In Chapter 36, after the author conveniently introduces a demon and it being eliminated using the conveniently introduced demon-killing weapon that he just conveniently happened to find, posts are made online and reporters from news agencies come to interview him, as only a few people saw what happened that day. Here we get to witness peak humor in action, with the punchline being 'lol it's just like the real world but assassin-themed'. You got 'The New York Times'? We got 'The Assassin Times'. You got the 'Pulitzer Prize'? We got the 'Pulichev Prize'. You got 'Reddit'? We got 'Assassin Town'. There's absurdist humor, and then there's just lazy writing.

Speaking of assassin-themed things, people in this novel communicate using 'a watch-like gadget featuring a protruding crystal lens that projected holograms, often referred to as a "crystal ball"', which is equivalent to a phone in this universe. Like, why have this James Bond type of gadget instead of having normal phones? Oh yeah: assassins. This technology has been introduced and used since Chapter 5 to share phone numbers, send messages, and now to view posts on Assassin Town. A simple thing that I've seen nobody ask about is what time period the novel takes place in. Due to this, initially, I thought this novel took place in contemporary time, as there are cars and holograms, which are pretty advanced technology. The unknown time period is finally revealed in Chapter 47, which gives the year 501. This is an example of how little effort the author puts into world-building, as even with my limited knowledge of history, the printing press was invented way later than that, so newspapers and phone-like devices shouldn't even be in circulation.

The first thing I take issue with is that the author is close-minded and only writes the bare minimum. After the first demon attack, the MC continues steadily training to raise their stats and World Forgery progress. At the end of Chapter 38, the MC reaches 89% proficiency in World Forgery. It is described that growth would be significantly slowed and once it crosses 90%, it's like a whole new realm. This is painted as a significant power-up, so the MC should be striving to get this upgrade as soon as possible as he is on the hardest difficulty, and World Forgery is his main ability. One thing that could be done to help speed up this process is to use Star Shards to raise the proficiency, as he did before when he first got World Forgery. Even if it costs a bit due to growth being significantly slowed, the option should at least be glossed over just in case something goes wrong, which usually happens in situations like these. The author does not mention this at all. The so-called genius does not think about using all of the tools at his disposal to survive. I will mention this issue again later.

The second thing I take issue with is Dante's relationship with Eve. The author portrays her as a major character, as many chapters have snippets of information about her. With the highest potential value ever seen, Dante also tries to build a relationship with her. He visited her everyday at Mount Stargaze without fail, with the goal of using her. In Chapter 39, the MC visits Eve with his assistant, Adele. Here, we find out that the MC is incredibly dense when it comes to human relationships, and has to be told advice from Adele. This type of pathetic behavior only reminds me how hard the system is carrying the MC through the game. Then suddenly, the MC stops visiting Eve. His goal was to turn Eve into a potential asset, and he just stops? After three weeks of his absence, Eve descended Mount Stargaze for the first time to look for him, but failing to do so. Again, Adele has to ask the MC about visiting Mount Stargaze, wondering why they haven't gone there recently. And his response?

"Why would we go there?"

I have no words. Someone commented that this is due to the Curse of Oblivion, since the Game System shut down in Chapter 50, hence the MC was no longer able to resist it and forgot about Eve. I don't really accept this explanation due to the Game System resisting the curse and winning in Chapter 13, so the curse shouldn't even be in place right now, but let's assume that he forgot. This directly contradicts the keeper at Mount Stargaze knowing about Eve to the point where he gives the MC her weaknesses, also stated in Chapter 13. Even if you ignore that contradiction or that the old man just has an absurdly high curse resistance, it's been stated in multiple chapters that people know about the Witch of the Cemetery, so it's possible for information to spread. Actually, even if nobody knows about Eve, the fact that the MC doesn't ponder on the question further is just the author making the MC dumb for the sake of the plot. You have Adele driving you to the mountain every single night for multiple nights, as stated in Chapter 39, and the best thing the author could come up with is this? Why even bother having Adele question the MC? Imagine background characters having more awareness than the 'genius' MC. I would talk about writing a record or something but the Curse of Oblivion distorts records, so I'll give a pass on that, but how can you not think at all what was the point in visiting the mountain when it was your idea to visit with Adele in the first place? This is the close-mindedness of the author that I take issues with. Some genius this guy is...

