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Genius Warlock
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Web Novel (KR)
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Rating(4.3 / 5.0, 245 votes)
5    68% (167 votes)
4    10% (24 votes)
3    9% (21 votes)
2    6% (15 votes)
1    7% (18 votes)
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One entry per line
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Example: 2012
2021
Status in COO
Status in Country of Origin. One entry per line
785 Chapters (Completed)
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No
Completely Translated
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N/A
Release Frequency
Every 233 Day(s)
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[Graph]
Weekly Rank: #14931
Monthly Rank: #9669
All Time Rank: #669
Reading List
[Graph]
On 4107 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #1277
All Time Rank: #2104

Description

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The tale of Oliver.

An orphan boy from a Mine in 19th century Europe, filled with Magic.

Associated Names
One entry per line
천재 흑마법사
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Genius Wizard Takes Medicine (3)
Academy’s Undercover Professor (2)
Lord of the Mysteries (2)
Genius Wizard who sees Rainbows (2)
Embracing Magic (2)
Returnee of the Colosseum (2)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Potential
  2. 80 degrees
  3. List of excellent works, some of which are hidden ...
  4. NO ROMANCE/NO HAREM ;)
  5. My personal favorites (either overall wellrounded ...

Latest Release

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Write a Review
41 Reviews sorted by


grandmajesus
grandmajesus rated it
August 19, 2022
Status: c516
Amazing story with great world building and what feels like a not OP protag who really grows chapter per chapter. the magic is really fun to read about and even this early on we have learned of at least 3 different schools of magic and "seen" them in action. cant wait to see where this goes.

EDIT 1/2: so I read the stuff this translator was putting out but got kinda tired of being unable to have consistent scheduling from them. which ive heard personally they have reasons so im not... more>> mad, just a consumer that moved on. but I went and found a site that did some crappy translations upto 300 and read all of that but then I got kinda mad that they havent released anything in over 3 months there so I went to see if I could just translate it myself. it was pretty hard to find the RAWs but then I remembered this site has the korean name of the novel. found them, but each chapter costs a certain amount of money and im a poor cripple lol so now im almost 200 chapters ahead of any currently translating site so im f*cked.... gg

but other than that my prediction was right, we end up finding out about an amazing world of many types of magic and our MC is thrown into the sh*t with it all and it just gets better and better. even through the other shitty translations I read this author is amazing man, I wish I had money and could read korean so I could experience how he wrote it but oh well.

EDIT 2/2: its now about 3 months after my first edit. I learned korean enough to fix machine translation errors and found a korean pirate site that has the chapters. im currently on chapter 516 and the story has continued to be amazing and even has some hilarious bits later on that floored me. there are some things that I personally dont like about the MC's personality and the way he makes choices but they are explained by the way he was brought up and his goals so its not that big a deal. its pains me to see that the translator here isnt even on chapter 200 yet, like I said ive heard they have their reasons but that doesnt mean that the people dont deserve someone that can release chapters at a decent speed without stocking chapters to make money off of them.... <<less
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ReadsWebNovels
ReadsWebNovels rated it
November 1, 2022
Status: c188
Ch. 92

Watch our adorably psychopathic MC explore the secrets of black magic in a world filled with a myriad of magics.

The world is Cyberpunk but with magic instead of tech.

... more>> The MC is mostly emotionless and amoral, but has a sense of gratitude. So, because he ends up indebted to nicer people, he has a moral compass by proxy.

The world is interesting, the magic is interesting, and the story is interesting. The MC himself may take a bit to grow on you though.

Ch. 188 Update

My original review was right on the money. The author is using the MC's emotionless to his advantage and creating interesting situations and motivations. The MC is a little dull as a character, but the situations he creates and the reactions of the characters around him are very interesting.

Ch. 319

This is currently my favorite novel. Occasionally, it offers some very thought provoking perspectives.

Oliver is a scalpel to cut straight to other characters core foundations, bypassing all the bullshit, and testing them.

