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Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society
The second moon marked the beginning of a revolutionary change.
With the emergence of monsters and dungeons in modern society, and the ability users who fight against them, the world faces a shift in its paradigm.
It heralds the advent of a new energy source and the decline of traditional occupations.
Common sense thus becomes warped and imagination becomes reality.
With the emergence of monsters and dungeons in modern society, and the ability users who fight against them, the world faces a shift in its paradigm.
It heralds the advent of a new energy source and the decline of traditional occupations.
Common sense thus becomes warped and imagination becomes reality.
- GenresFantasy
Unknown Binding
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 26, 2018
Shin is following in his father's footsteps of exploring a mysterious dungeon whose depths are invite-only. Meanwhile, Earth is drastically changing as monsters start appear, followed by dungeons of their own. But Shin isn't concerned about the new ability users or monsters. He's determined to conquer the depths of the dungeon.
It's hard to give this one a good summary because it is a very long story, so there's a lot going on. On a surface level, at the beginning there are two plot threads that rarely intersect: the Two Moons incident that caused Earth to gain monsters, magic, and little dungeons, and the giant extra-dimensional Dungeon that Shin is working his way through.
It takes a good while before the full story comes out about why both the big Dungeon and the little ones exist, and I like how this takes a familiar trope and twists it a bit, and then goes on to break out of it completely. Heroes defend their world, and monsters invade, but there are reasons behind why all of this is going on, and it's a lot more grey than it first appears. Shin is stubborn and passionate, and even though Earth is in a very bad situation, he's looking beyond the immediate problem and towards the bigger picture. Because Earth isn't the only world facing these kinds of problems. And some of those other worlds have already lost.
This is a litRPG, but it twists away from skills and stats by the end. Actually, it was fascinating that the whole "dungeon" concept is an abstraction, and Shin eventually tries to tackle things at a deeper level. I liked that Shin has actual experience as a spearman from training with his father (and I also like that he's using a less-common weapon), which makes his progress in the dungeon more believable. He picks up or creates a number of skills and abilities, but I like that after a certain point the concept of a skill can't overcome actual knowledge/training in how to fight with his chosen weapon or technique. A large focus of the fights isn't so much the stats but the strategy. Some of that is tied to skills and their cooldowns, but more of it is about evaluating his enemy, trying to interrupt their dangerous moves, and most importantly not getting hit. Despite his rapidly increasing power, he's also got enemies far stronger than him---and also a father who is determined to win in any competition against his son.
The one downside for me is unfortunately a rather big one. I don't like any of the girls. They're all introduced by hair and eye color, height, and breast size, and every single one falls in love with him and competes to be his wife. They have only the most minor personality variations because of this. They're flat, uninteresting, and clearly there just to pander. Which makes the harem ending unsurprising but also annoying.
I kept hoping that he'd meet at least one girl that either hated him for real or just wasn't interested, or could get more of a focus than trying to jump him. In the same vein, all of the elementals are female, all of the tamed monsters are female, and even his sister's relationship with him is less than platonic (for a while I was hoping she was just playing up to his crush on her to extract benefits from him, but no luck). Even Daisy, who initially appeared to be sane, eventually joins in the "marry me too, please" crowd.
So that being said, I found Ren, Walker, Leon, and Lin way more interesting. Ren is a hotheaded beastman who can't always live up to his own expectations, but gives his all however he can. Lin is half-dragon and a blacksmith who takes over the dungeon floor shop when Loretta gets a vacation. His grumpiness hides a sharp mind. He's unwillingly friends with Shin, who keeps toppling his expectations (and thus creating more work with every bet he loses). And so on. The men manage to have better character arcs, and they aren't spending every other sentence trying to get down Shin's pants.
The chapters are a bit longer than the other web novels I've read so far, so it took quite a bit of time to finish, but the story is complete. I'm on the fence about recommending it, though, as the girls all harping on Shin gets really tedious, even though the fight scenes and the idea behind the dungeon was great. I rate this book Neutral.
See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....
It's hard to give this one a good summary because it is a very long story, so there's a lot going on. On a surface level, at the beginning there are two plot threads that rarely intersect: the Two Moons incident that caused Earth to gain monsters, magic, and little dungeons, and the giant extra-dimensional Dungeon that Shin is working his way through.
It takes a good while before the full story comes out about why both the big Dungeon and the little ones exist, and I like how this takes a familiar trope and twists it a bit, and then goes on to break out of it completely. Heroes defend their world, and monsters invade, but there are reasons behind why all of this is going on, and it's a lot more grey than it first appears. Shin is stubborn and passionate, and even though Earth is in a very bad situation, he's looking beyond the immediate problem and towards the bigger picture. Because Earth isn't the only world facing these kinds of problems. And some of those other worlds have already lost.
