System Only Gives Me Useless Gifts

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Li Yun grew up with a system that gave him useless gifts. He wanted a reward that could prove the existence of the system, but ended up with abstract gifts like culture. Without physical proof, he was stuck wondering whether his mind was truly sane, all the while dealing with the reality of life and cultivating his own path.

How will the "useless" system help Li Yun navigate medical school, hospital politics, criminal cases, treasure hunting, farming, and cooking?

Author's Note: This is a slice-of-life novel chronologically detailing the life of a doctor with a mission-type system. It's written as a faux modern Chinese novel, so there are many 1-off characters and episodic mini-arcs. Book 1 and 2 are available onAmazon.

Copyrights of the novel and cover are owned by Chocomug. Novel is free to read and download for personal use, such as offline reading, only.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2021
Author: chocomug

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.3/ 5.0
Followers: 942
Views: 1,455,277

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

bwfoster78Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is an excellent story. Great character. Interesting premise. A good amount of humor that doesn't cross into being too silly. Very different than the kind of stories that I usually read while having similar LitRPG like elements. I tend to enjoy stories where the character is OP, and this one definitely isn't. It really works, though. I'm glad I found this tale!
RenomisRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Imagine you're the only one who can cultivate in the modern world, except you cultivate by helping people. It's a slow burn, through and through, and is a SLICE OF LIFE novel more than anything. If you like beware of chicken, then this is a similar to the relaxed writing style. The author is very detailed in his writing and explanations and clearly researches things before writing. Ever want to know about heart surgery or growing herbs? Well you'll know either way if you read it. The grammar and writing are well done, but not like void herald storytelling so the pacing can be a bit slow. I think it's an excellent read though and look forward to every chapter.
Samson ChuiRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This novel is amazing. I literally come back once a year to re read it. Comedy gold, especially for people who are familiar with Xiana or cultivation novels.
not a satire, but a modern day version.
seriously read this.
all it takes is 1 chapter. Nay 3 paragraphs. If you don’t like it after that then you’re probably not going to like it.
love this book. Looking for author to write more
Spiritual_noviceRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I loved the story.
It is a slow burn story, that has enough plots to keep you engaged form beginning to end.
To be truthful it was nothing like what I expected from reading the synopsis, but it kept me reading.
The first issue for me were the time skips, I wish they were smother and my second and last issue is the ending.
But overall I loved the characters and the storyline.
I have wanted to review this story since chapter 45, but I stopped myself as I usually lose interest in the middle of these types of stories or the storyline changes into a completely different direction. With this book the main storyline was consistent throughout with changes you would expect in anyone's life.
The author did a good job making us see the main character as a perso ,while making him unique enough to be interesting. He had his strengths and weaknesses that helped keep him balanced and not be too overpowered.
His system is not too over powering but at the same time it is not so average that it is useless. I would really love to read more. The ending was just a little underwhelming.
toracRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I’ve already read the original on Scribblehub, so this review is based on that. I assume that the rewrite will not be worse, at least.
As the title of review states, my rating mainly reflects the perceived novelty of the fic. In all my years of reading awfully translated terrible Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc webnovels, in all my years of reading original fiction both published and online, I cannot remember any which were quite like this, though some were close.
Especially online, far too many fics are pretty much defined by a handful of generic tags, no further explanation needed. Be they wish fulfillment, Isekai, cheat system, etc, everything beyond the tags is just a bit of flavour. Innovation is to be rewarded, in my opinion, and this is one of the very few fics that feel "fresh" and keep their distinctiveness for a long time.
That said, it is still a subversion of the typical cheat-system with internal quests formula. It is unusual in three ways, however. First, many of the quests and rewards are not directly beneficial (the "Useless Gifts"). Relatedly, the main character is the unique example of a cheat system user who remains relatively grounded and low-powered even 250k words in. Third, the whole setting remains grounded in reality and despite the repeated allusions to mysticism and magic, it is still for all intents and purposes a mundane world.
