The Path of Ascension 6: A LitRPG Adventure

The Path of Ascension #6

by C. Mantis

Don't miss Book 6 of this action-packed fantasy adventure that blends everything you love about LitRPG with Xianxia.About the This is a mix between LitRPG and Xianxia. It's like a car that looks like a LitRPG with dungeons and skills, but the interior and engine are all Xianxia. It features a magic system and progression system that are logically and internally consistent, as well as realistic fight scenes and a rational MC.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Science Fiction, Magic, Fiction, Martial Arts

544 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2024

Reviews

[Alan McLintock · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of padding.....

I think the series is running out of steam. I didn't enjoy the many different perspectives that the book jumped to or that there seemed quite a lot of padding going on.

I did not get that "keep reading at any cost to find out what happens next" feeling but rather "jump forward without reading every page feeling". No sense of urgency or high drama.

[William Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peak Tier

This is the best arc. No question. I joined Patreon just to finish this arc after it paused on RoyalRoad.

Let me say that again: I PAID A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF MONEY TO FIND OUT HOW THIS ARC ENDS.

Totally. Worth it.

The design of Minkalla is inspired. The fact there is *NO* safety net…[chef’s kiss].

Over 1 billion enter; less than half survive. It. Is. A. BLOODBATH.

Honestly, book 7 suffers badly simply because it follows the Minkalla arc.

And here I am reading it for the THIRD time.

[Henrik Meistad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stalling and slow going

Most readers will buy this no matter any review stars, but sadly to tell I found the progression slow and boring, for some reason there was non relevant story sidelines that was boring to read. This book lacks the normal fun and captivating read his other previous books.
I have pre order the next book hoping the drive of the author gets going again....

[Vikas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read
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Yup, still wonderful and a joy to read on a re-read. This covers the team's run through the first four floors of Minkalla. Okay enough said now onto the book 7, let's go on and keep on reading.

Original Review
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This series continues to hold on to me and continues to be excellent. Perhaps the reason the series is so readable is that it was originally written in weekly chapters, so Chris had to keep them engaging, regardless. Even through book 6, I couldn't stop reading this series, and I don't plan to. This book covered the first half of the journey as our team encountered the oddity that is Minkala, and it was wonderful to read about each floor and the fights. As I've always enjoyed reading, I'm now onto book 7 and will continue to read more.

People who don't read generally ask me my reasons for reading. Simply put, I absolutely love reading, so I have made it my motto to Forever Keep on Reading. I love reading everything except for self-help books, even occasionally. I read almost all the genres but YA, Fantasy, and Biographies are the most read. My favorite series is Harry Potter, but then there are many more books I adore. I have bookcases filled with books that are waiting to be read so I can't stay and spend more time on this review, so remember I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unpopular opinion: this was a slog and a half. This series started off well enough, but its appeal is fast disappearing. The conference between the group and trainers at the beginning completely turned me off. The inconsequential side characters were utterly pointless, especially the ones who died.

[Aubria L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good installment in the Path of Ascension series (Book 6)! I absolutely love this series, and while this entry starts a bit slower than some of the previous books, it steadily ramps up to the level of excitement and satisfaction I’ve come to expect.

The character dynamics remain a standout—Matt, Liz, and his bond Asher have such great chemistry, and their interactions continue to deepen in meaningful ways. The addition of the Queen was a strong choice too, adding fresh tension and intrigue to the cultivation-world progression and magic system.

I also appreciated the side stories; they fleshed out the world and gave welcome perspectives beyond the main trio. As always, I went with the audiobook, and it did not disappoint—the narration was excellent and really brought the characters to life!

[Stefan Bogdanski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine everyone around you gets some kind of superpower, but when it's your turn, you are stuck with something that is deemed detrimental even by the most benevolent AI. Want to know what it feels to bamboozle the heck out of a situation like this? Then step with me on the Path of Ascension!


Well, we can't choose the hand we're given, we simply have to play it to the best of our abilities.

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Read this review on the blog - the layout is better 😃.
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Path of Ascension is all about self-improvement in a distant future of humanity (and other types of beings). The story follows the main character - Matt - as he starts to find ways to turn his seemingly useless talent into something that will, sooner or later, rock the universe and all the great powers. It is an underdog story, where the underdog will inevitably turn into the top dog.

