Solo Leveling (Volume 4) – Unless You’re An S-Rank!
After meeting with Jinah’s teacher, Jinwoo is tasked with convincing another Hunter to finish school before becoming a professional. However, he already knows her from Jinho’s strike team and she’s an E-Ranked Hunter!
Solo Leveling (Volume 4) – Unless You’re An S-Rank!
What happened?
Jinwoo quickly came to terms with his new role as a necromancer, well, that was until he instantly levelled up to become a Shadow Monarch. That allowed him to summon the spirits of the recently deceased and turn them into his own shadow army. He instantly summoned the fallen knights and mages, but soon realised that there was a limit to how many he could have at once and it was best to prioritise the strongest possible warriors. He released several of the shadows and then turned his attention to Igres the Bloodred. However, the first two times failed, leaving him just one chance to convince Igres to join his side. It worked, adding an incredible warrior to Jinwoo’s army.
After getting back from the Job-Change Quest, Jinwoo was rudely woken by his sister, Jinah whom he had agreed to meet with her teacher for a parent-teacher meeting. He decided it was best to put on his best clothes and make an impression, however, that just seemed to draw a lot of unwanted attention. Jinah’s teacher told Jinwoo that she was doing very well and that he didn’t need to worry about keeping on top of her to complete her studies. There was, however, another thing she would like his help with. Another student, one of Jinah’s friends had awakened and was planning on quitting school. Jinwoo agreed to meet with her, although he was surprised to discover that it was Songyi from Jinho’s strike team.
Songyi is an E-Ranked Hunter and despite that, she’s determined to quit school and focus on being a Hunter. However, rather than telling her not to do it, he tries a different approach by offering to make her the best she can be. For that, he arranges to go into a Gate with a training team from the White Tiger Guild. It’s a C-Ranked Gate so it’ll be perfect to show Songyi just how outmatched she is. However, as soon as they enter the Gate, it becomes a Red Gate. Red Gates do not allow anyone to leave until the Boss has been defeated or the Dungeon Break happens.
The Hunters split into two groups at the orders of the A-Ranked Hunter, Chul-Kim. He takes the higher-ranked Hunters and plans on defeating the boss, leaving the lower-ranked Hunters, including Jinwoo behind, believing that they will be dead before long. One B-Ranked Mage leaves Chul-Kim to side with Jinwoo. She saw something that convinced her that he was their best chance of survival. Her decision was right. However, when Chul-Kim’s party was defeated, they left him alive and followed him back to the others. Jinwoo was going to have to fight the boss and reveal his secret or let the others die first!
With his secret exposed, Jinwoo exited the Red Gate unaware that Dongsoo Hwang had just been outside waiting for him. However, upon realising it turned into a Red Gate, he had no hope of avenging his brother’s death and left, but not before picking a fight with the White Tigers Guild Master, Yoonho Baek. When the Gate reopened, Yoonho tried to ask Jinwoo what happened, but when he shrugged him off and told him to talk to his guild members Yoonho told Sangmin Ahn to do whatever it took to recruit him. If only it was that simple. Jinwoo took Songyi home, however, he had to pick her up again the next morning for another of Jinho’s strike teams.
After completing his contract with Jinho, Jinwoo told him that he would be gone for about a week. He had some business that he needed to take care of. That business was entering the Demon’s Castle. Last time, he knew that he wasn’t strong enough to enter it, but now he felt different. His level had increased massively and now he had his shadow warriors with him, including the spirit of Chul-Kim, now called Iron. They battled their way through the castle as Jinwoo attempted to gain 10,000 demon souls. By the time he was done, he had defeated the seventy-fifth floor, which included two bosses, acquiring the formula for the Elixir of Life and two of the three ingredients needed. He knew where he would find the third, but he wasn’t ready for that yet. The most pressing thing was that he needed to reveal his newfound strength to the world, but that came with its own risks!
What did you think?
If this is how the next season of the anime is going to start, we are in for the mother of all treats. This was incredible. I loved how Jinwoo took Songyi into a Gate to show her just how dangerous it is, and for it to then become a Red Gate made it all the more impressive. Of course, that just meant that he had to show everyone what he was capable of. I liked Heejin, the mage who left Chul-Kim’s team to join Jinwoo. That showed how perceptive she is which bodes well for her. I don’t know if we’ll see much of her again, but I’d welcome that chance. It was also nice how Dongsoo arrived to see his plans for vengeance ruined, but then he got another chance when a mysterious Hunter appeared in a Gate in the United States claiming to be Ilhwan Sung, Jinwoo’s father. I can’t wait to see where that goes!
And then Jinwoo finally got retested and it broke the measuring equipment, confirming him as the tenth S-Ranked Hunter in Korea. That instantly brought two Guild Masters to the testing centre in an attempt to recruit Jinwoo – Yoonho Baek of the White Tigers and Jongin Choi of the Hunters Guild. He brushed them both off and left, awaiting a retest with a more sensitive machine. However, that was just a cover to allow Gunhee Go of the Hunter Association to approach him first and offer him a chance to join them instead of a guild. This was an epic volume and it showed just how far Jinwoo has gone since the first volume, especially the way he had Igres kill Chul-Kim so that he could summon him as an A-Ranked Shadow Warrior. Not to mention the implications that the system also controls the monsters as they don’t recognise Jinwoo as human. So many new threads have been revealed and I can’t wait to see where they all go!
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 | Chapters | Webtoon Chapters |
| 1 | The Weakest Hunter of All Mankind | 1-3 | 1-12 |
| 2 | The Lizards | 3-5 | 13-26 |
| 3 | Job-Change Quest | 6-8 | 27-44 |
| 4 | Unless You’re An S-Rank! | 9-10 | 45-63 |
| 5 | May I Kill All of These Magic Beasts? | 11-13 | 64-81 |
| 6 | I’d Lost My Cool Too! | 14-17 | 82-97 |
| 7 | Everything Will Be Fine! | 18-21 | 98-110 |
| 8 | One-Man Guild! | 22-24 | 111-122 |
| 9 | It Was War! | 25-27 | 123-134 |
| 10 | The Deal is Off! | 28-30 | 135-146 |
Anime
Season One
As much as I’m more dedicated to ORV series due having more writing elements that appeal to my personal preferences, I still appreciate SoLev being presented as it is; And that is this is a power fantasy story that’s interesting in its own way. Expect many anime-original scenes that at least give supporting characters have a more decent and proper characterization.
Still, I would’ve preferred if they presented at least a skill from Han Song-yi even if she’s an E-rank, and whom I wrote a major character based on this teenage character in my own series with a few vast differences between them two, and that she’s not buddy-buddy with my heroine, Kang Joo-yeon, for the right reasons.
It’s been several years, and I’m still a bit disappointed that the female characters (except Joohee who’s the only female character that’s not based on gender bias writing) of this series was unable to get more appropriate characterisation (in which I’m able to dispel this dissatisfaction with ORV’s existence). Also, this dissatisfaction inspired my future chapters go in a different-but-clearer direction even though my work title isn’t emphasizing “soloing” stuff.
I think it’s best to enjoy Solo Leveling for what it is. It’s an action-packed power-fantasy about one guy rising up against everything. Sure the side characters aren’t going to be as well fleshed out as we might hope, but that’s like complaining about action movies not having an intricate plot. That’s not why people are watching it. They want to see stuff go boom and cool heroes dropping cheesy one-liners.
If that inspires others to write different stories that that’s great. I find there’s more to be learned from stories that do something you didn’t like than something you did. Take that energy and turn it into something cool.
Nice post 🌺🌺
Thanks