Ch. 428

And the MC has officially made me pleasantly uncomfortable. Wow, the writer sure knows how to write an unsettling scene. <<less
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hypersniper159
hypersniper159 rated it
July 15, 2022
Status: c19
The novel just started but... it's hard to believe that this is a web novel/Korean. It feels more like an American YA debut novel. Maybe this was supposed to be a webtoon, but moo point. The characters are interesting and they are true to their motives, it doesn't look like it will be a typical character arc of need vs. want. All the characters will stay true to their wants. However, they are also doing incredible things with their magic which is more typical of a web novel. The world-building... more>> looks promising. Its for sure not going to be LoM level but the characters are adapting into the environment, which is always nice to see. The plot... didn't start nor do I see any foreshadowing of it... a bit of a shame but that's fine. As for the rating, I don't want to give it a five but four doesn't seem fair either... whatever I'll give it a five since it looks promising. <<less
16 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
LongTimeComin
LongTimeComin rated it
January 6, 2025
Status: --
A Note/warning on the current translator:

The translator offers an option for a paid membership $5/month that unlocks the whole novel (785 chapters). The translation up until ch 100 is great (with some downgrade in quality), but after it becomes strikingly clear that it is machine translated: pronouns are swapped, critical occupations are called different names, money suddenly changes in value from one scene to another, and entire scenes are missing, and some things just don’t make sense. Wish I knew this before I paid the membership, since there are machine... more>> translated versions available online for free of similar quality. There are also better translations (from the previous group I believe) preserved in other sites. Anyway, if you pay for the membership, that’s what you’re in for. And if you’re waiting for the daily updates, the translation will get worse, but it’s still readable.

Other than that,

The novel is great. The characters are well fleshed out and the world is expansive and mysterious enough to keep you entranced and curious about what will happen next. Love the main character too and I look forward to his conversations with others. The strange combination of child-like curiosity, stoicness, and perceptiveness make him really interesting to read. <<less
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Morfzine
Morfzine rated it
December 10, 2022
Status: c115
Have no idea what to write at the moment, but it's pretty good. Things go up to the notch when MC became a solver at 60-70 chapter ish. We finally got some decent villains other than hooligans and a bunch of Xian Xia-style pretentious Young Masters/Gang Leaders.

Here, the difference between black magic and magic is the source of those power. Magic like usual is energized by mana, while black magic is powered by emotion and sometimes, life force. Mana is produced from the body of wizards, but warlock has to suck the needed emotions and life from other sources, which is other humans. Why? because more often than not, their own emotion is not enough to use, or even if they have any at all. Like in MC's case, he... more>> has near to no emotions but instead has extraordinary control of them. And sucking our own emotions and life forces should sound like a bad idea itself.

Oliver, our protagonist, is an orphan who (is forced) to work in a mine by the orphanage system. Until one day, he met a warlock who takes him as a disciple. His age is a bit ambiguous but it should be somewhere around 13 to 17. He is pretty much emotionless, has no interest in anything other than black magic, and came up as naive/childish because of his age. Which I think is interesting because he really does not know about the world he lived in. Thus he often asks people about what should be seen as common sense or general knowledge, which is refreshing to see in today's shounen (?) genre protagonist.

If you want to see how far is 'emotionless'/'autistic' (?) he is, let me get you some example:
Spoiler
    • Has no concern when presented with a bunch of mangled and mutilated bodies, but instead just curiously questions the perpetrator even though he knows that he is the next target.
    • Basically for every enemy he fought, there will always be an awkward moment where MC suddenly ask them something lol. He also has zero hatred or anger toward every one of them, even if they had done some f*cked up sh*t to him.
    • No other emotion except for the pities of a child who lost his toys when seeing the first mother he had s**ked emotions from, had become an alcoholic, and throws her dying baby carelessly for a penny.
    • Rate people from the beauty of their... emotions (which produced some funny misunderstanding lol).
    • Doesn't think human experimentation, drug making, and demon summoning are wrong, but well that's just what the majority of warlocks are but for very different reasons.
    • When dying, he just regret that he can't achieve his dream anymore, which is meeting demons and seeing the 'beautiful light' (basically the extreme emotion people with obsessions made when dying) once more.
[collapse]

Unlike other Korean novels, the pacing is quite good, and we can easily understand the conversation (who talks with who). The author's description is immaculate, we can know a lot of the places' descriptions and swift well. The battle scenes also don't disappoint. Sometimes I could only imagine the grotesquely beautiful images if it would be illustrated. Lots of strange and disgusting monsters as well as equally horrible spells and experimentation-related things.

