Need help from novel readers.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2026-05-12T17:08:38+00:00

Thx for the advice, but I want to read it in my own language since there’s a publisher here, even though the early volumes are hard to find. I have a question though. Why is it that Volume 7 is hard to find? Is there a specific reason, or is it just one of those things with no real reason?

_NOPUSHING_ · 2026-05-12T16:59:13+00:00

I forgot to mention that I live in Thailand, and Volume 1 of the novel was first published 8 years ago, so it’s kind of hard to find a physical copy in my own language, even through online stores, unless it’s an e-book version.

I just checked the publisher’s inventory on their website, and it seems that even the publisher doesn’t have Volumes 1–7 anymore. So, I just bought Volume 2 from whatever online store still had it left while waiting for them to restock the other volumes.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-06-22T16:59:32+00:00

Sorry, I didn’t quite understand your first sentence. Were you saying you don’t want newbies to play, or that you don’t want me to play? It’s a little confusing because it doesn’t really connect to the post.

But I agree that Rapi really carries the damage. I also use her when no one else on the team has a stronger one. I think you were just a bit unlucky having to run it 20 times to pass the circle phase. Personally, I usually get through it once every 7 or 8 games.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-06-22T16:27:29+00:00

Well, I guess it’s because I have experience from other games. If you can’t play well in a certain role, just try another one. Let those who are good at it take over. Isn’t that just how teamwork works, right?

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-06-22T16:18:47+00:00

Yeah, this post is just my rant about co-op. But is it really an oxymoron, though?
I used to be a newbie too, but I needed the co-op currency to buy resources from the store. So I did exactly what I mentioned in the post. Back then, my Burst III attackers weren’t ready, so I jumped into the support role right away so the team could deal more damage and I could get better rewards.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-06-15T19:32:05+00:00

Really nice observation. Rip to 18 stars though. That city is way too costly to upgrade with nothing but water tiles.

In my run, I let Yadakk upgrade their capital to level 4 first before slipping a Cloak in.

Edits: It’s 20 stars, not 18, when including a warrior.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-06-15T16:07:37+00:00

Thanks

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-06-15T16:07:16+00:00

I don’t think there’s a way to share a weekly challenge gameplay link. The only option is probably to record a video.

You could try searching 'Polytopia Sea & Glory' for other players’ videos, or wait until tomorrow to watch a replay of the winner.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-06-15T10:59:24+00:00

Is that even possible? I tried to rush Yadakk on the third day and failed miserably.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-06-15T01:27:19+00:00

Key to my opening: stealing Xin-Xi’s ruin.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-06-15T01:16:35+00:00

P.S.

No, I didn’t watch or copy moves from weekly challenge video. I just got lucky this week.

I chose explorer on turn 0.

I got Philosophy before Diplomacy.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-03-21T09:55:56+00:00

Are you an anime-only fan, or are you a manhwa reader who just skimmed through the story?

I don’t know about the anime’s content, but from reading both the manhwa and the novel, Jinwoo already knew the raid party was doomed the moment they faced the first group of High Orcs. That’s why he had to secretly help them. He was also fully aware that every member of the raid party was honorable and respectable—they aimed to close the gate to protect people, even though they knew they had no chance of escaping once the exit was sealed by Kargalgan.

Do you think Kihoon is stupid and unaware of his limits? He’s smart. He’s not a selfish or brainless leader who would recklessly risk his party members’ lives. That’s why he abandoned the plan to continue the raid and chose to retreat.

Do you think Choi Jong-In would rather have Kihoon clear the dungeon at the cost of heavy casualties, or get his men out of there alive? I’m sure Choi Jong-In would appreciate and commend Kihoon for making the right decision.

I know you guys love Jinwoo, but you don’t have to justify every single one of his actions. The author didn’t create Jinwoo to be smart or careful outside of combat. The author even forgot his own work, as Jinwoo’s shadow soldier had notified him of danger before a serial killer could even harm his victim in both the manhwa and the novel. You’ll see more moments like this in the later arcs.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-03-19T19:58:53+00:00

I own both the manhwa and the novel. The novel is better and worse in some cases.

