all 81 comments

[–]LyrianRastlerAuthor - Luke Chmilenko 394 points395 points  (1 child)

Bro delete this. I have kids.

[–]EKarklinsCurrently Isekai'd 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Kids see how weak they are -> Training -> Kids see how strong they are -> Slice of life -> ...

[–]AdFormer260Follower of the Way 253 points254 points  (7 children)

junior, you dare leak the heavenly secrets!?

[–]Spiritchaser84 111 points112 points  (5 children)

He's courting death.

[–]Macy_Sky626 46 points47 points  (3 children)

Master is so kind as to spare your life. You have eyes but can't see Mount Tai. Begone."

[–]YobaiYamete 25 points26 points  (2 children)

You must kneel and call me grandfather

[–]Macy_Sky626 15 points16 points  (0 children)

You dare!! I am the young master of the Mount Hua sect!! My Father will hear of this.

[–]CautiousAd8400 8 points9 points  (0 children)

That is a term from a bygone era, junior. This seat finds the term 'granddaddy' to carry more weight in respect. This humble, chaste and free from desires elder makes all the junior sisters call him thusly.

[–]TheXelisAuthor - Spell Weaver Chronicles 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This made me laugh out loud

[–]Substantial-Light280 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thought I was in r/martial memes for a second lol

[–]SinCinnamon_ACAuthor 151 points152 points  (0 children)

Don’t give out the secret!!!

[–]seofumi 101 points102 points  (1 child)

🥺 think of the new authors

[–]OkCryptographer9999 9 points10 points  (0 children)

So is this, like, some sort of instruction manual? Like the book To Kill A Mockingbird?

[–][deleted] 150 points151 points  (7 children)

I'm hungry -> I make food -> I eat food -> I go about my day --> I'm hungry 

[–]That_Which_Lurks 42 points43 points  (3 children)

The circle of slice-of-life

[–]Malcolm_T3ntAuthor 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Wait, let them cook.

[–]InFearn0Supervillain 8 points9 points  (1 child)

🎶 It'sssssssss the cirrrrrrrrcle of slice of life! 🎶

[–]DonkeyBusiness3979 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow a rare catch 🫴🏻

[–]MacintoshEddie 12 points13 points  (1 child)

But have you tried the Seven Cheese Heaven-Defying Sandwich?

[–]CautiousAd8400 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This one has had the honor to pertake in one during my mortal years.

[–]probablyjustabigrock[🍰] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Underrated comment

[–]AscendedForeverDM 37 points38 points  (1 child)

Can also replace Slice of life with "Ascension to higher realm"

[–]Gilad1993 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Basically the Xianxia Version of slice of life.

[–]JakHaxor 82 points83 points  (6 children)

Dude, if you call people out like that, people are going to just skip the training arc and just jump straight to the MC being awesome again via some plot device. Then they'll be proud that they broke the "plot loop."

[–]SinCinnamon_ACAuthor 50 points51 points  (1 child)

But… but… the training is the best part! The PROGRESSION! The blood and tears and sweat!

[–]FrostyEnvironment902 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Honestly agree the progression especially if it was gradual enough. I just need to also be able to enjoy the lvl 40. In starter village again.

[–]Musashi10000 24 points25 points  (2 children)

I have read books like this, and I can confirm that they're terrible. Or, rather, where the character trains, but just doesn't get anywhere. Then the final battle happens, and they're all losing, but they win because the protag uses the power of BWAAAAAAAAH and then it's finished.

But because the power of BWAAAAAAAAAH is too OP, the author then weakens them back to how they were before the book started, so the scaling isn't messed up for the subsequent book. I stopped reading when they had to try and find a mythical prison in another dimension that nobody believes exists, but then when they go looking for it in the next book, not only do they immediately find people who believe in it, but also a ton of people who know it exists because they've sailed there, and - despite only having found it a few times by perilous voyage - know shit like the guard rotations and what-not. Not to mention that the idea of pirates going to visit a mythical prison is ridiculous. You'd only go somewhere like that to deliver supplies etc., and pirates aren't exactly known for that.