This world is dark as expected, a lot of prostitution, child workers, drug making, and all of the sh*t organizations do no matter noble/well-meaning they are. It's a derivative from 19s Britain, I mean, the author doesn't even bother changing the names anymore lol. So far all we know from other countries is 'the new world, 'the great empire from the east', and 'the coastal kingdom', which I think is America, China, and Japan respectively.

Here is the general overview of Oliver's journey if you don't mind minor spoilers:

Spoiler
    • Enter one of the many warlocks family (basically, just like a sect).
    • Shits happen, now he's the one in charge (involuntary), but he's still doing his basic responsibility.
    • Go to Landa (London) because of the family's knowledge, he has learned them all.
    • But end up as a beggar and brought up by an ex-solver (mercenary but more 'kind' (?)), because remember, he doesn't really know anything.
    • Help the beggar association here and there. Then the ex-solver guy, who basically treats him like his own son, helps him to prepare to become a solver so MC can continue to reach his dream.
    • Then finally, we can feel that this is a western fantasy genre, not just a Xian Xia/Wuxia reskin LMAO.
    • Anyway his solver arc, the current arc of the translation, we can finally see the worldbuilding and lore drop.
    • And do keep in mind he doesn't care or bother what his employer's moral compass is, there's the lab who do human experimentation, a guy who makes addictive and harmful mana alcohol (well, he did do a pilgret, cigarette imbued with emotions business back in the family. so no surprise there), a man who bribes, a pe*ophile, all those scum, MC will accept if they offer the right price.
[collapse]

The no romance or sub-romance tag seems like a lie... Yeah MC has no interest in b*tches, but there are just a lot of them. That I feared it might become a harem like a certain 'no romance' novel, which is also Korean... and also has a protagonist with no interest in women, but ends up having a bunch of them anyway...

-If what I raged the most about the harem of 'that' novel, is the fact none of the husband (MC) or his wives even liked each other (to the point MC treats his offices like his home, like what's the point of harem like that anyway???) and the author treats the original timeline like it's worth nothing just to build that harem.-

Then what I f*cking hate about this novel, is how it cut the IQ of any female who ends up liking the MC to -100. Oh, here we got a woman, in her 20s, with traumatic experiences with men, who had seen the worst of societies, and a highly capable individual in leadership/politics/interpersonal relations, acts like a lovestruck 9 years old in front of the still teenage protagonist :)))

The thing is, I don't mind things like that, IF it doesn't change their personality in a 180 degrees flip. Or at the very least, make their age and background story more appropriate for such personality... Is this like the author fetish or something?? you want to create capable women characters, but don't want them to have 'too much' power so you add a bunch of weaknesses (both in their capability itself and their emotional skill) because they are woman... like what the logic in that? the female leads here LITERALLY won't be alive or in where they are right now if they don't have even a bit of emotional control.

A shame really, because I really like their personality before they became a bunch of idiots.

Oh, how I hope it stays true to the 'no-romance' premise, or at least doesn't go into the harem territory. But with the amount of relevant (beautiful) female characters and no decent-faced young male character other MC... Yeah, there's no hope. If Oliver actually doesn't end up with anyone, I will lick the author's feet LMAO.

Someone should change the tag if they had an update on MC's relationship status in the raws tbh. <<less
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Pixeldrum
Pixeldrum rated it
May 4, 2024
Status: c100
This novel doesn't even compare to actual good fantasy stories like Lord of Mysteries.

The problem is multi-faceted. You have a very weak-willed MC when it comes to personality. He puts self-preservation at the forefront while not possessing any emotions. This could have been a story about the discovery of emotions, and while it is, it's done so awkwardly and in such a brute-force manner, and that comes to the second huge problem of the story: how OP our main character, Oliver is.

