Unconventional but Deep: LV999 Villager

Synopsis

In this world, levels exist and from the birth of monsters, comes the birth of humans with designations ranging from heroes, kings, and sages to hunters, merchants and warriors. Amongst the different designations, the designation of villager is by far the weakest amongst them. But for one villager, he discovers that once you defeat a monster, you earn money. This leads to a rather different turn of events for the story.

The Good

The first notable high point of the series is in how reasonable most of the characters are. When it comes to this type of story where a character is given a designation that is usually weak but he instead becomes strong, he either he is the carefree and heroic type or the cynical type who got pushed down by others and is considered as a villain. For the protagonist of his story, he is neither of these types yet at the same time he does hold certain aspects of them.

The most interesting thing about this character is that he is a neutral figure that doesn’t wish to get involved in the quarrel of humans and demons but at the same time he has no negative feelings for either side. It’s clear that there is a hidden side to this character born from a tragic moment in his past like many other protagonists but the way he carries on this laid back kind of attitude mixed in with his desire to battle monsters so to get money makes for a rather dynamic and unique character that many other series with a similar concept didn’t truly have.

The other characters as well were handled uniquely as when it comes to the “hero” characters in this type of stories they not only come off as arrogant and extremely idealistic but in turn inadvertently become the villains. While they are idealistic and arrogant here, it is not without reason nor to the extreme which makes for a rather refreshing change of pace in a plot.

As for the plot, the worldbuilding was established very well with a general introduction to the system of the world and the people that live in it in the first chapter. The characters and monsters though largely generic do have some god designs to them and as the story progressed there is also very interesting tidbits slipped in that brought an interesting  sense of mystery.

The Bad

The worse that can be said about the series is that the action scenes come out as rather chaotic and overall anticlimactic from what the series has presented so far. To boil it down, the scenes seem rather rushed as they take focus onto the protagonist and with him being rather overpowered, there is not much high tension fights to anticipate with the series seeming to be on its first half.

Then there is the concept of, “with the unconventional hero being so strong, surely he will lead the way to change things.” Thankfully the story took a different turn from the usual concept which included not one but two girls offering their hand in marriage for the sake of their side. With how much this trope is used in fantasy stories it turns rather predictable after a while and the only thing that makes it different is with how the hero ends up reacting.

On a different note, when looking at the system built up for the world of the story it seems rather simple but when you look further into the story you can’t help but wonder on the plot holes that slip by. For example, why exactly did the humans believe that vanquishing the demon king would bring peace when in other chapters it is shown that demons are not so different from humans? Some things may slip by but they are some questionable parts to the story that could be solved later but at the same time possibly not.

Conclusion

In my personal opinion this is by far one of the best fantasy series that I have cime across and it is only 5 chapters so far. The story has a rather well developed world though there are some holes that is not always noticeable. It is truly refreshing to see a change from the usual overpowered main character who ends up as either heroic, idealistic or these days cynical. While he is not necessarily a hero, he is an interesting protagonist that holds a rather good mystery about him. So if you’re looking for a fantasy story involving an unconventional hero with a change of pace, then this is it.

Rating: 9/10