LitRPG Series
He was killed on earth in a deadly street fight. Just because he was trying to survive on the streets by running a con. Chrix finds himself in a world full of action and adventure. To his excitement, he finds that this world is full of magic and monsters. But he has to start out with no combat or magical skills. So this would be conman has to fake it too survives. This leads him into a dangerous situation that nobody would normal survive.
The following is an extract from the book:
She shouted, “You’re a dirty rotten cheat! You’ve been playing us all along.”
As she shouted, the rest of the group backed off. They had clearly been expecting an explosion from the woman. I just sat in my chair with a calm smile on my face, looking her directly in the eye. She had one of her daggers in her hand and threw it directly in between my eyes.
Just as her dagger was about to penetrate my temple, the shield I had been preparing all day flashed into existence with a blue wave of energy.
The dagger froze in place as the man from the guild muttered, “Magician,” with some fear.
I was still looking into her eyes as I had not flinched or blinked, but was still smiling as if nothing had happened.
The dagger dropped to the floor with a clang and I said, “Fire magician, actually.”
One of the man’s pipes had fallen to the ground during the ruckus so I picked it up and relit it with a small flame. Passing it to the trembling man, I said in a dangerous tone, “I insist that we continue.”
This had been my real gamble. After being burned by a fire magician and left for dead, I guessed that nobody wanted to suffer that fate. I’d been charging my magical shield all afternoon and hoping that it would be enough for one blow. Luckily, it was. If she had thrown a second time, I would have been dead - or whatever it is that happens to me in this world.
My Opinion: 168 pages, $2.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
The novel description and cover art don’t adequately describe some of the highlights of this slice of life story. It starts out with a fairly common if character revealing death of the main character (MC) on our world and his transportation to a fantasy RPG world by cheating and conning death himself. From there, the MC explores and figures out the rules of this new RPG world where he makes money by continuing to con and scam the medieval communities. While this doesn’t sound that great, it’s rather more detailed and interesting than I thought it would be. There’s a good use of body language study and the skills a good grifter would use. There’s also some good internal dialogue where the MC questions and explores the way this world is different from our own and the logical consequences of the information he’s gradually learning. While there is little combat, there are other kinds of conflict, including social and economic ones.
One of the few things I didn’t like about the story is that it’s actually shorter than it says it is. The last 20% is filler and a chapter from a different book.
Overall, while the story doesn’t have a plot, it is an interesting slice of life story with a non-hero MC looking to take advantage of those around him with quick hands, a charming smile, and an intelligent mind. It was fun to read about that kind of character and the way he builds his RPG skills.
Score: 7.4 out of 10