Beyond the novelty, I will also praise the effort the author puts into research. The author is clearly very invested in this fiction and researches many details, from calligraphy to housing development and clinical research procedures. At the same time, this information is falsified enough within the fic both by adding a lot of mysticism and by using an alternative world setting that inaccuracies or errors shouldn’t bother readers too much.
The five star review does not reflect the general writing quality, character quality, how interesting the plot is or other elements of this story. It often feels slow and drawn out
iamnotthiscatRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Grammar, great
Style, smooth
Story, interesting
Characters, intriguing
TL;DR It's a slice of life with a system, if you haven't read the combination before it's like chocolate and hot peppers, not for everyone but if you love it you love it.
Man this is a cool story. I've always liked modern slice of life stories with a twist and this is a great example of the genre. The characters are interesting and play off each other well especially given how quickly they are sketched. The story has all sorts of nice touches that suggest the author has done his homework (although I'm not knowledgeable enough about medicine or Chinese philosophy to know how well). This is a slice of life so the great challenges the protagonist overcomes are more along the lines of college entrance exams than arrogant young masters, although we have been told that this is a cultivation novel not a medical novel (I'll believe it when I see it!). I am deeply curious to see where all of this ends up going especially if the so far very muted supernatural elements become more prominent.
Overall a splendid story so far, highly recommended for fans of the genre and for anyone looking for something a little different.
drake_azathothRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Sort of a bizarre mix of slice of life with a dash of intrigue and a few weird bits of 'cultivation' stuff that actually fits real Daoism better than most depictions.
Calling it xianxia feels wrong because it flouts so many of the normal conventions but technically that is exactly what it is.
I really enjoyed the medical stuff, the depiction of modern-day China, and the characterization built up over the course of the series. Quite a lot of intrigue as well. At the same time, the cultivation stuff is very interesting if lower powered and more realistic than the usual.
If you're looking for a very different take on xianxia with more slice of life this is probably as good as it gets.
NightshadeBlossomRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is the best chinese cultural work I've ever had the pleasuer to read. I enjoy a lot of Chinese novels and typically stick to cultivation/wuxia stuff but I really appreciate the culture expression that is found in those novels. This particular novel is much more slice of life which breathes a lot of life into the details without treading into a textebook-like feeling, and without relying on common tropes in other Chinese novels.
Style - 5/5 as mentioned above. Style is the main draw of this novel and there is a lot to experience as you read. Slice of life without much melodrama or any slog. Everything aspect is well researched and feels authentic, even the medical details feel realistic.
Grammar - 5/5 Among the best translations I've read. No artifacts of the translation remain which makes for smooth reading. Author retains a lot of chinese words but it serves the story. Look up any chinese words you don't know.
Story - 4/5 As a slice of life story, its quite good. The system serves almost as a setting rather than a core function of the plot, which is my only real criticism here. The system may get more important later in the novel.
Character - 4/5 There is quite an ensemble cast, not every character can be fleshed out fully, which is to be expected. I find a lot of the really minor characters to be forgettable as they pop in and out of relevance. The main cast and the most closely related characters feel well realized and differentiated.
Azrael WinterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I enjoyed reading this story throughout with some caveats:
The use of the direct chinese translation of countries is off-putting when reading, it gets a deduction from me for that.
The ending was also very rushed with plot points all over the place just thrown away.
That said, at least it did end, instead of going into hiatus hell.
I enjoyed this story so much reading it that I can't give the full 5 stars but it's better than 95% of cultivation stories so I only took 0.5 stars off for the issues mentioned above.
Ducking Duck DuckRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I can't write a super detailed review on the details that improved or weaken the story but I can say that I really enjoyed the premise and how it flowed. I will not lie and say that I wasn't confused in the beginning about the system but A+ for how the author used them in the context of a realistic (ish) fiction. Will stamp this with duck approval.
Sincerely,
A humble duck