Another of my "does this exist" threads. I have read any number of Cultivation Novels where the MC gains a cheat. The specific cheat varies, System, System Analogues, Mystical Resource that Aids their Cultivation, Forbidden & Forgotten Bloodlines, Ghost Grandpa's Teachings, Secret Time Compressed Training Halls, all sorts of things, but one thing is constant, everyone keeps the fact that they have a cheat secret. Obsessively so. So I want to see a Cultivation story where the MC doesn't hide their cheat, at all. It could be that they don't get a chance to, or they don't try to, but either way their cheat is known public knowledge. Now, to be clear, I'm not looking for stories where the MC doesn't have a cheat, or develops a "cheat" in order to match everyone else. Nor am I looking for stories where the MC's cheat is something that, while uncommon, is found in other people (eg, X bloodline that is found in chapter 1243 to be shared with everyone in MC's true family, a significant power in the Immortal Realms). No, I'm looking for stories where the MC has an unfair advantage that others know about from the beginning, and likely want to steal from them, or otherwise remove from the MC's benefit. Honestly, I just think that people hunting down the MC due to their cheat being an interesting potential plot direction that I don't think has popped up often enough, and want to find out if it's more common than I thought.
I didn't read the novel but the original novel that created the character shin hao of history's number one founder. His cheat is stolen when he is a baby so everyone knows.....
does emperors domination, falls in this class? just that the ones that know he is a cheat, doesn't fight him directly? well lets place a ward.
Not what I'm looking for. Close, though. I'm looking for a protagonist who has their cheat, and there are people in the "general public" who knows that the protagonist has said cheat, and what it is. So long as the people aren't "I will die to keep your secret" levels of close to the MC, then it can simply be half a dozen family members who know, but it needs to be someone who can be easily bullied by people who would be aggressive against the MC. I suspect not. I've skimmed to around chapter 50, and haven't seen anything that suggests that people are aware of what the MC's cheat is, just that he has some advantageous knowledge. And even then, many of the people who know can still look down on him. Unless this changes, and the MC's past existence is made public knowledge "soon" (before chapter 200), then I don't think it fits.
Honestly, it would be a pretty short story if the cheat is known to be in the MC's possession. If the cheat is something that can be taken away then you can bet that someone unbeatable (for the MC) will show up, kill the MC and be on his way with his new cheat.
Well there might be novels like this, but I guess the mc would already be a powerhouse where the story starts. You just can't write a story with a kid having a nuclear football and every terrorist group knowing it.
There is one and only one CN novel I know that the MC shows his cheat to his love-interest and allies, and that was because he was too weak to keep it secret from those powerhouses at story start. Other than that there are a lot where MC shows his cheat partly and later on to the story. From the start, I don't think so. Cultivation world, absolutely not. On that note, in most CN novels I read, when someone hide their secret, everyone is wary of them; but when MC hide their cheat from friend/love-interest, they just go "Understandable, everyone has secret too" and never ask about it again. It annoys me to no end.
The loved one not asking is a expression of love and trust to me.since they trust mc not to harm them with the cheat knowing or unknowingly and show that their relationship with the mc is more important than curiosity or greed. Ps. What CN novel you read that match the thread requirements? Can you say the name?
What I referred didn't match because it wasn't Cultivation. It was western Fantasy and "backstage planning MC".
Not Cultivation novel but “Live Dungeon!” A manga series, the protagonist is basically ostracized, and he’s not exactly hiding his skills. Its it cheat that can be taught. It has the feels, like the fact that he has to work interpersonal relationships and sh*tty personal.
Honestly I was about to ask the same question, though with the qualifier "It doesn't need to be Cultivation". The only reason I specified Cultivation is because they always hype up the secrecy, regularly doing things like panicking whenever they're in front of someone who is strong enough to kill them with a sneeze, and when they reach a level where they are oppressed by those who might actually be able to discover their secret cheat, the possibility of their cheat being discovered has long been forgotten and not brought up, and thus nobody ever discovers it because it's the MC's Cheat. Live Dungeon! is originally a novel that we made into a manga, though the manga's translation is further than the novel translation. That said, this fits about as well as anything I'm likely to find, so thank you.
In some of the System and Cultivation novels I read, the MC is discovered early by a high level cultivator, but said cultivator is immediately wiped out by the System to give the reader a sense of "this MC is OP", only for the MC to return to eating dirt to the first half of each arc/map.
I totally agree about the hype, wuxia authors are paramount to the animators of DBZ. It's sad that Eastern tropes are such a meta factor. I really hope to see a novel where an author can blend Western PoV's or tropes into Eastern, bc both genres have different stand points; there are already outliers but it'd take some digging to find more. BUT the patricidal society is great for conflict, but that lead to a whole lot of dog blood I forgot it was an adaptation but hey, adaptations are pretty cool. Live Dungeon is probs my best suggestions bc while the protagonist is a "cheat", he isn't a monopoly and he isn't subservient either. He has his own bottom line and morals. Per your ask I also thought I mention "A Certain Middle-Aged Man’s VRMMO Activity Log". The series is technical and is at most points pursued in the story, thought not [tag: dog blood] style. His choices are made leisurely and his skills is readily available from the system for others to learn. His "cheat" is known to a lot of people and he *tries* to hide it.