No Romance, No Harem, Just A Driven Protagonist

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No Romance, No Harem, Just A Driven Protagonist

Here is a list of my favorite action web novels. I really don’t like romance and/or harem in my action focused novels, because it almost always detracts from the plot. So, these action novels have absolutely zero romance or harem.

The first five are the ones I recommended to everyone and are the only ones that are in order. The following are more of a case by case basis.

More recommendations (that aren’t listed on NU) in the comments.

All the MTL I recommend are very readable. I can't stand most MTL, including Comrademao and MTLNovel, so the only website that I use is Novelhi.

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75 Followers

Walpurga

Created: Jan 6th, 2022, Updated: Apr 6th, 2024

Created Jan 6th, 2022

Updated Apr 6th, 2024

CN (4.3)

#1Reverend Insanity

25 Chapters Every 602.9 Day(s) 12636 Readers 331 Reviews 09-19-2002

Completed Action Adventure Fantasy Mature Mystery Psychological Xianxia

Consistently amazing all the way through + my ideal protagonist. Enough said about this one.

CN (3.9)

#2World’s Best Martial Artist

57 Chapters Every 104.1 Day(s) 1016 Readers 34 Reviews 11-05-2021

Completed Action Adventure Comedy Martial Arts School Life Shounen Supernatural Xuanhuan

Most underrated novel on NU. Best character progression on this list (MC is so cruel and ruthless in the last arcs >.<), amazing world building, and my favorite system in any novel I have ever read. There is certainly no harem, so I don’t know why that genre heading is there…... more>>

CN (4.7)

#3Lord of the Mysteries

113 Chapters Every 531.1 Day(s) 13398 Readers 357 Reviews 02-06-2019

Completed Horror Mature Mystery Psychological Supernatural

Phenomenal first half, collapses somewhat under it’s own weight and is rushed in the second half. One of my favs, despite me not liking the setting and the very slow beginning. The hard work put into this story is very evident.... more>>

CN (4)

#4Kingdom’s Bloodline

144 Chapters Every 10.9 Day(s) 2637 Readers 64 Reviews 04-06-2024

Action Drama Fantasy Mature Psychological Seinen Tragedy

EDIT: I haven’t read the raws yet (there isn’t even a hundred raw chapters built up after all these years >.>) but honestly this kind of story kind of necessitates some sort of romance, as he will be running a country as a king and all that. I don’t know when it will happen but I am sure that it will. I just hadn’t thought about it until now.... more>>

CN (4.6)

#5Game of the World Tree

368 Chapters Every 1.7 Day(s) 1394 Readers 30 Reviews 04-19-2024

Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Slice of Life

Simple story written in an engaging and enchanting fashion, but the MC’s path was somewhat too easy for my taste. Still a very enjoyable read.... more>>

KR (4.1)

#6I Came Back And Conquered It All

50 Chapters Every 69.9 Day(s) 4022 Readers 69 Reviews 11-13-2023

Action Adventure Drama Fantasy Shounen

MC reincarnates with a mission and stays laser focused the entire way through. Though the story telling was less enjoyable than the above picks, its... more>>

CN (3.7)

#7Floating Immortal Order

280 Chapters Every 3.6 Day(s) 526 Readers 14 Reviews 03-24-2024

Action Adventure Mature Supernatural Xianxia

Great for 4/5 of the story. Pretty good the last 5th, but the last chapter was a tremendous train wreck. The author basically dropped the story. He kind of ran himself into a wall with the emotionless and desire-less protagonist and his motivation for cultivating. ... more>>

KR (4)

#8Emperor Has Returned

104 Chapters Every 41.7 Day(s) 2018 Readers 5 Reviews 04-24-2021

Completed Action Adventure Drama Fantasy Mature Shounen

Mixed feelings about this one. While I enjoyed the story in the moment of reading, I thought the protagonist was kind of childish and naive in many of his thoughts and motivations. He basically acted like humans = good and gods = bad, when humans and the gods are far more alike than he realizes, which is why he dies so pitifully in his first life.... more>>

CN (3.9)

#9The Path Toward Heaven

66 Chapters Every 155.2 Day(s) 2020 Readers 33 Reviews 12-18-2017

Action Adventure Fantasy Mystery Sci-fi Xuanhuan

Funny enough, this was my favorite novel at the time that I was waiting for the daily uploads, but it has degraded for me over... more>>

