The Great Core's Paradox 2: A LitRPG Adventure

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Thought-hiss after thought-hiss sent spore-puppets across and beside the water. The former bad-things’ legs stepped across the surface without sinking, making the current slightly easier to fight. Less prone to digging in and sweeping them away. Even still, a few of the more damaged puppets were lost, crippled limbs forcing them to slip into the rushing water. I let them go, leaving them with the command to infest any bad-things they saw - though between their difficulty with the light and the loss of my direct supervision, I wasn’t clear on their chances. I especially like Valera's development. I feel like she is the most fleshed-out of the bunch. The female lead, so to speak.

The wounds from the Aridae, both infant and mother, were too much. A few times, I tried to bend enough to reach my tail. I knew that if I could do that, I might be able to heal enough to resist. The cavern’s edges were split in places; numerous small-tunnels dotted the walls. The sight was comforting, though I knew that each was an area from which a bad-thing could emerge. Still, each was a place that the mother Aridae could not follow. I hissed in displeasure with myself. I had been so eager to drink in the mana-water that I hadn’t even seen the threat that waited above. Description: A snake that embodies the cycle of renewal. Heavily increased passive regeneration when biting its own tail.Once pulled to the surface, however, finally freed from the bundle of threads that kept them trapped and away from the other bad-things, they flopped around helplessly. When my coils wrapped around the first, there was nothing it could do. The same was true for those that came after. The rush of the battle, the pull of pushing past your limits that were all at the beginning is gone at the later part. And the world building part of he story also fell short. Like how do the people get from point A to Point B? Do they walk there? Or do they take carriages? Is everything in a cavern? Many questions I don't know the answer to.

The crimson fluid glinted, reflecting the light of the glow-caps that reached into the alcove. I could see my reflection in it as well; I could see the same image that I had earlier, reflected in the brilliant blues of the mana-water. An orb inset into my head-scales, looking as if it were the Great Core itself. They spread from the alcove where the Aridae mother made her home, sweeping across the cavern’s ceiling. Were it not for the light of the glow-caps and the mana-water, the threads would have been nearly invisible. With the light, however, they were clear to see. I really like the world building, it's detailed, and intriguing. I feel the author explains just enough to keep us on our toes. the world building is excellent in this book, and I rate it a 5 star. the plot is a 4.8 star.I hung like that for a long time. Hours. More, maybe. The slow-venom was losing its effect, but it didn’t matter. It was too late. But the later part of the story is what made me lose interest in the book so far. Not only does the little snake get friendly with humans, he gets super attached to them. To the point that his whole new life revolves around them. And to make things worse, there is of course a huge language barrier since they are different species. which cannot be overcome with a skill like telepathy; or showing words in his illusion ability like his status or the status of things he ate... but I guess this is what the author was going for. The sound, too, was unmistakable. Falling water beat rapidly against the ground and the mana-water that fell before it, repeating again and again like the pulse of a drumming heart. I really like the main character, his point of view, and particularly his interactions with the supporting cast. The characterisation of the relationships and adorable misunderstandings between the cast are amazing . This snek is easily the best snek. The main issue with the story is its premise. This is a litrpg progression time loop story. I let my venom course through me again, releasing it from my fangs. It did little, that time. Hopefully, that meant that my resistance had increased enough. Still, I wasn’t entirely sure. The Aridae’s slow-venom was more powerful than my own, in a way, even the infant’s. While it did not kill as mine did, it achieved much the same purpose. Even before it had taken effect entirely, it had prevented me from moving easily. Under its effect, the infant had managed to feel as threatening as a bad-thing more than twice its size. If our fight had gone on longer, it might have even won; I had been helpless once the slow-venom finished setting in, unable to move or defend myself at all.

Aridae of assorted shapes and sizes scrambled across the strong bundles of thread, winding across them as easily as I might wind across the Great Core’s sacred spots. It was their home, their place of power. I wriggled again, refusing to be one of them. The slow-venom fought against me, but I wriggled once more, bouncing on the threads that I had been attached to. TLDR: It’s good, but I worry the author’s strong writing might not end up being enough to salvage the odd juxtaposition of the story's base premise. It felt strange to feel a connection to those bad-things. I had always considered myself as something above them, something greater than them, because I knew it to be true. I was created by the Great Core. The thought-light told me that I had great potential.It was the last of those that I targeted. With thought-hiss after thought-hiss, I set my spore-puppets in motion. With the efforts of countless Darkweavers combined, it wasn’t long before an array of threads stretched from one side of the river to another. Small gaps in the threads’ weave allowed the mana-water to rush through, allowing the combined weight of many spore-puppets to hold the threads down from each side of the rushing river. But Paradox doesn’t care about any of that; not really. Because, while Verdant Grove might be dangerous, it's exactly the type of danger that he feels like he was created for. The Aridae had made a mistake in challenging me. More importantly, it had made a mistake in challenging the Great Core’s wisdom. The Great Core had selected me as its sole defender, and had given me great potential to go alongside that position. Whatever it took, I would ensure that it would learn of its mistake. However long it took. That was who I was. That was whatI was. A tiny snake with great potential. The sole creation of the Great Core.