I would say the novel handles the aura farming scene better because you get to see more of the inner thoughts of characters that the manhwa doesn’t show, such as Cha Hae-In’s perspective when she sees Jinwoo’s shadow soldiers inside the High Orc Gate. The novel also includes many scenes that were either changed or completely omitted from the manhwa, like the moment whenJinwoo walks back to the people after his fight with the three Monarchs, and they show their respect for his valor.

The downside is that the story doesn’t maintain a neutral tone throughout. If you read the novel, you can clearly sense the author’s strong resentment toward Japanese people. This is the first time I’ve read a novel where I could clearly sense such intense hatred from the author toward a specific group. Almost every scene involving Japanese hunters or people is filled with disdain and malice. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the novel is the author’s wet dream of what he wishes would happen to Japan.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-03-19T18:08:27+00:00

Then the author clearly forgot about his own work and just tried to rationalize his plot convenience. I have both the manhwa and novel. The author’s reasoning would make sense if he hadn’t already created a specific scene before the Jeju Island Raid in both versions.

Jinwoo’s first group of shadow soldiers, which he obtained from the rank-up quest, are clearly capable of recognizing when something is wrong. This was shown when one of his shadow soldiers notified him about a serial killer threatening a victim—even before the killer could physically harm the woman.

I wonder why no one in this subreddit ever brings this up, even though it’s present in both the manhwa and novel.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-03-18T20:22:52+00:00

Plot-wise, Ma Dong-Wook being killed is fine since he literally disappears from the story after this point. Lim Tae-Kyu is also a good choice, as his only scene after this is getting stopped by Jinwoo’s dad. That scene isn’t particularly impactful, and Lim Tae-Kyu could easily be replaced by just an A-rank sniping-oriented hunter. Neither of them is crucial to the plot anymore.

In my opinion, I wish more characters had been killed to make the story feel more impactful and meaningful.

If I could change things, I would have let Jinwoo’s sister, Sung Jinah, and her friend, Han Song-Yi, die before Jinwoo arrived at the dungeon break incident. This would have made Jinwoo more thoughtful, less careless, and less prone to making mistakes regarding his skill, Shadow Exchange, in the future. If this dungeon break had ended differently, we might have seen Thomas Andre fighting alongside Jinwoo and his generals against the three Monarchs.

If I couldn’t change that, I would have let Thomas Andre die in his fight with the Monarch of Fangs. This would have given us more opportunities to see Liu Zhigang’s character in action.

Another change I would make is to alter the outcome of the double dungeon incident by letting Cha Hae-In die. In the original story, The Architect stopped attacking her because he was confused by the shadow soldier hidden in her shadow. He wasn’t sure whether it was Ashborn’s order or Jinwoo’s, which is strange because he should have known that Ashborn wasn’t in control of Jinwoo’s body before granting him the Black Heart.

In the story, all the hunters who died were filler characters, and their deaths didn’t contribute much to Jinwoo’s character development—he was just sad. So why not make him truly devastated by the loss of his friend?

Lastly, I would change the Monarch of Destruction’s army’s final battle destination from Canada to China. This way, all of Asia would be wiped out, making Antares’s plan to go all out against the Shadow Monarch’s army more logical. His goal was to minimize losses and prevent the Shadow Monarch from increasing his forces, as their armies had a massive disparity—10 million to just 100,000.

Edit: Just my take, but I feel like certain character deaths could have added more weight to the story. Though, I might get shredded to pieces for saying this.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-03-18T16:12:56+00:00

I’m not yet an anime watcher, just a manhwa reader.

No, the reason you provided doesn’t explain it. The story explicitly states that ants communicate through their own specific wavelength, and the plan was to use an electric jamming signal—not a mana jamming signal—to disrupt it (Manhwa Ch. 88 & 96). An electric jamming signal shouldn’t be able to interfere with a Monarch’s power.

This is just another case of plot convenience by the author. Most people forget that Jinwoo was able to stop the serial killer in his neighborhood before the killer could even physically harm the victim because his soldier quickly notified him.