In the typical fashion of LitRPG, this is done with talents, levels (called tiers, in this case) and skills. And it is quite clear that the author has done some mathematics about his skills.
I like Matt - well, liking the MC is always something to be desired when reading a series. But I like him for the fact that he is down to earth, makes reasonable decisions and tries to come on top of a situation that seems utterly depressing at first. And he's far from the only likeable character throughout the story!


My opinion on Matt.

Of course, his bond Aster - an ice fox - and his girlfriend are great characters, too, but even some of the "villains" are actually likeable enough, and have a clear purpose they're following.

Another thing I really like is how breathing, living and fleshed out the world of this story feels like. It's almost like another character, and some chapters allow us to glance behind the curtain and see some of the intrigues played out on the higher levels.


Even the political stuff is intriguing enough!

On the downside are a few chapters that feel downright sluggish. Not everything moves the plot forward, and there is a lot of exposition. If that is not your style, you might want to skip - either the series, or a few pages here and there while reading. I think the pace could be better, but then again, this seems to be a common problem for the genre, and it isn't too bad here, overall.

All in all, one of the better LitRPG series so far, with detailed world building and really great characters. 4 out of 5 Phoenix feathers!

*This review is written for books 1 - 6 of the series*

[Rae Dreamsmasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dungeon crawler Matt. I love a good world dungeon. This book goes through lvls 1-4. Fun battles.

[Steve Naylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4.0 stars

A good addition to the series. It was a little long but the worldbuilding was amazing. I can't believe how expansive it is. Not much to say. The group heads to Minkala to fight for every advantage they can get. It is interesting reading about Matt and Liz but there are also other POVs from other fighters in Minkala. The contrast between all the groups is really interesting. Overall, by this point you should know what you are getting from this series.

[Christopher · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is no fight minor enough for the author to spend a full chapter describing the... action? I am not ready to spend the rest of my life reading one book per level of the path.

As has been said in other reviews

- this book is a slog with no objective.
- there is not overarching theme other than power
- this is a progression fantasy without the progression

DNF

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book six

This is another series that I read on Royalroad. I'm much further along in the story but believe in helping authors by giving them reviews when they give me stories.

8/10

[Jared Delcamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Multiple heroic last stands, an almost beyond epic boss fight, and heavy self sacrifices…it’s good and the last 1/3 is incredible. Minkalla!

[Rudhrein · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is decent.

[Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much filler

Too many scenes from the viewpoint of random strangers. It didn’t seem to progress the main story at all and by the time the next book comes out no one will remember their names or what happened.

[Pieter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having passed over a couple of years of training, it is time for exploring the special world trope from cultivation series. The first part of it anyway, since the arc is not finished by the end of the volume. It is packed with action mostly against the environment (PvE) which throws all kinds of odd events, stories and fights against those entering it. At the end there are a few hints of what is to come in regards to conflicts with fellow cultivators (PvP). The action, themes, rewards, and character development are for the most part entertaining even if I feel some sections could be shortened a bit.

What I liked less where the chapters with very rapid shifts in point of view between different contestants unrelated to the MCs. It added little what a reader could not already guess although I suppose some of the motivation from non-Empire people at least added a bit of world building. I also feel that the "Self-Identity" layer would not work at all. Talents (and I assume bloodlines) are not switched, and since most people pick skills and items based on those talents, chances are you end up with a completely unworkable build. I pity whomever ends up with Matt's build for example. But since that one was not used in this volume, the author might have found a work around, but I am not seeing how.

All in all, a good addition to the series. Note that while there is no cliff-hanger ending, it is the first part of an arc.

[Aaron Weinbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was majestic and I was erupting for like the first 70%. Then I realized that the plot wouldn’t get finished. THEYRE EDGING ME. at least each section gets properly written at its own pace.

[PsychoSmart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found myself skipping big sections, whole chapters dedicated to character that weren’t mentioned before and most likely won’t be mentioned after… really slows down the tempo. I really liked Queen and would have enjoyed seeing her have more spotlight.

