Janus Campbell can't fight. And unfortunately for him, that's the only way to survive.
Upcoming physicist Janus Campbell is trapped in the world of Tersaia, where shadow monsters lurk the streets, anyone can be monitored at any time and fighting is the best way to make a living; either through the Rumble Circuit, a world-wide ranking of combatants that keeps track of participants' wins and losses in competitive duels, or through slaying the constantly spawning Essencima that terrorize the population.
Unfortunately for Janus, he doesn't know how to fight. No special moves. No signature techniques. Not even a basic grab.
However, there are two people that might be able to help him out. Itzel, an avaricious woman with the ability to manipulate the wind, and Gurk, a man-crocodile hybrid of few words that can control ice, are the ones that will have to help Janus if they ever want to leave the harrowing alleys of Labrisson and rank up in the Rumble Circuit.
Art isn't mine, it's commissioned.
An interesting story drawing inspiration from arcade games. It's well-written and easy to follow despite the frequent POV shifts. The protagonist behaves in a realistic manner. He doesn't suddenly becomes overpowered for no reason after his arrival on the video game like world. A welcome change from most LitRPGs on this site. I don't usually read LitRPGs, but when I do, this is the one I read.
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Style - I think it is a well-written story, it is exceptionally easy to read, and easily understandable, with no apparent flaws. Actually, when it comes to following the story, it is actually even better than other stories I also called easy to read. But I can't give it more than 5 stars, so that's it.
Grammar - Oh, truly eldritch power of The Grammar. It still eludes me. I am not a native English speaker, all stories receive 5 stars for Grammar from me.
Story - A Portal Fantasy story. It handles the events it describes quite well, even though I have to point out there is one aspect of the story that seems incredibly convoluted. The protagonist, a guy from our world, is transported to this fantasy (science fantasy I guess) universe, provided with new clothes appropriate for the setting, yet not with Implant ID. Chips are mandatory. Illuminati and NWO approve this story too. But this is the setup where the protagonist is railroaded to the event where he ends up in debt for the prize of the chip, which raises too many questions about what the force (providing him with clothes, but not ID) thought... it relies on two many specific points where he simply had to meet the reasonable policewoman who arranged the chip instead of just arresting him or deporting him, or whatever. Like, a series of events that are required some sentient force that equip the protagonist with clothes predicted... I will give it 4-star.
Characters - I think characters are handled fairly well. The protagonist is actually handled quite realistically, he is cautious, just as his new acquaintances, and the way he has handled sets this story apart from LitRPG where protagonist lashes out against everything with superior easily gained skills. Because in this protagonist is powerless, useless, if he does have powers, he doesn't know about them... and I honestly don't know if I should rate the story up or down because of it. In one way, it's a nice change of pace, making the story unique, on the other a steep change he will have to undergo to keep up with superpowered fighters in the future would make it just the same as he got powers in the first chapter. But I give it benefit of the doubt, and 5-star it.
Overall, it is a very decent story, and I enjoy it, so give it 5-star, it was easy to read to this point, and this easiness motivated me to read into it more so I thought about all things above. Plus I appreciate it has illustrations.
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I will catch up to the most recent chapter by the end of today.
So far its a decent story with likeable characters.
I understand the pacing is slow to allow for the a better narrative flow and some character growth but...
100+ chapters and the main character still knows absolutely nothing about fighting game mechanics despite being trapped in a world in which these fights mean life and death. Slow start tag but watching someone learn this stuff from zero just is not appealing. Most fighters would be pretty bottom-tier skill level (if compared to their real-life fighting game player peers) despite living in a society that would fairly be described as completely dominated by a huge industry built on fighting game-based combat. (Absolutely huge sport with monetary stakes yet no actual physical harm/essential city defense against monsters.) But somehow every character of this world (so far) probably could be outdone in terms of knowledge by someone who put in a few solid hours watching and reading a few guides. Yet these people have trained for 18+ years to compete. The main cast has not exactly been very helpful in sharing this knowledge with our
eager-to-learnprotagonist either, failing to prepare for any of the events he has been involved in so far. Surely someone has posted a decent guide to Rumble Circuit right? (For someone who supposedly spent a whole night watching and analyzing recordings of a pretty decent player doing ranked matches he should have at least learned some rules or general knowledge before his first ranking fight.) Some other minor nitpicking could be had but nothing hugeRead More