The Author's POV by Entrail_JI

I think you misread some parts of the novel.
1. Everblood never looked for Ren. Everblood was aiming for the demon that was targeting Ren's parents. From what I've read, once the parents were cured, demon got severely injured from backlash. Everblood got information about his injuries and followed him. From the very beginning, Everblood never knew about the curse-breaking thing, he only learned of it after he followed him and listened to Matthew and him speak. Furthermore, he managed to be unnoticed because the other demon was weakened and their strengths were similar.

2. Killing the orc chief son was not easy at all. He sacrificed his arm in order to get the demon to ambush the orc bodyguard from behind and kill him. We are talking about a C+ demon. In the meantime, he also set up a dimensional space to block anyone from hearing or seeing things. That is not luck. That is called planning. Most of the orc arc was done through thorough planning. Sure there were elements of luck in the orc arc, but why do people mistakenly assume thorough planning is luck? Sure, things could've gone wrong, but when you revise for an exam, the chances of those things going wrong are minimally reduced. This seems to be a thing people don't seem to get at all. MC never dived into his plans once. He waited days, and scouted the perimeter as well as surrounding before he acted. He also had the red-book in his hand to confirm his plans and everything.

3. MC cannot edit the world. It is mentioned that mana is needed to change it, and at the moment he doesn't have enough mana to do so as he is still too weak. Furthermore, I believe a braindead protagonist is one that takes all of the OP items for himself. It's just dumb in so many ways that I don't even need to explain anything.

4. MC is 100% low-key (in terms of strength hiding). Maybe not to main-cast, but to enemies he is. At least in the first volume. It doesn't matter if the main-cast thinks MC is stronger than he is, what matters is if enemies think he is weak. Which is exactly what MC wants, and is what happens throughout the novel.

....So, Everblood mindlessly stalked this guy who put a curse on the mc's parents. Why? I'll chalk that up to Everblood's obsession. I'm kind of curious how Everblood followed the demon tbh. Did he like, have spies or a spying device? And if he had that, did he just like, teleport to the same location? Anyway. The demoness who contracted with the MC explicitly said that it was very easy to stealthily enter the humans territory. Hell, in that same chapter 189, Everblood teleports into a human city undetected. With that kind of skill, again, why isn't he stepping up on the mc's parents or the mc whenever the mc is in town? To me, Everblood is like that xianxia trope where "you killed my projection slightly setting me back, I'll chase you to the ends of the world!!!" To you, what makes Everblood a good character?

Ch 173-174 An explosion causes a distraction. During this time, the mc assaults a C+ warrior with his E+ strength plus OP cultivation manual. He even manages to get in a good attack somehow. Despite numerous times, we've been shown how even just one grade difference is night and day. MC jumps 2 grades in damage. This guard "only" takes an arm with his big ass axe, and stops to talk after being injured. What orc stops to talk? Even the MC mentions how absurd this is. The orcs in this story have been depicted to be generic bloodthristy fantasy orcs. And this one orc is just kinda standing there? Based on the stories own canon, it should shout and then charge again. On the mc's part, it was good planning to have his demoness go for the assassination. This was his hidden trump card, but also part of why he is OP. His entire aquisition of her is another topic of plot armor/luck, but I'll leave it well enough alone. I can get that the orc chieftan was proud and only had one guard. But wouldn't the sons house be close to the chiefs? Shouldn't there be guards there? Hell, one of the first things the chief would do, considering we've seen how much he loves his son, is send a guard detachment there immediately. But it was 2/3rds luck, and OP protagonist halo that saw the mc succeed.

I DO like some of his plots and planning. Smallsnake, recruiting that one genius kid, his interactions with Kevin. They're all great. He MOSTLY does a good job. BUT he has a lot of plot armor and luck. Not to mention, everyone kind of goes along with his manipulations. That Orc Commander was a proud intelligent, powerful General, he got told to his face to become the mc's piece. Idk, I'm proud myself, I might just snap the mc's neck right there. But revenge trumps pride for some people, so i get it. Hell, the fact that the veteran captain he recruited didn't attempt to gut the mc the second he saw that he was contracted to the demoness is a miracle of plot armor. Maybe I'm remembering incorectly, but didn't the mc say that the method for a human to enslave a demon wasn't something that was revealed in the book till a later chapter? At that point in time, it's known to the people at large, that only demons can enslave contractors, and that all contractors are to be killed. Maybe I have to go back and reread the recruitment, but that's something that comes off as sussy to me.

