Indaria

System Universe #6

by SunriseCV

The raid did not turn out to be what he was expecting…

After some unsettling news brought to them by an unexpected messenger, Prince Edgar fled the Raid Dungeon to hurry back to his kingdom, leaving Derek as the impromptu leader. Being concerned about his people on the outside, Derek chose to rule with an iron fist to finish the dungeon as soon as possible.

This choice didn’t make him any friends, but he didn’t need any for it to work.

By taking the strongest to battle, he was able to lead the remaining party members to a successful dungeon completion, though, not without casualty.

Things are never easy. On their way out of the dungeon, Derek and Silvi were abducted by a strange elf of unknown power. This man, known only as Dave, was strangely helpful and shared much of Derek’s own distaste of the system interference that had been occurring ever since his evolution.

Now, with more questions than ever before, and answers to questions that he’d never thought to ask, Derek and Silvi head back to Savannah to lend their help. What has happened to Cydaria? Was Edgar and Lyra leaving the raid the correct decision? Did Cydaria even need the prince’s help? What does dragon taste like when properly cooked?

Don’t miss the sixth installment of Derek’s journey in the System Universe. Join Derek in this unique combination of the LitRPG, Isekai, and Slice of Life genres. He has friends, a bond that should last forever, and even a home. What more could our overpowered protagonist ask for?

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Magic, Adventure, Fiction, Elves, Science Fiction

452 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 19, 2024

Reviews

[Russell Gray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, looks like the falloff is official. I dropped this at the 70% mark.

I remember really liking this series for the first two books. It had a great premise that put a new twist on familiar tropes for a System gamelit story. But looking back at my reviews from the 3rd book onward, it has become increasingly obvious that the story has some pacing issues.

Compare this to He Who Fights With Monsters, a series that seems to deliver a dud volume once every three books maybe, but bounces back onto an interesting plot path. It's not great to have a slump here and there for a single volume, but it's excusable. Three books in a row where it felt like nothing important happened is asking too much. Any "enjoyment credit" established with the first volumes has been depleted and I don't have faith that the story is really heading anywhere or that I would give a damn even if it was.

Unfortunately, I think I'm done with this series and I will remember it along with Defiance of the Fall as a series that started off great, but fell off hard by failing to create any stakes or supporting characters I cared about.

[Brad Roylston · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easily the worst book of the series.

I don’t know what happened with this book. Who thought it was a good idea to have 400 pages of Derek acting like an entitled Amazon driver? There is no conflict, no growth, and no real plot. It’s a shame because I have really enjoyed the last five books. This book is so bad, I’m almost embarrassed to say that I read it.

[Tony Hinde · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 63%

I'm done with this series. It's the epitome of overpowered, risk-free wish-fulfilment. The story has all the appeal of watching a wolf fight a lame squirrel.

[Jarred Marc Badeaux · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

It was just filler. Like a total wast hopefully the next one is better. Like the series but this book was not needed

[Doug Harmon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing

Zero subtlety. Constant childish points and smugness. Drawn out responses and steps for anything to happen. The same mechanics reused over and over, such as stuttering the wrong (obvious and unneeded) word before correction to the intended word. Then explaining the stutter...

[Aditya Tripathi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just One Word- BORING 😴

[Carl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointing. This was such a great series to start, now its barely tolerable. Seriously, is the reader supposed to enjoy the fact that everything interesting happens around Derrick, rather than to him? Well i don't. That entire dragonkin taming subplot you could have thrown in the trash. Like who cares about a bunch of people i either don't know or care about getting to tame a dragonkin? Especially since Derrick himself never tamed one to start? He should have tamed the best of them at the start then maybe i could stomach seeing everyone else doing it. And that political marriage shit? Is Derrick asexual or something? i mean, it's alright if he is, obviously, but he hasn't had one single thought of sexual or romantic interest for a single person since this series has started, has he? The guy doesn't need a harem or anything, but damn, not one romantic interest? Not even Allanah Swan? The elf girl Sabrina obviously liked him, but he thought of her as anathema, so she goes off and marries some dude we've never met. Whatever. And i don't like how his whole family just put in cameo appearances these days. They used to mean something. Now they're just building his empire in the background. Just get to the Derrick vs Jace bit already. That's all i care about at this point.

[Wren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series was just okay to start with and this addition doesn’t have a ton going for it. But I have trouble not finishing things so I’ll probably keep reading them anyways…

[Luis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too much standing around

I want to rate this lower but it was enjoyable enough that it would feel wrong. A good majority of this book had Derek standing around while waiting. It was heavily focused on the politics and ending the war even though Derek doesn't care for any of it.

