Only one man can cheat to create change in the dungeon of Order. Old evils lurk within. Love will smite them.
Artorian gave up his administrator privileges only to be thrust into a new role. The Law he is bound to allows him to slip past Eternium’s ironclad rules and break things once thought immutable. For his family, for all of their futures, he must boldly go where few in Cal like to venture: the game world of Eternia.
Most of the people that have come to test this world hate being here: dying in days and returning home in disarray. Artorian agrees with them: a body based entirely on hard numbers and increasingly potent limiters is a stark difference from the intent-based Essence user he has always been. Eternia is no final product, riddled with more holes than a wheel of dire cheese. This wireframe of a world is seemingly held together with glue, tape, and moody pylons. He vows to dig into the construction, finding and fixing where it went wrong.
Yet, why meander through scaffolding when one can parkour through the rafters? It’s speedrun time!
This book has some mind numbingly boring parts where the "nitty-gritty" game mechanics for the game world are debated in detail...at length. They just go on and on talking about boring mechanics and why they aren't working until you really just want to put the book down and walk away. I generally love stuff like this but it's taken to a level that is hard to enjoy.
My other main gripe with this book is the main character's view on demons. He's supposed to be the embodiment of Love, yet he gets off on killing demons--as horrifically as possible. It really just doesn't make sense at all. I get it that demons are pure bad, and it makes sense that he would feel a strong need to end them all. But it doesn't make sense at all that he would enjoy doing it, or enjoy making those deaths painful, drawn out, or unpleasant. ESPECIALLY, when you remember that this is the guy that feels unable to kill animals or monsters. Sure, he'd kill the demons, but he wouldn't giggle like a psychopath while doing it, and definitely wouldn't draw it out or intentionally make it more painful. Love shouldn't ENJOY hurting or killing anyone--even beings that deserve or are necessary to kill.
I also just don't think the negative karma thing makes any sense. The MC is there to test out the system right? So why is he penalized for helping the supposed "order" dungeon find and plug potential loop holes?? That would be like hiring a game tester and docking their pay every time they found a bug in your code...
So, Vanderkerken went full-on litrpg this time. And honestly I’m not sure I like it. Artorian had always been involved with cultivation and growth through that. Converting it to a pure litrpg makes me feel as lost as the characters do, which might be the point. I’m still very much interested to see where Artorian goes from here. But I don’t feel it’s quite credit-worthy. Perhaps later. It is a shame though because overall it was exciting. Perhaps if I wasn’t so invested in the cultivation aspect I’d be more inclined.
This is very much a bridge book towards Ritualist. It's so tied to Ritualist that it's really more of a prequel to that series at this point than a sequel to Devine Dungeon. Still curious where Earth comes into things.
Another fun dive into this old man’s life. Always getting himself into trouble causally. I enjoyed the story and it flowed well. Better than the last book in the series. Though it seemed really short to me. I was finished even faster than other books by the authors. I look forward to the next book.
This book has everything you want, humor, fights, esoteric knowledge, character development, wibbly wobbly timelines, and a scheming old man at the center of it all!
I started the series so I am going to complete it.
Too much minutia as far as game mechanics are concerned, yes there is world building but too much explanation concerning the mechanics of magic fireballs and all the other trivia that goes along with it. if you like world building you will enjoy this book if you want to know about the underlying mechanics of how game play works you would like this book, if you want action you will get a bit of it in this book. I often wonder why some books only have 400 reviews while others in the genre have thousands. my opinion is the action that is in the book. Yes you want a character Who is fun and dynamic witc this MC is. I enjoy the character very much as well as his Bestie Dawn . What I don’t think is realistic is that nobody wants to be a wrinkled old man or old woman. That just takes me out of the story. I like the series even though there is too much exposition, I will finish it or complete it because that’s how I read stories. You may enjoy it more than I do.
Review: This installment kind of gets back to the roots of a nice cogent story line found in the first two novels of this series. And then it goes wonky here and there, so much that you are bereft of direction. Crazy tangents without explanation get so tiring. When you are engaged then suddenly whisked away to a story line that is uninteresting, that is a major fail.