Oliver reminds me of Echizen from Prince of Tennis.... more>> Not that they're similar in any way other than plot armor and OP abilities, though. For those unaware, when Echizen fights strong opponents in tennis matches who possess mysterious and powerful abilities, he still manages to come up by improvising a technique, coming up with a new one, or just beating them with brute force strength. He's untouchable and has large plot armor.

Similarly, Oliver has plot armor. While he might not be the strongest character of all time, the fact that all of his opponents fold to him or he's able to easily fend them off is just complete BS. Opponents of all weight classes, weapon types, magic, mysterious, and strong abilities all die or lose to Oliver. Of course, Oliver also is a genius as implied in the title, which means he's able to learn something he sees once instantly.

This goes completely contrary to the story being about Oliver coming of age or discovering emotion. When he's able to steamroll anyone and assist anyone with an upper hand due to his superhuman strength, it doesn't become a story about rediscovery or emotions, and more about an OP power fantasy. Don't get me wrong, I love OP MCs in some situations, but Oliver is just ridiculously OP for the sake of being OP. The author just wants him to be super strong, a genius, and perfect. When Oliver solves every situation he encounters with violence rather than words, it goes to show the lack of depth the novel has when it's trying to also have Oliver develop emotionally. It just does not work.

Not only that, the worldbuilding is just some generic fantasy and the characters are also giga bad. There's no real supporting cast of characters that lets you understand the world that much better. Enemies are a foil to Oliver to showcase how strong he is while "allies" are there to be subordinate to Oliver or otherwise convenient friends. For example, at some point in the novel, Oliver doesn't know the magic tree or magic in general, so the author inserts a helpful teacher that's very powerful and teaches Oliver for free for Oliver to become stronger. Good writing! <<less
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Epythymy
Epythymy rated it
October 8, 2022
Status: c70
A pretty well-written novel with frustratingly awful start and somewhat low potential (based on MC's power system).

If you look at its current high rating (4.5) and think that you will see some kind of masterpiece here than you will be disappointed.

The first thing I want to point out is that the first 27 chapters were a torture to read.

... more>> Protagonist here starts as an incredibly dense guy with close to no emotions, 0 common sense, communication disorder, pushover personality and no ambitious.

My description is not exaggerated, this is protagonist's basic setting here. (Though if you think how much of a genius MC here is, his situation makes no sense. He literally can learn anything at first glance, has a working head etc. But it feels like he was living somewhere in the woods all his life and never seen other humans before novel began.)

He will gradually grow as a person, but it's a relatively slow process.

While I could still tolerate this kind of development, the thing that annoyed me just as much is side-characters' level of intelligence.

Idk why, but most of the cast are on the level of xianxia third-rate villains. This situation will also improve in future chapters. MC will finally meet some people with brain a bit later.

Then comes power system. It's okay by itself, but it's still somewhat wacky and shows low potential for a novel of this type.

MC is a warlock. Who are warlocks here? They are called black mages or semi - wizards (as deragotary term) because instead of mana they are using human emotions which wizards collect from other people. It's an interesting concept but I don't have much hopes for it later into the story.

Imagine a battle in the future where enemy wizard is casting a meteor by using mana and here our MC is throwing a power of 'love' at him lol.

After this frustrating start, novel is gradually transforming into a basic readable western fantasy with a somewhat dark setting, though it remains unknown how much this situation will last as MC's growth and pursuit of knowledge is going into some unknown direction. Will the plot and power system be good in the later chapters or not is a mystery. <<less
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JhonnyF
JhonnyF rated it
October 27, 2023
Status: c681
This is an actual masterpiece

This is so good I google translated it and catched up and no emotions or feelings the author wanted to convey were lost.

The pacing is amazing, starts out by SHOWING you about the world instead of telling and info dumping you.

The story is so complex and there are so many turning points where philosophy, psichology, morale and religion are questioned I can't summarize it BUT it's never too burdensome because as I said it doesn't tell you, it shows you, it doesn't info dump you; the... more>> characters interact and little by little you discover their depth as the chapters go and the MC adventures himself, it all feels to natural, instead of feeling like a story is being told you feel as if you were there, with the characters feeling genuine and never being pushing you to feel something, rather they just exist by themselves with their own reasons and you judge them.

