chapters are released as kingdom becomes big and plot stale. Tree of aeons however never gives a breather.

      Concept of world is not bad either. World where after 10 years since demise of late demon king new king with unique deadly ability emerges. If last batch of heroes is yet to die, they will have to battle otherwise new batch will appear until demon king is dead.

      So no matter how strong being is it will eventually crumble. In such a situation our tree finds itself, trying to steer away from conflict which can resolve even without its intervention

      Unique? Yeah. Dark? Pretty much. And in my case it left a rather pleasant aftertaste

      Reply · 2 Likes · ·
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    • FIEND
      FIEND· Jul 3, 2020 02:38 AM

      @M.A.T.R.

      bruh ur tastes are dog shit

      Reply · ·
  2. SassyCanoeWizard
    SassyCanoeWizard· Author · Jun 6, 2020 07:02 PM

    There’s a good novel on Royal Road called "Mother of learning". Basically it’s magician caught up in Groundhog Day. There are also some notable novels on Webnovel site but alas they cannot be posted on novelupdates list

    Reply · 3 Likes · ·
    • shirlulu007
      shirlulu007· Jul 8, 2020 01:07 PM
      Why they can't be posted here? Because theres pay to read?
      Reply · ·
    • SassyCanoeWizard
      SassyCanoeWizard· Author · Jul 8, 2020 03:28 PM

      @shirlulu007 

      They cannot be added to nu as nu only accepts translated oriental novels. English originals can’t have a pass here

      On the other hand even if I copypaste name link and will write commentary here it won’t give you same impression as if it was posted with picture, genres, rating etc

      The best one I encountered lately is “psychic parasite” on webnovel. Basically protagonist becomes parasitic soul in dark world full of foreshadowing and struggle. 

      Reply · ·
  3. Despapa69
    Despapa69· Nov 13, 2021 10:31 AM
    Thank you, Fiend and Tallrice for recommending Reverend Insanity to this person. 
    Reply · 2 Likes · ·
    • FIEND
      FIEND· Feb 19, 2022 02:31 PM
      He has stepped into the dao of gu world 
      Reply · 1 Like · ·
  4. FIEND
    FIEND· Jun 29, 2020 02:45 PM
    if the list is by rantala it MUST be good
    Reply · 2 Likes · ·
    • SassyCanoeWizard
      SassyCanoeWizard· Author · Jun 29, 2020 03:00 PM
      Why, thank you
      Reply · ·
  5. SassyCanoeWizard
    SassyCanoeWizard· Author · May 31, 2021 05:14 AM

    After thinking a bit, I’ll be adding new stories from other sites down here in description - that’s what I tried but it told me that the description limit -1500 - is reached :/

    So I’ll be adding them here i suppose


    ...

    1) Fire mage by Ak02

    A story which is written rather well in my opinion. A mu*derer gets transmigrated into the body of a youngster getting himself in the vortex of events. Apparently an artifact which powers have certain relation to luck appeared. Different powerhouses lurk in the dark weaving their schemes unable to comprehend that the biggest variable wasn’t the artifact but in fact it was the protagonist. It’s notable that in the novel there are many seers that can guess some of the fate. Actually protagonist’s mother is one of them.
    https://www.webnovel.com/book/fire-mage_13051972806542205 Fire mage webnovel

    2) Sylver Seeker, royalroad, https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/36065/sylver-seeker

    Necromancer who was supposed to die found himself alive. I liked this one

    3) Mark of the fool, royalroad, https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/41618/mark-of-the-fool-a-progression-fantasy

    When evil lord awakens, some people become chosen ones, redeeming different brands. Our protagonist received a mark which is more similar to a curse, interfering with his actions

    4) Path of the dragonmage: exiled, royalroad, https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/40062/path-of-the-dragon-mage-exiled

    Born magically talentless, Prince Corvus is an embarrassment the royal family and is removed from succession. But he has a hope - unhatched dragon egg

    5) The gilded hero, royalroad, https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/29286/the-gilded-hero It turns out, people summoned from another world are easily charmed with the title of "Hero." And they really shouldn't be.

    6) Mister B. Gone

    You get to read a sentient book, that has a specific request for you.

    7) The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle 

    Time loop story where protagonist interacts with other versions of himself in order to stop a mu*der of a girl.

    8) Returning to No Applause, Only More of the Same

    Kreig was summoned to the other world 130 years ago, the last 30 of which were spent in a constant, vengeful war against any army that would attempt to subjugate him. Once he returned, he found out that only 10 years had passed.Kreig was summoned to the other world 130 years ago, the last 30 of which were spent in a constant, vengeful war against any army that would attempt to subjugate him. Once he returned, he found out that only 10 years had passed.

    9) A fine octet of legs

    Waking up in unfamiliar surroundings after a wild night of drinking is not exactly a novel experience, even for Rita, but when it appears her whole city has gone to hell while she was out cold, well, that has to be a first. And if she wasn't careful, possibly a last.

    Now, somehow equipped with four times the number of legs she’s used to, Rita has to get to the bottom of what happened, figure out how to get back to her normal life and somehow survive in a ruined and post-apocalyptic hellscape that she was almost one hundred percent certain wasn't there yesterday.Waking up in unfamiliar surroundings after a wild night of drinking is not exactly a novel experience, even for Rita, but when it appears her whole city has gone to hell while she was out cold, well, that has to be a first. And if she wasn't careful, possibly a last.

    Now, somehow equipped with four times the number of legs she’s used to, Rita has to get to the bottom of what happened, figure out how to get back to her normal life and somehow survive in a ruined and post-apocalyptic hellscape that she was almost one hundred percent certain wasn't there yesterday.

    10) Big Panda and Tiny Dragon

    11) The Game at Carousel: A Horror Movie LitRPGThe Game at Carousel: A Horror Movie LitRPGThe Game at Carousel: A Horror Movie LitRPG

    https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/65629/the-game-at-carousel-a-horror-movie-litrpg

    A fine horror survival novel.

    Reply · 1 Like · ·
  6. FIEND
    FIEND· Jul 12, 2020 07:31 PM
    U got anything similar to psychic parasite
    Reply · 1 Like · ·
    • SassyCanoeWizard
      SassyCanoeWizard· Author · Jul 16, 2020 04:10 PM

      Psychic parasite is a unique novel and that’s exactly what is appealing in it. I suppose you are looking for something that have same aspect?

      If you are talking about reincarnation in nonhuman beings, you can look in list made by @Tallrice 

      He updates it time from time. Maybe something will catch your eye?

      If you mean unique premise, I remember stacking those in this list XP

      If you mean something outside of nu site, you may try Henry Kuttner’s “Vintage Season”

      Reply · ·
  7. Mr V
    Mr V· Jun 22, 2023 10:40 AM

    "I like when protagonist is on the edge, his survival chances slowly draining. I prefer when numbers go down, as well as protagonist’s hopes. " 

    Read Kingdom's Bloodline 

    Reply · ·
  8. IkeMan
    IkeMan· Jun 9, 2021 05:55 AM
    Erm this one is really popular, but Kidnapped Dragons is my favorite ln of all time... soo... yeah
    Reply · ·
    • SassyCanoeWizard
      SassyCanoeWizard· Author · Jun 10, 2021 01:29 AM
      For those who liked dragons' personalities it might be quite an engaging read. I added author's other work 'not all heroes from Earth are bad'. It managed to be somewhat funny
      Reply · ·