The diminishment phase of Artorian is really not interesting and allows for more jumps in the story line than a flea on a hot plate. The strange and weird, when presented to various characters, is accepted with a sense of non-Cha lance, but introduce demons and everyone goes batshjt crazy.
I said I would quit this series if I read “smirk” one more time. Well here I am after getting bashed in the face with it. I am only sticking around for the finale’ for Sunny as I have grown to appreciate his characterization. The other characters could of had some depth but were abandoned long ago.
Artorian continues his efforts as the Administrator of a new game space that will become the Eternium of Completionist Chronicles. As in the first few books, where he was driven to recover his “children,”. Now he is driven to clear the Eternium-world of demons. But I don’t remember why (I think it may have something to do with Barry the Devourer.)
The last few entries in this series require a lot of context from the previous books - it’s a good thing the authors are pumping these books out quickly.
Too notch, close to being on par with the Divine Dungeon.
One of the best books in this series, if not simply the best. Cultivation takes a back seat to straight game mechanics now, though that drastically slows Artorian's personal growth, which saddens me greatly. But we do get to see Artorian do what he does best in a place only those of us who won't live several forever would enjoy fully. We get to see great and resplendent ups and downs, as expected with Artorian. Or Sunny. Or Love.
I stand by my annoyance that anima wasnt explained at the end of the last book but at least they described it at the beginning... Though the fact that it was a philosophical point was ... Lackluster unlike this adventure
Artorian dives into Enterium's core of order and causes some ruckus. We get to see the early version of a lot of the interfaces our favorite artificer deals with as well as, I think, start to get an inkling of why Artorian likes him so much.
Also, it's always good to see Artorian Wreckin demons.
Per always, it’s not the most profound book, nor does it have a particularly epic plot. As opposed to a bunch of small, wholesome short stories, this book is a little more focused on artorian’s goals than past books in the series.
With that said: there are more grammar issues in this book than usual, which is a bit unfortunate. Still enjoyable! But not perfect, either.
Artorian has defeated the Demons in Cal and now turns his sights on Eternium. He must play by the rules and when he doesn’t the game strikes back. In the end Karma leaves him helpless but scheming. A fun addition to the series and world. Well paced and told. I enjoyed it and hope you will too.
Better than the last in series, and looking forward to the next, though I have a feeling that artorian won’t be the focus so much as his followers, and the team outside eternium working to get him out. Great screenplay, directing, and boss music... read like watching a movie.
D&D, keep these coming! I've read everything you've put out, and I am loving Artorian's story. His persona is lovable and relatable, while still being comedic. The foreshadowing is also exciting and I am excited to read the next!
This story is beautiful and just keeps getting better. I love the way it links the various series together. Keep up the grand work. I'm one of your devoted dedicated readers that eagerly await each next book. Thanks
This story is awesome. After reading all the books available in the series i can say "whats next?" Love how the MC starts out as an old man thats ready to die, but because of purpose keeps on going.
The first part of this book is just mind numbingly boring. I almost stopped and that would have been it with the series.
It gets better once Artorian is inside the game. The plot suddenly resembles something that I actually recognize and can follow. It's even a somewhat unique angle on the LitRPG trope - an overpowered, naive and creative player that stumbles into all kinds of situations.
That's the good part. Everything else stopped being interesting 3 books ago.
Another fun and entertaining read in the artorian’s archives series. I would definitely recommend reading it. My one confusion, and this is mebe a small spoiler, is why the heck eternium (the dungeon running the game world) keeps working against and punishing Artorian, all while Artorian is just helping him, and helping everyone, by cleaning out the demons. Eternium just seems spiteful, and as Artorian said himself, a brat, with little explanation as to why. Overall, still recommend this story, great deal of light fun here with some more meaningful themes - a very well done continuation.
Power levelling, breaking the system and being the most chaotic being through the power of love. This brings back the loveable annoyance that Artorian is with a far more game system based levelling than before. Breaking things, wisp culture, broken pylons and power systems. It is fun chaotic and full of diversions.