The book. Why did he get the book, and if he had to get it, why through a package by his parents? Do his parents know something? Doesn't look like it based on how incompetent they are. With the book, he can see all future events related to the main caste. Sure, he doesn't have enough mana to alter to much, but the fact that he has foresight by definition makes him OP. And like I said, he has knowledge of EVERYTHING in this story. From where it is, to events, to how people will act. He can even edit the main casts thoughts/feelings if he wanted to. This isn't knowledge earned, it's innate knowledge, much less impressive from an MC struggling to learn. This makes him one of the most OP characters in the story. Is it impressive if you get an A on the test when you have the answer key?

I will give him props for his martial training. He really puts in the effort, and sweats for it. He deserves praise for that.

Your point about how he is lowkey IS valid. HOWEVER, it is true that he decides relatively early on to STOP being low key. He got exceptionally lucky that the female cast's parents decided not to investigate him/end him in retrospect. If you bothered to read my past post, my only complaint was that I was dissatisfied with how the female cast treated the mc, and that he took it like a bitch. Somehow, that made the other commentator believe that I wanted the entire female cast written out of the story, LMAO. It's a me thing. I read fiction to escape from reality, and when I see a man who knows these characters inside and out taking it like a bitch? And when he does respond, he's being entirely childish and not mature about it? It gets me fiery.

Anyway, what do you think about my 1st/second comment? Do you really like how the dungeon was handled? He moved off of gut feelings, had a baby rage moment calling out for revenge, it was the mc's call to action that this world was real, and that he would eventually kill people. This could've been handled so much better. He then got into conflict with Everblood in a generic xianxia clash. By generic xianxia clash I mean that Everblood's projection got bested by the mc while trying to promote, and this snowballed into a waaay stronger character going to the ends of the earth to kill the mc. It's one of the most classic xianxia tropes, one I've grown tired of.

So I think that there's some VERY rough edges, strong plot armor, and some pretty cringe moments in this story. But, there's cool moments, and good plays on the mc's part as well. Which is why I stand by my 3-3.5/5 judgement. It's a solid C+, something worth reading, but far from the masterpiece the superfans are raving about.

Anyway, enough ranting and raving from my end. Perhaps I got was wrong in my assertions, but this is how I see the story. Peace be with you fellow daoist.

Dude. Have mercy on me. You made me pretty much read a whole chapter. (btw I never disagreed with your comments I just shared what I thought was different)
One thing I'd like to point out. (About the orc situation)
I think the orc started talking because he realized his opponent was weak. Like B rank vs E rank. You wouldn't take them seriously. He let his guard down because of this.
Also, the explosion is Kevin's destruction of the warehouse, which Ren double checks with the book. Furthermore, the only reason he was able to injure the orc slightly was because he used the statue artifact and third movement where he just teleported.
However, I don't think he suffered any major injuries from that clash apart from a small one. I think MC goal the whole time was to get his arm cut off, and because he just suddenly appeared before the orc, the orc was only able to cut one arm.
Also, from the banquet chapter, we can infer that S ranks senses are not that strong as Donna was only able to detect fluctuations slightly inside of a mansion. So even if chief and son were close, high chance they wouldn't be able to detect anything.
Also, for veteran captain, I just think money did it for him. Most likely Ren knew his personality hence why he had no problem revealing it? I'm not sure.
Also, I think the book has something to do with the person that sent him to the world which will probably touched upon later in the story. (also, I don't think he can edit other's thoughts, he is still too weak)
Also, about female cast, that mostly happens in the beginning, and if we look at it from his perspective it makes sense. Like, wasn't he a shut in for ten years with no social interactions in the beginning? Kinda get his awkardness.
Also, I'm sure everblood has subordinates since he is a baron, and we also don't know whether he teleported in human domain or was in the human domain. He could've been staying in the Monolith, which is the equivalent of the union for demons and villains. (I'm also sure Everblood isn't targeting Ren's parents yet since he has something big planned for later or because of hte previos demon influence/ not that it matters now since they should be safe now)

Fair enough bro, fair enough.