Speedrunning the Multiverse

I genuinely enjoy some good power fantasy. the spectacle of someone being really good at something is always pretty fun.

The power fantasies I enjoy normally has 1 of 2 properties: grounded or spectacular. 

This one has spectacle and it revels in it. It's very enjoyable to read. 

It also has the extra of the MC being a bit insane which is always a plus in my book. 

Eagerly awaiting what comes next

The style and grammar for this novel are top tier, minimal mistakes with the right words that give a vivid image of the events that are happening. But that is where the good ends, both the plot and character of mc suffer from the author trying to satisfy two different types of readers.

TLDR: We are told mc is a neutral evil character, but because author wants to satisfy moderate readers he does things which arent neutral evil but is explained in a way that makes it seem like they are and the plot suffers as a result.   

What do i mean by that? That ties directly with the premise of the story, an age old god obssesed with speedrunning the cultivation journey because he is essentially bored. The nature of a speedrun means taking any advantage and doing whatever is necessary to get to the end goal as fast as possible, as a reader logically looking at this I expect the mc to do just that and the story does deliver on this. The mc does take every advantage possible and manipulates those around him to his advantage, its even explicitly stated that one of mcs rules is to never get attached to anything, this includes ppl, hes the definition of a psychopath. The author tries to satisfy readers that enjoy a neutral evil lead, someone that will do anything to acomplish their goal while also trying to satisfy those readers that enjoy a more traditional hero story, where the mc gets stronger with his allies. Under the guise of gaining allies to act as 'meatshields' for the mc, he decides to invest resources into his sister, ok fine i can accept that, she will have her uses because she is currently stronger than him and there will come a point where she is sacrificed for his goals, its something you see alot in evil mc stories. That is what i thought until chapters 35 & 36, spoilers from here on.

Similar hints have been teased throughout the story that shows the author trying to satisfy the moderate readers. Mc has had lovers in past runs which most likely means he will have one in the future, what happened to his rule of not getting attached, hes adamant on nurturing allies as 'meatshields', a poor excuse given to the reader just so the author has a reason to have mc help those around him. Whenever something similar happens we are told oh look at how manipulative the mc is, hes still doing all this for his goal. We are told the mc is a neutral evil character but when an opportunity arises with real repurcussions to show it the author pulls out the plot armour to satisfy moderate readers. This results in an mc that has a conflicting character and a story that has plot armour. 

Full disclosure: I've read the story ahead of time, so this review is based on what I've read in 6 chapters.

I see an immense amount of potential in this story. It has been a while since I've been so thoroughly entertained and excited to see the progress of a story, but this one has certainly managed to catch my interest.

The story concept is very simple, we follow a bored god, who in his eternal life, has decided to reincarnate multiple times to try and speedrun the Dao and reach the peak of cultivation.

Now we follow one such run of his, and get to see for outself, what it's like, to speedrun becoming a god.

The idea is simplistic and fun, the writing is quite well done and flows very well. I can't say much about the characters so far, Dorian as an MC is just what you'd expect of a god bored out of his mind from eternal life, and the other characters have not been too notable so far, but it is the progression and the potential for the impact the MC can have, alongside the simpistic fun of watching a main character focus on getting stronger, and purely just that is what excites me.

Which is strange as normally murderhobo MC's are rarely interesting, but in this scenario it is anything but. I wouldn't call the MC a murderhobo yet based on his actions, but that may very well be the path things may take.

Overall, this is definitely worth checking out and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an engaging and fun read.

I have lost count of the number of stories which have a supposedly ancient or godlike MC who ends up acting just like everyone else. Most stories seem to treat the premise of being ancient or immortal as nothing more than a measure of the MC's power without all of the nuance that comes with that kind of age.

That is why I was pleasantly surprised when Dorian started showing us that his age and Godhood is not mere lip service and that he actually acts like an immortal God treating the world below him as nothing more than an amusing game.

The story follows pretty standard cultivation tropes and I have read a dozen stories with a similar setting. The thing which made me pick this one up is the unique premise of a God speed running ascension just for fun, so I am glad the author is keeping this premise in mind instead of letting the story turn into another dime a dozen cultivation power fantasy.

I have a few minor problems with the consistency of the story especially in the early chapters but nothing major enough to mention specifically.

The author has done an impressive job creating tension and an intriguing mystery despite Dorian having all the knowledge of a God and generally being OP as hell.

Overall I would definitely recommend this story for fans of powerful protagonists and cultivation settings.

I hope the author continues to show us the ways that Dorian is different from a typical cultivation protagonist in the remainder of the story.

A fun read. I've been keeping up with it and enjoying vast majority of chapters. It's an OP protagonist, but not the annoying kind who must always DIG DEEPER and gain More WILLPOWER! or something like that. Instead he comes from knowledge of the world and his limits, high as they may be. Plus, the concept is fun, and it doesn't take itself too seriously- gave some genuine laughs. Give it a read! 

Writing this review as the authors update speed increased. Normally it's been a relatively short chapter + cliff hanger per week, but pace is faster. Wish author all the best on making it a career!

UPDATE: My review holds true as of end of book 1. If anything this ride only has gotten better as it's gone on, Srsly, just give it a read. 

Not a literary masterpiece, but a fun 5/5 for RR and the web.

