An untapped frontier. Reaping and sowing. Redemption through growth.
Matt is running from a life that he no longer wants, and he’s found a solution. By logging in to the newest game, Livia, he gains chances that he can’t get anywhere else. Matt chooses to cut out a new life for himself on the edge of civilization, by venturing to the frontier town of Tallrock. As soon as he gains his class, the newly minted Cycle Mage has one goal: farming.
Now known in-game as Kastigan, he gains a starting bonus parcel of virgin land that he will need to convert to farmland from the ground up. Kastigan needs to decide what to grow, what animals to raise, and who to hire; all while dealing with a Legion Commander who hates him for no apparent reason, surviving in the wild land where monsters roam freely, and uncovering lost relics from a forgotten time.
If he succeeds, he will create a new home for himself. If he fails, he will lose not only his farm, but all the workers, crops, and beasts that he has spent every last penny to acquire.
My Opinion: 379 pages, $4.99, Available On Kindle Unlimited
A VRMMO story where the MC is looking to make a living selling/auctioning items. He chooses to try the rare farming route instead of traditional adventuring. Along the way he meets a lizard-woman who is a beast tamer and together they explore, farm, breed stock, and adventure.
The first 15% is a bit of an info dump and I had to push through some of the more unneeded details. But by the 20% mark, the story gets on track for the adventure, exploration, and farming. The only real negative is the lack of action or any antagonists. Up until the 70% mark, there's not any real obstacles to what the MC does and there's no antagonist in the story.
Game mechanics are detailed, especially the magic system with elemental affinity determining which spells could be taken and how powerful they were. I also liked the beast bonding process. There was specific resource use and some real risk of failure and it made any success feel rewarding. Mini games are used for skill use. There's a bit of crafting and use of magic to farm. Other MMO game stuff is fairly standard: levels, skills, abilities, health, mana, etc.
Overall, it’s an ok story. The lack of action or any real challenges for the MC meant there wasn’t really any tension. Even the IRL problems the MC was dealing with seemed to be put off till the next book. And maybe that’s where the challenges for the MC will come up. But for now, the story does farming well, has solid and consistent game mechanics with some cool potential future features. If you can enjoy a slice of life story with little conflict but lots of farming and animal husbandry, this may work well for you.
Score: 7.1 out of 10