"Over the last month while I've been gone, I spent a lot of time thinking about how I felt about this story, and I came to an unhappy conclusion. I have about a good 4 other stories that I really want to spend time on, and after weighing them, I've decided that this story doesn't quite make me as happy to write as those ones do. The problem is, what I wanted to make this story and what this story ended up turning out to be has become vastly different, and it would be crazy as hell to just suddenly go 'hey, now this story has become this, so forget the last couple dozens of chapters'! In the end, as much as I don't like to do it, I've decided to give up on this story for now. Perhaps there's a future where I come back to it one day, but for now that future is looking unlikely. I'm sorry, I know no one likes having a story they've invested time in dropped. There's even some of you (at least one lol) who's been really super paying attention, so I feel quite bad for doing this, but I've decided this is for the best for me."

Hi, I'm that one person who was really super paying attention, What you just read is a message from the author confirming that they dropped this story and I think it is very telling. It perfectly encapsulates what is this story's biggest strength and weakness. This story is defined by a duality. A division between expectation/intention and reality/execution. In this review I wish to explore this rift and explain to you, potential reader, why it brings me such contradictory feelings. I dearly love this story and miss it a lot, but at the same time I dread the thought of it's return.

Now I know I just said I love this story, but I feel that I must begin this review with what I hate about it most. The saintess doing the leveling up, Arissa. Arissa is supposed to be this broken character who gets a second chance at a good life by being iseakied. She is the protagonist. She is the lens we see the story through. She is the only character we share thoughts with. She is insufferable. Arissa is the door mat other generic door mat MCs trod upon. She isn't just a wet blanket, she's a blanket that you just pulled out of the washer. She is utterly incapable, always the damsel, always reliant on others! She is constantly shown the worst in humanity, yet never fights back! Never rebels! A constant people pleaser with no self worth! When I was initially reading the story this irked me to no end. This was obviously a jumping off point for the girl. She would show character growth over time become better, but the slow pace of the story meant that I'd have to wait a ridiculous amount of time for that catharsis. In hindsight I think this irksome feeling I got is another symptom of that divide.

You see I think Arissa would've been a lot more acceptable in another story. Watching a broken character slowly heal after being iseakied isn't an uncommon story structure after all, so why doesn't that work here? I'd say it's because of the tone. Those kind of iseakis occur in better brighter worlds. Worlds that are better than the one we have here. Worlds with tones akin to didn't I say to make my abilities average!, Fluffy paradise, or kuma kuma bear. The world Arissa finds herself in isn't like those idealistic worlds where one can get by with pacifism and oaths of nonviolence. The world of level up Saintess is downright gritty. Verry bad things happen here. We now stand upon the precipice's edge. The rift is right in front of our faces.

Level up saintess is supposed to be a story about redemption and a better life, but Arissa's life is worse than the last! Reading this story is like playing smash bros melee (A party game with an unintentionally high skill ceiling leading to the rise of an unintended competitive scene). It is my belief that these darker sections of the story came about by accident. These maybe not entirely thought out ideas lead to darker emergent aspects in the story when followed to their logical conclusions. Now when I make that claim, I do not mean to insult the author of this story. I think a5centcyborg isn't throwing random ideas into their story without thought. Quite the opposite in fact, I think the author incredible amounts into their work, just read the description of the goddess's appearance for example. If a5centcyborg didn't think things through the story wouldn't have gotten this dark.

What I do think however is that these emergent traits add SOOO much to the story! I absolutely adore the goddess as an antagonist! The shadow is straight up my favorite character! Arissa actually becomes tolerable in the later chapters! This story originally meant for redemption is practically begging for revenge! I think deep down the darkness is what's keeped me glued to this story despite my initial qualms. I also think that if this story is rewritten, the darkness will completely disappear. I feel like my tastes and the author's are completely opposite. What the author dislikes, I love. It's no secret that a5centcyborg loves writing romance. Hell, this story's main draw was supposed to be the romance, but to me the romance is something I feel ambivalent about. The main draw to me was the world, trying to find faults in the goddess and her system, over analyzing the design of characters and monsters, learning odd tid bits about how humans live in this world! It is for this reason I fear that if this story is revisited and reworked from the ground up, the things I enjoyed about it would be removed or altered. It'd be an experience not dissimilar to a melee player trying to wave dash in brawl for the first time only to trip. Would the goddess be as heartless? Would the shadow be as based? Would this messed up world be as interesting? What would happen to the old chapters? Would they be left up or deleted and potentially lost forever?

To close up this review/ted talk, I'd like to say that this story ends on a cliffhanger. There is no catharsis, no sense of finality. A completely unsatisfying ending. In my head the preist lunges towards Arissa and Kale and time just freezes. I want to change that. I might not be as skilled as a5centcyborg, but I'd like to try and put a capstone on this version of the story. Give it an ending.

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Arissa stands in the realm of the gods. She has been called to this stretch of void plenty of times before, however this time she was not called. She got to this place, not with the blessings provided to her by the goddess, nor with the bargains provided by the shadow. What got her here is a power uniquely human, a power uniquely hers. Arissa begins to move. She has a purpose she needs to fulfill here. Arissa quickly reaches her destination.

Before her stands a towering figure.

Before her stands a resplendent figure.

Before her stands a once beautiful figure.

Before her stands a powerful figure.

Before her stands a wounded figure.

Before her stands a heartless figure.

Before her stands an abusive figure.

Before her stands a motherly figure.

Before her stands the goddess, however she does not stand for long,

Because Arissa throws a punch and knocks the goddess on her ass.

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