CN (4.6)

#10Since The Red Moon Appeared

72 Chapters Every 17.5 Day(s) 1256 Readers 9 Reviews 08-21-2023

Action Horror Mystery Psychological Sci-fi Seinen Supernatural

This is a very well written story, however, my problem with it is that I think the protagonist seriously lacks agency (and he is fine with that). He is being led by the nose by several people throughout the whole story, and that’s my pet peeve. ... more>>

CN (3.8)

#11The Original Seeker

30 Chapters Every 70.1 Day(s) 308 Readers 4 Reviews 06-21-2021

Action Adventure Fantasy Mature Mystery Xuanhuan

Very fun (for the most part) and innovative! My favorite cultivation system, especially once they reach the immortal realms (becoming a planet or a star seems so bad@ss to me >.<)... more>>

CN (4.1)

#12History’s Number 1 Founder

107 Chapters Every 187.4 Day(s) 8742 Readers 86 Reviews 12-21-2016

Completed Action Adventure Fantasy Martial Arts Xuanhuan

Just a fun story that is read to pass the time. Perfect when you have nothing else to read tbh. I enjoyed the 4 main disciples and the rest are just ok and/or forgettable.... more>>

CN (4)

#13I Just Won’t Play by the Book

19 Chapters Every 88.7 Day(s) 400 Readers 8 Reviews 02-22-2021

Comedy Fantasy Xuanhuan

I like this story a lot. MC is far colder and calmer than he may appear in the first few chapters. He tends to only act approachable with like 3 people.... more>>

KR (3.9)

#14The Hero Returns

12 Chapters Every 135.4 Day(s) 1289 Readers 27 Reviews 11-18-2019

Completed Action Adventure Fantasy Shounen Supernatural

A fun and enjoyable light read. It’s not a masterpiece and it doesn’t do anything new, but it’s still fun enough to read. However, the dialogue becomes somewhat childish as the novel progresses, and the story as a whole does overstay its welcome tbh.... more>>

KR (4.2)

#15Leveling with the Gods

319 Chapters Every 1.1 Day(s) 4939 Readers 33 Reviews 04-19-2024

Action Adventure Fantasy Supernatural

A better Reincarnator, but with mythical Gods. That’s about it tbh

KR (4.5)

#16Sword Pilgrim

134 Chapters Every 9.9 Day(s) 4836 Readers 57 Reviews 03-31-2024

Action Adventure Drama Fantasy Seinen Tragedy

EDIT: Yeah it went in the direction I did not want. Even worse, his reasonings for wanting to become the Lord of the North were not justifiable imho. I don't even know where this story is going tbh and everything that the mc accomplishes is based on deus ex machina which is established on him having to be on death's door. I get no satisfaction from the mc's winning battles anymore. This story is now just 'okay' to me.... more>>

KR (4.1)

#17I Became the First Prince

30 Chapters Every 20 Day(s) 5678 Readers 71 Reviews 03-24-2024

Action Adventure Comedy Drama Fantasy Seinen

Good, but don’t go into this expecting a protagonist with a badass personality. The mc doesn’t act at all like someone who has lived hundreds of years, especially as a sword who has spent most of those years killing. He lacks a stable mind, has far too much pride, doesn't think through any of his actions, and is too unnecessarily arrogant.... more>>

CN (3.6)

#18Heavenly Genius

0 Chapters Every 1215 Day(s) 357 Readers 3 Reviews N/A

Action Adult Comedy Drama Xuanhuan

Features a very intelligent protagonist and some fantastic schemes that makes you not mind the mc’s prolonged weak cultivation realm throughout the story too much. Your mileage will definitely vary with this one.... more>>

(EDIT) SPOILER WARNING:

There is a particular female that becomes obsessed with the Mc and won’t stop pining for him, despite how many times he rejects her romantic interests. Sadly her brother is very important to the story, so she does make pretty frequent appearances. Now, the warning is that it is randomly revealed in the last 40 or so chapters that she is apparently the reincarnation(?) of the mc’s missing significant other from his previous world (I’m not even sure how that worked timeline wise). Regardless, the mc completely changes his tune and he ends up in a relationship with her. It truly feels like fan-service or a retcon more than anything, so you can totally skip the ending and it wouldn’t have any effect on the story.