Everyone here feels alive with their own motives to be instead of being cannon fodder for the protagonist.

Because the protagonist although he's the main character he doesn't feel as if he's the master of the world or that the world revolves around him, he just wants to be <<less
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kroshka
kroshka rated it
August 15, 2023
Status: c70
was a good start the MC niche was being a emotionless yet curious and dealing with a world that revolved around

emotions in combat etc, when the author decided to introduce a moral element to the MC and

make him focus more on stick fighting and if he should kill than magic is when it went down hill.

... more>> people call it character development but I do not, it was his charm and without it

you just have another attempt at a korean author trying to do western fantasy

and horribly failing at it, if people weren't starved for this sort of genre

it wouldn't get any scores.

the author was being paid per word he repeats things and says things multiple different ways

in the same chapter.

the translation is oddly sloppy with spelling errors that shouldn't be there for this

sort of work which ruins the flow also. <<less
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fantasy
fantasy rated it
July 13, 2023
Status: c560
Disclaimer: Although the story initially didn't have romance, as of c560, it looks like it will have it after all. I feel like many people are reading it because it doesn't have romance, so I think it's worth mentioning.

In general, it has great world building, but it felt really repetitive sometimes. For most of the story, it was like this:

fight a strong opponent -> starts losing so has to awaken his hidden powers -> defeat the opponent and reap the rewards

Besides that, he's also a genius at dark magic, mana,... more>> druid powers, melee combat, etc. It felt like he couldn't lose. In my previous review, I was complaining about these things a lot, but I don't feel that way anymore. It's true that it was getting repetitive and stale, but as we got introduced to the other fingers, demons, and got to know a bit more about the Archive, I stopped feeling like he's that op. He will definitely surpass them, don't get me wrong, but there's still a long way to go for that to happen. It definitely shows that he can, and does lose sometimes.

Oliver also grows as a person, even though it's really slow. I can definitely see a difference between the current one and the old one. Seeing him grow and uncover the world was very fun for me. I'd say give it a try, if only for the world-building part. It's definitely one of the better web novels out here, in my opinion. <<less
5 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
demongordon
demongordon rated it
January 28, 2023
Status: c300
I liked this novel despite its flaws.

It has a rather slow start and the MC lack of desire and own initiative can make difficult to some. But as he explore the world things get more interesting.

The MC is like a robotic tarzan trying to learn human emotions, while being a warlock that uses emotion extracted to fight wich is ironic.

The characters are kind bland personality wise and the development that do happen often feel kind forced. And despite main magic system about dealing with emotions thematically it never seen to... more>> pass a rather superficial level.

I do enjoy the magic system. The warlock emotion literally distilled into liquid is a pretty interesting concept. But is not as deep as I wanted it explored. Maybe because alongside there is another 2 magic system, alchemy, world tree etc.. Still what was show was interesting.

The same goes for worldbuilding a magic steampunk autonomous city with different and factions is also a interesting concept.

I'm in conflict thinking if the plots are good but the MC is not the best to explore this world or if worked because the MC is such way. <<less
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BookedOnAFeeling
BookedOnAFeeling rated it
July 27, 2022
Status: c28
It's still in the early stages but so far, it's really effin good.

The magic system is wonderfully unique and the world exudes a very depressing sense of realism.

I forget I'm reading a translated book and that's the mark of a Translator doing a really good job.

... more>> Not much more I can say at this point in time except to repeat that it's really effin good.

Update: The book is still great but the updates are getting sparse and infrequent. It's disappointing but it happens.

My solution for when this happens is to move the book to a less frequented reading list. After a while, you'll stop looking forward to it. The story might start to feel less exciting and you might even drop it but the upside is that instead of being sad by the lack of chapters, you'll be pleasantly surprised if you do get an update. <<less
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Kurieita
Kurieita rated it
March 9, 2025
Status: Completed
start off with an orphaned boy named oliver in a mine. He is eventually adopted by a black mage, who introduces him to a world filled with various kinds of magic.

the story focuses on the character development of the main protagonist (oliver), who initially has no understanding of humans or how the world works. He also lacks emotions at the beginning, which makes the story interesting (at least for me). However, oliver is extremely curious about emotions and how things work. He constantly asks questions and tries to understand everything,... more>> which becomes the central theme of the novel.