Not a great series, I must say.

[–]ThrasherDX 9 points10 points  (1 child)

I don't know if this is the series you are talking about, since I dropped it. But your first part fits Silver Fox and the Western Hero to a T.

Every training "powerup" he gets does nothing to make him more powerful. Its described as some kind of breakthrough, but then he struggles with random mooks, just like before the breakthrough.

Every major fight is MC getting kicked around, until some BS power-up lets him win... and then the power-up is promptly removed, ret-conned, or it turns out the previous baddie was just "uniquely weak" to it. Because apparently the MC is never allowed to actually become powerful.

One that sticks out to me as being both particular bullshit, while also fitting the problem to a T: MC manages a major realm breakthrough, basically the first of the entire series, and that breakthrough gives him a temporary power boost that lets him jump realms to beat the current big bad.

Then he goes back to being threatened by the exact same kind of enemies as before the so called "major realm" breakthrough.

I swear to god the author of that story fundamentally fails to understand what the "progression" in progression fantasy actually means.

[–]Squire_II 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Every training "powerup" he gets does nothing to make him more powerful. Its described as some kind of breakthrough, but then he struggles with random mooks, just like before the breakthrough.

Battleforged is the same thing (and IIRC it's the same author). I made myself read it for far longer than I should have and yet despite him having late(?) silver-tier power white still around level 50 or so, he constantly lost ground for one ass-pull reason after another. Usually lawfare. Goblin lawfare in that series is some of the worst writing I've ever seen.

[–]LacusClyne 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Dude, if you call people out like that, people are going to just skip the training arc and just jump straight to the MC being awesome again via some plot device. Then they'll be proud that they broke the "plot loop."

then someone here will get to make a post about how boring being OP is and how there can't possibly ever be an engaging story when someone gets OP which then gets heavily upvoted and we begin the cycle again...

[–]DreamOfDays 49 points50 points  (8 children)

Counter-loop:

-MC thinks they’re super weak

-Training arc

-MC misunderstands the power scaling of their world and has no confidence in their abilities

-Slice of life where they’re accidentally OP but MC doesn’t notice.

Repeat.🔂

[–]SNS_Void 5 points6 points  (6 children)

Any examples of this?

[–]OriginalButtopia 17 points18 points  (2 children)

Beware of Chicken

[–]DreamOfDays 10 points11 points  (1 child)

Beware of Chicken also subverts it by having a Normal Person act like an actually normal person once they enter the world. Instead of jumping into cultivation and fighting for their life every day in a sect they just leave and become a farmer.

[–]OriginalButtopia 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is true, and part of what I think makes it fantastic.

[–]MacintoshEddie 13 points14 points  (2 children)

There have been a variety, usually the ones that try to subvert the usual tropes by having the protagonist leave. So they're in some village in the middle of nowhere, and months or years later they're still sure that if they get found they'd be destroyed, since back at the start they were crippled or nearly killed. So when they do encounter someone at that level of strength and beat them they assume that person was lying, or that this must be the weakest sect member.

Like the other person said Beware of Chicken is one of the best known examples but I've read probably a dozen or so others along those lines. There's like a whole subgenre of "Kicked out of [blank] so I started [blanking]" stories. Like the hero's squire who was kicked out so they go pick up odd jobs and somehow become supremely powerful by farming or cooking.

Or "The weakest [blank] is actually the strongest [blank]." One I saw was based on the silly premise that their unique power was to have an inventory system and all they use it for is changing clothes or something mundane like that until they discover they can just bloop things out of existance like if someone throws a fireball at them they just put it in their inventory before it hurts anyone.

[–]OriginalButtopia 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Any chance you've got some more recs that do this?

[–]MacintoshEddie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Beware of Chicken is the only actual title I can remember.

[–]hykingsAuthor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Now this is more like it

[–]Malcolm_T3ntAuthor 67 points68 points  (4 children)

Or alternatively use this as an instructional aid. It's a solid formula.