INCOMING RANT!!

Don't read this story if you like cultivation. Period. In this world, a major cultivation sect can’t even beat a human army >.> The first 40 chapters were amazing, but afterwards, cultivation quickly become less and less important. The author doesn't even tell us what stage of cultivation the mc is in after he completes his breakthrough to Foundation Establishment. Heck, Idek when he reached the Golden Core realm! His opponents always outclass him. And even when he is stronger than his opponents later on, the reader isn't even aware of it, bc the author hasn't informed us as to exactly how strong the mc is. Maybe the author wants us to be surprised when the mc wins? But it only feels like lazy writing, as the mc barely fights in the first place. Cultivation was so detailed at the beginning, but all of a sudden, all of the details disappeared. Disappointing. I'm less than 90 chapters from the end, and I don't even know if the author will let the mc break through to the Nascent Soul Realm.

The war arc (roughly chps. 600-850) was so bad, I dropped this novel for half a year. Too many plot lines from too many characters I didn't care enough about to read. The mc would disappear for like ten chapters at a time REPEATEDLY... And the warfare wasn't written well at all, but that may be just me. Maybe it's because The Human Emperor did this so well that I've become spoiled? Anyways, it does get much better afterwards because the author starts to speed up the story telling and stops writing about war, thank god.

More annoying things: Most of the issues the mc has to deal with come from his friends or his inability to kill his enemies (this happens an uncomfortable amount of times). The "rival" character is so annoying and unrealistically arrogant, as he is only a mortal trying to scheme against cultivators. The author tries to keep him relevant, but it eventually feels like chapter padding. The mc's best friend is perhaps the worst side character I have ever had the pleasure of reading about. At random points, he suddenly becomes extra ungrateful to the mc (almost always because of a girl he just met), idiotically impulsive, and he NEVER learns from his actions that nearly get him killed over and over. If not for the mc saving his ass over and over, he'd have been dead way earlier in the story. And I particularly dislike the author for this because he rewards that character with body-cultivation strength each time he runs off to implicate the mc. He doesn't even care about cultivation, but all he has to do is make the s*upidest decisions and is suddenly an ENTIRE realm higher than before. He even grows stronger at a quicker pace than the mc! Terrible character/writing.

OVERALL, it's an alright story. The beginning is fantastic, and there are some good points dispersed throughout. Now, I just want to see how the author's going to wrap this story up. I'm not particularly excited about reading it, which shouldn't be the case, considering I'm so close to the end.

https://novelhi.com/s/Heavenly-Genius <<less

KR (4.3)

#19Genius Warlock

433 Chapters Every 0.9 Day(s) 3823 Readers 33 Reviews 04-19-2024

Action Adventure Fantasy Mature Mystery Psychological Sci-fi Seinen Supernatural Tragedy

It's good! I wish more chapters were out, but at least chapters are being translated relatively quickly. ... more>>

CN (4.1)

#20The Great Enlightenment

264 Chapters Every 22.6 Day(s) 452 Readers 8 Reviews 09-23-2023

Action Adventure Xianxia

Idk about this one. I only read a few chapters, but it didn't reel me in or anything. I temporarily dropped it bc I wanted... more>>

CN (4.7)

#21Circle of Inevitability

24 Chapters Every 27.2 Day(s) 1280 Readers 11 Reviews 06-05-2023

Action Adventure Fantasy Horror Mature Mystery Psychological Supernatural Xuanhuan

EDIT: While I don't necessarily prefer Lumian over Klein, I still really like Lumian's character. He has a lot of layers, and it's satisfying witnessing him grow as the story progresses.... more>>

KR (4.1)

#22Ascension Through Skills

227 Chapters Every 1.8 Day(s) 3178 Readers 13 Reviews 04-19-2024

Action Adventure Fantasy Seinen

This is the best "Tower" conquering story that I have ever read. I was a little skeptical at the beginning with the dialogue and all the skills being tossed around, but it only took like 3 chapters before I was hooked. The protagonist is perfect, the power-scaling is impressive, the skills are amazingly well conceptualized (both in the acquisition and implementation of them), and the world and higher level entities feel like a SIGNIFICANT threat (which I find quite rare in power-grinding stories like this). Though, the magic skills feels a little less impressive than the physical ones at the moment. Perhaps it’s because the MC didn't have magic in his previous life, so it... more>>

