The MC is a ‘Hardcore’ gamer, ‘Desperate for a challenge.’ And what does this adventurous hero do when presented with difficulties? Well obviously he spends the next 15 YEARS in noobtown, never even attempting to leave. Ah, but he must have been preparing for his trip up the world tree right? Sure… He has learned 1 spell… ONE SPELL IN 15 YEARS, not even some basic utility spell on the side to help him. But surely he has trained his stats to an insane level? Nope, his highest stat is 40, we look in on other characters who have all stats over lv 100 after 12 years. Well surely he’s been looking into the challenges he’s going to face while climbing? Nope he relies on other people info dumping him for every challenge he faces (nevermind the fact the characters info dumping him also spent the last 15 years in noobtown). Well he must have been preparing allies and items to help him climb? Nope. He leaves with people he only met 1 day before. Also his friend bankrolls the whole expedition because the MC didn’t save a penny over the last 15 years. I feel like the 15 year time skip at the start of the book was one of the stupidest writing decisions I’ve seen.
Death in this world means no loss of exp, skills, or levels. It is painful (unless you take your instant death pill that everyone seems to carry). But EVERYONE is so absolutely terrified of risking a little pain to even attempt going after superhuman powers and immense riches. I’ve broken bones before, and sure, pain sucks, but the worst part is the slow recovery and the medical bills. In this world you can get healed instantly for free. The absolute cowardice of the characters in the novel is unrealistic.
–What this sotry does well–
I like that the MC isn’t a hardened war-vet that is gifted game breaking powers from God/the A.I. He is gamer, he understands how games work and doesn’t need an explanation of what magic/mana/hp is. He approaches those topics in the frame of ‘how do they work in this game as apposed to others.’ Furthermore he gets his overpowered ability through a lot of time and effort trying to utilize a bug while the system is out of commission and can’t prevent it’s use.
I like that progression is hard and slow. If its as easy as it is in a game or some other LitRPG novels, you run into a problem of why isn’t everybody in this entire world overpowered to an insane degree. This positive becomes more of a drawback as time skips are used again and again to show ‘progression’
I like that the MC is generally a pretty relaxed person, good contrast from most other MCs you see and realistic for the plot and setting.
The main villain was realistic and very hate-able with red flags pointing at him before his decent into becoming an unabashed criminal.
–What else this story does badly–
Women mostly seem to exist here to show off the traits of the male characters. No woman seems to hold great authority, is capable of evil beyond being a bit timid or dumb, and they are typically victimized/ set to be rescued. It isn’t the worst example of this there’ve been, but it does exist here.
Despite all main characters being American, all bad guys other than the main villain are Russians.