Recommendations Chiness novel without cultivation.

You should try Chronicles of Primordial Wars
There are around 3 cultivation levels (if you can call it that, and the only cultivation that happens is they train the almost-good-ol-fashioned way) throughout the whole novel, no sublevels.

 

The Dark King

 

no wonder its primordial, they haven't developped at all

 

Thank you. Of course I know about serie finder but I didn't wich tags/genres corresponded to cultivation.

And thank you eveyone!

 

I'm Really a Superstar
Very Pure and Very Ambiguous: The Prequel
In a Different World with Naruto System - well, there's cultivation here but the MC doesn't do it and instead practice the charkras in Naruto...well, I guess that's still cultivation? Whatever, I'm still suggesting it
My Wife is a Beautiful CEO - has the cultivation tag but when I read it, I don't think it has...or maybe it does but it's explained very simply. MC is OP from the start and doesn't cultivate from how I see it...


...why can't I add links??? meh, whatever...

 

Well there are quite a lot of cultivation novels but there are good one's too(without cultivation)

If you like modern setting then you should read I'm "Really A Superstar"
If you like past setting then "A Step into the Past" , by the way its one of my personal favorites

The Amber Sword
The Dark King

well thats what I can recall right now......

 

Very pure has cultivation tho. just a slightly different kind?

 

Strange Life of a Cat

 

The Amber Sword, The Experimental Log of the Crazy Lich, and the Infinity series - all these game systems still have XP and levels which are basically the same as cultivation levels. The higher the level you are the stronger you are and the more abilities and items you can use etc. It's no different to cultivation.

It's all just cultivation in disguise.

The only CN stories that are free from levelling up are stories where the MC makes use of his superior knowledge or intellect, like Release that Witch, The Grandmaster Strategist and The Dark King, or sci-fi ones like The Three Body Problem.

 

I am very aware of the fact they're very similar, but it's been widely accepted as two different things.

 

Source?

 

Take a look at the community, the tags, the authors, the genres.

Plus, many game novels have HUD while the same does not apply to cultivation. That's a huge difference.

 

You know in China they group all of these novels together as "levelling up" novels?

I'm guessing you've never heard the term 小白升级文？

Also, lol @ the HUD argument.

 

The OP asked “Anything is fine Sword/Magic/Game/transport to another world.....but not cultivation.” ELCL is all four, but without cultivation. How does that Not qualify? If you want to be picky, Anna formed a Dantian didn't she?

Also, I've read the entire series, and the series is not focused on increasing levels/powers. On the contrary, the protagonist of ELCL spends most of his efforts scheming and establishing institutions, like the legal system in the first arc. His personal power is secondary. He's a bigger schemer than the protagonist of Release that Witch.

 

Why should I care about what China would say? They have their own term, we have ours.

HUD not enough? Cultivation can be "level up" when someone is meditating. That's AFK for game, which is most of the novels(so far only one novel I've seen where the MC does nothing to level up).

Man, you're just trying to be a smartass for trying to change something that's been widely accepted.

 

So, "it has politics" -> "it's not a levelling up story"? If that's the case most cultivation stories wouldn't be cultivation stories.

Also, what does this passage sound like to you:

I don't know what it sounds like to you, but to me it doesn't sound like politics.

"We" in this instance being (you). The Chinese are the main readership of Chinese webnovels, collectively they've probably read many more novels than you have, so I would trust their categorization over yours.

Cultivation is levelling up, the exact same as in a game. Literally common sense. We're arguing over nothing.

 

Terrible comparison. Game and cultivation are like apple tree and orange tree. Politic and cultivation are like animal and plantation.

We're comparing games and cultivation. Yea, they have read more cultivation novels than us. But when it comes to game, it's JP, KR and CN. It should be taken into account that the number of readers for game elements far outnumbered CN reader. Yes I know OP is asking about CN game novel but we're(referring to everyone who reads novel translations) have rights to determine what should be qualified as game element novels.

Yes we're arguing over nothing. You mentioned something insignificant, you might want to rethink that you should keep your opinion to yourself and stop forcing it to others.

