he constantly refuses free brothel women and ignores all women in general, including the obvious likely love interest who is clearly into him. That would be fine, MC focusing on cultivation instead of women is whatever... but then he falls for some rando as soon as he meets her?? After being together a bit he ends up cucked and ghosted, but soon after he considers her "a friend he's on good terms with" and even saves the guy who cucked him (and tries to harm him after) ???

he finds out a super important person harmed his family many years ago, so he wants revenge. He then decides to just go for it in the capital of the faction enemy belongs to, despite knowing that there are multiple people around that he stands no chance against... he doesn't even consider the super important enemy might have defense treasure! He could easily just wait until he has enough power to do it or there's a good opportunity, but no. Minimal prep, goes all in.

negative comment: where it falls short for me is after the necropolis arc, where it feels repetitive and the goal/purpose of the story seems to have been completed and hence the new goal of reestablishing the protagonist's clan seems to be losted to me because the character's new purpose/new goal wasn't as strong as the original goal that was in the earlier chapters where it was about him getting stronger and recovering his clan's heirloom. Also at that point, many characters are introduced but seems to get lost in the narrative. A good example is Zassler who is introduced as a rebellious powerful old man that is only a level lower than Linley at the time he appears. At the time of Zassler's introduction, I was incredibly interested in him and how his character would play off against Linley since they seemed to be at odds to each other and at the time the author build him up to be an important strong side character. But as the narrative progressed, Zassler had less and less air time and 100 chapters later, he seems to all of a sudden act subservient to Linley without explanation. Zassler's character relationship to Linley could have been done better because it shared similar elements to Linley's relationship with his grandpa and the author could have used it as a chance to convey a theme which could have guided and conveyed their character development better for both character and make us care more about them. Linley's relationship with Zassler is a prime example but this problem of character development appears throughout the light novel, Hogg's strict character playing the demanding father yet somehow being protrayed as a loving father without it being earned or questioned by Linley, Linley's inhumane ability to be the perfect filial son, every female character being one dimensional (need I say more?). The only character relationships I found to be realistic was Linley's relationship with Alice and to an extend his relationship with his four bros and his grandpa (and this is me, trying to scrap the bottom of the barrel). I think this is the most glaring issue I have with the light novel even thought the LN had an incredibly strong start. I understand that the author was focusing on Linley's journey through the cultivation world to Godhood but this speaks to me as a sign that either the author did not plan his narrative well if he had to rely on side characters as plot devices in order to advance the story another 500 chapters or so after the inital goal of the MC was completed or he lacks human experiences to be able to write believable relationships.

Starting with the fact that the MC starts out as a spell caster- when he later develops his 'fighting ability', the whole 'trained in spell casting for decades' thing gets forgotten except as an occasional 'drive by' mention for the sake of some exposition/comparison. I should stress this isn't simply 'Linley chooses to ignore his own power & any/all benefits'- no, spell casters pretty much stop existing in the world once the author decides fighters are more cool. This is 'explained away' under the pretense that spells simply attempt to replicate elemental powers- but somehow the author completely forgot how powerful 'area of effect' spells were described as being, since in the conflict no one seems to use them anymore and instead combats in small groups or as a mass melee- at least until the end, then it's still just many v 1 or whatever other 'advanced strategies' the author thinks make sense. Point is he's forgotten spell use entirely.

I don't know if the author realizes it or not, but the protag is pretty s*upid, and his careless actions are actually the direct cause for most of the senseless deaths in the story. We won't even get into how the protag later quietly benefits from the deaths of others- somehow not realizing that he's actually _cannibalizing_ others spiritually! I guess it's supposed to be ok since he didn't actually do the killing itself?-- but his mentor was a spirit, and there are gods and (mention of) an afterlife- so him assimilating millions of souls in a process that was originally considered evil...

Go figure.

The author does intentionally make him do other things for the sake of plot, though- so 'being a genius' is all about power, not common sense.

There's a lot of innocents dying pointlessly and no character caring. Sometimes Linley is affiliated with some of them, and though he may have claimed some affection- he always forgets they existed in a crisis situation. He's pretty much a cowardly bully actually- only fighting when cornered or thinks he's at an advantage. He'll literally stand around watching people die instead of using his quite significant powers. No, actually he later abandons people to flee & save his own team, only to have to fight the threat anyway after tons of people literally begging for his aid die (and then he has to fight the threat anyway).

This is one of those 'we don't like white knights' stories, sure- but when the author points out 'a bunch of gods coordinated can kill a highgod', the puts a bunch of gods in Linley's face begging to be led- he can't be bothered with telling them 'ok, all attack at once' (like a 'genius' would), because he's too busy trying to save his own skin. I won't even get into how little risk he would have helping people out of the fog sea when he left- or informing anyone of the difficult (but possible) method of escape- to maybe help others. People trapped for trillions of years? Sucks to be you... Also, in b16c15 he actually intervenes in a restaurant brawl, getting the attacked guy killed- to avoid being bumped into/save his food! he of course (as usual) doesn't give 2 shits about the dead guy. He's come a long way from protecting his brother from the injustice of near-death from random saint battles of long ago- now he causes death with his power directly...