CN (4.4)

#23My Longevity Simulation

331 Chapters Every 5.8 Day(s) 990 Readers 19 Reviews 04-08-2024

Action Adventure Horror Mature Mystery Psychological Xianxia

I’m liking this one a lot so far. The premise is interesting, but it does lend to a noticeable lack of “show, don’t tell” writing at times. However, the protagonist’s character is satisfying, and it is easy to see how his character may evolve to extreme pragmatism.... more>>

KR (4.6)

#24Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

0 Chapters Every 2117 Day(s) 21342 Readers 438 Reviews 07-03-2018

Action Adventure Drama Fantasy Mature Mystery Psychological Sci-fi Seinen Supernatural Tragedy

I’ve finally decided to read this one through to the end! I know a lot of people love this story, and I’ve tried to pick it up several times, but for some reason I’ve always set it aside fairly early on in the story until now. ... more>>

I’m about 75% done with this one so far, and while the story is good, I have some things that I dislike very much. (I’ll be more in depth about my dislikes, since there is so much praise for this one already.)

LIKES: Deep and mostly coherent story, good characterization for many characters, scope of the world/world building.

DISLIKES:

1. The protagonist’s character is not to my taste. This is not to say that the author did a bad job at creating the mc. They actually did great job at crafting a normal and pretty dorky character who loves webnovels and has a visible obsession with the real protagonist (Yoo Joonghyuk). I just don’t prefer to read about characters like this personally. He’s self-sacrificial and not all that smart (he kind of gets dumber as the story progresses). Also, I hate how he flinches/stutters so often and his habit of gulping every time things get slightly stressful is so annoying. And why is he guilty over everything? None of this is his fault so why do the side characters (especially Joonghyuk) guilt trip him so much and he just takes it…

2. The story has some inconsistencies, and while much of the plot have been thought of in advance, it is very clear when plot points arrive that weren’t initially outlined. Plot armor runs rampant and the number of asspulls is tiring, leading to portions of the story feeling random.

3. The consistency of the mc’s strength and the overall power scaling is off. The mc initally grows stronger at an understandable pace at the beginning, although he does have a strange habit of randomly waiting until the very last minute to upgrade his strength with his coins. But after he becomes a constellation, the strength of stats are nebulous and the author continually finds ways to limit him (by either creating caps for the strength of his body that others are frequently able to cross, causing him a severe injury, or eliminating his power entirely). Each time this happens, it just feels like the author is trying to give a chance for the side characters to catch up to his level. Also, the constellation power system seems to be intentionally obscure so the author doesn’t have to focus much on balancing power levels between characters.

4. The mc is almost always just slightly weaker than the ‘real’ protagonist. Also, I hate that his fear/reverence towards the ‘real’ protagonist never goes away.

5. The amount of times the mc dies and/or faints is unnecessarily high. <<less

CN (4)

#25Mysterious Noble Beasts

77 Chapters Every 58.7 Day(s) 563 Readers 11 Reviews 10-09-2021

Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Supernatural Xuanhuan

Well… this is not particularly great, but it’s somehow addicting? I’ll objectively rate it a 3 (or maybe even less at times), but my personal enjoyment rating has this sitting closer to a 4. The treadmill of strengthening and evolving pets was done really well, even though there is a severe lack of conflict and engaging story structure. Also, the story’s reliance on competitions is wayyy overdone. However, the pets’ personalities are all pretty cute.... more>>

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Comments (10)