PS: Despite what some reviews say, I'd say this novel has some unique ideas in it. I come from a place of being so tired of every cliche and standardized litrpg/cultivation/slice-of-life/whatever typical web novel genre that I actively seek the outliers that can bring a feeling of genuine enjoyment. Take that as you will, I recommend this one. 

I think this story deserves a lot of credit for the setting. Dorian is a God who is so bored he restarts his ascent to godhood, trying to entertain himself in his immortality.  He takes over the body of young Io, a nobody from a nomadic desert tribe. There are a lot of expected but well-loved elements,  such as cultivation stages, flowery attack names and instant power pills. Next to Dorian just trying to live his next best life,  there are things in motion in the background, threatening his speedrun and perhaps even his life.  5/5.

I really enjoyed this story up until around chapter 70. Perhaps something happened to the author,  he took a hiatus right around this time. First there are a few weird chapters that are very different in tone from the story so far (angry sexual/slapstick humor?), and after that the main character changes in attitude drastically. For me,  it wasn't a good change,  though i suppose it made the mc more in line with how he was "supposed to be" from the initial descriptions of the character. You are warned,  I guess. 

I am not a fan of anti-hero jerk MCs, but I don't mind them when they are well done.  Unfortunately, that is not the case here.

The MC is a bored god playing at 'speed running the multiverse'.  So he gets reincarnated as a mortal and then races to get back to godhood ASAP, just because he is so bored.

He doesn't make any friendships with people during these runs, because he is a total creep who would rather smile at you and act like he is your friend or family member, when in fact he is just the psychotic dopelganger of that person whose body he took over.

He will backstab, cheat, steal, lie, abuse, manipulate everyone around him just *BECAUSE HE IS BORED*.  Like wow.

Anyhow, my issue with this story is not with this ugly premise and ugly MC.  (In fact, there are some plot developments hinting at a deeper purpose for the MC at some point)

No.  I would have been OK with things if the MC was actually cunning, if he was truly good at manipulating and playing people - as I would expect a god with eons of experience at screwing people over would be.

Instead, the MC just gets too dumb and the plot armor too absurd:

Anyhow, I did enjoy the beginning and the world building.  Reading some other reviews, I agree about his lack of resolve in being truly callous - going part way is lame, but if you keep your expectations realistically low then these issues are negligible I guess.

I may yet read past where I currently stopped.  It is still 3/5 OK I guess but this recent development was very disappointing for me.

An okay novel to binge, wouldn't be able to stomach the main character and side characters if I wasn't able to skim through the chapters and just go on to the next chapter. This novel requires a high amount of "suspension of disbelief".

Author says the Main Character is a cynical immortal who's above attachments and his only passion is to just go from weak to strong. In reality, the character will act like a regular MC from any other story. Any meaningful choices to diverge from that archtype will result in a lot of justifications and hand waving to not to. The MC is a boring, cliche, dense protagonist you'll see from any brainless xianxia/shounen/litrpg MC. Author is coping hard and is too weak-willed to kill off side characters or do any evil acts to gain an advantage for his MC.

The MC seems to have no personality, ego, or pride. The MC willingly lets himself be taken advantage of for no reason and doesn't even try to get out of doing menial labor. This works out wonders for our Author as the only purpose for a lot of the interactions with the MC is to fill out the chapters. Or to justify screentime for useless side characters that the MC will be far ahead of in a week.

The LitRPG elements of the story are so wishy washy as well, the only thing that seems to be implemented is his cultivation level and level skills. There's no attributes, no inkling as to whether other characters have blue stat boxes, no titles, no laundry list of skills/passives that an MC might pick up in a normal LitRPG. No experience points as well, which is the foundation of all LitRPG.

I'm on Chapter 47 and I'm waiting for the Author to show me what makes his MC or his story different. So far this is just another cookie cutter xianxia story with a gary sue regressor MC.

btw, that Henton side character is so annoying >.> I hate that the author hasn't written him off yet and keeps including this fop in the story. Is he suppose to be comedy relief? Why does our MC put up with him? Is the Author gonna pull a Naruto and make this dude Sasuke? Plot armor after plot armor to raise the power level of this guy so he can tag along with the MC. AHHHH which just reminded me of the time when the MC had multiple chances to let this dude be thrown away to the way side but the author keeps saving this Henton guy.

UPDATE 3 stars->1: Read up to the current chapter to see if the story improved. Sadly it has only gotten worse. The rules of the cultivation system and items are broken within chapters of being stated. The characters do not act like real people in the slightest. Slapstick comedy is rampant and overdone. They made the clever and wilful kaya into a blundering idiot who punches ballsacks of everyone she encounters. It is frankly sad to see such a good start to a novel devolve into something that I can only call souless.

Very good until chapter ~75 where there is a stark break from worldbuilding and the author swapped to slapstick humor and gags. Hope the quality jumps back but I feel like it wont happen. 

To sum up its faults, the story goes from a battle for life and death with everyone having their own story and Dorian manipulating his way to power to him trolling multiple people for the lulz and performing heaven defying feats for a barbarian who reads erotic manga (in a desert society nonetheless).

The first few chapters were great, until it's not. Some people complained in the comment section about the mc behavior, and the author changed him from a kind of smart to a giddy idiot.

The mc went from a god reincarnated, to an actual teenager.

F the plot, I just read it to pass the time now. Like most shounen out there, it's still kinda fun.