[Plot-driven + one heroine + faction development + mastermind behind the scenes + single]
Rule number one of the Hell Survival Handbook: staying alive comes first.
Three hours after being reborn in Hell, Ultima discovered that she had become a bottom-rung imp: four feet tall, with virtually no fighting ability. Her kin could do nothing but babble “goo goo gaa gaa,” and any old hellworm could chase her around.
The good news: she had watched every episode of Bear Grylls and Ed Stafford’s survival shows.
The bad news: the water in Hell was poisonous, the soil was poisonous, and even the air was poisonous. Even the mushrooms sprayed spores. None of the ecosystems in those documentaries came close to matching this place.
But she survived.
Her secret? Bear Grylls’s recipes, Ed Stafford’s endurance, and a heart so optimistic it was almost pathological.
While other imps were still fighting for their lives over a single hellworm, she had already built a farm with her alchemy skills, opened an apothecary, recruited minions, and taken down an elite.
By the time other demons tried to scheme against her, she had bred poisonous insects that looked like monsters from the Cthulhu Mythos, taken over an entire city, and built a faction through her talent for trade.
When other beings in Hell began to see her as a threat, she already commanded a million demons across several layers of Hell and could chat with other demon archdukes as an equal. Armies of land, sea, and air advanced under her trident, carrying her to the summit of Hell.
“She’s insidious and cunning. Even her potion business is outrageously unscrupulous.” That was what other demons said about her every day.
“By Satan, I’ve always been a demon of my word.” The cute little demon girl, her purple pupils slitted horizontally, wagged a finger. “So, dear customer, would you like an antidote? Though I was the one who brewed the poison in the first place~”
First and foremost, it's visually appealing and enjoyable to watch. So far, the author has written a fairly complete picture of the hellish ecosystem. The protagonist is initially portrayed as a rational character, but after taking over the city of little devils, his life improves and he begins to reveal his feminine imp nature.
It's pretty good, based on what I've seen so far: the world-building is quite extensive and well-developed, and the hellish ecosystem is well-described. The pacing is a bit slow (around chapters 80-90, the industrialization-related content starts appearing).
A very good new book, with an innovative writing style. I hope it doesn't turn into a numerical flow book later on.
Slow-burn, semi-invincible, semi-slice-of-life. Although the writing isn't the best, it's quite heartwarming. So far, I haven't seen any major flaws. The low rating is probably because the author isn't used to slow-burn stories. Keep it up, author! It's quite good.
Very good writing style
Still Theresa (Happy)
It's quite interesting; it gives you a feeling of early days of pioneering.
What a novel concept! I've never seen this before.
Looks good, meow. I hope the female lead's evolution will shrink back to 1m4 ().
There are quite a few traces of AI, but it's not bad.