There's a distinction between these two genres. They are very similar, however, they aren't the same.

 

That is like saying a tragedy is a comedy in disguise, they both have the reader feel emotions.

While there is a similarity in cultivation and game system, there is also a distinct difference. Cultivation focuses on refinement, where the user trains, meditates, takes pills. Game systems are managed by a system which implicates the rules of the world. Aka, in a game system, the world is making people stronger through methods such as killing others. In cultivation, killing others will not gain you improvement (unless your cultivation method involves killing, but even then it is not distributed by level). The difference lies in internal or external improvements.

Game system also gives a breakdown of stats where as cultivation strength is more generic. So in a game system novel you know how fast a person is due to AGI. But in cultivation, you get fast or faster, but no definite. Someone with high AGI can beat people 10 levels above, but that is harder to quantify in cultivation.

There are novels which have both cultivation and game system levels, such as Paradise of Demons and Gods.

 

Oy, perhaps you should read the OP again. The OP is fine with gaming series, so he's fine with leveling up. He only said he doesn't want cultivation and martial arts. That's a specific category. Even if you think Cultivation and fantasy MMORPG is the same, it doesn't matter as long as it fits what the OP is looking for. If you think that anything that involves becoming stronger is cultivation, then magic, swords and games are all genres the OP would not be able to ask for.

Now let me ask YOU. Can a series Not be about scheming if there are stats involved? Then if Anna got what's obviously a dantian, does that mean Release that Witch is a cultivation novel? There is plenty of scheming involved in ELCL. Throughout the entire series, the MC is involved in the start of several religious movements, several nation-building + nation alliances, several technology/economic trends, not to mention scamming numerous faction into one or another direction. Throughout the entire series, not once is he even close to being the most powerful being in the world. His allies could beat him to a pulp. The girls around him could beat him to a pulp. Several of his subordinates / creations could beat him to a pulp. Yes, his opponents too. Becoming strong is necessary because otherwise he'd get swatted away like a fly before he's done scheming, but unlike cultivation novels it's never been a goal in itself.

Also, I'm half-Chinese myself, thanks. I'll trust Qidian's categorization, which lists Amber Sword and ELCL in a category separate from Xianxia (and doesn't even have a Level Up category). I'll trust Qidian's categories over the vague ones you choose to use yourself.

 

Taking pills can increase your level in a game world as well....so that doesn't count. Killing others is a method routinely used to level up for demonic cultivators...so that doesn't count. Breakdown of stats...can be found in cultivation novels as well, so that doesn't count either.

No, magic and swords do not imply levelling up, neither do games which do not feature a levelling-up mechanism (although these are not many). You're choosing to interpret the OP's question overly strictly, which is fine, but then you're saying your interpretation is the only correct one, which is unjustifiable without the MC's clarification. I'm not saying my interpretation is the only correct one, but I have provided reasons as to why it is reasonable.

Right, but neither is becoming the strongest in the world the primary motivation in most xianxia novels. The MCs in novels such as TTNH are motivated by the desire to become stronger to protect people they care about...so your argument doesn't hold.

And you've failed to notice that these are GENRES, not CATEGORIES. Xianxia is a GENRE, same as sci-fi. You can have xianxia with or without levelling up the same as you can have sci-fi with or without levelling up. So yes, levelling up stories are a thing, the same as "comedy" and "tragedy" are CATEGORIES (but not GENRES) on qidian. Just because you can't see "comedy" being listed as a genre on qidian doesn't mean it doesn't exist. "Levelling up" is a category that exists to me and many other people just as "comedy" and "tragedy" are categories that exist, as evidenced by reviews if you read them.

And LOL @ the guy who says I'm "forcing my opinion on others". I'm not forcing my opinions on anyone. I'm merely presenting an argument and you may choose to agree with it or not. This is the nature of civil discourse. Just because you don't agree doesn't mean I'm forcing it on you. Maybe it's a cultural difference. Okay, thanks for being civil. I think I've made my point, so I'll take my leave.