Mediocrity by the definition, is without a doubt a 5-6/10, somewhere between bad and slightly bad.
After reading 35 chapters besides the excellent translation, it stands out in no other way. I have several issues with the novel which I strongly believe, hold it back. I will be listing it in descending order (Most annoying to least annoying):
-Contrived and extremely broken pet system. From chapter 1 the mc is given a golden ticket, any work or effort he now putts in feels artificial and his nonchalant go at his own pace attitude all feel redundant.
In fact this novel has one of the most nauseatingly overpowered examples of a system in fact, the mc is able to go from a below average talent instantly to an average-above average talent in the first evolution by feeding his pet like 50 shrimps. Fucking cheap sea-food is all it takes for the mc to level up in talent, I almost forgot to mention the fact 50 shrimps and eating a NORMAL UNEVOLVED beetle allowed his lizard to now be 100x stronger and tougher, and we can assume this ridiculous trend for the rest of the evolutions.
Not only that he's in a government type academy which will give him points so there's no need to adventure for resources.
-Novel tries juggling too many abilities/concepts and doesn't explain anything in the end, slight spoiler but in this universe people have innate abilities, Innate compatibility, secret arts, different levels to martial arts, etc.
In 35 chapters, it isn't explained how innate abilities or compatibility are assessed, we know the mc has an innate ability called soul splitting which is mentioned in his pet system interface, but we don't know how everyone checks if they have one, novel also doesn't explain why he has a pet system. The different levels of arts are simply given a line of explanation saying they have different limits and any low level art can in fact be developed further.
-very boring cultivation system similar to the one in Yuan's ascension, it uses how hard you can punch/kick to measure your level.
-Obvious word padding every chapter feels like it talks about how girls with alluring figures and charming smiles look at the mc and his handsome face. Every chapter has a line or 2 like this in it.
-Useless reincarnation gimmick that adds nothing to the story
-Slow pacing, it takes 35 chapters to cover what most other similar novels can cover in 10-15, not helped by the minimal action each chapter that feels the same as every other chapter.
-Very simple side-character's no one stands out, there havent been any annoying young masters,villains,etc but with the rate of story-telling fo this novel, anything is better than nothing at this point.
-The most interesting parts of the story is when his lizard evolves but because of the ridiculously op system it makes you feel like an idiot for caring, feeding it a specific insect now means it has 100x this or that, the whole concept seems like it's making fun of evolution in general honestly, a process meant to take millions of years is now equivalent to feeding a lizard 50 shrimps and a specific insect depending on what trait you want.
It's rare to see the system genre be used well, but my god this novel sucks ass in its execution of it, in my opinion at least. I never understand how people enjoy these types, honestly its made me want to never read a novel with a system in it ever again. Im flabbergasted the novel has a 87% like ratio, maybe it's because the story avoids the usual tropes, but the issue is, there's not much of a story in the first place.
Mediocrity by the definition, is without a doubt a 5-6/10, somewhere between bad and slightly bad.
After reading 35 chapters besides the excellent translation, it stands out in no other way. I have several issues with the novel which I strongly believe, hold it back. I will be listing it in descending order (Most annoying to least annoying):
-Contrived and extremely broken pet system. From chapter 1 the mc is given a golden ticket, any work or effort he now putts in feels artificial and his nonchalant go at his own pace attitude all feel redundant.
In fact this novel has one of the most nauseatingly overpowered examples of a system in fact, the mc is able to go from a below average talent instantly to an average-above average talent in the first evolution by feeding his pet like 50 shrimps. Fucking cheap sea-food is all it takes for the mc to level up in talent, I almost forgot to mention the fact 50 shrimps and eating a NORMAL UNEVOLVED beetle allowed his lizard to now be 100x stronger and tougher, and we can assume this ridiculous trend for the rest of the evolutions.
Not only that he's in a government type academy which will give him points so there's no need to adventure for resources.
-Novel tries juggling too many abilities/concepts and doesn't explain anything in the end, slight spoiler but in this universe people have innate abilities, Innate compatibility, secret arts, different levels to martial arts, etc.
In 35 chapters, it isn't explained how innate abilities or compatibility are assessed, we know the mc has an innate ability called soul splitting which is mentioned in his pet system interface, but we don't know how everyone checks if they have one, novel also doesn't explain why he has a pet system. The different levels of arts are simply given a line of explanation saying they have different limits and any low level art can in fact be developed further.
-very boring cultivation system similar to the one in Yuan's ascension, it uses how hard you can punch/kick to measure your level.
-Obvious word padding every chapter feels like it talks about how girls with alluring figures and charming smiles look at the mc and his handsome face. Every chapter has a line or 2 like this in it.
-Useless reincarnation gimmick that adds nothing to the story
-Slow pacing, it takes 35 chapters to cover what most other similar novels can cover in 10-15, not helped by the minimal action each chapter that feels the same as every other chapter.
-Very simple side-character's no one stands out, there havent been any annoying young masters,villains,etc but with the rate of story-telling fo this novel, anything is better than nothing at this point.
-The most interesting parts of the story is when his lizard evolves but because of the ridiculously op system it makes you feel like an idiot for caring, feeding it a specific insect now means it has 100x this or that, the whole concept seems like it's making fun of evolution in general honestly, a process meant to take millions of years is now equivalent to feeding a lizard 50 shrimps and a specific insect depending on what trait you want.
It's rare to see the system genre be used well, but my god this novel sucks ass in its execution of it, in my opinion at least. I never understand how people enjoy these types, honestly its made me want to never read a novel with a system in it ever again. Im flabbergasted the novel has a 87% like ratio, maybe it's because the story avoids the usual tropes, but the issue is, there's not much of a story in the first place.
