Linear power progression

[NotaNuffian]

So this only works in stories that put heavy emphasis on step-by-step strength development, such as xianxia and their suck air to mpreg leveling.

Martial cultivation also tends to follow such route of skin, flesh, sinew, bone, marrow, blood and organs.

Then in fantasy from EN, KR and CN, mana circles and fancy naming tiers like refining bloodlines or colored cores like the damned rainbow.

Lastly, within each realm, there are the stages: novice, mid, getting there~, I'm coming~, URGH!♡

The funniest will always be the occasional caveats of "at lower levels, all is equally lame and tame" and "lower level can't beat higher level because *insert generic reasons*". Then cue MC and "genius" characters of author fav smashing all that for lolz.

I get that the reason why for such a thing is because readers and sometimes authors are koala-brain-smoother-than-a-newborn's-bottom retarded. Kind of why people like JinYong than GuLong because JY uses linear progression to a fault and have relatable MCs to suckle readers while GL can't even be bothered with weak fellows and start all his characters as OP IMBA monsters who are emotional and can lose because "just didn't feel like winning".

I too enjoy linear crap. It is a conveyor/ a small small world boat ride.

But I always hated how rigid the leveling system is as well. You need to finish X to get to Y or you can't jump the gun and become god in one single step. And the worst of it all, you can't go back to lower levels to bulk up your previously shitty foundations in order to level up your current level.

Fyi, the above two gripes I have are sometimes addressed in works as either fluffs or jokes.

For example, in Unsheathed, there is literally a dude who trained just his sinews for all his life, skipping even his skin and muscles and mainly focusing on his sinews. He ended up reaching the pinnacle known as a martial god. Of course, this is a joke written by the author as he later commented on how others would try to emulate this fellow and ended up wasting their lives away as martial artists. And of course, MC in Unsheathed is as linear and lame as conventional.

In some works such as Cultivation 40K, MC would have to be depowered back to low level, found a better way to stat grind at lower level and then jump back to OG level with higher stats. I don't really enjoy the portion where he had to be crippled and rebuilt.

Nowadays, MCs are all munchkin stat monsters who knows the most efficient play as they maxed out all their lower levels like nobody's business and then level up to be monsters. While I enjoy this, I also feel the nagging feeling of "dude has tons of time and resources to spare, huh?"

So far just two problems:
1. Leveling up is step by step and no rocket elevator
2. Only go up, no go down.

 

[FoundForester]

Honestly, I'm surprised level resetting hasn't been explored more. I mean, I've seen like time loops and similar stuff. But a New Game+ Situation could be interesting. Like you could dump all you stats into punching, reset, rinse and repeat until you become one punch man.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Honestly, I'm surprised level resetting hasn't been explored more. I mean, I've seen like time loops and similar stuff. But a New Game+ Situation could be interesting. Like you could dump all you stats into punching, reset, rinse and repeat until you become one punch man.

Not going to lie but NG+ where the MC restarts everything but his stats the same is only fun the first time.

Because in the end MC just becomes a lameass power beast in the end.

 

[AYM]

The only time I know an MC "resets" his cultivation to correct previous foundations was Emperor's Domination, and people lost their shit over MC dropping realms. Regressor's Tale of Cultivation also resets MC but that's only because he's regressing every loop.

 

[CheertheSecond]

I don't see any of those mana manhwa and culti manhua being linear progression at all.

It fells almost like exponential progression.

The only one I know that actually is linear progression is History's strongest disciple Kenichi.

 

[Arkus86]

Xianxia and linear power progression just do not fit in the same context. It is exponential power progression, with every step expotentionally harder to achieve and expotentially more powerful than the last.
Ironically, as the MC progresses, there is also expotentially more cultivators on the higher steps that were supposed to be rare, but it is somewhat ballanced by adding expotentially more canon fodder into battles.

 

[PancakesWitch]

Xianxia and linear power progression just do not fit in the same context. It is exponential power progression, with every step expotentionally harder to achieve and expotentially more powerful than the last.
Ironically, as the MC progresses, there is also expotentially more cultivators on the higher steps that were supposed to be rare, but it is somewhat ballanced by adding expotentially more canon fodder into battles.

this happens mostly because of the need to extend the novels infintely for money, however i've read short cultivation stories that actually do make higher realm cultivators rarer, but even more influential in the entire world

 

[cabbag3]

Power Levels in Xianxia (and the average Power Fantasy CN webnovels) are so wacky and/or redundant. Initial introduction of 10 Power levels with 1 being the lowest, after 10 chapters, MC is already in Power Level 7 in the starting village where the highest is Level 3.

Then after 100 chapters, MC discovers that there's more Power Levels ( e.g. King Level, Emperor, God King, Nightmare Level, Apocalypse, Primordial, Chaos.) LMAO
Plot repeats with new Power Levels
In the end it all boils down to 3 power levels, Ants (those below you), fellow cultivator, and Seniors (those above you).

 

[RainingFish]

Rather than a linear progression, I call it a quantum hierarchical power system (QHPS). It’s kind of like a ‘stairway to heaven’ in which every step is another ‘realm’ of transcendence. These types of power systems seem to be popular for a variety of reasons such as…

Clarity: Readers know where the character stands (e.g., “mid-stage foundation establishment”).
Satisfaction: Each level-up feels earned, like a game achievement.
Conflict: Clear hierarchies simplify writing rivalries and battles.

There are also cultural reasons why it is so popular in China rooted in Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

I've sometimes wondered if QHPS is the final destination of 'power fantasies' or if there are other equal or better ways to do it. If QHPS can be described as a 'stairway to heaven' where one needs to firmly pass each step before reaching the top, then maybe another way would be like climbing a mountain, where multiple paths can reach the same destination and some points of progress can be reached in different ways.

Maybe there could even be more than one mountain, or mountains can be built or destroyed. Maybe bridges could be made between one mountain or another. It’s still hierarchical as the climbers still have reached a certain height or elevation, but it’s much more flexible than the ‘stairway to heaven.’

The mountain model could appeal to readers seeking:

• Creativity: Unique paths allow more diverse character progression.
• Complexity: More complex paths of cultivation can make the world seem more rich and vibrant.
• Replayability: Backtracking to refine foundations can add depth.

The challenge is balancing flexibility with accessibility. Too much freedom risks confusing readers accustomed to QHPS’s simplicity. Also, it seems much more difficult to do world-building this way.

 

[NotaNuffian]

I don't see any of those mana manhwa and culti manhua being linear progression at all.

It fells almost like exponential progression.

The only one I know that actually is linear progression is History's strongest disciple Kenichi.

Xianxia and linear power progression just do not fit in the same context. It is exponential power progression, with every step expotentionally harder to achieve and expotentially more powerful than the last.
Ironically, as the MC progresses, there is also expotentially more cultivators on the higher steps that were supposed to be rare, but it is somewhat ballanced by adding expotentially more canon fodder into battles.

Yeah my bad on phrasing wrongly. What I am trying to state is the step-by-step leveling up. Power wise it is exponential but to get to a higher level, there is a fixed route.

 

[AdmiralofDestitution]

Power Levels in Xianxia (and the average Power Fantasy CN webnovels) are so wacky and/or redundant. Initial introduction of 10 Power levels with 1 being the lowest, after 10 chapters, MC is already in Power Level 7 in the starting village where the highest is Level 3.

BUT!!...
He is in a predicament of being chased by a level 5 old monster from Chapter 2!