Solo Leveling (Volume 2) – The Lizards
Jinwoo survived the double dungeon and now finds himself at the mercy of his daily tasks. Recently he was rewarded with a special dungeon of his own to fight, but is he ready for it? He’s going to have to level up fast!
Solo Leveling (Volume 2) – The Lizards
What happened?
Jinwoo found himself up against a Steel-Fanged Lycan and it had already destroyed his dagger. He tried hitting it with his fists, but the power difference was too great for him to do any damage. Luckily, he had the presence of mind to check his inventory where he found a sword. It was the one Mr Kim had left behind in the double dungeon, but it was all he had so he summoned it and managed to quickly kill the magical beast. Another came soon after giving him a chance to repeat the feat and further level up. More and more came, giving him the chance to level up again and again. However, he could sense the dungeon boss and knew that it was still too strong for him.
Regardless, he pushed on and soon came face-to-face with the Blue Venom-Fanged Kasaka, a giant snake with scales harder than steel. His sword broke instantly, but he kept moving. Dodging and attacking with the remaining stump of the sword. He refused to give up and when the Kasaka got too close to him, he grabbed hold. With only his strength to assist him, he squeezed the monster’s neck, crushing its scales and killing it with his vice-like grip. The dungeon had been defeated and he was given a number of status updates, a dagger made from the Kasaka’s fang and some poison that would harden his skin, but reduce his strength by twenty percent.
After coming out of the dungeon, he walked into the middle of a dungeon break where the boss had emerged into the streets. There were several hunters trying to subdue it, but they weren’t strong enough. Jinwoo looked at the remaining piece of Mr Kim’s sword and then launched it at the stone monster, taking its head off with one strike. He slipped away before anyone noticed. He was able to level up which was unheard of. He didn’t want the attention that might come with something like this, but he needed to find a way to continue to level up and earn money. Luckily, he found a strike party looking to get some extra numbers for a C-ranked dungeon. Should be easy money!
What did you think?
I read the first volume of Solo Leveling back in November 2022 and had it not been for the anime that was released at the end of 2023, I’m sure I would have read this volume much sooner. Either way, I’m already a huge fan of the series and will ensure to get through the available volumes before the second season of the anime airs (there’s no date yet, but an announcement is expected in September 2024). So, back to this volume. I love it when Jinwoo gets the little pop-ups that tell him when he’s levelled up and can hear the computer voice saying it in my head. Using the game mechanics works incredibly well in this situation, especially as it’s set in the real world and this makes for a strange intrusion into reality.
Now, the fight scenes as good as they are in the manwha are nothing compared to the anime and that’s to be expected, although I won’t take anything away from A-1 Pictures who did an amazing job animating it. I don’t think there were any more details either which is quite unusual. Of course, you do tend to take more in when reading as you can stop and slow down as needed. When the anime gets going, it’s a blur of action and intensity so things could be missed. I’m not sure what else to say other than, I love this series and will be back soon with my thoughts on the next volume. This one ended with him going into the special dungeon where Jinwoo fought Hell’s Gatekeeper Cerberus. I can’t wait!
Volume highlights
Series Information
| English Title | Solo Leveling |
| Japanese Title | Ore dake Level Up na Ken |
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Fantasy |
| Demographic | Seinen |
Manwha
| Series | Solo Leveling |
| Author | Chugong |
| Artist | Dubu |
| Volumes | Ongoing |
| 1 | The Weakest Hunter of All Mankind |
| 2 | The Lizards |
Anime
Season One
As much as I wished some of the writing elements of this source material went to another direction or that they could’ve been better written, Solo Leveling seems to nail in emphasizing the usage of a Level System.
Of course I’ve seen this device seen in many Japanese isekai or non-isekai stories, but the fact I don’t see them primarily as LitRPG is because they rarely focus in the device with more detailed. e.g. To me, Shield Hero is an isekai, but to label it as LitRPG would be inappropriate since majority of the storytelling focused on the protagonist’s deeds and that there’s barely any detailed stuff in portraying his Level System.
I did mention Solo Leveling, despite having every plot point be written simplistic, can be considered as the blueprint for LitRPG subgenre happening in the following manhwas. Omniscient Reader will be the next one which I hope the anime version doesn’t change anything too drastically.
Sometimes I find that storytellers try to be too different and it doesn’t work. Solo Leveling keeps things simple and does it very effectively.
Apparently, the books go more into the system detail in Shield Hero but I’ve only seen the anime and that was very much story first and game mechanics second.
Think you’re more likely to find success with something that keeps things simple but does them well than trying to break the mold too much. It can work, but it’s too easy to fall flat on your face.