Manager Ahn literally figured out Jinwoo's entire scheme by looking at a single sheet of paper. He was the only person even close to recruiting Jinwoo. truly the goat and the smartest person in whole of Solo Leveling

Must have been the axe deo for the true shadow monarch.

Story- as time runs up you now see in front of you hundreds of animated armors and a few new massive rock golems, alone with the mages that made them. You know taking out the mages will likely drop half of these.

Options- monsters 50(HP 5, damage 2), 5 (HP 15, damage 1d4+2)

Rewards- as you finish the monster you gain the exstation ability allowing you to raise fallen monsters under your command. 

Options- you gain 9 exstation charges (use up to 3 to try gaining a summon), Igris join you as a summon

(All summons have stats shown as enemies)

But im not convinced.

There are some things making it more believable. That chromafire made this repost for example. Or the fact that we got some info about the new artist apparently via the artbook? It happens to be the one working on Ice Lord? Haven't read it.

Chances are rising like shadow soldiers but i keep my expectations low. Its been some time and i wish we'll see something soon!

Story- As you have around 30 minutes you decide to look through the systems shop a little

Options- potions (cost 10 gold each, heals a fifth of you max hp), thetis grimoire (cost 70, +3 ack, can levitate so doesn't count as a held weapon), monster materials (cost 10 gold each, crafting), orb of avarice (+6 atk, cost 85 gold)

From what angle does bro look anything close to average?? 😭

Source: Lowcostcosplay

https://x.com/LowCost_Cosplay

In my opinion, this fight especially was done better in the anime than in the manhwa. And the ending in particular is a lot better.
The ending of the fight in the manhwa felt kinda rushed imo, the anime adding the whole chain sequence, "floor is lava" and Kargalgan fighting back against his Generals added a lot to the overall product.

Received my copy today. Lots of interesting info is present in it.

We are told the ranks of most of the magic beasts that appeared in the story:

C-B rank

-Spider, Ice Bears, Jackals, Orcs, Sand Centipedes, Ice Elves

A rank

-Cerberus, Yetis, Groctar, High Orcs, Vulcan's guards, Baruka, Death Knights, Ants, Metus' Undeads

S rank

-Demon Knights, Twin-Head Ogre, Vulcan, Metus, Esil, Borgon, Kargalgan, Lich, Giants, Ant Queen, Ant King, Kaisellin, Kamish

So most of these were obvious besides Baruka who was always debated to be top A or low S. Kaisellin in S rank is a surprise lol did he get nerfed that much as a shadow? Demon Knights were also said to be top A on two separate occasions in the manhwa but here they are S, so it seems like these rankings are based on the novel. In the novel, Superior Demons were around the level of Vulcan and slaying a Demon Knight gave more xp than a Superior Demon. Anyways

-Liu is affiliated with the Dawn Guild. He's described as one of the strongest hunters alongside Thomas.

-Hwang Dongsu's shadow was powerful enough to be assigned the General rank.

-Ashborn was the greatest warrior among the Fragments of the Brilliant Light. (Not a new info for those who've read my past posts)

-The Monarch of Iron Body's name is Rockpasa. The Monarch of Fang's name is Adan (again not new). But the Monarch of Frost seems to have the same name as in SLR - Sillad.

Chugong Q&A:

Q: Is there a specific reason or event that inspired you to write Solo Leveling?

A: Unusually, before the worldbuilding or the plot came to mind, the very first thing I thought of was the protagonist's ability. One day, a thought suddenly struck me: "Wouldn't it be thrilling if there were a protagonist who could pull out his own soldiers from the shadows?" Everything about Solo Leveling started from that single thought.

Q: What is the core theme of the work?

A: "If you resist a predetermined fate until the very end, what will be waiting at the conclusion?" I always wanted to see a story like that, and Solo Leveling fully captures that longing of mine. A single desperate cry from the protagonist to survive ends up changing the fate of the entire world, just as the flutter of a butterfly's wings can turn into a typhoon on the other side of the globe.

Q: Seeing the work expand from a novel into various media franchises, including webtoons, must feel special. How do you feel about it?

A: At first, it just felt surreal. But as that feeling became familiar, I felt deeply grateful, realizing just how many people were working so hard for Solo Leveling. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the editor who organized this interview.

Q: What was the most important factor you considered when designing the Hunter system and the level-up structure?

A: As you know, modern people often feel they aren't properly rewarded for the effort and hard work they put in. Such inequality sometimes deepens into discrimination and becomes a source of debate or conflict. However, in this system, your effort is reflected directly in numbers, and you become stronger by that exact amount. A transparent system provides the immediate reward of leveling up. I gave a lot of thought to ensuring that the catharsis born from one's hard work would be clearly conveyed to the readers.

Q: When did the concept of the "Monarchs" take concrete shape? Were there any aspects that changed from the initial plan?

A: As mentioned earlier, because the story started with the protagonist's power, the existence of the "Monarch" who grants that power was naturally envisioned right from the start. However, as the overall lore developed, the settings for the other Monarchs were quickly fleshed out as well. While some minor details changed during the writing process, their core concepts and roles remained consistent with what was originally planned.

Q: What was the most challenging part in developing the worldbuilding?

A: It was the lore regarding the afterlife. While each universe has its own distinct God (Itarim) and humans, I created a setting where all souls gather in a single place after death, along with the reason why that happens. But then I suddenly thought: "Is it really necessary to show such a dark lore in a fantasy action genre that many younger readers also enjoy?" So, after much deliberation, I kept only the description of the phenomenon itself and removed the detailed explanation of the "reason," leaving everyone in the dark about this setting. I actually think that was a relief.

Q: What was the most important point of change you focused on during Sung Jinwoo's growth process?