Kinda feels like the series is petering out…

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Squandered Potential

I like the series and the main characters and I'd recommend this series to anyone, who wants pure main characters delving monsters action. However, this book in particular was probably the final straw for me personally and will likely not continue reading. There could have been so many interesting interactions and fun things in this book with the other delvers going into Minkalla, but instead it's the main characters over prepared once again and just crushing monsters with barely any interaction with other characters. The side stories of other delvers almost feel like a slap in the face like heres these interesting struggles and characters that you'll get 3 paragraphs on and no interaction. Last book it was a foregone conclusion they will win the tournament and then this one they are over prepared also knowing the exact challenges and rewards for most events. There's no intrigue, no interesting side characters or antagonist, and honestly no soul in this book lets just smash monsters for 500 pages. Such a cool setting/world too I'm pretty bummed.

[Gareth Otton · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's no way to sugarcoat this; that was terrible.

If you want the perfect example of why action doesn't equal progression, then pick this book up. Not a single meaningful step of progression in the larger series was made in this novel. The protagonists arrive at their next challenge, which is essentially an entire dungeon world, and from here, we get an endless series of meaningless adventures.

And no, the word 'meaningless' is not hyperbole.

Each adventure only exists as an obstacle standing in the way of the challengers getting to the next adventure, and bears no more impact on the plot than that. There is no character growth, no meaningful lessons to be learnt, and no meaningful world-building. It's not even about levelling up the characters because the actual objective for the characters here is to complete their challenges without levelling up... which might just be the most counter-productive objective in a progression fantasy series I have ever heard. The literal point of the genre is to level up!

To highlight how pointless this all is, there is a literal challenge in this book where each character must fulfil an objective that is deeply important to them in some way, and then they are forced to forget what they did only to be left with the knowledge that it can be achieved, but no knowledge on how to achieve it. At the very least, that sets you up for redundant writing as you now have to re-achieve something that has already been achieved once. At worst, though, it is a pointless waste of your reader's time, and one of the fundamental rules of writing should be that you should never make your readers feel like they are wasting their time reading your novel.

For our main characters and the series as a whole, this is about 550 pages of meaningless filler content, and for the life of me, I don't understand why that is the case. Our main characters are still in the early stages of their path of ascension. If every novel was super efficient and concentrated only on meaningful story that focused on levelling up the characters' powers, growing the characters as people, exploring their relationships, setting up the overall worldbuilding, and focusing only on progressing through the path of ascension, there would still be easily 10+ novels of material. Add in some enjoyable spots to slow things down, like time spent with Liz's family, or Matt and Liz maybe getting to enjoy their powers by pursuing personal goals and interests outside of the path of ascension, and you could comfortably double that novel count. There just doesn't need to be filler in a story like this.

When the filler first started appearing in this series, I thought that this might become another series like Defiance of the Fall for me; one of my favourite easy-reading series. I hate the filler in that series also, but I can push through it for the simple reason that while it still may be filler, it is never meaningless. There might be a few too many blow-by-blow adventures for my tastes and plot arcs that take forever to go anywhere, but they always deliver something meaningful in progressing the protagonist's journey through the story. Here though, that's not the case.

Early on in this book I was already drafting a review in my head about the alternate POV chapters and how you could probably skip them and lose nothing of interest in this book. That got me thinking about the massive exposition dump before going to the dungeon world, and that could easily be skipped as well for how pointless it was (literally multiple chapters of detailed exposition explaining to the reader the filler content we were about to encounter). Now, finishing the book, I realise that you can actually skip this entire book and not lose anything in the larger story that couldn't be explained away in the following sentence:

"Matt, Liz, Aster and Queen go to a dungeon world where they go through a series of adventures that are designed to challenge them."

That may sound overly reductive, but honestly, is there anything else that is vital to your time spent with these characters than that? I mean there's no extra context that will really matter, no relationships that were built or developed, no special powers that need to be explained... nothing. You can just read that sentence and assume that they are all a bit better off for having gone through the adventures, and you're ready to go on another story without missing anything important. That's never a good sign for your series when you can do that with an entire book.

The only thing that keeps me reading is the only thing that has kept me reading to this point, the characters that were created in the first novel. I like Matt and Liz; I think they have potential, and when they get to realise that potential, this series is awesome. There's only so long I can slog through boring books like this before I give that up, though. Especially when they deliberately slow down those characters' progression so that other characters I have no attachment to (like Queen) can catch up.

Overall, this is a book I would have given 1-star to save for the simple fact that I stuck with it all the way through to the end. Partly, that was because of my interest in the main characters; part of it was because I thought we would at least complete this story arc in this book and wanted to see how it all worked out for them after it wrapped up. Whatever the case, there was just enough there for me to give it the benefit of the doubt and add in one extra star.

