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. The author does not mention this at all. 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, Adale. Here, we find out that the MC is incredibly dense when it comes to human relationships, and has to be told advice from Adale. 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, Adale 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.

In fact, 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 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. Even better, it is also revealed that the servers would eventually merge so that the game is multiplayer. It's like the world was made for 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. I mean, obviously, why would you teach them how to assassinate you? With no passion, most of the professors just focus on making money. Later, some professors betray them stating that they should have been paid better. That's the best excuse that the author could come up with? 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'. Really? No other reason as to why? Good lord.

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.