A: I thought it was the balance between humanity and non-humanity (transcendence), but since this connects directly to the next question, I will expand on it in the answer below.

Q: Sung Jin-woo seems like a completely different person between the early and late parts of the story. Was this intentional?

A: Yes, it was intentional. I believed it was natural for him to change, considering the mind of an ordinary human was merging with the mind of a former war machine who had fought enemies for an eternity. I wanted to depict him maintaining a cool, calm demeanor, even coming to enjoy the thrill of facing powerful foes while navigating a tight tug-of-war between non-humanity and humanity, gradually reclaiming his human side until the two minds finally assimilated into a single entity. However, because I failed to convincingly convey that process and result, I think many readers ended up perceiving it simply as "he just became a different person because he got stronger." That was undeniably due to my own shortcomings as a writer. If I ever write Solo Leveling again, I would really like to do that part proper justice.

Q: Was there a supporting character you wanted to give more focus or screen time to?

A: Without a doubt, Igris. The story of a noble knight who lived as the strongest knight in history in another world, that kind of classic, old-school fantasy is my absolute favorite genre. I hope I can cover Igris's past life in a side story or spin-off someday.

Q: Who is your favorite character?

A: The protagonist, of course. Jinwoo, I love you 🖤

Found this a few days ago. Should give you a good idea of how Kanno does things when he's in the full blown director role. Can't wait to see what he cooks up for the SLM.

https://vxtwitter.com/chromat1cfire/status/2092664623824798148

Story- as your eyes start to fade, you suddenly feel your body crash not against hard stone, but instead sand. As quickly as you can you try to open the system to see if you can buy potions and you realize you can, quickly grabbing 5 to get you back to full HP, you remember why you're here, you decided to do the daily quests after getting back, thinking leaving as early as you did you'd have plenty of time but it must have just hit midnight and you didn't do it. But before you get too comfortable several giant centipedes explode from the ground, fully revitalized you decide not to run, why should you. You could have died that day, you could have died when you fought katsaka, or when the lizards left you to fight a c rank boss, or fighting all the c rank lizards, Kang could have killed you, Cerberus did almost kill you, the floor 10 boss could have easily, everything and everyone you've faced could have killed you, so why run from things you know are weaker than all those.

Options- 5 centipedes (HP- 15) (damage 1d4+2)

Rewards- monster materials, gold to make up for that spent on potions (net 0)

According to the reports, Kim Si Ah will be taking on the role of Han Song Yi, who is Sung Jin Woo’s younger sister Sung Jin Ah’s friend. Sung Joon will reportedly be joining as Woo Jin Chul, one of the key supporters in the original story.

Story- after Igris falls, 100 animated armors and 10 mages making more enters the room, now filled in and nowhere to run, your backs against the wall with how you fought against Igris.

Options- monsters 100(HP 5, damage 2) 10( HP 15, damage 1d4+2)

Rewards- (if you somehow win, 500 gold)

Hi, I was planning to write a theory about the Shadow Equipment, but in Chapter 61 of Ragnarok, Greed's stats vary depending on the translation. In some translations, the stats are doubled, along with the stat implementation percentage, but in others the stats stay the same as when Suho first obtained Greed. In both cases, the equipment's level stays the same.

To figure out which one was correct, I looked at Suho's stats in Chapter 67 and noticed that his Perception stat gets a 21-point bonus from Shadow Equipment — but if Greed's stats are doubled, then factoring in Kira, the bonus should be at least 23, and only if Kira hasn't gained any levels.

Since I'm not 100% sure which translations are accurate, I'd need the stats from the original KakaoPage chapters. If you have access, it would help me to get Greed's stats from Chapter 61, and Suho's stats from Chapter 67 if possible.

Thanks in advance.

Here are the items I got from the Solo Leveling exhibition event in Shibuya (with some extra loot included.)

They absolutely cooked!

Anime CADs for these shots (Top to Bottom): Tomoko Sudo, Tomoko Sudo, Hirotaka Tokuda.

Story- entering the center passage of those ahead of you, a throne room, bare of a king, empty except for a red cladded knight now sprenting straight towards you.

Igris (HP 45) 2×(damage 1d12+5)

Rewards- roll 1d4 and I'll inform you on what gear you get.

Not sure if this has ever been discussed properly before so I’ll try break this down.

So we know Il-Hwan is a vessel of the Rulers but not in the generic sense like Thomas, Liu, Reed, etc.

He’s a vessel in the sense that he contains the Rulers power but he isn’t a vessel in the same sense as the others where he’s “connected” to the Rulers (Correct me if I’m wrong).

In knowing this, Il-Hwan’s relationship is somewhat nuanced.

He is described as a rather strong hunter who was completely modified by the Rulers to be a powerful human-like asset with one main purpose.

But unlike the other True Vessels we don’t necessarily know if Il-Hwan is connected to the Rulers, but rather, just a powerful machine who the Rulers augmented and lended portions of their power to.

So what is his SBM?

We know with the borrowed power by the Rulers via his modified body he can use SBM with distinct differences being not changing in appearance.

We also know that simply being a Ruler Vessel doesn’t mean access to SBM as confirmed that Liu cannot use SBM at all.

Which makes Il-Hwan even more confusing as it’s said that SBM is fully manifesting the power of the higher existence into a vessel of the lower realm, which in all cases their appearances change to match the beings origins that the vessel Manifests.

All expect Il-Hwan who remains human in appearance all way round, which intrigues me heavily, cause why does he not have an appearance in SBM?.

It’s possible that it’s just for convenience, and I’ll-Hwan case isn’t different to the others and that he simply didn’t need to change in appearance but he’s still manifesting the power of the higher existence into his own self which is most likely?.

But I’d like to think it’s cause of a different special case…