There's also a bunch of dumb 'rules', and some ridiculous plot 'solutions' (the creative use of tunneling to avoid detection by the eyes of a god is one of the more laughable). Actually, there's a LOT of bs spouted to try & direct the plot/fill holes:

"Linley, Highgods have their own pride. If you don't go irritate a Highgod, a Highgod generally won't lower themselves to deal with you."

(said after a highgod straight out slaughtered a bunch of saints, then planned on killing Linley just because he had worshipers...)

In short there's a HUGE amount of exposition, 'speculative misdirection', and flat out 'creative misleading'. The story 'tells' you a LOT of stuff- but what it 'shows' you is often a lot less impressive.

Here's the most BS one which attempts to refute math:

"How much money could shopping possibly use up? 10% off was nothing to them. Given the wealth which Linley and Bebe currently had, a discount of 10% was meaningless.". I doubt you're as math-challenged as the author, but no matter how much you have, only 10 10%'s amount to 'all of it'.

The continual increase in the number of times Linley himself forgets 'the most recent important thing' and acts in a way which completely disregards why they were on 'high alert' & 'happy to be alive' just a while ago... Ugh.

It's kinda irritating actually...

MC is a dumbass.

As I continue to read chapters, watching him 'hide his power' while not doing his job as a fiend... seriously- I don't even know why it's 'cool' to have 'hidden power' if you just use it to save your own skin- especially if it's _obvious_ there's no escape, and you just let people die for effect...

And the enemies are allowed to flee, and bring more troubles so often...

I'm at b16c20 now, and I have no idea what the author is thinking. He's made Linley such a chikensh*t in the face of someone more powerful he's completely planned to abandon a fighting ally and use that as a moment to flee (even though he walked through a but-ton of guards & fortifications on the way in. No way having a powerful ally is useful... (sigh)

b19c13- Linley is in a hurry to help out his ancestors in the netherworld. Not going to go into details, but to get favors from a sovereign he agrees to an unreasonable exchange after barely not being killed by that sovereign for ridiculous & unreasonable bs. Whatever- So now he's got to enter the Planar Wars representing death and kill the opposing commanders (most of whom are more powerful than him). Well, sounds legit- get in, do it, get out- right? Maybe he'll get lucky. Oh- but he finds out literally on the door to go in, that he can't leave till the war is over... in 800 years.

'Sure, no problem' you obviously say because as a reader you forgot he was in a hurry to try & save the spirits of his ancestors before they suffered eternal dispersion or whatever in the Netherworld... but if they have to hold on 8 more centuries while struggling to survive, 'no biggie', right?

So clearly the author forgot his own purpose.

Don't worry- he 'plot armor's everyone Linley wants to rescue- even though the Infernal Realm is supposedly so vicious.

There's other messed up stuff in there-- like the author teasing with 'the guy is literally in the next room' twice while Linley's 'looking' for people- but to say the story degrades as it progresses is an understatement.

Also, at b21c29, the plot both becomes super-predictable (because Linley is a plot-forced idiot), and hard to anticipate. Why 'hard to anticipate'? Because the story will end in 15 chapters, and that should be nowhere near enough to wrap up 'all the things' satisfactorily...

Ugh- the ending... quite predictable except for the s*upidity, melodrama, & grandstanding. We won't even talk about 'jumping the shark'... At least it's over.

Yes, many things were left unresolved...

1) The Warrior & Mage paths. Mage path completely forgotten. Anyone noteworthy is basically a warrior & no mage can become a deity without using the weaker/detrimental path of fusing sparks (All known mages end up fusing sparks, dying, or remaining saints). Which is ret*rded since everyone keeps spouting how Mages of the same level are generally STRONGER than the same level warrior..... then Deities happen and no mage exist up there because everyone realizes how useless they are.... thus began the Xianxia phase. Author tries to have that hidden village bring some face back to mages.... except that fails once you realize the prime example mage who spars MC got wrecked & lost his pet in the Tomb of the Gods.... only for MC to beat the same Tomb by relying on his warrior might in the dumbest way. (The whole point of mages is that they're better at fighting large groups, MC is swamped by large groups, realizes he can't spam forbidden spells fast enough so his warrior side gets strong enough to..... somehow slash through his enemies faster than his forbidden spells can kill them.

2) MC cast: Basically it's just Linley. (Even Bebe and Wharton become side characters)

Everyone else only have three things to do:

A) To sit around and gasp/cheer in amazement every time MC makes a breakthrough.

B) To get into some trouble to give the MC a reason to go somewhere & hamfistedly save the day. Rinse and repeat.

C) To trick the MC into some trouble which just ends up powering up the MC.