I did enjoy the fights but they were over too quickly in comparison to all the waiting. Honestly, it feels like you could cut this book in half and not lose much.

[William Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

in here with me

The usual good stuff. It’s book 6, you should know what to expect.

I did struggle a bit to maintain focus. This is a transitional book in a lot of ways. Some good fights and all, but this was focused on wrapping up what could be seen as loose ends following the big dungeon. Especially once Derek and Silvi make their presence known.


Already pre-ordered the next one.

[Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was the worst one in the series. That's pretty good for a long series but yeah this one was bad.

A lot of this book is politics but surprise there isn't any politics in a universe where a bunch of people are just vastly stronger than everyone else so they can just throw their weight around and thus you get "politics".

Derek will constantly say he doesn't want to get involved in politics but is also always the first one to say anything at political meets, shows up to the meetings, and will always give his opinion.

I also felt the author's English took a little bit of a downturn in this book. I actually had no idea English was most likely the secondary language of this author until this book. So good on them for that. The sentence structure is also a little odd. A lot of things are repeated after they are said. One of those character says something that is an answer or an explanation in and of itself and then we get a paragraph saying the same thing again.

[David Paradiso · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yawn

One shot kill two kingdoms and a wedding. There saved you the effort of reading a bunch of nothing else happening

[Jeff Roudabush · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished it. It was fluff. Like why? No character development. Minor plot forwarding. Must get paid by the word. That was a rough one.

[Paul Clemons · Rating 4 out of 5]

great series continues

The series is great but some of the short episodes lack a little to get 5 stars. This one lacked some adventure. The action was fine but some more adventure could have been added with Jace to make up for the lack with the mc. I thought this book would finally get us to the system confrontation but was short and a little boring at times, yet I won’t miss the next episode.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Bookcat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let the politics begin! That's it, nothing but political maneuverings. At least Derek dodged an unwanted bullet 🤭

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

More fun

Love, the series. Derek is very casual and of course, very powerful, which should be interesting when the systems interface. what is it gonna do to Derek and wondering what the future of this series. It seems at this point something has to happen. There is a cap on levels and It won't fly for many more books. Looking forward eagerly to the next book

[Hunter Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filler book

[Ryan Donnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

slow, shallow writing, and too OP

First off, nothing occurred in this book. The MC barely fought. It was all setting the stage like in a world building book, but it was just so shallow and simple. Lastly, the MC is way too powerful. Every battle would be just him toying with an opponent. It seems the newly united continent will not have any more challenges worth the MC’s time.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The void experimenting and taxiing back and forth got a bit boring.

[Andrew G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a filler novel. So I won’t rate it more than four stars. The author previously made the mistake of splitting up one story into two books with books four and five, and I was hoping to get back to a better writing strategy. But I guess the author had too many things to button up that he needed to write an entire book to make those happen. And thus we get this filler novel where there’s virtually no combat (certainly no challenging combat), no delving, no progression, and all of two level gains.

So the author I guess felt the war thing needed to be wrapped up, but didn’t feel like making it exciting whatsoever. Seeing as MC, Alanah, Edgar and Avery are so OP, they basically just bust into Indira’s capital city with MC’s travel skill and make their King and entire royal family submit to soul contracts and vassal status. It makes sense from a practical point of view for them to do so. It spares their lives and spares the lives of their people while preserving most of their status and titles. BUT it doesn’t make sense in the context of the story.

Quick side note: This author is rather unique in this genre, for some reason, in that he writes third person personal. That’s the way most novels are written, but for some reason I’ve never understood, having only assumed it had to do with the fact most authors in this genre start their series as amateurs, for some reason most progression series are entirely first person with maybe a prologue or epilogue here and there with other perspectives. Side note over.

So because the author writes third person, he has, throughout each novel, often used the perspectives of protagonists and antagonists alike to better frame his stories. And in those perspectives in earlier novels, we saw an entirely different persona from the King of Indira, his brother and especially his niece. His niece referred to her human servants as slaves. Both the King and the brother made racist comments about other races. They were portrayed as power-hungry, elitist bigots bent on continental domination. Then they start this war, and even with the 25 whole elites in the dungeon and thus not contributing to the defense, they get all of no where then instantly surrender.

