Fight, survive, adapt, and rely only on yourself.
That is Derek’s creed, and what’s gotten him through the System Integration on Earth.
Everything changed when the System came. Cute bunnies and beautiful butterflies became savage killing machines. Then the Invaders arrived with a single goal: to obtain ownership of this new habitable planet.
War has raged ever since.
None of this mattered much to Derek, aside from making living a little more perilous. He mostly kept to himself. He was the weird guy who owned a cabin that occasionally came into town for a drink and light conversation. After System Integration, that didn’t change much—he only got stronger.
After years of fighting monsters and Invaders alone, he’s become quite adept at surviving. Who needs others to get in the way or worry about?
Until one day, Derek goes against his better judgement. He decides to lend some help on a mission that doesn’t seem too hard… He should have stuck to being alone…
Don’t miss the start of this new LitRPG series starting on Earth a few years post System Integration. But the adventure doesn’t stop there. This overpowered protagonist will quickly find himself on a new world, with a new System, providing a unique combination of the Isekai, LitRPG Apocalypse, and Slice of Life genres. He may even make a few friends along the way.
As of writing this review, I’ve read all seven available ebooks.
You know what everyone loves? Face slapping. Pure, over the top, power fantasy and wish fulfilment with a judicious side of face slapping. It’s so damn cathartic, and System Universe is full of it. Derek, our MC, is one of Earth’s top powers just a short time after system integration, but then—oh no—a portal mishap later and he’s spat out in a new world with a different system. His level is reset, but—joyous times—his stats are not!
And thus begins the terrifying journey of Derek from strongest level 1 in the world to just… strongest in the world. It’s got uppity nobles to be pounded into the ground, three metric tons of justified self-righteousness, and an MC that, once a loner, learns to care. No, no, don’t be discouraged, that doesn’t mean the story shifts to focus on the weak friends he grows close to, it’s still very much a Derekcentric story.
Now, D-dog isn’t quite as OP as, say Vivi from New Life As A Max Level Archmage or Cale from Just Add Mana, so there’s still a lot of personal power growth, our MC just has a 99m headstart in a 100m sprint.
Now, the whole “Universe” in the title does hint as to the overarching plot. The systems are heading for a clash, and it’s shaping up to be a lot of fun. It still hasn’t happened yet (grr), and I’m not sure if book eight is where it will, or if it will be book nine or ten. Certainly Derek is outgrowing his (new) world by the end of book seven, and while the plot of the first few books followed Derek in his discovery and exploration of the new world, I think it’s definitely time for the stakes to ramp up. I wouldn’t have been mad if that happened at around the book four mark, but I’ve always been one to prefer tight global plots instead of the more haphazard paths many serials often take.
Apart from Derek, there’s a fairly wide variety of characters and some decent characterisation. There are definitely a few character archetypes used a couple of times throughout the expansive cast, but they’re normally used for good effect. Maybe it’s just Derek’s point-of-view doing it, but for at least the first five books I think almost every single woman was introduced with a note on how stunningly beautiful they were, to the point where I was really hoping just to see some ugly crones for variety. Granny Weatherwax would have been a welcome addition, but then again, that’s always true in every story.
The story is definitely focused on the action and the popcorn over any deeper philophical themes (as is usual in the genre), so its a very solid recommendation for those who enjoy the overpowered MC trope.
