Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

Blurb

Summoned after an unfortunate accident in hopes they could protect the world from a coming threat, Ben and his classmates are gifted another chance at life. With fame and fortune promised to whoever is willing to fight for the sake of the world it doesn’t seem like a bad deal, there’s just one small problem. Ben wasn’t blessed with any magic or combat skills, just crafting and enchanting. While the skills themselves aren’t useless they also aren’t seen as being necessary to the coming war. Now not needed and alone Ben tries to find a place in the world while meeting some of its colourful characters along the way.

Thoughts

As of writing this review, I’ve read all available (936) chapters on Royal Road.

Look, you know if you’ve read over 900 chapters of something and want more that it’s probably good. I’m also a sucker for stories with an intelligent MC, crafting, a good balance of slice-of-life and action, and strong worldbuilding. Chaotic Craftsman ticks all those boxes.

So let’s expand on the blurb a little bit. Other summoned people, some human, some not, are pulled into the world with blessed awakened skills (ie skill levels 10+) and sky-high attributes. Lil ol’ Ben, on the other hand, is just your baseline weak human, blessed crafting and enchanting (but unlevelled), and sky-high resistances to magic that crush his dreams of becoming a mage. No one recruits Ben. Ben becomes sad.

Things start to turn around in Chapter 6 though, when Myriad, a god in the shape of a cube recruits Ben to be his first (and worst) believer. Myriad and Ben don’t have your normal god and believer relationship, because Ben is a savage and has no respect for deities, and honestly their banter and relationship is one of the best parts of the series. Seeing Ben stress the cubic god with his heretical antics just doesn’t get old.

Anyway, Myriad directs Ben to someone who can help teach him crafting and enchanting, and thus begins Ben’s adventure. It’s not just chapters of Ben in a workshop, its him making (eventual) friends, going monster hunting with said friends for resources, learning other skills, digging into the magic system, tackling towers with other summoned heroes, arguing with gods, threatening gods, killing gods, you know… the norm. There’s a lot going on, and that’s all before the demon invasion actually begins.

The relationship (like obviously it’s Ben and Thera, that’s not a spoiler, it was signposted super obviously when they first met) between Ben and Thera is another high point… at least once we get over the will-they-won’t-they game that gets played for a bit too long. It’s wholesome, supportive, and much more human than a lot of relationships that get portrayed in the LitRPG space. That’s actually a trend in the series—characters are authentic and realised, and their connections and dialogue is strong.

It’s a slow-burn story though, and those wanting popcorn reads with action off the bat (think Defiance of the Fall and the like) will probably find it a bit too slow. Fools! Those that also get irked by grammar and spelling errors will definitely find this work tough, though I note that the author gets significantly better as time goes on the rampant issues in the first hundred chapters greatly reduce. My battle-hardened eyes were trained on translations, so I am thankfully immune to bad grammar and simply wish there were another thousand chapters to read. Ben has lofty plans to deal with the demon invasion, and I want to see him crush the invaders underfoot!

So, to those who like crafting, slow buildup, strong dialogue and developed characters, check this story out.