I don’t understand the logic behind starting this war if the absence of 25 elites makes so little difference. That doesn’t make sense in context unless they are just fools. But they surrender, and are portrayed in this novel as deferential and thankful for the grace shown by those they surrendered to without a fight. They prove themselves to be wise. So how did the war start in the first place? Why did it start? Supposedly they wanted access to dungeons. Wouldn’t diplomacy go better that way? But they’re racist so they can’t do diplomacy so that makes sense, but then after surrendering they aren’t racist and never were really. Makes no sense. It’s a very poorly framed narrative. I mean literally the King of Cydaria and the King of Indira are calling each other “friend” at the wedding at the end of the book.

But I hear you, if MC, Alanah, Avery and Edgar are enough to end a war, surely since three of them were in the dungeon, then maybe there’s contextual logic to this plot right? Then why weren’t the highest elites of the invading two kingdoms in the war from the beginning? Huge contradiction there. If four people, and conceivably just the MC if necessary, can stop a war and force and entire kingdom to surrender and, in that process, contradict all their cultural narratives and thousands of years of traditions and beliefs and self-governance, then surely those kingdoms would also put their most powerful people into battle? Nope. It’s alluded to that the King of Indira as well as one of their elders are both singularly more powerful than any member or even the total power of the army they sent to invade. But they didn’t go to war. Makes no sense.

No, the reason why all these kingdoms need to come under the thumb, if not outright rule, of one king is because there’s a system versus system war coming. Aka the plot needs it. And this filler’s purpose is set up. This contradictory story loses another star for my review..

Enough griping about the underwhelming story. The rest of this book, after taking out the two kingdoms in two rather lazily-written, uninteresting fights, is just politicking and setting the stage for the next arc of the series. And let me tell you, the speed that members of three nations agree to things is utterly unbelievable. They pick a new name for one kingdom in like two minutes. In the real world, something like that would take a LONG time and people would argue about it to the ends of their world. So I can’t imagine usurpation, new leaders, vassal status, new laws, investigations, all that being agreed upon so quickly. They never once mention taxes or tariffs. Just nothing realistic about those “negotiations” at all. It’s really just an in-context exposition. I think this issue really reflects how so many MCs in this genre seem to be reflections of idealized/fantasized versions of their authors. The MC doesn't like politics probably because the author doesn’t, so the story unfolds like someone who doesn’t like politics would write a story about politics. Succinct and quick, but not remotely believable. The way that 99.9% of the nobility of both countries roll over for this, is seriously hard to wrap my mind around. Just lazy writing frankly.

And that’s what this book is. The worst kind of filler. Sure there’s room for set up novels in some series, at least with Primal Hunter they’re funny and expand the lore. But this is more like fillers in Defiance of the Fall, just LAZY. I mean at a minimum, the author could have gotten his armor finished, got some of the mounts claimed by his people, dived a dungeon with Alanah.

And let’s talk about Alanah. Why isn’t the MC hooking up with her or anyone else for that matter? He’s the model of chasteness. He rebuffs every advance. It’s very much like He Who Fights With Monsters. It’s not that he’s actually above it or too busy for it as it’s portrayed in that series and this one, it’s that the author doesn’t know how to write it. This is the way he thinks alphas act. It’s not. Alpahas get laid. There’s this whole world of hook ups that people outside of it can’t comprehend. Sometimes it’s as little as holding eye contact a little too long and it’s on. Sex doesn’t have to be about relationships, it can just be fun. So this another aspect of this story that’s really annoying me. Alanah is the perfect person for MC to have a causal fling with. No brainer.

Next issue that’s been growing with me and is especially apparent in this novel is the MC being self-acknowledged as cocky and arrogant, and being contextually a rude, impulsive smart ass. I don’t have a problem with these traits, though I’m sure it’s enough to turn some readers off. My problem is despite being that person, how come he’s never once made a single real mistake in this series? Never once made a serious strategic or tactical blunder because of these abrasive, if charming as a character, traits? It doesn’t make sense. It’s not believable. As powerful as he is, he can’t expect to always make the right choices when he puts hardly any thought into them. No, he’s either right at the moment or he’s proven right later. And to me, that just comes down to the writer being an amateur. This character, as I said before, I believe he’s an idealized version of the author and both the author and this character don’t have the self-awareness to recognize the downsides of being this type of person. Doesn’t mean he or the MC are bad people. They aren’t. They have noble traits. But the way MC consistently handle things is bound to make things worse or be outright wrong a good percentage of the time. It’s only not in this story, because the author writes it that way.

