If you were given a chance to leave Earth, would you take it? Would you leave behind everything you have known for a chance at a different life? What if that life was something that you weren't expecting nor prepared for? These are the questions that Calixa will have to ask herself as she faces her new life as a domain god. A being who is much stronger and has more freedom than that of a dungeon core. Will she adapt to her new life or will she fail and perish?
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TLDR: The story had a great start, interesting and unique premises, and a well-though out world/system that is currently suffering from a lack of cohesive plot pacing, unified storytelling, and logical consistency.I have been following this story from the begging, and I found this authors unique take on the Isekai genre to be a welcomed and impressive addition. However, at this point in time (Chapter 123) I am dropping due to the author seeming being so concerned about advancing the main plot points (or rushing to create said points) that the internal consistency to their world has dropped. This, to me as a reader, is both disappointing and confusing. I am breaking down my review as follows: World building, Magic System Building, Plot, and Editing. SPOILER WARNING as I find discussion plot points the best way to explain ratings.
World Building
The world that the author takes on is one that occasionally will spawn super-dungeons called domains. This is an offshoot of the Isekai into/as a dungeon genre, and the author stands out by creating a supercharged type of dungeon for their MC. The author early on does not go into details about the surrounding lands nor nations/peoples, save for the arch with the adventures around 1/2 into the story (relative to chapter 123). However, the author takes advantage of the undead dungeon trope and uses it as a blank slate to create a fictional kingdom for the MC to revive (the MC imagines anew this kingdom to create a rational story for her subordinates to follow her and as a guide for her to create new subordinates). This, is frankly a wonderful idea that is a strength of this story. The MC creating a "lore" and making it real through the undead's imprinted memories is cool, unique, and refreshing. Around the halfway mark (60?) the story starts to make a substantial change in tone, attention to internal consistency, and lack of clear direction that I will be consistently referring to. In terms of World Building, later chapters starts to expand on both the "lore" of the MC domain and the nations/people outside of her domain, but in ways that seems inconsistent and rushed. Brief examples include:
These and more were, to me as a reader, ideas and information that were added and forgotten. Perhaps they will be wrapped up and explained latter on, but the pacing of the story was so fast that they were forgotten in the moments written.
Magic System Building
The author spends a great deal of time developing the magic system and rules on its function, in line with general dungeon stories. This story shows a more developed, thought out, and explored system, and the author keeps a nice balance between overpowered system (and overpowered MC) and practical responsibilities of handling said power. The MC can spawn a number of mobs and some raw resources, but physical structures must be build by hand. Dividing of her forces by type and skills in both the early and latter part of the story is well done, and each type of soldier is expanded upon and not left to their generic stereotype. The beginning of the story may have felt too detailed (how much essence needed per weapon) to some, but I was quite happy with that level of explanations. However, it appears that the author has realized that explanations in the detail can slow down the pacing of the story, and they seemed to have abandoned explaining or staying consistent to said system they built. Which is a real shame, since it is a very well developed system with what I can recall as coherent rules that a reader could understand but left enough ambiguity for further advancement as the story develops. Examples of the Magic System being inconsistent are:
I will add that Chapter 123 appears to explain that the system is changing, and the reason is due to a kingdom being defined by subjects more than the ruler. However, this doesn't appear to fit with previous descriptions of the system nor the expected upgrade path of said domain.
Plot
I will endeavor to be brief here, but the first half of the story had a clear plot. Spawn mobs, build dungeon in unique undead castle style, gather resources, train soldiers, prepare for adventurous. The latter half, as a reader, I cannot see a clear plot. Is this a continuation of build dungeon, are we transitioning into kingdom building/management, are we pathing towards an inter-dimensional fight with gods, are we settling down into a Isekai slice-of-life romance? As a reader, I am confused with the different ideas thrown at me and only partially explored and left behind. This is where the pacing became key, and I think the author is trying to move too fast and add everything they want.
