Delve

The premise is one that can easily be found on Royal Road.  The main character winds up in another world and finds himself with a status screen, and oh yeah, magic works.

What makes this different from the others in this genre, is that the Main Character doesn't come with the knowledge of how to speak the language, how to min/max his skills, how his skills work or magic work, or have even the basic survival skills.

His life is as much just trying to understand and survive as it is gaining levels and stats.

This ignorance is refreshing, and perhaps the most realistic narrative of what would happen if a person were dropped in a strange world with different rulesets. 

Amazing 5's across the board.  

Grammar is on point, and the author is responsive and quick to fix any mistakes that are pointed out.

I ended up dropping this one, but more out of personal taste rather than from any lack of quality on the story's part.

Why you may like it:

It's a very in depth LitRPG, and the author has clearly put a lot of work into the system.

Unlike most LitRPGs, the action scenes are nicely detailed. Aside from the main character's internal monologue, people don't just go around shouting the names of their attacks. The author actually takes the time to tell us what's happening with descriptions.

I dislike the LitRPG subgenre because many writers either care about their system more than their story, or use the system to help cover up lazy or sloppy writing. In Delve, it's clear that the author hasn't skimped on the prose, and is genuinely working on giving us an actual story... even if that story is about the system.

Why I dropped it:

Too much G, not enough RP. The main character is basically obsessed with figuring out how the system works and making it his bitch through the power of mathematics. Very large parts of a lot of the chapters so far focus on the MC sitting around with his notebook as he looks for the best way to optimize his skill points and daily experience gains... And every bit of it is written down for you in glorious/horrific detail.

Do you want to know what his mana regeneration will be if he puts a skill point into Ability A as opposed to Ability B? Do you even care? Will it affect the plot at any point in the future?

No. Probably not. I highly doubt that a character's life and/or the fate of the world will ever be determined by a single misspent skill point.

But what if it was two points?! Think of the possibilities!

No. The answer is still no.

Overall:

If you're a fan of a series because it's a LitRPG, you'll love Delve. If you enjoy a series despite it being a LitRPG, you probably won't love Delve.

If you don't feel to strongly either way, then, at the very least, it's worth giving a try.

This may just seem another story of the transported to a Fantasy world with LitRPG type, but quickly shows itself to be different, and it improves on the genre standard by so much.

I honestly did not expect much when i started to read this, but now its one of my actual favorites. I have been totally impressed by this story and how enjoyable it is to just keep reading, the story is also very entertaining with all the situations the MC gets in. I just loved every moment of reading this.

The MC is just, realistic, even if he may act stupid at times, this is mostly due to him not knowing near enough about the world and its inhabitants, sadly for him, that includes language differences, which has proven to be a major problem for him. He does have quite some flaws, such as being impulsive, and that makes me only like him more as a character.

The world so far has been well-constructed, but due to certain reasons, not much has been revealed yet. So far it has been shown to be a pretty standard Medieval Fantasy world, with there being no major differences from the usual standard.

The author has written one of the most well-constructed LitRPG Systems i have read so far on Royalroad with this story, its very different from the LitRPG systems used in other stories and really thought out, with there being no easy shortcuts to becoming powerful, its basically all how you plan your stats, skills/skill trees and classes and then act accordingly.  There are even alternative ways of earning exp aside from combat/crafts.  But the greatest difference is Customization, and thats quite hard to explain. I personally like the fact that even though the status screens appear on most chapters, they do not hinder the reading experience at all.

Good grammar in this fiction, with there being barely any grammatical errors or typo's, and even if there are, they are easy to detect and do not hinder the reading experience at all, the authors use of grammar remains very consistent throughout the story, not only that, the author has a good gasp on the English language, with correct word usage in his sentences.

Great pacing for this story, the flow of the story just keeps you reading the whole time. The story as a whole feels realistic, with no forced stuff or weird plotholes or anything like that.  The author has done a great job at making this story as detailed as possible without detracting from other aspects of the story. There is also a good balance between  adventure, humour, action and worldbuilding (what there has been so far).

Ill be honest that i just cannot find anything specific to criticize the story for,  it is just that good.

I have to applaud the author for all the work he has put into making sure this story is of high quality while also making it enjoyable to read. I have faith the author will be able to make something truly great with this story, considering what he already has written so far for this story.

I wholeheartly recommend this story for any fan of Fantasy, this has been a story of really high quality so far and there is just so much potentional to be explored here. So thus, start reading this story already!