This is a litRPG, but it twists away from skills and stats by the end. Actually, it was fascinating that the whole "dungeon" concept is an abstraction, and Shin eventually tries to tackle things at a deeper level. I liked that Shin has actual experience as a spearman from training with his father (and I also like that he's using a less-common weapon), which makes his progress in the dungeon more believable. He picks up or creates a number of skills and abilities, but I like that after a certain point the concept of a skill can't overcome actual knowledge/training in how to fight with his chosen weapon or technique. A large focus of the fights isn't so much the stats but the strategy. Some of that is tied to skills and their cooldowns, but more of it is about evaluating his enemy, trying to interrupt their dangerous moves, and most importantly not getting hit. Despite his rapidly increasing power, he's also got enemies far stronger than him---and also a father who is determined to win in any competition against his son.
The one downside for me is unfortunately a rather big one. I don't like any of the girls. They're all introduced by hair and eye color, height, and breast size, and every single one falls in love with him and competes to be his wife. They have only the most minor personality variations because of this. They're flat, uninteresting, and clearly there just to pander. Which makes the harem ending unsurprising but also annoying.
I kept hoping that he'd meet at least one girl that either hated him for real or just wasn't interested, or could get more of a focus than trying to jump him. In the same vein, all of the elementals are female, all of the tamed monsters are female, and even his sister's relationship with him is less than platonic (for a while I was hoping she was just playing up to his crush on her to extract benefits from him, but no luck). Even Daisy, who initially appeared to be sane, eventually joins in the "marry me too, please" crowd.
So that being said, I found Ren, Walker, Leon, and Lin way more interesting. Ren is a hotheaded beastman who can't always live up to his own expectations, but gives his all however he can. Lin is half-dragon and a blacksmith who takes over the dungeon floor shop when Loretta gets a vacation. His grumpiness hides a sharp mind. He's unwillingly friends with Shin, who keeps toppling his expectations (and thus creating more work with every bet he loses). And so on. The men manage to have better character arcs, and they aren't spending every other sentence trying to get down Shin's pants.
The chapters are a bit longer than the other web novels I've read so far, so it took quite a bit of time to finish, but the story is complete. I'm on the fence about recommending it, though, as the girls all harping on Shin gets really tedious, even though the fight scenes and the idea behind the dungeon was great. I rate this book Neutral.
See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....
March 15, 2022
First half of story is quite good. Second half is more fan service and lack of imagination in the main plot arcs and secondary plot arcs
Confusion in character naming sense. Author chose Shin, Shina, Shuna, etc. they are all different characters that interact with one another. Probably something lost in translation, but have seen it with other Korean author's light novels (Memorize especially).
There is a diversity with the character creation and their personalities. Main character Shin is not very smart at beginning, and stays rather naive and immature for the rest of the light novel.
Novel is quite long, version I read is over 5000+ pages. Author lets main character do pretty much whatever the hell they want (without priority or order). Both in advancing in the dungeons as in completing his tasks in his personal life. Author creates a siscon main character (relationship between Shin and Yua) creates a competitive relationship between (father and main character) and mistreats and cares less for his mother. Author also creates harem for main character, but because of his lack of emotional intelligence and maturity, well, adult relationships are not had by the characters in this novel.
Author publishes and republishes main character's traits and skills all the time, even if they haven't really changed or improved. Author loses sight of previous plot arcs and secondary arcs. Mentions them quite often in the beginning only to forget about them completely.
Overall, things here are quite original, refreshing (compared to other light novels) (at least until the second half of this light novel makes everything redundant and repetitive).
Main character did not start being over-powered (OP), but feel that rules (game master, guild master, etc.) around him give him way too many over powered skills, is way too easy on him, prize him way too much, that it becomes illogical and nonsensical. The rest of the characters are mediocre.
I do not like the fact that author (to gain drama, etc) kills billions of people in a month and prioritizes the moments that main character, Shin, is unavailable. It's as if, author wants the antagonists and evil characters to win, to destroy Earth, for everything and everyone to be dead. Why would someone having infinite possibilities to imagine a story and Earth in that story create such a dystopia, hell on Earth? Is it lack of emotional intelligence? Is it self-deprecation and loathing?
Confusion in character naming sense. Author chose Shin, Shina, Shuna, etc. they are all different characters that interact with one another. Probably something lost in translation, but have seen it with other Korean author's light novels (Memorize especially).
There is a diversity with the character creation and their personalities. Main character Shin is not very smart at beginning, and stays rather naive and immature for the rest of the light novel.