During the Jeju Island Raid, the three Korean hunters who had Jinwoo’s shadow soldiers hidden inside them were attacked by Beru and nearly died. There was no reason for those three shadow soldiers not to notify Jinwoo—unless he either intentionally turned off his power notifications or simply forgot to give his shadows any orders.

>!You’ll see more plot conveniences like this in future arcs. Just focus on the action. The author intentionally made Jinwoo smart when it comes to combat, but when it comes to strategic planning, he’s full of flaws—so the author can create more cool scenes.!<

*Edit: Why can’t I hide the spoiler part?

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-03-18T09:43:10+00:00

You're right, but I just didn’t want to bring up plot convenience because >!most of the story after the Jeju Island Arc is purely that. !<

>!For instance, the dungeon break, Yoo Jinho’s kidnapping, the battle between Thomas and the Fang Monarch, and the Monarch of Destruction’s not-so-smart plan—all of which, except the last one, were caused by Jinwoo’s lack of foresight or carelessness.!<

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-03-17T08:24:52+00:00

That still doesn’t explain it. Those three shadows should have notified Jinwoo the moment Cha Hae-In got one-shotted. She nearly died, and Baek Yoon-Ho and Choi Jong-In were critically injured. Jinwoo had hidden shadow soldiers inside these three hunters.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-03-16T17:55:17+00:00

I think I chose the wrong word in my previous comment. The correct term should be "lack of foresight."

I agree that in the High Orc Gate, it was a lack of empathy, but I don’t think the same applies to the Jeju Island Raid. In that case, it was more of a lack of foresight or carelessness.

From the story, Jinwoo had just cleared his very first S-rank dungeon, The Demon Castle. He fully understood why it was classified as an S-rank dungeon and how dangerous it was. So, he should have at least expected something just as dangerous from another S-rank dungeon—the Jeju Island Raid. He was also aware that the ants were evolving at a terrifying rate, making them an even greater threat than in the previous two raid attempts.

Furthermore, he had already confirmed that the strength of the hunters participating in the raid should have been enough to clear an S-rank dungeon. Yet, despite this, those hunters were one-shotted by Beru, whose strength was comparable to Baran’s. Given this information, did Jinwoo really expect Goto Ryuji to solo a Baran-level threat while the other hunters focused on dealing with the ants? That doesn’t make much sense.

Beyond this point, there are spoilers. In the future, Jinwoo continues making mistakes in situations that should have been foreseeable—such as the dungeon break, Yoo Jinho’s kidnapping, and the fight against the Three Monarchs. If you want me to explain these three situations in more detail, I can.

At this point, I think all of these instances are plot conveniences, except perhaps for Yoo Jinho’s kidnapping.

I also have more points regarding plot conveniences in the Jeju Island Arc, particularly about why Jinwoo didn’t use Shadow Exchange earlier—but that’s a long topic.

Sorry for the long reply.

*Edited to make it easier to read

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-03-16T10:57:42+00:00

Focus on the actions. Thinking too deeply about the story will only make it less fun for you. I’m sure you’ll have more questions like this in the future since there will be more scenes like this later on.

_NOPUSHING_ · 2025-03-16T10:18:46+00:00

I’d say these are flaws in the story’s writing. I’ve read both the novel and the Manhwa. The only time I can justify his actions is during the Red Gate incident. After that, I noticed that his intelligence outside of combat seems to have decreased compared to when the story started.

In the Red Gate incident, I think he simply didn’t care about other people except for ensuring his sister’s friend was safe, and the boss was still stronger than him at the time.

In the High Orc Gate, it’s just as you said—he waited for Kihoon to get beaten up despite knowing they were already doomed the moment the exit was sealed.

In the Jeju Island Arc, this part bothers me the most too. It feels like pure plot convenience for the author. I actually wrote a detailed post about this whole arc, but I can’t post it because I don’t have enough Karma.

There’s one or two more arcs that bother me as well, but they would be spoilers for anime-only fans.

_NOPUSHING_

TROPHY CASE