Oathbound

3.5/5 for the series as a whole.

Surgecaller is very heavily inspired by Cradle. You've got the weak shunned MC who discovers the region he grew up in was the weakest in the world. The endgoal is set early on and the entire series is working towards it.

In general it's pretty good. I have 2 issues that hold it back.

1. The MC isn't great. Unlike Lindon, Huon is mostly an annoying brat. He doesn't gain power through talent or incredible hard work, he just gets it handed to him and still whines about it. He also doesn't have much of a personality and his powers are very generic. Nothing unique here

2. The powersystem isn't great or consistent. “It takes years to go from tier 1 to 2, or 1 random pill created from 1 random encounter”. You can gain completely overpowered abilities from random monsters, but barely anyone seems to look for them. Just doesn't make much sense

After reading the first book, the only word that kept repeating is “Short-er”........

Was it better than a certain Martial Arts Zero to Hero??? I would say on the nature of advancement, Shi Lin(you know who he is) universe has a more stable and logical reason to advancing plus that reasoning is what made Shi Lin's universe more readable, rather than just cultivating or surging(I mean, I would read a more detailed reason why I turned into level 50 Assassin, as against killing and amassing XP to become level 50.......

Both main characters have that Iron Will to become the BEST AND HIGHEST warrior/mage they hope to be, but Shi Lin's beginning was a bit whiny, while Huon was dilly dallying(should I or should I not), both value companions, since they were lonely from the start(Shi Lin from being soulless from the start, to Huon's oathless because his mother tried hiding him), someone had to kick both (our mains)to start the ball rolling(as we say)...

Since I have caught up with Shi Lin's story(waiting for the last book), I have barely scratched Huon's but definitely Huon's story is a bit shorter and rushed(??)...are they the same though, well they are, progression fantasy, shunned in the beginning, but once they start amassing experience well......., enemies turned to companions turned to love interest(at least for Shi Lin), the need to right a wrong, to become THE BEST......

Ummmmm Cradle(Yes, yes, it is THAT series)had better rank names as compared to Surgecaller's I mean, Legend versus Underlord.

“I am Underlord Mojita, May I ask the name of my distinguished guest from another realm”. “I have the priviledged of being called Legend Susamuno”......and......“why are you rolling around laughing”.......”is this how you treat a guest”???!!!! “For this shameful act I will”.....(Hahahhahahahhhha, urgghhhhhh that technique just obliterated my lower half, if only I can just stop laughing........Legend....................HAHAAHHAHAHAHA, Monarch, I have failed you!!!!!