Personally, I tend to shy away from Girls Love, and as a reader it came as a shock that the novel went this route. I think the author gave the MC an unnecessary relationship and one that detracts, not adds to, the character and story of the MC. I find the romance scenes distracting and so far doesn't appear to build on the central plot, but instead inserts a parallel plot.
Editing
The latest fight was really well written in terms of details, emotions, and perspectives. They story as a whole has generally well detailed descriptions of characters, items, flashbacks, and perspectives of the world. The detailed writing style is a strength of the author. I have generally not noticed nor felt bother by spelling/grammar.
In the latter half of the story, a significant numbers of chapters start with a different perspective from another character, and it not denoted. This was repeatedly ask for by several commenters, and the latest chapters are more clear on who is talking. However, those previous chapters don't have that fixed, and as a reader it is confusing reading dialogue and expose without knowing who is talking.
On the whole I have been really impressed with this author and the story they have crafted. However, the latest half of the story seems to suffer from a rushed plot, which drives inconsistency and leaves lose ends. I genuinely enjoyed reading the story, and I hope the author takes into consideration my critiques. Thank you.
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So far, a delightful little twist on the typical dungeon genre. Given a little land of her own and near godlike powers while within it, the protagonist has to build up a domain and populate it, with all the resource management that implies.
Pros:
The protagonist is very relatable, intelligent, and driven. So far, there's been no real idiot balls in her corner. As important dungeon denizens are introduced, they're given actual personalities and mannerisms. You'd think this basic, but it's honestly rare in this genre.
The story is building up an actual society, which promises to be much more interesting than random monsters in a dungeon.
The author eager to hear comments and criticism, and fixes small mistakes quickly.
Cons:
Some people might not enjoy the slow pace, though personally I like slow burns.
The narrative gets a bit slowed down by the system/interface exposition at times.
Overall, worth a read if you're a fan of dungeon stories
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Absolutely amazing, well thought out plot and great story to read :D. Author, Please continue this story, It is amazing
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Love the story for it's way of doing things.
It was bit slow in the beginning for me as she was simply going with the flow and the reason she entered the portal also bit (plane?)
as her intention entering portal was to start a new life leaving everything but after some time she wants to go back like every isekai summoned MC, it's comeup few times, but it gives her a depth in emotional character.
Personally we could have bit more POV since story has many characters and to develop them it needs their Pov a bit more
or all the characters outside the domain become 2d as their only purpose is to provide MC what she needs or something similar
but that's a personal taste.
Has good phase, no grammar issue for the most part as far as I can tell.
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A great story about the building of the undead empire Asteria. The main character is Calixa, who designs this empire as a domain god from scratch. Calixa Asteria stages herself as the empress of her self-created empire, which will be tested by adventurers.
The story is slow pased, but I like this as it gives more substance to the whole empire and the characters in it. It is well thought out and a great story to read! :D
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This is absolutely fantastic work! I was hooked from the very beginning, the writting is very detailed but easy to follow and the characters have a deptness to them that makes each and everyone unique and captivating. I 100% recommend it! This world is well thought, carefully built and very well described, and I just can't wait for it to grow more and more.
I am genuinely loving this novel and I am eager for more updates!
Thank you for your amazing work!
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After binging this for two days, I'll say that this is one of the better novels on this site. It combines the dungeon-core/necromancer/empire building concepts typically found in webnovels.
The first few chapters are a bit slow, but I don't regret powering through them. They set the foundations for the main character's backstory which is relatable.
The world building is real nice and doesn't feel forced. Characters are on point and I especially like the way the author makes the MC flesh out the empire's story as she progresses.
I like how the story isn't too crazy with POV changes, and most of the POVs other than the MC provide a refreshing or engaging perspective on the domain and its denizens.
As of chapter 99 things seem to be brewing in the background and the pacing's on point. Definitely looking forward to more.
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Great book go give it a read.
The book feels like weird mix of Overlord, generic dungeon core and Reincarnated as a Spider! And I love it.
Characters are very well written and the plot has couple of extremely unique and unusual twists that sets it apart from all the rest of its genre.
BUT the chapters are incredibly short and that's the only bad thing about this book.
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