oliver is a genius with an incredibly fast learning ability. He doesn't care how people treat him, remains calm in any situation. the world setting where there is no clear right or wrong, good or evil. You can't hate when oliver makes a decision, you just have to go along with how he acts based on what he believes is right and yeah for some people, this makes oliver an annoying character (but it's not that bad for me)

the story has a slow pace in the early chapters and takes a long time to build up. It focuses on oliver's observations, internal monologue, and world exploration (its good but don't compare it to god tier novel like LOTM).

his only goal is to learn and understand, but that gradually changes as the story progresses through his interactions with others.

maybe some people might ask, "is there any romance?"

short answer= no, there is romance it's very subtle (oliver doesn't understand thing like this until the last chapter) and only appears once every few hundred chapters.

long answer (contains spoilers about the ending, so don't read if you don't want to be spoiled)

Spoiler

in the end marie, jane and joanna express their love in their own ways and of course oliver loves them back.

at first, I thought it would end as a harem, but it didn't.

a little context:

oliver goes to hell and chooses to stay there, not because he is forced to, but because he chooses to. In the epilogue, there's a 20-year timeskip where the girl earlier still love oliver deeply, even though they won't be able to meet him again anytime soon.

and I'm confused about whether to call this a harem or not. But in the end, I don't think it is, because they didn't end up together. I don't really like harem but I love romance, especially when it ends with them getting married but this novel doesn't do that😞 but it is what it is.

[collapse]

and this novel has some flaws in its writing, one of them is about oliver's disguises.

he has several disguises but the novel never really describes how he looks when he's in disguise. Like, oliver is originally around 14-15 years old, but when he disguises himself with just a mask, people see him as 20-22 years old. How is that possible? He only wears a mask, so what about his body, which is a kid? How do people just assume he's an adult? Or is it some kind of magic from the mask? The novel never explains this part at all.

it's important because it helps us imagine it more clearly, it just makes things really confusing sometimes, especially since oliver is in disguise for most of the story.

aside from that this novel does an amazing job exploring oliver's emotions and his understanding of the world.

the battles are also well-written, with detailed descriptions of how oliver reacts to different situations.

every antagonist in this novel has a deep impact on oliver's emotions, making him question his actions, what he should do, and who he really is.

really recommended for people who like emotionless MC and realistic slow development.

i really hope this novel gets a manhwa adaptation soon😞. <<less
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1048jrnrc
1048jrnrc rated it
November 26, 2024
Status: c600
I read up to around ch600 in the previously available translation, and hope someday the new translators will continue on the rest of the story.

Excellent word building and interesting main character, for people who have read a lot of novels or webtoons, it’s rare to have a main character who feels unusual or interesting anymore. He’s portrayed very well and the way his character builds is realistic and slow over the course of the story. I was afraid he might become a cheesy standard “power of friendship” MC as the... more>> story developed but even at chapter 600 the character growth was visible but not bland. The world building is amazingly well conveyed, like other reviews have said.

The plot builds as the main character expands his worldview, it’s very simple at first bc he himself isn’t able to observe much that’s happening. I’d say it starts a little slow but builds strongly. Overall it’s not a highly detail oriented or intricately complex plot, but it does have plenty to keep it interesting and ongoing major and minor storylines.

the fights are interesting because of the warlock magic angle - but for anyone who dislikes gore / corpses / more grotesque things, this novel isn’t for you due to the MC main magic being dark magic.

Also, if you read the Genius Wizard takes medicine, the beginning of that story and the beginning of this story are veeeeery similar. I’d say the first couple hundred chapters of both (yep, that many) have similar storylines. Eventually they diverge, but if you liked that one you might like this one. Personally I think genius Warlock is better bc I think the MC is more interesting. To each their own tho. But I hope a lot ppl give this novel a shot bc it’s worth reading as long as you’re not put off by the dark magic (gore/guts/sacrifices). <<less
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lordmerlin
lordmerlin rated it
July 15, 2024
Status: c192
Peak. I love this. This doesn't have transmigration, regression or that sort of stuff. No h**ny protags, overly arrogant ones or similar things.