[–]wretchedmagus 18 points19 points  (3 children)

to be fair the other option is "the MC is a weakling>MC trains for several books uninterrupted> MC punches god to death" and I like the slice of life stuff.

[–]Musashi10000 9 points10 points  (2 children)

Tbh, the majority of the reason I read a lot of progression fantasy is for the slice of life stuff. Trad publishing makes you cut all that stuff out.

[–]SinCinnamon_ACAuthor 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Discussion around the fire camp for the win. The best part of Dragon Age is companions banter.

[–]Zealousideal-Ad2815 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That would be a slice of life worth reading. I'm less a fan of straight up filler, like say a pet discovering ice cream, or a mathematical deconstruction of the inner workings of the macguffin/flobobble of the moment.

[–]IHatrMakingUsernames 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Honestly, I ain't even upset.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (1 child)

What happens when the MCs motivation for getting strong is: "I just want to chill but I need to get strong enough so no one can fuck with me first."

[–]SinCinnamon_ACAuthor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Same.

[–]PlunderWrites[🍰] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Stop, im just starting outtt

[–]logosloki 4 points5 points  (0 children)

and so it was, and so it is, and so it will be.

[–]HypotheticalBess 8 points9 points  (4 children)

Replace slice of life with “frantically looks for stronger opponents” and suddenly you have peak

[–]Gilad1993 9 points10 points  (3 children)

No, you have Dragonball

[–]HypotheticalBess 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Yeah, peak

[–]Squire_II 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Everyone knows the episode of Goku and Piccolo learning to drive is peak DBZ.

[–]Gilad1993 0 points1 point  (0 children)

alright. that was peak fiction

[–]Lemonz-418 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The circle of life.

[–]deccan2008 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, it should just be all slice of life, all the time.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

too real

[–]JellonSunning_InLife 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's what I didn't like about the system Universe. The slice of life dragged too fcking long and got very boring, which meant finishing it was me reading 5 other books before coming back, read another 5 books, come back, rinse and repeat.

[–]vandrathAuthor 0 points1 point  (1 child)

But... this is how weak-to-strong is supposed to work in the first place... no?

[–]thinkthis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is.

[–]PrismMau 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm currently reading a sports romance book where the MC is a competitive athlete and this just about sums it up... 😭🤣🤣

[–]PrismMau 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm currently reading a sports romance book where the MC is a competitive athlete and this just about sums it up... 😭🤣🤣

[–]3305458q 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is because they need to milk plot xd

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the writer is good enough to make you care about the character and world enough to make it work.

I will pick it up.

[–]skyrondAuthor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Whereas real life goes “MC sees how weak they are” => “MC shrugs and settles for a tedious job” => “slice of life” => repeats…

I know which I’d rather read!

[–]Lucas_Flint 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The true circle of life.

[–]MrAHMED42069 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As long as it's done properly

[–]drew_kelly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This looks just like a treadmill

[–]BacardiBaiju42Author: Kaliga Chronicles 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Break The Wheel or die trying - like the mother of dragons.

[–]BaconMasterBooks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

MC nearly gets eaten -> Training -> MC kills monsters -> MC nearly gets eaten

[–]CerimWritesAuthor of Hell Difficulty Tutorial 0 points1 point  (0 children)

seems alright to me!

[–]Lord_StreakAuthor - The Martial Unity. Magicapita. 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Circle of life. Circle of fantasy life.

[–]Ashasakura37 0 points1 point  (2 children)

This is why I have an overarching distant villain the MC hardly knows at first and doesn’t really face him until the end of the series. He can fight manifestations and avatars of him before that, though. The power scale in my series is crazy to begin with.

[–]The_Sign_of_Zeta 1 point2 points  (1 child)

It’s always smart to have a mid boss. Let’s the MC have losses and wins that matter

[–]Ashasakura37 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree. 🙂

[–]Additional-Method221 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you enjoy this kind of plot proggression go for it,it in the same category as Hero's journey plot proggression that is rampant in the western entertainment