2) Magic/Spells: Apparently nobody realizes that spells are just simplified versions of "profound mysteries." For gods sake, like a dozen spells have the same effect & name as profound mystery. "Super gravity field" "Absolute zero" "Dimensional slash" "That Golem everyone forgets" etc.... how did nobody make the connections? Profound mysteries seem like they're ridiculously easy to grasp based on the spells. Just study the damn spells & save yourself a few thousand years. It takes the MC nearly 800 chapters to figure this out even though he had a hint of it when developing his cutting wind power in the Tomb hundreds of chapters earlier. No wonder only the MC and a few others master more than 1-2 diety clones.

3) The sparks/power levels/power creep: The whole buildup about Highgod MC being able to sense that "deeper layer of sovereign might" was completely discarded since MC went ahead and fused with sovereign sparks. Wtf, he had no trouble going deeper and deeper with his own understanding all the way to highlord status, why is there a vague/inexplicable blockade in going from natural Highgod to Sovereign? Even worse, they explicitly state that the sovereign sparks don't have any profound mystery so one can instantly fuse it..... except right afterwards MC starts receiving massive amounts of profound mystery anyways..... from where? Why?

Author gives half-baked reason why it's so bad to fuse sparks. Wouldn't fusing make you understand profound mysteries faster? Gives an excuse about "trees growing crooked". Pift, knowledge is knowledge. Would've made more sense if doing so made you go slightly insane or caused something which cripples your potential. (But I guess that wouldn't be good for MC's wife).

4) Fate Power: Likewise, completely glossed over then converted into basically the same thing as "soul power". Trumped up as some sort of healing essence & may have slight manipulative powers. Fine, it gives a reason why some people might want to harvest soul power (And also why a reason for the radiant/light sect to be as douchy as they are.) But turns out nobody really needs to actively harvest them to begin with.... But then later is only good for boosting comprehension like soul power does. Could've been used to explain Sovereign Light's healing factor (& therefore motivation in harvesting so much fate power & souls) but nah..... it's just a technique which allows him to do that. Wut?

5) The planes: 4 higher planes and 7 smaller planes! Yeah, most of them aren't even seen. Even when Cesar's wuv goes to the Life plane nobody goes there. The only important planes are the infernal plane, netherplane, & the MC's dinky material plane.

6) MC's naivety/growing s*upidity: Even after thousands of years, MC never figures out that he could solve most of his problems by..... asking a question or two & instead takes things at face value (Like his Mom situation, wtf whatshisface is clearly evil could've just asked another neutral sovereign for advice. Sovereign Fate doesn't count, he clearly wanted your blood collection). First explained away as MC having a lie detector (via spiritual sense) but that stops working in the higher realms. Then explained handwaved away by Bebe's animal instincts. Except Bebe stops helping out in that way..... Basically ends up making everything seem like MC is Forest Gump & just stumbling into massive amounts of luck/fortune where his opponents plots all just serve to power him up.

8) Derp Mcguffins/Equipment: Worst offender: the Coiling Dragon ring that just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Keep in mind it's "only" a sovereign artifact yet no other sovereign artifact has such a medley of ridiculous powers. It can store souls (Grandpa Doehring), increase magic efficiency (only costs 1/6 the cost), magical storage/lifesupport system (blood drops & sovereign mights that auto heal/activate near death), can defend against soul attacks, and can even easily consume souls..... how did such a "lower" sovereign even craft two of these broken artifact and die with them?

Second worst offender: The magi-cannon. Apparently as strong as a rank 8 magus. Came out of nowhere right after the MC just happens to find the biggest mine of elemental crystals, only one to use it just happens to be the MC. Supposedly the Radiant church had some but they were swamped before they could use it.... supposedly... Wut. Surprise, surprise there are no mages involved in the mook wars at all, just knights and magi-cannons. (Refer to point #1)

9) The antagonists: Many of them aren't even a threat or introduced then resolved in a silly way. Such as the Clayde & his brother, the radiant church dudes, sovereigns, etc. Most of them are only a threat because the MC is such a moron and decides to pull a Leeroy Jenkins while the heavens lines everything up for him. For example: Going after the church without knowing.... basically any combat skills and only relying on his dragonform causing Grandpa to die. Like holy crap, you do realize you're primarily a mage, right? Only needed to wait like 5 years and you could've steamrolled the king & his brother on your own? Hell, even a dead saint nearly killed them off yet MC was rekt by them. Or that purgatory commander guy that rekt MC & tried to soulseed MC but stopped just because he uses Gem-Gem's technique. Really? You couldn't make a simple divine sense phone call? MC s*upidity should've ended the story right there. And the sovereign fruit snake/tree. Good think Bebe unknowingly just straight up mu*dered the snake so MC didn't accidentally become an emissary. Derp. Then there's the big bads (Sovereign light & fate) MC just happens to hire a Balu emissary which lets him know all about the big bad. Wut.