Hello I'm looking for novel novels. Something new, something interesting. Please no BL/Yaoi/Yuri, nonsensical my plot armor is infinite face slapping protagonist, or I pull every single female/male within the last century into my harem novels. Thank you. Rant/Context: I don't know how to compare myself to the average person on novelupdates, but I'm honestly getting a little jaded with all the top novels. It seems to be the same thing over and over again. It seems to be always one of the following: a protagonist that faces no obstacles, being able to slap everyone around with no consequences and every time any villain gets remotely near the protagonist they drop their IQ down to 0, OR a romance novel of a sort where they start pulling everyone and their mothers into their harem despite having no redeeming characteristics. Being overpowered, or overcoming obstacles easily is fine. Doing so with no meaning whatsoever or to just show over and over to make it a self-fantasy fulfilling novel is boring and reflects no growth or change to the character. Being able to attract others and romance is fine, but being able to do so with no reason whatsoever just doesn't make sense.
Dungeon Defense I feel like this one is well written and the MC is weak and the only thing he has is his intellect. He eventually gets a harem but its hard earned through his merits and his schemes. Basically its a gradually weak MC to influential MC (note: not like physically powerful but eventually gathers skilled persons to his side). It's not cliche, I feel like it's a unique novel on NU and very well written when I first read it, I had to binge it within days.
Try Isaac and Dungeon Defense, probably the novel I like the most here. They don't use cliche plot and most importantly, an actual smart MC who use his brain over his brawn
Have you tried looking on other sites like RoyalRoadL ? http://topwebfiction.com/ is where I go to find good novels to read, generally the top 10 to 20 are very high quality novels, but there are some hidden gems ranked lower too.
Lord of Mysteries Cultivation Chat Group? (I'm stockpiling so I haven't been keeping up with it lately. his plot armor is there but not as bad as some of the others) or you could give My House of Horror's a try Kino no Tabi Mimizuku to Yoru no Ou Tabi ni Deyou, Horobiyuku Sete no Hate Made (are the only Japanese stories I can remember liking, but it's been a while since I read them). your list of things you don't want cuts out about 90% or more of the Chinese or Japanese stories on this site
My House of Horrors Release that Witch Cultivation Chat Group (I use certain websites to browse these three *wink) Divine Throne of Primordial Blood - mad scientist MC researching for a way for common cultivators to reach higher realms Warlock of the Magus World - also mad scientist but is more evil and pursues immortality City of Sin - MC conquers planes with his army Utsuro no Haku to Zero no Maria - mystery novel. It starts with the MC realizing that he is stuck in a time loop Trash of the Count's Family Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Sovereign of Judgement You should also search on RoyalRoad for more diversity I would suggest reading Mother of Learning - MC got his soul slightly merged with a time looper and joins in a time loop that lasts a month while slowly uncovering the plot on the invasion that happens every end of the month Iron Teeth: A Goblin's Tale - a unique perspective to say the least with a goblin MC. It gets better when the MC becomes a hob
I Alone Level-up Everyone Else is a Returnee My Death Flags Show No Sign of Ending I am the Monarch All pretty good and have a reason for growth and why they fight
I love Mimizuku to Yoru no Ou so much! It's pretty cute and short, but also I relate to that semi-existential crisis at the beginning. I totally relate to the struggle of finding good novels. I remember starting to read CN and JP novels for the first time and slowly realizing that every single story I was reading was gradually turning into harem novels (ahem ahem Sword Art Online, Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, Sovereign of the Three Realms ahem ahem). It's part of the reason why I started avoiding wuxia and xianxia novels, since I found a lot of them had the same chronic problems of inching towards harems or annoying love drama. Some good novels: Pain, Pain, Go Away (JP) This is a really good novel! The beginning might seem like it's a romcom, but it's really not. It's kind of dark, deals with some heavy topics, and is even gory at times, with mild romance, but has really nice plot development and plot twists! The author of this novel also has other novels that have extremely high ratings (Three Days of Happiness for instance, which I haven't read before but has a rating of 4.9) Please Give Me Love (JP) This is a pretty heavy novel, revolving around severe depression and suicide. It only has 7 chapters, but beware that each chapter (from what I remember) takes 30 minutes to an hour or more to read. But though it is a heavy novel, the novel is a lot about finding what is meaningful in life and learning how to forgive (again, from what I remember, since it's been years since I've read it). The Girl Who Ate a Death God (JP) About an emotionless girl who is so kickass she eats a Death God nonchalantly. Supernatural Girlfriend (CN) To me, this was a huge change from a lot of CN novels you commonly see, and part of the reason I started reading more supernatural CN novels. No face-slapping, no overbearing ML, just a stupid MC and a slightly less stupid ML. And the supernatural side is pretty interesting too, though not as folklore heavy as most supernatural CN novels. Some more interesting ones (and also more light hearted): Dragon Life (JP) - kind of lighthearted Swamp Girl (JP) - this one seems lighthearted but starts to get more philosophical at the end as the plot twist is revealed. In a World Without Life (JP) Short, cute, just two kids trying to figure out how to live their life In a World Without Life. No face-slapping, no harem. The Bathroom Goddess - kind of weird and quirky, no romance, but interesting The Probability I can Kill my Wife Without being Found out/A Game to Make Him Fall - really interesting! it's a two part series, the first one from the husband's perspective, the second one from the wife's perspective. I probably have more but I don't have time to list all and give descriptions.
Blade Wielding Battle Princess Sakura-Hime ~The Black Haired Maiden’s Lewd Prison of Futanari Ejaculation Animal Training~ Half-elves Fall in Love Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi ~ Sokushi Mahou to Skill Copy no Choetsu Heal The Bloodshot One-Eyed Zombie Emperor X-ray Is More Than I Thought
The Snake Report - a little careless snake geting stronger and into troubles along his adventure Dragon Dragon Dragon - weak and cute little dragoness