I read a lot of things. If the list didn't make it obvious enough, I have a bit of a hard on for Korean Novels in particular. It's just because of the stylistic choices these authors make. If Chinese Novels are about blood-thirsty, cruel, never-ending, arrogant, and shallow stories; and Japanese Novels are about weak-willed, nonsensical, piddling, constantly hesitant stories; then Korean Novels are a different beast entirely.

Protags that know how to put their foot down, but don't end up killing entire clans. Antagonists that think with their head and keep the fights contained instead of bringing in some Nascent Soul senior to slap face. Love Interests that can be soul nurturing at the best of times and anxiety inflicting messes that force you to read one more chapter before bed at the worst of times.

Very seldom do I find novels that show these aspects outside of Korean Novels, but when I do, it always stands out. Maybe it's just really good editing. Maybe the authors themselves use the thousands of pages of their previous works as foundations that make their new novels insanely strong. I'm not too sure what the magic ingredient is, but it's insanely powerful and very addicting.

I say all of this to say, I don't hate A Desolate Era, Warlock of the Magus World, or Martial God Asura. I also don't hate Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon, Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e, or The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time.

These novels aren't bad, but just because a novel has over 6k chapters and over 20k readers, doesn't mean I'm willing to add it to this list. These are the stories that really stick with me. The stories that I can recommend to anyone in this culture. Tales that will stand as benchmarks for a long time to come.

ALSO SOME OF THESE NOVELS HAVE TERRIBLE NAMES AND EVEN WORSE DESCRIPTIONS! I know how bad they sound but I promise that I wouldn't put it on here if it didn't meet a certain bar. Don't judge a book by it's cover n all that.