[Rocco Sgabellone · Rating 1 out of 5]

soooooo boring

I’ve absolutely adored this series up until this point. But this book was a slog that I physically could not get interested in. 2 whole books of tier 11 and a bunch of throwaway characters besides the main ones and upgrades that despite being hyped up feel underwhelming. I don’t know why litrpg authors always feel the need to do some kind of event/dungeon crawl when their universe is so open but it felt stifling. Even the challenges were dumb. This honestly felt like someone else wrote it, and not well

[Michael Schwartz · Rating 2 out of 5]

So much filler and hard to follow

Just too many characters being added and taking away from the main plot. It just bounced around way too much and made it hard to follow, not to mention that all the extra characters just acted like filler to the main plot and more of a distraction.

[Elizabeth Moore · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did like

Book 6 was Hard is get in to, for the first 10 chapters. Some were in the middle it looks like pages, or paragraphs are missing.

[Tadhg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one but it's a shame that they didn't get through all of Minkalla in one book. It feels sort of like it ends at the midpoint.

[Aelvana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt, Liz, and Aster are moving into their biggest adventure yet. Minkalla is a mysterious place full of legendarily powerful rewards---rewards that get better the lower in Tier you are when completing it. But it also has dangers beyond the monsters and puzzles and traps---all the Great Powers have access to it. And no one over Tier 14 can enter. Alone, with only a new alliance with Queen to help, they begin their most dangerous delve . . .

So this is only the first four floors of Minkalla (which goes seven floors deep), although it does leave off after a fairly massive battle and a good break point. And there's a lot of content!

The initial setup can feel somewhat slow, especially when introducing various characters from other Great Powers who only have a tangential role in the overall narrative, or the overview of all the possible floors and their levels of rewards, but once it gets going on the actual delve, the action rarely stops.

I liked seeing the whole group gel with each other. Suzanne/Queen is a great addition as she adds both another melee blade to their mage-heavy party as well as a different perspective on everything. She's a much more typical Pather who has to juggle resource management with the need to keep delving.

The first four floors do have a good mixture of challenges to keep the story fresh. The action keeps breaking for brief looks at how other people are handling the same thing (including one humorous note near the end that actually explores the hypothetical Minkalla talent brought up early and what would ACTUALLY happen). I won't say there's a lot of character development for the main cast, but they do mature a bit as they're forced to grapple with the risks without their usual safety nets.

Overall if you've been enjoying the series so far, this is a good continuation. I rate this book Highly Recommended.

[Michael Marciano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but bad

So I have to say there was two major things that were disappointing in this book and one kind of medium thing and one good thing.

So the good thing was the floors and challenges were really interesting but there was a lot less challenges than I expected.

The medium thing was the number of skills everyone is getting Now that we have four protagonists and they're all constantly good skills it's kind of hard to keep track of what's what.

The two bad things are the progression rate and alternate points of view. There's a solid chunk of the book that's random other people's points of view. Sometimes are the same sometimes they're just different people but at no point where they really relevant to the story. While the book wasn't short it also wasn't long enough to justify adding a bunch of short stories. The other thing that really sucks is just the rate of progression.. there's a lot that gets glossed over a lot of rewards a lot of fights and that's fine cuz you want to keep the story moving but I feel like they haven't really gotten as much as this planet is supposed to give them. Like it's supposed to be this place where it's very deadly yes but fantasy can become reality and their perks are just that kind of perks. And you have a whole book not that these come out super rarely but they're also not coming out every other month and we only made it halfway through the objective. Also didn't love how whenever there's a challenge they just kind of say oh wow we were trained for this but the training was all glossed over. Seems a little too plot armory for me.

Wasn't horrible but there was also very little character growth for the main protagonist or his romantic interest though maybe more for her than him.

[Dee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have generally enjoyed this series up until now. But this is where is ends for me, unfortunately after 5.5 books. I say 5.5 because I won’t be finishing this one.

The author starts the book with a brand new character who we find out has little to nothing to do with the actual plot of the story.

The author continues to sprinkle random tangents about people that have nothing to do with the plot of the story. It gets to the point where- 1. I can’t remember if I’ve heard about who they are writing about. 2. I don’t care nor am I invested in who they are writing about. 3. It takes you out of the story to the point that I’d rather just set it aside and not read it anymore.

