Ash led a very normal life by his own standards. It had its ups and downs, much like anyone else’s.
Being a talented martial artist had definitely been an up, while high-school as a whole was a down. His own father not being a great role model, and his uncle being everything he wanted to be.
To Ash it felt like a very normal life.
Right up until he was literally pulled into a portal that spat him out into another world.
One that was full of martial arts. Martial arts that the practitioners of such used magic to employ. To set the very air on fire with a punch, or to turn their skin hard as diamonds.
To fly through the air, if they had enough power.
A world where the strong ruled, and the weak died.
Three years of living his life as one of the citizens, those without power, and Ash has figured out how to survive. With his adoptive family and a lot of persistence.
His goals in life have become to give back to those who gave to him. And he’d do whatever he had to, to do that
Except Ash is about to get his life turned around again. Turned around and altered completely. He’s about to discover a treasure from a time long lost. Forgotten.
A treasure that is going to change his destiny and give him another direction to go. If he wants it.
A Cultivator.
This is a VeilVerse novel.
Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/a full harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is tactful as a dog at a cat show. Read at your own risk.
My Opinion: 225 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
A light LitRPG action oriented novel with cultivation, wuxia, martial arts, and a PG harem.
The story side of things is essentially slice of life. You follow the main character (MC) as he lives in this Wuxia inspired, cultivation, world. He trains as a martial artist, seeks to help his adopted family, fights in tournaments, and gives just desserts to the arrogant pompous bullies. There are also some nice story arcs but I won't ruin them.
On the game mechanic side, things are pretty light. There is a cultivation based progression system. People increase their cultivation by levels, there is a distinct power curve for the MC, and eventually the MC even gets a game like UI to see people's health and qi levels. However, the progression system, and cultivation in general, isn't particularly deep or detailed. Cultivation levels are mostly used to differentiate the relative power levels of characters.
Cultivation in the novel, while the key way to increasing power, is among the least detailed of what I've read as Litrpg. The Divine Dungeon uses cultivation, but gives fine detail about specific steps and geometric patterns mana has to be shaped into and there are definite guided principles to that mana cultivation based on elemental affinities. The Ten Realms, also uses cultivation and there are whole long sections detailing the different techniques to cultivate the body and spirit. Including hardening organs, opening meridians, refining and condensing mana. In this novel, cultivation often amounts to mediating and imaging your Qi pool, then folding and condensing it until it can't any more. That’s it. Not a bad description, but of the cultivation stories I've read that are also LitRPG, it’s one of the least detailed.
Combat is the big highlight of the novel. The action is frenetic and fast paced. The combination of martial arts and qi based abilities gives the fights a Hunter X Hunter vibe, one of my favorite animes.
The harem aspect is very PG and while there is the inference of sex in the novel, it is very fade to black. Otherwise this aspect is handled like it is in Super Sales on Super Heroes, another novel of the authors. There are lots of women that care for the MC who ultimately specialize themselves in particular areas to fill out a balanced team for him.
The minor drawbacks in the story: All the power the MC gets feels unearned. Literally every skill, technique, power boost, and even his ability to cultivate come from his magic ring. The MC just does makes a search query and then all the info is downloaded into his brain and he's a master of that skill, trade, technique, or whatever. Even though the MC uses those skills in intelligent ways, spars, cultivates and makes the most of what he gets, it all stems from what is basically a wish ring.
Overall, this is a good entertaining story. There are a few things that bring it down for me in small ways but the great action, and interesting story kept me turning pages.
Score: 7.6 out of 10
Cultivating Chaos (VeilVerse: Cultivating Chaos Book 1)