Jemini
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I've recently been engrossed in what has to be one of the most bizzare genre combinations ever. I discovered a series called Super Gene, and it is a sci-fi setting with a cultivation power system. And yet, it works so incredibly well that I would even dare to call it the single best Cultivation world novel I have ever read.
Now, I do have to put a caviat on that. I am generally not all that into cultivation world stories. Most of that really is because of the genre tropes that just tend to rub me the wrong way. This series manages to find an answer to just about all of the common complaints.
My #1 biggest pet-peeve about cultivation world novels is how the beginning cultivators keep getting exposed to wild monsters and such that are such a threat to them without the oversight of the advanced cultivators to end those monsters in the blink of an eye. All the justifications usually involve some of the very most contrived scenarios imaginable, and it gets old fast.
Super Gene answers that by way of a mysterious form of interdimensional travel. These sci-fi era humans have discovered a way to open a door to another dimension that will allow people to strengthen their genes by eating the flesh of the monsters there. But, this dimension is divided into tiers, and certain tiers will only accept people on a certain level of their evolution progress. So, this means the truly powerful humans cannot be in the same proving ground as the beginners in the first place. There's an actual in-world answer to my biggest issue without getting stupidly contrived.
It also settles my #2 pet peeve, how can the MC of the series constantly have these high-level cultivators pissed off at them while avoiding instant death, as seems to be the plot in so many of them. Well, the answer to that is that when they are outside in "the alliance," as the primary universe humans live in is called where all the technology is, they actually have a culture very recognizable to our own. The big pissed-off high-tier baddies can't kill the MC because that would result in murder charges, which would be prosecuted just like they would IRL. The MC can only be targeted in this alter dimension, where monsters are everywhere and it can be blamed on them just getting in over their heads, and when they are in the alter dimension only people closer to their level can come after them.
It really is brilliant how this sci-fi setting seems to answer the 2 biggest problems with cultivation world novels, and even answers many of the smaller gripes as well due to the way it's able to structure the culture around this concept into something very different from other cultivation novels. Meanwhile, it preserves everything that is actually appealing about the topic in terms of the power progression and manner in which it operates.
(Also, the concept of mail-order fighting arts techniques is hilarious. That's how everyone gets techniques that are below legendary in rank.)
So, yeah. Super Gene. I just had to gush about it for a while because of just how mind-blowing it is that such an odd concept works so incredibly well.
Now, I do have to put a caviat on that. I am generally not all that into cultivation world stories. Most of that really is because of the genre tropes that just tend to rub me the wrong way. This series manages to find an answer to just about all of the common complaints.
My #1 biggest pet-peeve about cultivation world novels is how the beginning cultivators keep getting exposed to wild monsters and such that are such a threat to them without the oversight of the advanced cultivators to end those monsters in the blink of an eye. All the justifications usually involve some of the very most contrived scenarios imaginable, and it gets old fast.
Super Gene answers that by way of a mysterious form of interdimensional travel. These sci-fi era humans have discovered a way to open a door to another dimension that will allow people to strengthen their genes by eating the flesh of the monsters there. But, this dimension is divided into tiers, and certain tiers will only accept people on a certain level of their evolution progress. So, this means the truly powerful humans cannot be in the same proving ground as the beginners in the first place. There's an actual in-world answer to my biggest issue without getting stupidly contrived.
It also settles my #2 pet peeve, how can the MC of the series constantly have these high-level cultivators pissed off at them while avoiding instant death, as seems to be the plot in so many of them. Well, the answer to that is that when they are outside in "the alliance," as the primary universe humans live in is called where all the technology is, they actually have a culture very recognizable to our own. The big pissed-off high-tier baddies can't kill the MC because that would result in murder charges, which would be prosecuted just like they would IRL. The MC can only be targeted in this alter dimension, where monsters are everywhere and it can be blamed on them just getting in over their heads, and when they are in the alter dimension only people closer to their level can come after them.
It really is brilliant how this sci-fi setting seems to answer the 2 biggest problems with cultivation world novels, and even answers many of the smaller gripes as well due to the way it's able to structure the culture around this concept into something very different from other cultivation novels. Meanwhile, it preserves everything that is actually appealing about the topic in terms of the power progression and manner in which it operates.
(Also, the concept of mail-order fighting arts techniques is hilarious. That's how everyone gets techniques that are below legendary in rank.)
So, yeah. Super Gene. I just had to gush about it for a while because of just how mind-blowing it is that such an odd concept works so incredibly well.
