She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wiseman - Volume 1 (read for fun)

I picked this book up after watching the first season of the anime. It has an intriguing title. I was expecting a story about a girl attempting to follow in her mentor's footsteps. Haha, no. That turns out to be a cover story. She is the "wiseman", herself. 

Sakamori Kagami is "Danblf" in the MMORPG "Ark Earth Online", a classic aged wizard with the associated wrinkles and long white beard. On a lark, he decides to alter Danblf's appearance to a classic magical girl instead, small and delicate, and with long silver hair. At that very moment, after he finishes the alterations but before he can click "cancel", a supernatural occurrence materializes the game into full reality.  Now Kagami is no longer "Danblf" but "Mira", who is Danblf's pupil. Saying anything else is too much trouble, both for Mira and the suddenly real kingdom she wants to protect. 

In other words, this is an Isekai, but so far few of the usual cliches have shown up. This book is much more interested in world-building than harem antics or power-fantasies. 

Much of this book is concerned with world building. In fact, this book does what few others do and gives details about the world that Kagami left when he became Mira in the world of Ark Earth Online. It was a world with fully realized virtual reality. It was used as much for business applications as entertainment; office space no longer existed in physical reality because the same effect could be achieved virtually (think COVID-19 Pandemic web conferences but without any of the downsides). Then, the author uses that to contrast with the pros and cons of the magical medieval-Europe analog of the game-turned-reality.

We see the history of this game world, the events and conflicts that shaped its kingdoms. We see player politics both before and after the supernatural event. We see the development of both mechanical engineering and the magical arts. We see management of dungeons for public safety. We see how Early Game Hell has stifled the development of summoners now that summoning must be learned in real life. Even the climatic battle is less of a "oh no! How will our hero ever survive?!" suspenseful confrontation and is more of a "I wonder what would happen if I did this" experimentation and examination of the new world's rules. 

And yes, the reason that "Danblf" must go by "Mira" has a detailed discussion behind it, and it is very fun. 

Also, yes, the author does get a lot of mileage out of Kagami adjusting to life as a girl. 

Trickster Eric Novels gives "She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wiseman - Volume 1" an A+

Click here for my next book review: Marvel Universe Doctor Strange (read for fun)

Click here for my previous book review:  Dungeon and Dragons module - Dragon Heist

Brian Wilkerson is an independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor's degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.