While we're on the topic of relationships, the MC's relationship with literally everybody aren't even relationships at all. Some people might say that he slowly starts to genuinely care for his students, but he does not care about any of the characters, only seeing them as tools to be used. We've already discussed Eve, so let's talk about Elize and Rebecca. In Chapter 17, the MC is improving his relationship with Elize and gets this 'revelation' about forging bonds. But in Chapter 49, Rebecca orders Elize to kill the MC, but he uses his relationship with her to stop her. In response to this, Rebecca ditches Elize, so she follows the MC. Elize, being described as deeply unsettled and depressed, sits inside of a tr*sh can and tells the MC about her thoughts. In response to this, the MC offers no words of sympathy, tells her to leave, and when she doesn't leave, he leaves the room to go do something else. In Chapter 54, Rebecca opens up to the MC a little and asks him if he will betray her. The MC, feigning kindness, says that he won't betray her while internally thinking exactly how to betray her and that he would use Rebecca for his own purposes. Do you guys see the care that the MC gives? I'd love to see it.

The third thing that I take issue with is the generic tropes. One of them, which can be considered the greatest crime in all of writing, is making other characters dumb to make the MC look smart. Some might argue that the MC's true skill relies in reacting and adapting well, but I disagree. Anyone could do what the MC has done so far as long as they have a pulse. An example of other characters having stunted IQ can be seen in Chapter 47, where the characters are devising a plan against the second demon named Jinxsite, which has appeared earlier than expected. Since none of the professors have ever seen this type of monster before, the MC tells them exactly what to do. Some professors question how the MC knows this information, and the response that they're given is that the MC has encountered it before in the past. I can overlook this behavior since lives were at stake, but what I can't overlook is that in Chapter 47, the MC tells them that he will kill Jinxsite alone. Not 'the demon', Jinxsite. He drops the monster's name several times, and nobody questions it at all. How can someone make this massive blunder and not be punished for it unless the world revolves around them? Everyone keeps throwing around the words 'Hell difficulty' without even describing what that type of difficulty would actually look like. Nothing that has happened so far comes even remotely close to it. The MC has a completely broken ability, and everyone just follows the words of the MC with little to no questions asked. There is little quantification for power levels, and relationships are formed at the slightest touch that the MC gives. To support this statement, remember that issue I mentioned earlier? During the first encounter with Jinxsite, Dante and Gray, an Illusion Arts cadet, are in a sinking airship due to the demon's attack. Gray casts an illusion to put wings on the sides of the airship for it to safely glide down, but fails due to it not being able to handle the airship's weight or drag. The MC calculates that with the mana that he has, he won't be able to do it alone. Instead of using his Star Shards to raise the proficiency of World Forgery or to raise his mana stat, he tells Gray to make wings again, saying that he believes in her. This contrived scenario works, and he gets 30 more Star Shards as a reward for their bond (30), which is a significant amount. For reference, the MC's bond with Elize and Rebecca is 20. One thing that I did not mention was Gray was also insanely drunk on the airship, souring this moment even further. So instead of using his Star Shards to upgrade his mana or his ability as insurance in case Gray fails again, he put the responsibility on a drunk teenager. Also, how does this even register as a bond? Did the author forget that people experience memory loss when intoxicated? The answer is that they didn't forget, since in Chapter 52, it turns out Gray did experience memory loss. So, where is the bond? There was no bond to be made: the MC just told Gray to do it and she miraculously succeeded. This trope where characters succeed in critical moments is pathetic to read. The MC had plenty of shards: raising the proficiency of World Forgery should correlate to less mana usage: he could have used his shards to at least lessen some of the burden for Gray, but he didn't because the author either didn't think of it or purposefully ignored it for this 'bond' to be created.

If you think that those scenarios are not the author making other characters dumb to make the MC look intelligent, get a load of this. In Chapter 51, it is revealed that many other people were brought into the game world. This was expected, so it's whatever. Due to the game being single-player, each other person brought into the game has their own different world. It is also revealed that there were other people who chose Hell Mode, and guess what? Everyone else who selected Hell Mode is dead, leaving the MC as the only remaining player and sole survivor of the Hell difficulty. Can you believe it? Even better for the MC, it is also revealed that the servers would eventually merge so that the game is multiplayer. It's almost like now the MC has a huge advantage over everyone and that the world revolves around the MC, and the MC alone. Genius? What kind of 'I'm the Max Level Newbie' nonsense is this? Also, in my earlier review I mentioned how the author didn't even try to create past records for Dante Hiakapo, blaming it on the 'mysterious board director'. Well, in Chapter 53, we finally get a response to this. Someone asks who the MC is, and the chairman, the guy who brought the MC in, says "I don't know".

...

...

... bruh.

The goal is to assassinate the professor. It's been stated that professors lack motivation and drive to teach the students. With no passion, most of the professors just focus on making money. Later, some professors betray the academy, stating that they should have been paid better. That's the best excuse that the author could come up with?

