Does anyone have any good novels where the MC doesn't start cultivating/leveling up at the beginning of the novel? I'm looking for novels like King Shura, where the MC is a mortal for a long time and has to rely on his special eyesight and his knowledge of math and formations. Invincible Saint is another example, the MC doesn't gain any levels until the end of the 2nd book, in the first book it's because he's raising skill levels and the second it's because he's accidentally taking a level suppressant. I'd love to read more novels that start out like this, especially since most novels say that Cultivation Realm is meaningless at the latter half since most Chosen can fight a stage above their realm, and MCs can often fight 2 realms above their actual cultivation.
Immortal starts out that way, having to create his empire to cultivate. Not sure how long that lasted though.
There’s only a few like that. Off the top of my head: 1. World of Cultivation despite there being cultivation the first 1/5 of the book is basically economics of being a spirit rice farmer in a cultivation world the story. 2. Renegade Immortal there’s a whole arc quite a ways in where he has to become mortal to understand his Dao and it’s very touching.
The only good part of A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality is the first 100ish chapters when the MC still hasn't joined a real cultivation sect (though technically he's a low-level cultivator without really knowing it). So yeah, you could read that, though since the rest of the novel is meh at best and mostly garbage there's not really much of a reason to do so...
and don't forget the plot armor @CosmicInsomniac, that covers 90% of your end line, anyway you might want to check the tags OP MC, Strong from the start, Strong to stronger and weak to strong
I would say Thriller Paradise is an option. It is a VR game thing so in game MC can level up and stuff but he isn’t that good at fighting and mostly depends upon intelligence, deduction and such (he is actually quite similar to Joker in a way and he even wears Joker clothes for his avatar too) and is a struggling writer in real life. But there is a mystery about Thriller Paradise and whether gods and other supernatural entities are real or what not but well hidden. I guess you could also see Cultivation Chat Group? MC doesn’t religiously cultivate and was a regular person until he was added to the group. Fairly normal overall in temperament and it is only later he gets stronger and such.
While he doesn't actually stay "mortal" for particularly long, the MC of Emperor's Domination spends a really, really, really long ass time (1~2k chapters) picking fights with enemies way out of his league, in terms of personal cultivation. He does slowly gain in personal strength, but it's more like he's trying to catch up with the rest of the world than actually using that personal strength to fight. Instead, he relies more on knowledge, old friends and connections to topple his enemies. Ze Tian Ji has an MC that can't cultivate due to injuries. He overcomes that eventually, obv, but it does last for a decent period of time.
Spoiler: I don't think Thriller Paradise is fitting Gods and other supernatural entities are real. And MC isn't a normal human since the beginning. I hope you can give Game of Gods a try. MC has quite a struggling between moral of normal human and moral of supernatural entities.
Spoiler Nothing in the novel indicates he's human/Homo sapiens. Technically, Feng Bujue is a humanoid creature.