Novel is quite long, version I read is over 5000+ pages. Author lets main character do pretty much whatever the hell they want (without priority or order). Both in advancing in the dungeons as in completing his tasks in his personal life. Author creates a siscon main character (relationship between Shin and Yua) creates a competitive relationship between (father and main character) and mistreats and cares less for his mother. Author also creates harem for main character, but because of his lack of emotional intelligence and maturity, well, adult relationships are not had by the characters in this novel.
Author publishes and republishes main character's traits and skills all the time, even if they haven't really changed or improved. Author loses sight of previous plot arcs and secondary arcs. Mentions them quite often in the beginning only to forget about them completely.
Overall, things here are quite original, refreshing (compared to other light novels) (at least until the second half of this light novel makes everything redundant and repetitive).
Main character did not start being over-powered (OP), but feel that rules (game master, guild master, etc.) around him give him way too many over powered skills, is way too easy on him, prize him way too much, that it becomes illogical and nonsensical. The rest of the characters are mediocre.
I do not like the fact that author (to gain drama, etc) kills billions of people in a month and prioritizes the moments that main character, Shin, is unavailable. It's as if, author wants the antagonists and evil characters to win, to destroy Earth, for everything and everyone to be dead. Why would someone having infinite possibilities to imagine a story and Earth in that story create such a dystopia, hell on Earth? Is it lack of emotional intelligence? Is it self-deprecation and loathing?
May 4, 2025
Sinceramente esperaba otra cosa de Toika. Me ha gustado mucho everyone else is a returnee y i reincarnated for nothing claro eran libros verdaderamente largos y tediosos porque Toika tiende a poner cosas innecesarias dónde podría hacer mejor las cosas pero aún así las disfrute. Sin embargo, con está no fue así un punto que encontré muy importante fue que él eligió a Loretta como la protagonista femenina principal pero ella básicamente parecía un extra de tan poco que salía y Toika no le dió la importancia que tenía que darle sino quieres tener a Loretta como la protagonista principal entonces sigue con la que querías y no te dejes guiar por un concurso para ver a quien elegía el público. Se notaba en toda la novela quien era tu heroína favorita así que me dió un tremendo odio.
También fue demasiado largo el maldito entrenamiento de Kang Shin debió de hacerlo por lo menos hasta la mitad de la novela no hasta prácticamente el final. Había demasiadas partes aburridas y casi me quedaba dormida en varias partes de la novela pero aún así seguí porque quería cómo terminaría.
Si hubiera acortado el entrenamiento hubiéramos visto como el reparaba los mundos pero llevaba demasiados capítulos unas simples peleas en la mazmorra. Y ni se diga del romance que murió. Parecía que Kang Shin era impotente o gay. No soy nada fanática del harem pero aún así leo novelas que se tratan de este modo porque me interesa la historia pero creo que aquí el protagonista se pasó con tantas mujeres porque además de las esposas principales había como 200 en cola para ser sus concubinas. Odié esa idea y aunque fuera harén si se hubiera reducido la cantidad de mujeres creo que hubiera tenido más tiempo para las demás o para estar con Loretta la supuesta protagonista principal que de eso no tenía nada, ella ni siquiera pudo pelear en ningún momento a su lado ya que estaba restringida y no pudimos sus poderes más a fondo pero según dió a entender Toika o yo entendí ella era más poderosa que las demás o no sé si superaba a Peika que al final fue un resultado no esperado.
Si hubiera por lo menos dejado la historia principal en trescientos capítulos y los restantes en extras para explicar bien los poderes obtenidos por Shin y como los aplicaba a los mundos que ayudaría y al final ver cómo evolucionaba él con sus esposas.
No merece ni siquiera una estrella pero como no se puede dar menos daré media estrella aunque aparezca una. Fue una decepción hasta el final está novela.
También fue demasiado largo el maldito entrenamiento de Kang Shin debió de hacerlo por lo menos hasta la mitad de la novela no hasta prácticamente el final. Había demasiadas partes aburridas y casi me quedaba dormida en varias partes de la novela pero aún así seguí porque quería cómo terminaría.
Si hubiera acortado el entrenamiento hubiéramos visto como el reparaba los mundos pero llevaba demasiados capítulos unas simples peleas en la mazmorra. Y ni se diga del romance que murió. Parecía que Kang Shin era impotente o gay. No soy nada fanática del harem pero aún así leo novelas que se tratan de este modo porque me interesa la historia pero creo que aquí el protagonista se pasó con tantas mujeres porque además de las esposas principales había como 200 en cola para ser sus concubinas. Odié esa idea y aunque fuera harén si se hubiera reducido la cantidad de mujeres creo que hubiera tenido más tiempo para las demás o para estar con Loretta la supuesta protagonista principal que de eso no tenía nada, ella ni siquiera pudo pelear en ningún momento a su lado ya que estaba restringida y no pudimos sus poderes más a fondo pero según dió a entender Toika o yo entendí ella era más poderosa que las demás o no sé si superaba a Peika que al final fue un resultado no esperado.