Let's start with the Protagonist. He's similar to a character I dislike mentioning cuz of the memes, Ayanokoji. He's not metaphorically, but genuinely apathetic.

Most reader refer to the way he acts like Autism, because of his inability to understand emotions or other subtleties of interactions. You can see why. He only is interested in Warlock-related things, or subjects that he is curious about. (Though he does learn how... more>> to manage conversations like the genius he is) I also like how the novel characters are both intimidated and confused by the way he acts, because this is similar to a eat or be eaten world. (Also, Landa kinda feels like the City from LOR, with the alphabetical order of the districts and how overly technological and crazy it is.)

Over time, you see how the protagonist starts to grow and become smarter. His childlike apathy, his curiosity (very important driving point for our MC), and the people around him. Like Kent, Joseph, and other people, it starts to influence him, as he does to them. It kind of reminded me of the relationships of the protagonist and others in Persona games

Secondly, the world building is really nice. It reads like a fantasy, steampunk/cyberpunk kind of story. I am also surprised how I didn't see nationalism or of any sort of that yet. In regards to the power system, it isn't divised into levels or classes like in those KR Hunter stories, so you don't get much of a comparison.

The characters are nicely written too, I couldnt believe it when I was reading, but it really feels like they're their own people. There is the overbearing, yet kind and monstrous Oliver, our lovely protagonist. There's James, the Employee A who was taught by Oliver, there's Kent, there's Stonefist Arthur, and even a little kid who gathered his courage to ask Oliver to teach him how to write and read despite his fear, impressing the protagonist.

But.. With all sweet things must come bad parts. First of all, some might not like it from the start. It reads like LOTM where it starts off slow, but personally, I found this a better rendition of a slow start. It doesnt give a random mass exposition right after another, but instead sprinkles it like salt around.

But then, comes something that might ruin it for the readers. The translation.

The translation itself is fine at the start, you may have little instances of switching up who is speaking, but after 180-192 chapters.. It becomes obvious that the TL switched to chatgpt. Please, I beg someone to pick this up after those chapters. (I did see someone on KoFI TL it, but that was only after 400 chaps)

That wasn't all, the TL even sometimes added spoilers in the TL note and also had insane prices like 45 euro for all advanced chaps and 7 chapters extra. It was really shameless.

In conclusion, I only wrote this review to hate on the translations after 192. If you compare the raw material and the TL, you notice how it reads more like chatgpt, than it did earlier. It adds details that remove or confuse the reader, like making our MC show emotions to things he wouldn't, or utterly removing certain parts.

Please, I beg someone, pick this gem up. <<less
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onlycrimson123
onlycrimson123 rated it
March 27, 2024
Status: c349
TL;DR: A beautifully crafted plot, world, and cast that seems to drag on and on.

This book is objectively phenomenal. Every aspect of it is individually praiseworthy, yet I still couldn't manage to finish it because of its pacing.

This review will start with the positives and end with my critiques.

... more>> First of all, the main character.

The main character is presented as this blank canvas of an entity and this book follows his journey as that canvas is painted with all the colors of humanity.

It is extremely well done, with his character development shown to us step-by-step, where we see the exact scenes that cause shifts in his actions.

His initial personality is shown to be hyper-apathetic and marked with an utter lack of understanding towards society and people as a whole. This is definitely a hit-or-miss persona, as he is almost entirely unrelatable and his actions almost seem nonsensical from an informed perspective.

Personally, I find it incredibly endearing as we truly see how his resulting character is formed.

Second of all, the cast.

The characters in this novel are done extremely well, as even background characters without a name can have interesting thoughts and commentary. Every person in the side cast also has an individual personality and show abundant character development in reaction to events that transpire.

Additionally, there is no one who is forgotten about or disregarded by the author except for when the plot dictates it.

Third of all, the world.

The world is very fleshed out, with the author even delving into events such as the reasons for poverty and the minds of nobility. There was clearly an enormous amount of thought that went into every location's societal structure and that is kept up with consistency even to the chapter I reached.