The story flows well, the characters are fairly interesting as is the world. The leveling system and the MCs absolutely boring build are kind of a let down, you can see the potential but it just isn't realised. Also the MC is just to childish, the best way I can explain it is like this, he isn't a man, he is a water boy. And this is the stories biggest let down, if you like characters like that then you will love this story though. 

No cheat skill

No god that help you

No japanese stupidity

Original system

No talk with the system to explain you the world

No exposition

Original character

No waifu

Hard work

No demon king yet

No bad guy that attack the mc for no reason

I think it will be the best Portal Fantasy i ever read if it don't stop

Going to another world that suddenly has magic and stats is a concept that has been used many, many times. However, this story has a new, interesting take on it; what with the character not knowing the language or having any real help, instead finding his own path.

 Meet Rain. Not Falling Rain, the Undying Savage, just Rain, a normal dude.

Until he is taken to another world for no explicable reason?? Only, instead of being able to y' know, just do magic and kill stuff or build an epic kingdom from a few goblins he found in the woods, Rain can do not much, but probably die of starvation.

Luckily he is saved by some... Hobos? Oh wait, one of them has a sword, so it's definitely a fantasy world. Thankful for the rescue, Rain manages to get over being treated like a captured assassin, and luckily, also learns magic! 

Watch as Rain carves his mark upon the world! Or more likely, just get along helping other people out.

Style Score

Delve does not particularly stand out in terms of the author's personal touch. The author does not sprinkle the story with references, or quirky jokes, nor does the author re-enact his dark and twisted self-insert fantasies. The story is told as a story, and the author makes it clear that he is only the writer, not a character within the story.

Story Score

Let's be honest here. "Delve" is not a unique story idea. A man is taken to another world, how will he survive is a question that numerous people on this website have answered, and it is invariably, either "comfortably" or "seated upon a throne of bones, drenched in the blood of his enemies, and his enemies enemies, and then their enemies too, just for good measure." However, that doesn't mean that Delve is a bad story. The cliche is fine, as long as you do it well. 

Grammar Score

A large thing that makes me scream on this website is good story ideas ruined by immersion-breaking grammar. I might seem quite pedantic and fussy when it comes to grammar, but that also means good grammar is almost a guaranteed follow and review from me. Thank you SenecentSoul, for editing your work.

Character Score

Once again, let's be honest. Rain is not a unique character. He is average, and as such, a bit of an "insert-self". However, he a well written, and clearly defined and described character, who wanders around cleaning everything within ten meters of himself. He interacts with other characters, and also absolving them of their need to poop. He does not control or order anyone, but instead barters and converses with other characters, and we see a person, not a puppet walking around.

Conclusion

Overall, Delve is a good story. It does not strike out as a unique bestseller, but it certainly should not be forgotten by the way-side. Delve has found its place as one of those stories that you do not use to get your friends into Royalroad, but as a story that you come back to once you have read all the headline acts. The characters are funny and interesting, the story is mellow and smooth, and the grammar is not messed.

I definitely recommend you read it.

As soon as I started reading I couldn't stop. The characters seem believable and Rain is an ideal protagonist. Most importantly though, the book is just fun to read and watching Rain try to min-max himself is probably the part that I think is missing from a lot of the litrpgs I read. I hope this story goes on for a long time.

I really don't get how this story is as popular as it is, i find it incredibly boring, I have read up to chapter 29 ( the latest release as this is being written) and very little of what has happened is interesting, the main character has just recently learned the language, so up until now we have basically only had his internal voice describing everything. and since the MC is summoned from another world into this one, he has pretty much no idea whats going on, the novely the main character not knowing the language wears off really quick when so many interactions with other people boil down to "I pointed at a thing, and they told me the word for it, this continued for hours"

looking past that, there is no hook to the story, there isn't a small description you can give that would make someone want to read it other than the fact that the MC doesn't speak the language (which, again, wears thin quickly). even at the latest released chapter (29) the plot is maybe just starting, with a few of the characters making a plan to go into a mine to fight stuff.

overall I don't get how this is as popular as it is, let alone 3rd on best rated.

Being realistic can be a good thing, but a story still needs a plot and interesting characters. Here, the feeling of novelty wears off after chapter 6, and at chapter 15, I still struggle to find a reason to care about the protagonist.  You shouldn't have to wait so long for a hook. And with no stated goal beside general survival, there's very little to look forwards to.