I couldn't find a thread for this so I made one. Link: https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-principle-of-a-philosopher-by-eternal-fool-asley/ Description: When he was young, he had failed at the Magic Academy and was looked down by others. However by chance, he discovered a mythological medicine, so he obtained an immortal body. In order to get revenge on the people who made fun of him, he began researching magic and magical artifacts different from the academy. After 5000 years of research, he has become an ancient magic user before he noticed. The people he was seeking revenge were long gone, losing his purpose, Asley went on a journey to see the world after 5000 years with his familiar Pochi. With an unexpected turn of events after helping many humans, he is now living at the magic academy. A 5000 year old man with a young appearance Asley, how will he live his second life’s youth?
Started this not long ago and just caught up to the latest translaed chapter (186 as of this ponst), it's a lot of fun. Starts a bit slow and gets much better after (spoiler), which starts providing more background information and ups the scale of conflict by a lot. Spoiler Time travel arc starting with chapter 132 Read the manga adaptation as well but it's almost a 1:1 pacing compared to the novel, which means it covers just about 1 chapter's worth of story content each month. That's super slow and it'll take forever for the manga to get to the real meat of the story.
Read up to the latest translated chapter (191), and things are escalating yet again. Really liking how the series has been alternating between the "past" and "present" sections, giving plot developments of both fronts simultaneously. Also, I've taken the liberty of writing a new synopsis, because I've noticed that the old one is from the MTL site. This new one is based mostly on the published book release's synopsis, which I think gives a better idea of what the series is about. Spoiler: New Synopsis The 5,000 years-old boy hath resurfaced! In the distant past, young and foolish Asley flunked out of the prestigious Magic University… by failing an early exam that had a 100% passing rate until then. Shortly afterwards, he accidentally created the immortality-granting “Drop of Eternity,” and upon consuming it, obtained an eternally lasting body. He devoted himself to researching magic for almost 5,000 years… after which he traveled in search of the world’s most mysterous Dungeon. Along the way, he happened to save a family, and then their town, from monster attack. Before he knew it, he was hailed by the locals as a savior with ancient arcane arts and knowledge… While helping to rebuild the town, an opportunity came up for Asley to enter the Magic University once again, so he did. One thing led to another, and his initially normal journey got bigger and bigger — studying, adventuring, monster hunting, money making, hellish training, uncovering conspiracies, saving the world, the whole nine yards! Thus began the adventure through the mundane and the insane of “Eternal Fool” Asley, his Familiar wolf-dog Pochi, and all their friends and enemies along the way!
When you just realize that there was no forum page discussion of this novel before.... Lol Honestly, what I can say about this novel is that the story before the holy warrior arcs are above average at best and that's okay. There are moments that it was good, sure, but I still regard the best start was lost in antiquity arc
Read up to the latest translated chapter (205). After dedicating multiple chapters on a large-scale battle in the present day section, it's back to the relatively lightheared past section, featuring not-Japan, comical disguises, cross dressing, villains on vacation, gambling, and tons of memes... which is to say, chaotic. There's also finally some lore revealed, themed after the zodiacs of the lunar calendar... but in Latin, for some reason. And the series seems to like the number 12. All this will probably be very important going forward.
Read up to the latest translated chapter (209). Past 4 chapters have some... interesting reveals, and starts to tie the past arc with some previously-revealed info from the earlier present day arcs. Very nice.
This is an odd question and might sound weird. Not sure if anyone read the light novel or is reading it. Does Asley and Rina get together? Sounds strange but seems like something is happening. I don’t want to spoil it but I’m on the manga and it’s killing me to know.