So, all in all, I found myself where I often do in these progression series. Seeing a decline in the initial attractiveness of this series as the author’s lack of understanding of things like character growth or what people want to see in progression novel, start to effect the product. Hopefully, we get back on track with book 7…

Oh and where the hell is Brandi with these jeans? Literally when the MC got back at the end of book five and stopped into the shop after his delve before running off to war, he noticed jeans in the shop for sale. This implies in the 1.5 years he was in the dungeon, Brandi had succeeded in making him jeans, a task the MC gave to her not once, but twice since the author forgot he did so the first time. This whole book the jeans from the last never are addressed, and MC is still complaining about his lack of shirts and jeans. Just another reason why authors who can’t afford real editors need to be using Patreon. Your fans will pay you the privilege of pointing out your mistakes. It’s a no brainer.

[Atousa Karimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this volume much. It was full of tasteless jockes and too many boring dirty talks. Also there wasn't any interesting adventure or events.

[Steve Naylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 2.5 stars

I basically am going to copy and paste my review from the last book because it is pretty much how I feel about this one: "Meh. I had high hopes for this series but the last couple of books has me asking myself "what's the point?". Derrick is in the dungeon fighting for ...... what exactly? The people he has grown to care about. Sure. He has barely been around then in the last 3 books though so that is kind of a flimsy excuse. To gain more power? Sure, but he is already insanely powerful and can gain power in a number of ways. He doesn't seem to be happy in the dungeon run and is just kind of going through the motions. What are his long-term goals? Where is this story going and why should I care? There is also a couple of chapters about a guy from back on earth named Jace. Why is he involved at all. He has made a very small appearance in the last couple of books, and I have no idea what his addition adds to the overall plot. Overall, the magic system is still interesting, I do like OP main characters but everything else is just ... whatever."

The only difference is that Derrik is out of the dungeon and now is fighting the war. He is insanely OP, and everything is too easy. What are his goals? What does he want? Where is the story going? He has people he cares about but they are hardly in the story. There has been no character growth for anybody. I keep hoping something changes. It was pretty good in the first couple of books and there are some more things that could be interesting. What is up with the multiple systems? Where is that leading. Unfortunately, this might be the end of the line for me. I will keep a look out for reviews for the next book to see if it is worth it but as the way things stand now, I don't think I am going to continue.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the story

Right up front for anybody reading this review I will say that I recommend this book hands down. I do try to separate the quality of the writing from my personal preferences assuming that there's a split. I tend to follow along in the ebook while I listen to the audio when they are released simultaneously. This is something that I only do for those ebooks that are available through Kindle unlimited. For anybody thinking about the audio who has yet to start the series I would place the narrator's performance as mid-tier. Acceptable but not top talent. As far as the story is concerned, the secret sauce that says it apart from others is the looming battle between competing systems. In this specific entry our character returns from the dungeon raid to fight the invading forces and in the war. There is a bit of a surprise as to how peace is restored that I found particularly funny. It would have messed up the story if the author had committed the character fully, but maybe we'll get lucky with some sort of dream sequence in the future. For those who haven't yet started this series there are epilogues that hint to what's happening in the background at the system level. The epilogue for this entry into the series was particularly cool in my opinion. If there is one character that I'm not quite sure of it is Jace. It's possible that the author is working on making him the overall big bad. As a side note I would like to see our main character and His companion travel to earth if only to close out the initial aspect of the story when the series started. With that I will simply say Well done to everybody who had a hand in bringing the story to us, the Amazon readers.

[Thorsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This transitional book wraps up the aftermath of the raid and war. The entire war was a fun but poorly realized idea. While it was definitely entertaining to see Alanah flex and let loose, the aftermath felt equal parts rushed and drawn out. It is a large and complicated subplot by necessity, but it was written with all the enthusiasm of cleaning up the morning after a wild party. A small group of powerhouse characters spend a lot of pages travelling around to spend a surprisingly small amount of time actually taking over two other countries.

The part I enjoyed the least was that the whole book kept drawing my attention to the inherent power scaling issues of this series. It just doesn't make sense that this is a stable political environment; invaders were seemingly unstoppable until one powerhouse fights them off to protect a city, then two powerhouses push them back out of the country, and four powerhouses rout the entire invading army, even after it received its own reinforcements. Then, small groups of powerhouses go to their capital cities, and nothing can stop them. I hope we return to smaller-scale settings where the power dynamics are less taxing on my suspension of disbelief.

I do enjoy this series a lot, however, and these kinds of books are inevitable in this broad of a series. I'm very much looking forward to the excitement the next one promises.

