The Awakened aren’t just humanity’s last defense against the monsters—they’re celebrities, flush with power, status, and wealth.
Xay had always dreamed of becoming the strongest—fighting epic battles and living a fast-paced life of adventure. But when the Awakened System assigned him a skill from the Artificer Sphere, his dreams seemed out of reach. Until his unknown Bloodline manifested—granting him the ability to bond with other Awakened and transfigure their essence into weapons.
Now, the most powerful groups want him, the biggest corporations are vying for his attention, and some will stop at nothing to claim his abilities for themselves. With an angelic flame princess and a demonic tech heiress by his side, he must survive a ruthless academy, the pressures of newfound fame, and forge his own path to greatness.
Read like someone’s fantasies being played out than a story of a MC that suddenly gets everything and can do anything with the trope of being from a poor background. Immersion was lacking and the story felt like I was reading a checklist. Everything just felt low effort, full of every popular trope introduced one after another.
I finished this book, but really wish I hadn't. This is one of those books where the MC becomes OP right away, has harem members ready to go, and gets gifted everything. In a nutshell, it was boring.
The MC is an orphan from unknown parents. At his graduation to adulthood ceremony with everyone else from his year, he finds out he is "awakened" and thus has super-powers. His include a bond affinity, so one of the worst harem tropes ever invented, dual-cultivation, is in play. He's stupidly OP. He's also given a massive contract by one of the LI's aunts for a fashion line, where he thinks wearing a hoodie under a sports jacket, and high-tops, is the pinnacle of fashion. He gets a cool 10 million from the academy because some clown attacked him. He's given a contract for a prototype hover-bike some company just made. It's like the author is printing money to throw at the MC at every turn.
The women are gagging for him. The first two harem members have had a crush on him all through "high-school". Each is an heiress/princess from ultra-wealthy and powerful families, and naturally the little orphan boy is who they desire. The one fawns over him like an insipid high-schooler, and the other is not bad but I still didn't care much for her. There are others queuing up for access to him. It's already cheesy at the end of book 1. Plus, the sex scenes are pretty poor.
Too much is given to the MC for too little effort. And while their are only a few typos in the whole book, the ham-fisted plot wastes a quality editing effort.
3.5 stars. Took a while to really get moving, and the plot has a device to slow the harem growth. It's glacial presently, at least in terms of "sealing the deal" but the lack of drawn-out sex episodes is a good thing. Not the strongest thing I've read recently, but interesting enough tocontinue for now.
I really enjoyed the first book of the bonds arsenal series, I was looking forward to enjoying further works by this author. Then, (spoiler alert) at the opening of the very next book he administered a cold, calculated and viciously cruel beat down of the protagonist and his team. I am sufficiently unhappy with this that I will avoid further offerings from this author.
So, it was a decent story, edited well, all pluses for me as it shows some care. Went only 3?
The MC took a / long/ time to grow on me. The name alone is classic edge lord, yes the name isn't unique enough unless you use a y. And don't get me wrong you can have a chuni for an MC. Jason Asano exists (IYKYK) but at least there's self depreciation there, not straight.
The MC does seem to grow through the book though by more than just stats on a sheet, so that was going. Mostly i felt the book can't make up it's mind if it wants to be slice of life or some huge plot.
The chapter break up is a little muddled and big bad? Nah we'll have sub plots for our sub plots, they get Dbags thrown at them and instantly handled each time.
There's even a comment at the end by a character that their success has come to easy, and they weren't remotely wrong. Very self aware, but while I suppose there was a point, for me it caused the story to suffer. Something new? Here's a skill for you, instant pro.
So, if you want wish fulfillment dialed to 11, 5 stars I'm sure you'll enjoy. For all the unique little things though it ultimately blends into all the others out there for me, not bad enough to be funny; nor is it good enough to stand above the pack as it were.
Will I try the next? Eh? I might come back to it but it's not a priority.
This book is just bad. Not even in an interesting way.
It's a wish fulfillment power fantasy that doesn't have any of the things in it that could make one of those stories fun. Everything is given to the MC on a silver platter, all the hardship he has every faced (what little of it exists) is all in the past, women throw themselves at him even before he uses his (nonexistent) charm.