The thought process of 'hey maybe teaching our students how to assassinate us... is bad?' isn't even touched upon. Constantly being targeted by your students is not a valid reason to betray your nation? When other professors try to think why they could have betrayed them, the FIRST thing that the author wrote is 'they were blinded by money', citing it as a 'major factor'. AND THIS HAPPENS TO BE THE REASON AS TO WHY THEY BETRAYED THEM. Really? Nobody could think of any other reason as to why?

The characters are written in such a one-dimensional way that they literally cannot think for themselves. It's like the author has writer's block and instead of taking a break, they just turn off the creativity and write the first thought that comes to mind. I have showcased this problem several times earlier, but my final example of this is in Chapter 50, where the MC gets 3 Resurrection Coupons as compensation due to a bug of having Jinxsite appear early, killing tons of people who were unprepared. In Chapter 52, the resurrections are treated as a miracle by the other characters. Rebecca, who literally killed some of these people herself, is baffled by them miraculously coming back to life. But that's all she is: confused. We only get a few morsels of this confused thinking before it is just shoved to the side and never brought back up again. She doesn't even go back and rekill those people. WHAT WAS THE THOUGHT PROCESS HERE? These characters don't display critical thinking skills, they don't do complex reasoning, they literally don't do ANYTHING besides being mediums for the author to move the plot forward and shower praises for the protagonist.

During one of the assassination attempts, the MC creates illusions of himself and the students. This causes the students to start attacking each other out of fear. Due to this contrived scenario, the MC has to step in. How does he de-escalate the situation? BY STOPPING TIME. No explanation given. He just briefly stops time. Obviously, this news spreads and now people think the MC is on the level of an archmage on top of being an Illusion Arts master.

During one of the chapters, the MC goes to sell off the confiscated weapons he collected from the students trying to assassinate him to raise money to pay off a fine. In one of the shops, specifically the one 'full of tr*sh', he finds an unappraised weapon. Surprise, surprise, this weapon turns out to be a stigma weapon, having the blessing of the stars and being worth 7, 500, 000 hika. Even more of a surprise, this weapon deals extra damage to demons, the undead and counters dark magic when there is an upcoming war with demons. What a coincidence. Even more of a coincidence, the moment he starts thinking about assassinating demons, the author conveniently introduces a demon.

His assistant, a 25 year old woman. But even then, it's not a full-blown romance. She just interacts with him a lot and likes to tease him, while MC keeps a proper distance and observes her, since he needs to find out her secret. But in chapters 69-72, there are scenes where MC & assistant hang out together, and they get friendlier. Not saying too much cuz don't want to give the story away haha

He's treating the princess's feet (who's also his student), and her feet are so bruised and blistered because she's been walking so much the past couple of weeks, going to funerals and memorials, because people died during a war. And MC says the injured feet are "beautiful and admirable" because compared to the rest of the royal family, which did nothing for the common people, she's putting in great effort for the people. There's a lot more context to this scene, but omitting a lot of it to keep this short.

• these 5 star reviews aren't real bro like ?????? you guys are defending this?

EDIT YOUR REVIEWS AND EXPLAIN YOURSELVES YOU FAKE ARTIFICALLY INFLATING REVIEWING COWARDS

CHAPTER 74:

"Right. But wait a moment. I need to go to the laundry room for a bit."

"The laundry room? Why?"

"I was so surprised just now that I had a bit of an accident." Gray said hesitantly, crossing her legs.

But her face wore a mischievous smile.

Ugh. Disgusting.

I really hated unhygienic things.

"That's a filthy joke, " I muttered with a frown.

"Hm?" Her eyes curved like crescent moons as she chuckled. "Who said it was a joke? I'm serious."

She doubled down on the bit. Maybe she found my reaction funny since I'm usually so straight-faced.

"Whatever you say."

"Wait, you don't believe me? I really wet myself down there."

"Enough."

I furrowed my brows. Gray burst out laughing.

"I'll wait here, " I said curtly.

"Mhm. I'll be back. But it'll take a bit. I have to wash them, after all." She winked.

This damn brat.

"Gray Habanero, " I growled.

"Kyahaha~! Sorry, sorry~"

"Keep the filthy talk to a minimum."

"Okay~ But you know, your reactions are seriously hilarious, Professor. You get all flustered. So cute~"

I stared at her in silence.

"Okay, okay! Don't glare at me like that. Mmkay? I'm off now~!"

And just like that, I got teased endlessly by someone far younger than me.

• if you tell me this situation would happen in real life, you're lying to yourself

CHAPTER 32:

"Don't spread your legs like that when you're sitting."

"That came out of nowhere. You actually care about this stuff?"

"Yeah."

"But these are my legs. I can sit however I want."

"No. What if someone sees your underwear?"

"I usually wear undershorts to prevent that... Wait, no, why am I even discussing my sitting posture with you? Why are you here?"