[Christine Marcoux · Rating 5 out of 5]

the war between 3 kingdoms found an interesting end

The war ends with the help of Dereck and three kingdoms work together towards an unified future.

The MC found an old Elf that is interesting and has a dark humour.
Silvi prepares a wedding feast that she is proud of, Dereck and his prince friend manage to avoid being the groom for that wedding.

Updated servants contract are launched in the three kingdoms by their royalties as first step together towards their future.

Mistress Swan learns to control her other form better with all the combat she’s done over the months for Cyndaria, and lots of people gets to tame and form companion bonds with the dragons and wyrms that Dereck brought back from the dungeon.

Melody has a short fuse with Dereck because he keeps giving interesting material to her daughter which inevitably makes her too enthusiastic to eat or sleep at regular intervals. While Bone is the perfect butler for Void Imperium but still in training.

Jake is having fun fighting in the system war and being hated by his general. We also learn a bit more about system interactions. From the system manager of Jake’s system.

[Bert Babb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book continues the irreverent power of the MC

The allies took the beat down to Astrus. Then they had to come up with a plan to absorb them. I had to laugh when Samantha, the duke’s daughter wanted to marry Dereck. Turns out that she had been stalking him. Seems that though elves are into racial purity, she wants to explore a human. She’s just freaky that way….LOL. On the other hand, I can understand Dereck not wanting to get married but it does make me question his manhood since he seems to have no interest in women (or men). That’s just strange. I can relate that he doesn't want to be a noble, responsible for more people but no relationships? Very strange behavior.

Now that the MC is mythic in power it’s time for the next level of conflict. All his local adversaries have been defeated and he is the go to guy for rulers of 3 nations when they need help with a problem. Sounds like it’s time for the system vs system conflict to begin. Sad that I have to wait for 6 months for the next book to come out in December.

I hope that the MC can man-up in some kind of relationship going forward. My choice would be Ms Swan cause she’s all that plus being a half elf.

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhhh man what fun!!! There's nothing I like better than listening to a story narrated by Adam Verner... about Derek Hunt and his murder bunny companion Silvi especially Silvi... Silvi besides fighting like well... a monster 😆 her other skill is cooking. Not only is Silvi good at it she's constantly leveling, but she's discovered a way to level it while fighting even receiving a new class Mythical Void Battle Chef. So you're gonna wanna grab this audiobook and enjoy this action-packed story, you'll get to check in on the war Derek and Silvi find themselves facing and finding out what's goin on at Derek's safe haven the Void Emporium if only to relax while checking in all the friends Derek's adopted as family!

Here's a couple of quotes that amused me:

“It is Astrus, and you would do well to remember it.” “I’m not so sure about that.” Derek shrugged. “I think Asterisk would be a much better name for your country. You know, because that’s the only way it’s going to be mentioned in the history books."

"...really comfortable chairs. Just because your asses are padded with stats doesn’t mean you should neglect them."

[Smoke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is honestly a 2.5, but I try to round up in ratings.
Book 6 covered a small scope of events, and had some entertaining scenes, but there is just no progression at all.
There were some action scenes, and some comical scenes, but nothing happens in the story, and there seems to be almost no plot. This felt like a wrap up of an arc, but what arc I’m not sure on.
The first half of the book has quite a bit going on with movement from scene to scene, and I had hoped it was going to turn around, but it peters out. I really wish the good parts of this series could stay consistent, it would be a pretty great series if so.
The only thing book 6 had going for it over books 3, 4, and 5 was the interactions between the characters I enjoy reading about. I did really like this being brought back, and it added some life into what has been a dead series. Even with that, it isn’t enough to put it on the same level as the first two books though. I’m very undecided on starting the next book, but since it is the last one currently published at the time of writing this…I suppose I can start it and see if anything meaningful happens.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was boring. There were maybe three chapters that were interesting, but most of it was filler events.
There was a little bit of dragon taming for characters no one cares about. There was a war with a kingdom that was so much weaker I didn’t bother learning its name, in which Derek doesn’t do anything but flex his aura once, then leaves the fight to others. There was a wedding between the elven girl that ran into Derek three times and some random guy, which had a weird feeling to it as the girl had the maturity of a 12 year old and was constantly looking at Derek and blushing. And there were lots of politics.The only real big fight with the elves was 60% dialogue.

Derek constantly behaves like a smug prick in this book. I mean its understandable since he’s become mister untouchable, but in the first books he was at least respectful to people unless they gave him reason not to.

Once again Derek FORGETS ABOUT THE VOID MEALS. And neither power nor character wise is there much progress.