If you want to world build the other world powers, that’s fine, but maybe do it in a way that actually makes them relevant to the stories? I don’t care about these people the main characters don’t know and haven’t met 20 chapters into the book??

The biggest issue by far is the fact that this series is plot driven. The characters are growing through cultivation, but not through personality. Aside from the brief mention of therapy, there has been very little personality change or growth throughout the whole series, meanwhile you have a character who has gone from age 13 to around age 42 and has no personality growth. There is no big lesson for the character to learn. There is no extreme problem to solve. I’m not emotionally stuck on the characters.

This is an action/adventure book. Why are the fight scenes so boring I fall asleep reading them? If your going to write a plot based book and can’t make a fight scene or dungeon crawling interesting, what is the point??

[Smoke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like this overall story, plot, characters, and everything about the world and those inside of it. The main characters are fun, they have great interactions between one another, and are doing that progression thing really well, but only up to a point.
Though I like it, the series stagnated for me again with this book. The author’s forceful limitation to constantly never allow the main characters to actually use all their powers is getting really old really quick. The whole point of this genre is for the main characters to progress, get tough as hell, then go unleash ass kicking on the greater worlds. This never really gets to happen properly because they are always given a silly reason written into the plot to hold back.
The series isn’t bad, it just just seems nerfed. I understand that if the main characters weren’t restrained they would be too strong, but there are plenty of other ways to deal with this. I don’t like the way it is being done, it is clunky and detracts from the overall story.
Also the random perspective changes to characters who haven’t ever been in other books is really long and overused for me as well. Of course some of them will be used at some point, but the ones we are riding along with just to see them die seems super pointless. It just takes away from the story I’d actually like to read.
With the ups and downs of these books I’m just hoping that the next book gets on track and is an easier read. I do like the series, I just feel it isn’t living up to everything it should be.

[Stijn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since they got their managers in book 4 nothing interesting has happened. They make a plan, everything goes according to the plan and they stomp everything. That's it. No twists, no turns, no story. Just listen to the manager.

The book is also padded to oblivion:
- Going into the dungeon? Here's 30 pages with POTENTIAL rooms and rewards, not the stuff they will encounter, the stuff they could encounter. It's an actual powerpoint presentation in a briefing room.... This doesn't mean it doesn't get explained again when they actually do encounter it and lets not forget when the managers on the outside have to give their opinion on it afterwards.

- Beat a challenge and standing in front of the reward crystal? Lets first discuss what we could potentially get and then go over the actual rewards.

- Found 20 random herbs and items? Lets discuss all their effects and uses before just chucking them in our lootpile and never mentioning them again.

- 3 or 4 chapters of about 15 pages each where it's just random unknown side characters' experiences in the dungeon.

We're 6 books in and there's still not even a hint of an overreaching plot or story. They're just endlessly stomping on faceless enemies with the only goal being reaching tier 50 for no other reason than that it's possible.

Won't be picking up the next one

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhhh man what a mesmerizing tale. It's jam packed full of puzzles and monsters not to mention the roaming kill squads. In this book we find our intrepid team Quill, Torch and Aster, along with Queen are goin to Minkalla a rift world, again not necessarily to gain higher tiers, but to, if can conquer it for rewards and loot drops. As Minkalla has some of the best most unique rewards ever given. And unfortunately Minkalla and it's challenges are too big, too much for just one book so of course Path of Ascension 7 will be a must read! Unfortunately I'll hafta stew around and wait for it's soon to be release!

Here's a quote that really tickled me:

"Her icy smile was both happy and cold enough to send a shiver down his spine. He felt like a naughty child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, which was frankly ridiculous. He had bought those cookies. He could eat as many as he wanted."

[Cheyenne · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite book in series so far!

Minkalla is the challenge world our main trio plus Queen from the previous pather tournament are delving. And it is epic. Whole way through.

The world has levels that provide different challenges. And each is so unique and interesting. But the greatest part of this novel was the chapters showing the experiences of others challenging Minkalla. There were some I was routing for, others that had brutal deaths, and others with interesting continuing character storyline’s that I hope continue in book 7. It was fantastic to compare how Matt, Liz and Aster survive this world in comparison to others. Makes you really appreciate their awesomeness.

The story of Minkalla continues into book seven and I’m excited to see what new challenges will occur and what new rewards will appear.

Onto book seven!