Started training at 7, becoming rank 1 in the first 3 months, rank 2 when she was between 7 and 8 years old, becoming rank 3 before 9 years old

for example Alicia/Aria not asking the master how she could have night vision level 2 when humans are restricted to lv 1, and how she could see magic particles instead of the more common "feeling them"

I was kinda bored of shoujo fantasy novels with isekai - "otome" plots. Got this recommendation from some forum that was looking for "Female MCs that could fit into a shounen plot".

The LN only has like 3 volumes, but the chapter are long, longer than most LN chapters I know of. Around 20ish chapters a volume.

First thing that caught my eye, this novel has a double twist at the start.

Usually with LN shoujo fantasy, the most generic forms of isekai are as follows:

1. Girl is reincarnated into the MC of the otome. 2. Girl is reincarnated into a Mob (basically means side character) of the otome. 3. Girl reincrated into the Villainess of the otome.

Reincarnation - The transference of the soul from one body to another.

The body can transfer its memories or soul to an egg in the womb up to a human adult in isekai.

The twist in Otome Survival is that the reincarnation isnt some supernatural, unexplained phenomenon in the story. Eg. MC dies on Earth and somehow their soul gets transported to an otome world.

Reincarnation is essentially just the transference of the soul to from one to another. The soul has the personality, memories and feelings of a person that defines them. But transferring does not have to mean cut and paste. Copy and paste is a subversion of the trope as now there would be 2 bodies with the exact same soul.

This is what Otome Survival does in its opening chapters. Alicia our MC, a 7 year old has an encounter with a strange women who steals a pouch hung on her neck. Inside is a ring, its authenticity causes the lady to start rabbling about an otome game.

The woman being much larger manages to pin down Alicia, and goes on a monologue about magic. Basically in this world magic particles are similar to magical atoms in that they make up what magic is. As a person uses magic, an elemental magic stone forms in their heart. This stone contains a residue of the soul of individual who housed it. The lady did isekai from Earth but unfortunately, she came into the otome world when the main plot has yet to arrive, decades in advance. By the time she actually could participate in the main plot with her knowledge of the otome game she would be old. In order to defy fate she created a magic stone, one that was not inside of her, but was continuously fed with her blood for some 5 years, creating a magic stone a kin to the one in her heart at that moment.

Blood in this otome world is connected to magic, as magic particles flow through blood vessels. This means that blood is a conduit for magic. The lady after years of research found a theory that a artificial magic stone replacing an authentic magic stone in the heart of an individual could conceivably transfer the soul from the stone to that individual, essentially, reincarnation.

The woman tried to open a wound in Alicia's chest to get at her heart but the girl swatted the knife away with her hand. In that moment, the knife slashed her hand, causing blood to fly. The magic stone and knife were in the woman's right hand, so when the hand touched the knife, it also touched the stone. Blood is a conduit for magic, and it seems that the blood of Alicia resonated with the magic stone. The soul of the woman travelled from that blood to her body, her heart and mind. In that instant, she became aware of a different life, the memories of the woman in front of her. But she also became aware of the woman's previous life, her life on Earth, and the memories of then. In those memories, the existence of an otome shook her greatly. - - The second plot twist of the novel in regards to the isekai troupe is that the MC of Otome Survival is the MC of the otome world is a native to the otome world. This twist is only made known when the woman attacking Alicia reveals to the reader her origins.

Alicia was not only hit figuratively with the memories of a life different from hers, she also experienced a wholly unusual life in a another world. Add on top of that the existence of the otome game, leading to her recalling the character of Alicia in the otome game even though she had never played the game.

This leads us to my likes and dislikes of the novel.

Likes: 1. Alicia as an MC is very interesting due to her base character and origin story. Given the soul of the woman, Alicia in an instant becomes enlightened. She had already led a hard life before this encounter and the powerlessness of her situation caused her great disbear. Empowered by that woman's soul, she grabbed the rock next to her on the ground, bashing it into the womans face. The knife leaves her hand, and Alicia uses it to end her life.

You can already tell if it wasnt obvious already that this world is very gruesome. Quite typical for an isekai fantasy world, but in this case, the MC is quite jaded to the world around her. She understands from her own experience and the memories of the woman, that the violence is a part of the human condition, and that everyone has a reason for why they fight. Alicia understood this, but because she understood this, she also knew that these motives were also meaningless. As she knew that her world was artificial, already written in stone, proceeding on already laid down tracks. Her questioned her life as she foresaw all that would happen in it. Terrfied by this fate, this future, she became empowered to defy it. She did not wish to follow the story of an otome game and live her life coasting off of memories from a deceased woman. She would make choices herself and defy this fate.

This resolve is the suspension of disbelief that allows the reader to believe that Alicia could be such a coldblooded person. Her taciturn personality and her lack of hesitance towards mu*der makes her an unstoppable MC in battle. Her build (small due to her being 7) leads her to become a scout (essentially a rogue type class), her small size means shes fast and nimble, but weak physically. Alicia is quick to act but also calculative. She studies her opponents, creates strategems in her mind's eye and uses the element of surprise to get cheap shots. She may be weak due to the limitations of a child body, but her mind is making up for her physical incapabilities.

The fight scenes are written very well and its pacing fits with the fighting of a rogue. The author does a good job of using Alicia's thoughts, what she sees and what she cant see and incorporates it all into a thrilling read.

