Dust lies thick on the floor of the throne room, the once gleaming marble now aged and stained, worn to a muted grey. Chandeliers that once gleamed now tarnish, darkening a little more with every passing year, and even the throne, gleaming, golden thing that it was doesn't shine as much as it used to.

Igris does not know how long he has stood here, standing vigil over his long dead King. It does not matter, he will stay there until he too rusts into nothing, no matter how many thousands of years that might take.

That changes.

My thoughts:

This fic is quite literally the only reason this shelf exists. I'm not actually super into the Solo Leveling fandom space. I only read and watched it because my dad is obsessed with it. (And privately, I thought it was kind of mid. Really fun to read, but mid.) So imagine my shock when I discovered what is one of the most beautiful pieces of worldbuilding I've ever seen in a fic where Jinwoo has a sentient armor kink. The internet truly is a marvel.

If you've seen any of my other recs, you know I'm a whore for good worldbuilding, and this? This fic right here? Immaculate. Frankly this is my canon now and you'll have to cremate me with it. It is genuinely so interesting and strangely pristine. It fits. It makes so much sense. The culture porn is truly pornographic.

The story itself is also amazing. The thing I felt Solo Leveling was missing, the thing that might have made it great, was a more in-depth look into Jinwoo's character. Here you have this super strong character that still has the mentality of the weak. It's actually a really compelling premise. And Solo Leveling did nothing with it. Once Jinwoo passes a certain threshold, we lose that insight into his thoughts and trade it it for the mystic of power. And yeah, that's its own version of satisfying, but it also flattens his character. This fic has that insight the canon was missing. Jinwoo, at the end of the day, is a very simple person with very simple wants and needs. He doesn't have these big dreams of saving the world or whatever the fuck. He cares about his family and his friends and that's fucking it. That mentality inherently clashes with the reality of his rise to power. You see some of that in canon, but this fic really gets into it. Even as he becomes godlike in his power, he still feels wholly human with all the fraility that entails.

TLDR? It's really fucking good. Read it.