Solo Leveling: Arcane Monarch
Xavier Valentine builds walls for a living. Good, solid walls that keep things where they belong - in or out. It's honest work, far from the world of gates, monsters, and the celebrity hunters who fight them. Far from the legacy his A-rank parents left behind when they died.
But walls have a way of cracking.
When S-rank hunter Kafka - the infamous Spider of the Scavenger Guild - singles him out during a routine gate clearing, Xavier's carefully constructed normalcy begins to crumble.
He wants nothing to do with it. He has a sister to put through college, bills to pay, and enough ghosts haunting him without adding hunter politics to the mix. But in a world where reality tears open on luxury shopping streets and monsters spill into coffee shops, staying invisible isn't as simple as keeping your head down.
Especially when you've spent years deliberately suppressing what you could become.
Now Xavier finds himself caught between two impossibilities: embracing the power he's always suppressed, or watching his ordinary life dissolve around him. As gates increase in frequency and danger, as ancient powers stir beneath modern cities, he'll have to decide which walls are worth keeping.
And which need to come down.
A sincere review (and a considerably long one, sorry XD). ===== Writing Quality: Excellent. I’d be crazy to criticize the writing quality of this story. [5.0] ===== Stability of Updates: Around three chapters per week (?). Above average. It’s getting harder and harder to find stories with a consistent update rate like this, so thank you (and congrats XD). [5.0] ===== Story Development: The most complex part so far? Without a doubt, the story’s development is good. But it feels like something is missing (?), probably a side effect of reading too much Solo Leveling. The protagonist’s "system" has, so far, proven to be infinitely inferior to the original. He’s already put in 100 times more effort than Jin-Woo did at the start, yet he hasn’t demonstrated any particularly overwhelming level of strength. (Elaborating on this…) The way stats are presented in this system gives off the wrong impression. In the original, a "100" in stats was already something ridiculous, while here, a "1,000" still leaves the protagonist at level 1—nowhere near S-rank. Fortunately, the story hasn’t fallen into the typical "OP-MC" trope, but that also leads to another issue: the core premise is "fighting Ashborn," yet the system hasn’t shown any ability that could compare to Sung Jin-Woo’s. That said, the story is still in its early stages, so these issues haven’t negatively impacted my experience yet. I just hope for something more impactful in the future—preferably without relying on the cliché "trauma/emotional breakdown awakening," since that usually just translates to plot armor disguised as a lack of talent. That being said, the story’s development is still excellent (XD)—these were just personal nitpicks. [4.0] ===== Character Design: The character development so far has been really solid. They’re deeper and more complex than most characters you see on this site. I’d even go as far as to say that some of them have more depth than certain novel characters. Am I exaggerating? Definitely. But hey, personal taste is personal taste—you can’t argue with that. [5.0] ===== World Background: And here lies the biggest issue (!). That being said, it’s still excellent. The POV switches are really well done—they add a much greater depth to the world. Sometimes, they even trick the readers (kind of like an unreliable narrator) since the information given in each POV switch is purely from the perspective of character X or Y—not necessarily the absolute truth. Seeing this kind of storytelling in action is really fun! Now, my issue: There are way too many crossover characters suddenly appearing out of nowhere—mostly female ones. I’m not someone who gets hung up on "harem" or "no harem" arguments, but I can already see that once this story gets more popular, a wave of negative reviews will come in solely because of these characters. (Things like: "Why add Kafka if she’s not going to end up with Character X?!" or "This story feels like a harem, and that’s disgusting! In a modern world, things should be more realistic (lol)!") I actually saw a comment while reading where a reader was already complaining about this exact thing ( ^ ). They were talking about how a "modern setting" should mean characters have a normal/sane mindset, when in reality, superpowered individuals are always a little unhinged. I genuinely hope this doesn’t become a problem for the story later on. That said, I trust the author, so I’ll leave this topic entirely in their hands. I won’t complain—just pointing it out while continuing to read like a good reader~ (Confession: A lot of my trust comes from Wisteria’s stories. The writing there is genuinely great—from the overall plot to the character relationships, everything always ends up satisfying.) ===== Final Rating: 4.8/5. The story is excellent. It might bring some discomfort or frustration depending on personal preferences, but it’s definitely worth giving a chance. (And let the author cook, please. Don’t start whining about Character X or Y until the author actually gives a reason for it. Avoid throwing tantrums over future events…)
All the Stars! ⭐️ Can’t wait to see where you take this story 🙂↕️🩷
Seems intriguing, will read, just is this harem or sfml?
Haven't read it yet, but leaving my tributes to Chief🫡
Honestly, this story is not for me, since the author vented in this last chapter about what the MC will be like and this MC is not what I like to read. He already said that the MC will be someone sentimental and that this is the human way of being, but this is not real life, but fictional, so I expected an MC that was like Sung Jin Woo.
I don't usually leave reviews, but this is genuinely one of the most well written things I've read so far. The grammar is perfect, the characters are interesting, and three chapters in, I'm already anticipating the next one.
I saw Kafka, and I broke. I couldn't take it anymore; as if the entire world collapsed, the very essence of peak appeared in front of me in the form of her. You truly are the GOAT. Also the story is actually really good and I hope you keep updating just seeing Kafka in this story has made me an eternal reader.
Are you lucky to have such a wonderful girlfriend, is she lucky to have you? I guess that's why they make a good couple... Hmm, to be or not to be, that's the question... Hopefully see where this leads I'll add it to the library, when you have 10 chapters... 'Ll. What is the word count by chapters more or less?
Good start, really looking forward to where you take this story.[img=recommend]
Reveal Spoiler
Damnn chief , u exceeded my expectations. Keep it coming 😊😊
gotta come and give support blud. I vex I use my power stones fuh tdy😭😭
High hopes for this novel, the premise seems very interesting and leaves room world building.
Interesting start can’t wait to see where it goes in the future
This writing is some of the most in depth i have seen in a while the detail towards Xavier's life the patience that is required to write like this is extraordinary not rushing in to the dangerous dungeons its wonderful so i applaud you author