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Lilix66· Feb 26, 2022 04:34 PM
Thankyou for the list and detailed reviews! Helps alot in choosing the next book to read. Hope you are able to update the list later on
Reply · 1 Like · ·
Zeusomega· Jan 29, 2022 01:34 PM
Really liked it, definitely going to read best martial artist and kingdom bloodline.
Just wanted to ask whether you read ri or lotm first....
Reply · 1 Like · ·
- Walpurga· Author · Jan 29, 2022 03:10 PM
  Yay! To answer your question, I actually read those at the same time. I think I technically started RI first, but I dropped it to wait for more chapters bc it only had like 40 chapters released at that point. But yeah, for the majority of both novels I read simultaneously as they were translated.
  Reply · 1 Like · ·
- Zeusomega· Jan 29, 2022 04:38 PM
  @Walpurga that's great lol, i thought it was lotm first...cause being an ri first reader i felt lotm lacking lol...
  No offense to your review ofcourse, just my feeling
  Reply · 1 Like · ·
Walpurga· Author · Jan 23, 2022 06:18 PM
Stories I like that aren’t on NU:
1. Rebirth of the Noble Mage Behind the Scenes (MTL)
http://wnmtl.org/mobile/book/8394-rebirth-of-the-noble-mage-behind-the-scenes
— I LOVE this story! I really wish it was finished so I can binge it >.< I love these kinda reincarnated, uber-talented protagonists that keep their strength hidden from everyone. Not too deep, but very entertaining. EDIT: If I was ranking it, it would be number 6 on this overall list. 2ND EDIT: If you are reading this on WNMTL, there is piracy protection from the original author from chapters 150ish to 205ish. You will have to read those chapters here: (https://sj.uukanshu.com/book_amp.aspx?id=152587). Just google translate and it should be pretty good (far better than GT was a couple years ago).
2. I Have A Martial Arts Panel
https://m.webnovel.com/book/i-have-a-martial-arts-panel_20178481605547205
— A pretty fun popcorn novel. It’s cheap popcorn, but still enjoyable enough.
Reply · 1 Like · ·
- BoredMonster· Feb 11, 2022 09:28 AM
  Bro I read that first one, I was the one to ask on reddit for it to be translated but how can you continue thatm It had sooooo much potential and I really liked the opness that the rich family gave but the creepy and weird descriptions (of women), especially of his 'sister' (' ' because no way is she his biological sister with that description).
  Reply · Like · ·
- Walpurga· Author · Feb 11, 2022 02:30 PM
  @BoredMonster Well I didn’t find it all that weird because the mc also talks about himself that way (he obviously has an appearance complex). Hell, he even internally commented on the beautiful appearance of the ninth prince similarly, but couldn’t help but throw in that the prince’s appearance is only about half as beautiful as his own.
  
  He calls her “dear Fi”, but he also calls his cousin “dear Harvey”. I am not quite sure if they are biological siblings either (she is an experiment). In addition, to be fair, the mc knew of her as a noble stranger (previous life) way longer than he knew of her as a sister (current life).
  
  While I don’t think he 100 percent thinks of her as family (I mean, how could someone who has had a family for so long truly come to think of another family as their own after reincarnating), I haven’t been given any reason, as of yet, to think the mc thinks of her as a romantic interest.
  
  Reply · 1 Like · ·
Walpurga· Author · Mar 14, 2024 02:47 PM
Royal Road Recs:
1. Dreamer’s Throne: A system transmigration story with a fun and easy to understand power system, along with an intelligent mc and competently paced plot progression. Although it is technically on “hiatus” on RR, the next book is currently being released on Patreon.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/66110/dreamers-throne
2. Tenebroum: Dead criminal comes back to life as a spirit with no memories, and it only gets darker from there. I love the premise and the initial 80-90 chapters are excellent. But something about the progression feels off to me as the story continues. Still a great read though.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/58643/tenebroum
3. Godclads: This story is amazing, even though it definitely takes some time to get into to at the beginning with all the terms, setting, and the grotesqueness of it all. However, the fights and divine abilities are really cool, and the characters are almost frighteningly distinct. Sometimes the mc makes weird decisions, some of which will make sense later, some of which won’t. There is no romance (mc is a ghoul that lacks reproductive organs and can’t feel romantic emotions), however the mc does have a sort of (violent) obsession with a particular female character. And it was revealed deeper in the story that if the mc could feel emotions like lust, then he/they would have been all over her. So take that for what you will.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/59663/godclads-eldritch-cyberpunk-progression-book-1
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Lined· Feb 25, 2024 07:35 AM
I would recommend trying unsheathed. The MC always calm and collected. However the story is very slow paced and there are a lot of mysteries that get explained in later chapters.
Reply · Like · ·
- Walpurga· Author · Feb 25, 2024 09:55 PM
  I definitely will at some point (but I’ll probably wait for the translation to build up some more before binging). Though sadly it has romance and/or harem :(
  Reply · Like · ·

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