Si hubiera por lo menos dejado la historia principal en trescientos capítulos y los restantes en extras para explicar bien los poderes obtenidos por Shin y como los aplicaba a los mundos que ayudaría y al final ver cómo evolucionaba él con sus esposas.
No merece ni siquiera una estrella pero como no se puede dar menos daré media estrella aunque aparezca una. Fue una decepción hasta el final está novela.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2022
1/5 disliked
quit on chapter 58/353 (raws and tl complete)
Characters: 1/5 disliked
Every girl in this book is the same girl. They are all tsunderes who are head-over-heels for the mc. It is infuriating. Even the mc's sister. I quit at that point. The mc doesn't realize that people like him. His simple character is actually endearing and interesting to read, but the issues with the writing of females is just so bad that I can't continue to read this book. This is such an odd reason for me to quit a book. It feels strange for me to have to talk about female and male characters as if there were a distinction, since there really shouldn't be one, but this author writes women as if they were martians or something.
World: 4/5 really-liked
The world-building here is phenomenal in that it is incredibly concise. No irrelevant organizations or places are mentioned. We are told everything we need to know. The world isn't actually high-quality, but the fact that it is so out-of-the-way really makes me happy.
Story:
The parts with girls are very bad because of how badly girls are written. The grinding is relatively short and so skippable, since fights are rarely above one chapter apiece. The progression is satisfying. The adventure is there. I'm wondering what will happen next. The main character does things. The main character has things they want to do. Basically, this is an above-average litRPG that had bad romance stuffed into it.
quit on chapter 58/353 (raws and tl complete)
Characters: 1/5 disliked
Every girl in this book is the same girl. They are all tsunderes who are head-over-heels for the mc. It is infuriating. Even the mc's sister. I quit at that point. The mc doesn't realize that people like him. His simple character is actually endearing and interesting to read, but the issues with the writing of females is just so bad that I can't continue to read this book. This is such an odd reason for me to quit a book. It feels strange for me to have to talk about female and male characters as if there were a distinction, since there really shouldn't be one, but this author writes women as if they were martians or something.
World: 4/5 really-liked
The world-building here is phenomenal in that it is incredibly concise. No irrelevant organizations or places are mentioned. We are told everything we need to know. The world isn't actually high-quality, but the fact that it is so out-of-the-way really makes me happy.
Story:
The parts with girls are very bad because of how badly girls are written. The grinding is relatively short and so skippable, since fights are rarely above one chapter apiece. The progression is satisfying. The adventure is there. I'm wondering what will happen next. The main character does things. The main character has things they want to do. Basically, this is an above-average litRPG that had bad romance stuffed into it.
February 25, 2019
Shin enters the Dungeon, an alternate universe where explorers can train, at the age of 15. He can travel back to his home universe as needed, however. He meets many interesting characters, most of whom have a good back story and multi faceted characters. The writing is good, with few grammar errors. Shin is a likable character, and the book is often funny. The battles became constant and somewhat boring, and frankly I skipped them by the end (this is often true of LitRPG novels, however, and I would say these were more interesting than others, with new skills and revelations all the time, and little to no discussion of hit points and xp). The end was completely surprising, and had a bit of a deus ex machina feel, but I still liked the characters and was invested enough to finish. If you enjoy Korean LitRPG (or just LitRPG in general), I would recommend this one.
February 9, 2022
My first game system story. It was a nice read at that time. The start was interesting, and I absolutely loved the idea of the story.
However, the fall in quality came hard when one harem member after another was introduced. The story then turned into some awkward anime romance or so, with lots of focus on how the girls feel about the protagonist, etc.
Well, and the protagonist is a bit of an oaf. Whenever I pictured him in my mind, he always appeared like a no brains and all brawn country bumpkin.
However, the fall in quality came hard when one harem member after another was introduced. The story then turned into some awkward anime romance or so, with lots of focus on how the girls feel about the protagonist, etc.
Well, and the protagonist is a bit of an oaf. Whenever I pictured him in my mind, he always appeared like a no brains and all brawn country bumpkin.
June 7, 2018
Started out great, lots of fun and some interesting ideas. But by the end I was struggling to finish it as I had lost interest in the story and most of the characters remained flat and two-dimensional.
May 21, 2018
2.5/5 Disappointed.
July 14, 2019
Marty Stu MC, misogynistic author. Don't read the extras and you can avoid most of the misogyny.
July 7, 2021
Really love the first half joke and story progression but on the later half it seems the mc Kang Shin had no challenge at all and the story lost its tension
February 15, 2023
Cool story, progressively gets worse towards the end
December 9, 2023
Good but rushed at end. Really good concepts but because of the ending it seemed half assed.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews