I wanted to like this, it had an interesting sort of traditional martial honor vibe, that fit into a modern hunter setting.

It was neat.

It then spent all its time trying to make me rub my nose at the feet of its protagonist in admiration... while being so cheeky and lazy with how it was contrived.

This was obnoxious hero worship for stuff that is generally getting grating in how it tries to glow him up. It's not humble at all, while trying to raise him on high... it's like the author... more>> built a statue, and said worship it like an altar... and then gave me a command to either do so or get lost. I'm getting lost. This protag is really not that cool for how much the author wants me to be impressed by their actions and 'endless dedication'.

Yes the inevitable endless willpower trope where they live and breath above everyone else while only getting 3 hours of sleep. Waking up dawn to dusk grinding. This couldn't be more of an unintentional self parody if it tried.

I really dislike this novel, because it feel like it's almost mocking the entire point of a power fantasy by how lazy it attempts to ham fist admiration at our protagonist. Children admire him, and every single one is immersed in their mission for improvement... not one openly celebrated their own achievement in graduating... tips fedora sort of greasy unapologetic nonsense.

Our protagonist might be a humble man, but our author isn't in how he tries to flash him around like a guy who finally got a flashy watch.

This is a poorly thought out way of showing something you want to seem impressive, but it turns out gaudy. It cheapens itself in its rushed desperation to be appealing. <<less