"I won't tell you until you close your legs."

Gray stared blankly at her for a moment. Then, with a sigh, she got off her chair, stood up, and spread her feet apart - front to back - slowly lowering herself into a full split.

Her hips touched the floor, legs in a perfect 180-degree angle.

"Whoa, you're really flexible!"

"Right? I can even split them a bit more if I want - wait, no! Seriously, why are you here? Speak before I smack you."

"Uh... I'll tell you if you close your legs..."

CHAPTER 10:

"I thought she'd only do this for a few months when she first started attending these funerals."

"Right? She must've been about fifteen at the time, so people assumed it was just a phase. She's royalty, after all."

"But seeing her continue for years, never missing a single week, traveling all across Hiaka... it made me change my mind."

However, choosing only funeral ceremonies to attend - I doubted her intentions were purely virtuous.

• this information, given in chapter 10, that the MC already knows, is repeated in chapter 54, but with fixation on bruised, blistered feet and painted as something 'beautiful' which makes no sense since potions exist in this world (chapter 26), making this sequence entirely avoidable as the person in question is a princess which means they could get potions/elixirs easily to treat their wounds.
• 'zero reading comprehension'... when they just completely ignore the above + make up an entirely new argument... no one said anything about romance. fixating on this one part instead of everything else mentioned is when you know that the story's cooked. you'd think that they're secretly the author with that level of denial. all of the positive reviews are essentially carbon copies of each other, optimists using the same talking points and listing only the 'pros' and none of the cons. it's like watching chatgpt repeatedly give the wrong answer while affirming that it's correct in a positive manner.

CHAPTER 54:

"Better now?" she said, showcasing her pale feet where blisters, bruises, and wounds blossomed.

"Don't you have a single word of concern to say after seeing your pitiful student's feet so ruined?"

"So, why has the princess with such sore feet come to visit a measly professor without taking a rest first?"

"Look at your feet."

"My feet?"

Rebecca looked down at her red, blotchy, bruised, and blistered feet.

"Yes. Those beautiful and admirable feet."

I gave her basic first aid by cleaning the wounds, treating the blisters, wiping away pus and blood, applying ointments, and finally wrapping the foot gently in a bandage.

But what surprised me was how calloused her feet were.

I had assumed that as a royal princess, her feet would be pale and soft. But every spot I touched was rough, hardened by calluses.

CHAPTER 14:

Her family - the Csikos line - was descended from an ancient clan of canine beastfolk.

Elize's pink eyes sparkled with urgency as she recognized the large balloon bone.

"Give it to me, " she said, holding both hands out.

"Elize. Wait."

"Quickly."

"I said, wait. I'll give it to you once I'm done."

"Please. The bone. Hurry."

"Stay."

Her body froze.

[Black Dragon Division, First-Year, Elize: Stay...??]

Eventually, she quietly withdrew her hands and waited obediently, like a well-trained pup.

"Well done."

unknown deaf girl named eve has way too much screentime plus later chapters start making allusions to the bible with character names like cain (fake identity of MC, name suddenly appeared in his head), and demons are main overarching threat of the novel.

but why did the MC immediately have the name cain pop into his head to use as his secret identity? if you don't want to look it up, cain is the first human born from adam and eve, and is also known as the first mu*derer after he kills his brother abel out of jealousy. the name of mc's assistant is adele, which is just a female abel - it's like the author isn't even trying.

CHAPTER 69:

"This Chief Professor Cain person is incredible.

How did they make something this massive?"

"Indeed."

"But their name almost sounds like it's related to mine, doesn't it? 'Cain and Adele, ' haha. Maybe that's why they're so incredible!"

"Indeed, " I replied again.

CHAPTER 70:

Adele... who are you, really?

What is the "massive threat" that lurks with you?

Should I kill you?

• God declared to Cain, "Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth" (Genesis 4:11-12). In response, Cain lamented, "My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me" (Genesis 4:13-14). God responded, 'Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.' Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him" (Genesis 4:15-16).

all it took was playing a completely real game about killing professors that he happens to be really good at due to having a grudge on them as he's completely spineless. no wonder how the MC has survived so far - he was literally destined for this! look guys, I solved the mystery!

also mc's name is dante, aka dante's inferno.

like what are we even doing here? religious references like these are often just a cheap attempt at adding substance and depth, though here it seems to be the literal core of this novel. how trite. again, the story does not need mystery for people to be hooked.

not a single soul has pointed out the bible insinuations, giving the impression that no one actually cares about the story and are just hooked because the MC flexes on everyone else, they like that the characters slowly bow down to the MC, and the author writes "hype aura farming moments". no clue why people praise the MC so much as he has done nothing to deserve it other than simply being the protagonist - maybe they are also imagining the character as themselves?