The plot is much more interesting than an otome game plot (low bar) but the plot doesnt feel rushed to get to the main plot years in the future, which I like. We get to see the MC grow and timeskips are there to make the story more believable as the MC grows stronger as she grows older.

Thing I dislike about the novel:

1. A lot of dialogue between fights. The MC monologue sometimes gets in the way of fight scenes because she is characterised to be quick thinking while in combat. This means that some fight scenes have paragraphs of monologue for what the MC is thinking at that moment, which in the novel take place in less than a second. That makes the fights feel like its in a staccato rhythm, where there are short burst of fight scenes, and a longer drone of monologue throughout the novel. Although it does give up some of the surprise of reading the moves made by the MC, knowing the intentions of the MC as she does what she does is nice.

2. Unreliable narrators. Sometimes this is done to create suspense and then reveal something to the reader. Eg. A character tells the MC something but we as the reader dont get to hear it, only later do we get the answer of what was said from the narrator. However, sometimes it feels like the author is making fake tension for the reader as the MC already had a trick up their sleeves but because the author wanted to create a "oh no the hero is going to lose, but wait?" moment. The author does give us hints such that we could guess these reveals in advance but the reveals are sometimes paragraphs of exposition in the middle of fight scenes. Sometimes I wonder, "why couldnt the author set this up more beforehand? Then he wouldnt have to go on tangents to justify the MC's actions". In the book there are several examples of foreshadowing to a bigger plot moment later which require more details for the reveals to feel less bloated. There are actually a few times where the MC monologues her actions to surprise her target and does just that, with great success. Although there isnt any surprise on my part, I like that the actions of the MC and her thoughts and the narration are consistent. However this is one success in many failures.

3. You know how at the start I said that I found this novel on a forum looking for "Female MC in a shounen plot" novels? Yeah, it backfires a bit. The base motivation of the MC is to get strong enough that she can defy her fate as an MC of an otome game. The MC is a noble ladies daughter who eloped with a commoner. After they both died in a monster attack, she became an orphan. In the original otome plot, she would have been found by her grandfather and be sent to a Sorcery Academy, where the otome plot takes place. - - The MC does not want to meet her extended family, as doing so will get her placed in the otome plot. And because she doesnt want to meet them, she has to fend for herself, thus her drive is to get stronger.

The MC really is as dense and as straightforward as a shounen MC. Her smarts are only for fighting. - - And yet there are moments where this character breaks. The MC is not just one character, she is 3, in a sense. She is Alicia, the child of a noble lady and commoner father, who she loved and was loved dearly. The strange woman, an isekai'd individual who lived on Earth and in the otome world. And Alicia, the rogue child, a mix of her once innocent self and the woman's memories. Sometimes her child memories are pushed to the surface of her mind and her feelings of longing for a family that was lost to her come up. This usually happens when she meets people who genuinely care for her and teach her ways to get stronger. In those moments, we remember that she is still a child, and that is why is has such simple desires.

In a way, I like that the author is characterising the MC this way. The setting of the otome game allows for a very shounen story, as there will always be stronger monsters or humans in the world for the MC to fight. The motivation of the MC and how she gets that motivation is also interesting and different to where I can suspend my disbelief at the MC.

With the extra details in the LN, the MC just can't keep her mind set at times.

LN 1) She seems to just be gullible at times for not asking more questions before accepting or being more assertive to refusing (i mean, she is willing to kill easily, but yet afraid to speak up). She is wanting to hide her hair & stay away from nobles, but yet accepts a job that basically tosses her into showing her hair & being around nobles. She is no where near the foster care area, but yet suddenly the one lady is taking her hair weapon & notifying others. She could have easily found a different way to get stronger without sticking herself straight into the fire to be noticed. At times, the jobs for her age are a bit too much to think a child would be given. Author should have waited for a little more time to grow or started her out older to make it more believable.

LN2) She still tends to keep saying she wants to keep a low profile ALOT, but the author for some reason makes her interact with the people she is trying to avoid almost instantly when she is near their area. She still doesn't speak up & just lets them again make her more visible. The one character talks about her having the face/aura of his baby crush from a painting (her mom?), thinking she looks just like her, but yet MC was supposedly wearing a scarf to hide most of her feminine face, so how can he know she looks like the painting? Plus he claims her hips gave her away as a girl (really? An 8year old with a figure of a 10year old in non-fitting ragged boy cloths), everyone else, even adults thought she was a boy.

Doesn't even give the story time to allow the MC to evolve more, just sticks her right into contact with the other characters (making 2/3 of them have instant crushes on her) she wants to avoid & grow stronger to protect herself. At times she states the knowledge she gained from the crystal gives her more info from the other world the lady came from, but at times its as if she forgets it with her interactions with these people.

Fight scenes are done nicely & there is some hidden premeditation that pop up to help make the scenes, but still a lot of times there is too much world background info that stales out the story.

They have an oh so terribly tragic backstory and hate everything and everyone.... Except they find the Main character "interesting/pretty". Bleugh!!! Why did the author have to put the most s*upid trope in their book? The most convoluted contrived plot point that is overused in all the worst fictions!!! They want to kill or be killed by the main character. SUCH IMMENSE DISSATISFACTION!!!

Mentioned character cut's mc's cheek while MC strokes the mentioned character's throat. They are both melodramatically expressing how much they want to mu*der each other for no reason. This extremely contrived development is frustrating to me. I cannot handle the s*upidity.