The worldbuilding has some interesting ideas, but none of them are expounded on. And on the rare occasion the author does he always goes with the most boring explanation, even if it contradicts something that has previously been established.
The characters exist. Some of them are barely able to make it to being one dimensional, most don't.
There is no reason to read this book. Even if you are looking for a turn-your-brain-off-wish-fulfillment-power-fantasy there are much better options than this.
I really enjoyed this book. The dynamic between the characters and action are done very good. The only negative i have to say is that some of the fights were unnecessary and easy making the main characters look OP. And the final pages where the main villains were introduced seems like something done to add a villain just because to move to the next. If the main villains were somehow deeply connected to the story, it would have been better. Other than this i enjoyed the book very much and looking froward to the next book in the series.
The MC awakens and his life is transformed. I enjoyed the HS tropes as his nemesis and a teacher are in cahoots to give him grief. It backfires spectacularly. The cultivation theory is coherent as he levels under the ministrations of his trainer Rox. Meanwhile, his 2 GF’s are really into him. Pretty standard, but still fun.
Looking forward to book 2 being released in a few weeks. Yay!
I really got some Bruce Sentar- Dungeon 101 vibes from this novel. The author wanted the full trope and included Magic Academy, Dungeons, human modification, Fortified City’s with monsters outside the walls, an Underground Fight scene, illegal “street” racing, bullying etc. all into one book. I enjoyed the read, finding it hard to put down. The book is heading down the harem path, but slowly. There are some sex scenes.
I came from two different but incredibly well done book series to this! The 3rd person look at this is done well <3 tiny bumps but easy to figure out. Well done writing and plot. Amazing character development!! A lil fast in him getting stuff but STILL enough details to give us an explanation as to how he got there. Long enough book to have me doing double takes and saying “am i still on number 1?!?” I cannot wait to start the next one <3 AMAZING work!!
First experience with this author and overall it was a good experience. Pretty fun story set at a decent pace with the oh so great lit rpg stat crunches. Really looking forward to the next in series but hope he does t make MC to OP where it breaks the story. Great job man keep on writing!!
Pretty fun, if a little sloppy. The point of view switches randomly occasionally without any clear indication of why. Some strange typos (lounged instead of lunged being of particular note). And an underdeveloped system kept this book from a higher rating.
I’ll certainly read the next one, but it won’t jump the queue.
Well written and interesting. A fun take on the crafting concept that reminds me of Guilty Crown. Eager to see how the next book plays out. Would have liked a bit more build up in the early romances but understandable and still executed fairly well.
This is a truly wonderful blend of fantasy and science fiction that is seldom done so smoothly!!! Wonderful characters with entertaining and intriguing interactions with some very good beginning stages world building!!! I can't wait to see how the author expands this series!!! More more more
It was great! I loved it. What a fun read. Xay is quite the character and all the girls feel like real characters instead of just waifu tropes. I also really enjoyed the magitech setting. It's one of my favorites that I don't see enough of.
I'm eagerly waiting for another book in this universe, but in the meantime I'm off to read the author's other work.
It is a slow start but has stable character development. The anime and D&D mixed together were done well. An interesting take on Artificers and the possibilities they could perform. I'm curious to see if the character will craft to fully develop himself. I look forward to more of the series.
Genuinely enjoyed reading this book a lot, it was my first time trying this authors work and honestly i loved it. Definitely will be picking up the sequel when it comes out
This is my first book from this author, but I've had his other book on my list for a while. I'll probably go read that one now. Overall, this is a great story with amazing characters. Good mix of fun and action and genuine connections. I look forward to the next book.
A mashup of cultivation with litrpg. One of the more enjoyable academy series I’ve read. The author has a fun fast paced way of story telling. I strongly recommend reading all his works
Starting premise was typical but the story expanded greatly from there. Ended very well with an awesome epilogue leaving me looking forward to book two.
The author is really hung up on mean people in power. Pretty much everyone in power is mean, why would I want to waste my time reading a story like that?