All of these points are components for making a fantastic novel... but there are a couple of glaring problems, almost all centering around the pacing of the book.

There are constantly things happening, to the point where I almost felt overwhelmed at times with the numerous concurrent plots. Yet, despite this, there feels to be so little true progress. Arcs begin and conclude and I am left wondering what was accomplished.

My main problem with this is that storylines can take so much time in this novel. Even a singular fight scene can take twenty chapters to build up to and then finish.

Much of the time, these storylines feel artificially induced. They aren't begun with a specific goal in mind or a certain result desired. They often happen because of the main character being pushed by some outside influence, such as his job or due to him owing a favor. This leads to a sort of emotional disconnect, where I am not interested in the happenings of these forced scenarios.

This is also shown through the main character's fascinations.

As mentioned before, the main character can look absurd from an outside view as he lacks much of the common sense that the average reader would have. He feels interest in many things that readers simply aren't, and he spends much of his time searching out answers to these questions.

As they are things that only he is interested in, I find myself bored following along with these topics that I hold no inquisition towards.

Another overarching problem in this novel is the lack of an ultimate goal. The main character wishes to see the world and interact with people. Progress cannot be made in this endeavor since it isn't a goal which was created to ever be finished. This may attribute to the lack of purpose I feel in many of the arcs, as progress simply cannot be made.

This lack of progress is also highlighted in the main character's strength.

Power in this novel is not neatly organized like it is in cultivation stories. There is no structure or scale for ability and the main character's power-ups are generally slow-paced instead of instant.

I can acknowledge how beneficial this is for crafting a realistic world and power system, but it is unenjoyable to read regardless. The main character is likely to be stronger than he was at the beginning of the book, but I have no idea how much stronger or even in what way. This leads to fights being even more tedious when it is multiple chapters of just, "He did a super strong attack but the defense was even super stronger!" with absolutely no reference points.

However, this book still holds many fantastic aspects. The pacing largely impacted my reading experience, but that may be because of my personal love for tangible progress.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone with a bit more patience than me. <<less
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theeeargonauts
theeeargonauts rated it
March 3, 2024
Status: c194
Think curiosity was born with a strong level of magic/phenomenon comprehension and roams the Earth simply endeavoring to know and understand. This is that.

This novel has me hostage btw like I wanna stop simply bc I'm a kingdom/clan/org building type girl and MC is the exact opposite of that. The world building and lore is just so good I'm so intrigued who and what MC is and how he interacts with the world.

Culture, lore, and ability-system building is 10/10!
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Comedian4life
Comedian4life rated it
October 11, 2023
Status: c313
Really enjoying this novel, I like how the author has created different power systems and cultures to match the world setting. Main protagonist is interring reminds me of the a more benevolent version of the antagonist student from Battle Royal, due to his lack of emotions and natural talent.

Only thing I wish was different was that the author didn't name the protagonist's country as the United Kingdom. Its obvious the world is an alternate reality fantasy Earth inspired by real world history/events but the author just labels the UK as... more>> their real world counterpart but creates variant names for every other location/country such as; Landa (London), Northland (Scotland), Endia (India) etc. Ultimately just wish author kept the naming consistency when it came to the UK; could've called the Albion Empire or something; it's a small nitpick I know but it does bug me.

Overall, great read so far and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a Victorian/Roaring Twenties/Steam Punk/Fantasy novel with a unique/interesting protagonist. <<less
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gg_wp
gg_wp rated it
September 6, 2023
Status: c302
The MC of this series is an orphan who is brought from a mine by his "master" (master - discipline relationship) to become a member of the his organization and learn "black magic" under him and become a "warlock", as expected from a person who grew up his entire life in a mine the MC has no common sense and understanding of how human interaction work, so we explore the world power system and common sense throughout the MC point of view. Recommended to those who love series about character... more>> development, politics and world building. <<less
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hansel_biscuits
hansel_biscuits rated it
June 15, 2023
Status: c200
It’s a perfect novel to shut your brain down and enjoy the world and its system. Very straight forward and perfectly paced. Side-characters are quite meh, but its fine since they’re not to focus of the story, anyway, I like this novel very much and I dont care about what anyone else says :D
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