Once the gate opened, monsters came pouring out…
Wait! Wait!
Don't leave just yet. Read a bit more!
Humanity suffered catastrophic damage, and blah blah blah…
Up to here, it's familiar, right? Usually, at this point—a small number of chosen humans gain the chance to climb a tower, unlocking their abilities and gaining superpowers like magic to stop monsters wreaking havoc on their world. That's how the story should go…
But in my case, the entire world is capable of fighting the monsters! Why, you ask? BECAUSE IT IS A FUC—
"DON'T CUSS IN MY NOVEL, YOU UGLY BASTARD!" a voice bellowed, and Jim's inner monologue was cut short as the author smacked him across the face. Jim went flying and crashed into the imaginary fourth wall.
"You lazy author! You always cuss, though! You call me 'bastard' all the time!" Jim yelled while crying.
"Ahem, ahem! That concludes the world-building explanation!" the author declared, completely ignoring Jim's complaints. "But to get to the juicy parts, let's rewind to the past."
Somewhere across the dimensional boundary, a soul was seen traveling at high speed into another dimension. The soul was… well, ugly. This was Jim, and he had no idea his soul was heading straight into the novel he rated one star. And why did he rate it one star? Let's hear it from the protagonist himself.
"What's happening to me? All I did was give those trash novels the ratings they deserved! Sure, I didn't finish the prologue, but it was so stereotypically cliché! Who even reads those pieces of crap? I love cultivation novels, but mixing them with villainess romance revenge stories is unbearable," Jim grumbled, his soul hurtling through space. "Why is it taking so long to get home, though?"
One eternity later…
Jim lost consciousness (yes, souls can lose consciousness, deal with it), and when he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a corridor. He stared in a daze at the unfamiliar yet oddly familiar surroundings.
"Jim, kuk! You bastard, how dare you call the Crown Princess a—" shouted a boy wearing the traditional robes of a cultivation world. Jim's heart skipped a beat.
"Yes! Yes!! I'm in a cultivation world! Yippee! Thank you, author! I'm so happy!" Jim hugged the boy in front of him, spinning him in a ridiculous celebratory dance.
"You scoundrel! How dare you call me a—" came a furious shout from behind. Jim froze, recognizing the voice. He turned to see a woman with fiery eyes and an air of menace. Cold sweat dripped down his back.
'Eh? Eh? Ehhhh?!' Jim blinked several times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. His stomach dropped.
It was her—the Demonic Princess—the very character who killed the protagonist in the novel he had rated one star.
Jim knew then and there: the author had royally screwed him over.
Jim fell to his knees, his joy at being in a cultivation world evaporating. Sure, he liked cultivation novels. Sure, he dreamed of living in one. But this novel? He hated it with a passion. It was a mess of overused tropes, lazy plot holes, and a protagonist who felt like a discount hero.
The main character was a modern librarian who transmigrated into the cultivation world, regressed after dying, and started cultivating in a library to build his power. Then, out of nowhere, gates appeared, and monsters poured into the world. To close the gates, climbers had to reach the top of the Tower of Trials, a monolithic structure with 666 floors. Each floor took a year to complete, but only the strongest—the Transcendents—could even attempt the climb. Meanwhile, the rest of the world fell to ruin.
"Oh no," Jim muttered, dread sinking in. "What year is it?" he asked the Demonic Princess with a trembling voice.
SLAP!
"How dare you, a mere commoner, ask me such a thing!" she shouted.
"I'm sorry, Princess! I swear, I didn't call you a— I mean, Tang Sen did! Oops!" Jim's eyes widened in horror as the words slipped out.
"Who is Tang Sen?" she demanded.
Realizing his mistake, Jim quickly backpedaled. "Wait! There's no Tang clan in this novel!" He slapped his own forehead. 'What do I do now?! This is so exhilarating… I love it!'
Before he could think further, a loud bang echoed through the corridor.
"Ahhhhh! Save me!!" someone screamed. Jim turned to see a hulking monster clawing its way through a portal.
'Huh? That looks like the kind of weak monster that appears at the start of a hunter-gate story. Has the plot started already?!' Jim's lips curled into a twisted smile. 'Yes! Yes! This is it! But where's the MC? Is he still in the library? Damn it, I didn't read past the prologue…'
"Princess, this guy seems to like monsters. Look at him salivating," an attendant whispered.
The princess glared at Jim with disgust and ordered her followers to leave him behind. Only Jim and an unnamed bully remained, staring at the monstrous beast.
"But who's supposed to kill this thing?" Jim looked around, expecting a protagonist or supporting character to swoop in.
"Help me!" the bully cried, barely dodging the monster's claws.
"Don't worry! The MC will save us!" Jim reassured him. But the seconds dragged on, and no one came.
"What if this is the kind of scene where I have to decide whether to save the cannon fodder or not?" Jim mused aloud.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING FODDER, YOU UGLY BASTARD?!" the bully screamed, dodging another attack.