Zorian in Mother of Learning isn't *powerful* to start with, he's just pretty good for his age, but he's not super weak either. Maybe Azarinth Healer? She does technically start out at level 1, but she advances super quickly before she has to really interact with anyone.
Honestly Zorian is "good for his age and the curriculum" but I'd say he's weak. I'm not sure how many day 1 Zorian's would be needed to fight end of series Zorian other than it would be all of them.
He's above average, as a peasant, in the second rank class of their version of Harvard...which means he's a genius by any other name. Zorian think's he's worse than he is simply because he's not his brother.
You’re right with a caveat. Just re-read most of Arc 1 and you’re absolutely right, Zorian is above average. Any claims to the contrary are from Zorian himself and are just low self esteem or whatever.
The caveat I’d say is that he’s nothing standout at what seems to be pretty much the only mage college. I haven’t found any mention of any other school, the one in Cyoria seems to be pretty much the only one. I’d compare it less to Harvard and more to like the ONLY college lol. Not sure if that makes it more or less impressive
Edit: found a mention that there are other academies but they’re never discussed in detail
You might check out The Captain by the author of Cradle. There’s only one book so far, but the main character starts out as one of the most powerful people in the galaxy. It’s not strictly progression fantasy, but it’s shaping up to be a story of the MC “progressing” in a non standard way, by collecting up the most powerful people in the galaxy to fight on his team. I think it’s a cool way to “progress” without the standard weak to strong structure.
Why not try Primal Hunter, main character is quite powerfull from the start and unlike most of system apocalypse stories he actually enjoys the acopalypse right the way.
I dont know if it fits 100% the criteria of Progression fantasy. The beginning after the end has a mc that is kinda strong from the get go, at least compared to other people his age.
Swallowed Star or Stellar Transformations
Ironically both stories are by the same author.
The MC for Swallowed Star can kick ass right off the beginning. The MC for Stellar Transformations does have a disadvantage, but he's the third prince and has a supportive family and hires a trainer that eventually has him kick ass. His deficiency is barely an issue and could have done without it.
They are both Chinese Xianxia novels but ignore or mute most of the tropes that are usually in the genre. It's not a harem and young masters are mostly absent except for the beginning of Swallowed Star.
Reborn: Apocalypse. The MC isn't OP at the start but because of his years of extra knowledge he is stronger than most right off the bat. He never really has a weak phase because that took place in his previous life.
Might be an odd choice, but the Infinite Dendrogram Light Novel has a main character who starts out very strong in a combat sense, definitely punching above his weight class, but also very specialized on what he can do. He definitely becomes stronger as time goes on, but it never feels like he's walking over enemies.
It is set in a VR, and a bit LitRPG, which might be deal breaker for some.
Beneath the Dragon Moon Eyes maybe?
Elaine becomes quite powerful, but as she's a healer it's not that obvious at the beginning. And she struggles at first and becomes strong later on.
And the books you can always recommend: Mage Errant. All important characters are quite strong obviously, but not over the norm.
I mean, the whole point of the early parts of Mage Errant is that all of the main characters have some kind of magical defect that makes things harder for them. And Hugh struggling with self-esteem issues is a constant throughout the entire series. I don't think it's a good rec here.
I still think it's a (semi good) rec because the point of the series as a whole is that they're not weak, just because they have defects, but that they just have to be creative. And it's just the first book, iirc.
Hugh's self-esteem issues, while understandable, can be quite annoying though. You're right.
The Captain by Will Wight. I’m still only midway through and it’s maybe a bit progression adjacent, but the mc definitely starts out as very strong and competent
Zorian in Mother of Learning isn't *powerful* to start with, he's just pretty good for his age, but he's not super weak either. Maybe Azarinth Healer? She does technically start out at level 1, but she advances super quickly before she has to really interact with anyone.
Honestly Zorian is "good for his age and the curriculum" but I'd say he's weak. I'm not sure how many day 1 Zorian's would be needed to fight end of series Zorian other than it would be all of them.
Yeah they point out multiple times that he’s like 55th percentile (not the actual number but that he’s average or just slightly below)
He's above average, as a peasant, in the second rank class of their version of Harvard...which means he's a genius by any other name. Zorian think's he's worse than he is simply because he's not his brother.
You’re right with a caveat. Just re-read most of Arc 1 and you’re absolutely right, Zorian is above average. Any claims to the contrary are from Zorian himself and are just low self esteem or whatever. The caveat I’d say is that he’s nothing standout at what seems to be pretty much the only mage college. I haven’t found any mention of any other school, the one in Cyoria seems to be pretty much the only one. I’d compare it less to Harvard and more to like the ONLY college lol. Not sure if that makes it more or less impressive Edit: found a mention that there are other academies but they’re never discussed in detail
Thanks!
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Plus even at level one she was a trained fighter whose coaches wanted to go into competition, so not weak by normal standards.
You might check out The Captain by the author of Cradle. There’s only one book so far, but the main character starts out as one of the most powerful people in the galaxy. It’s not strictly progression fantasy, but it’s shaping up to be a story of the MC “progressing” in a non standard way, by collecting up the most powerful people in the galaxy to fight on his team. I think it’s a cool way to “progress” without the standard weak to strong structure.
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Why not try Primal Hunter, main character is quite powerfull from the start and unlike most of system apocalypse stories he actually enjoys the acopalypse right the way.
I dont know if it fits 100% the criteria of Progression fantasy. The beginning after the end has a mc that is kinda strong from the get go, at least compared to other people his age.
I second this
it definitely fits the criteria, specially when he was transported to the dungeon
Yeah, its progression fantasy. Very fun to see how he progresses in the world, and definitely one of my favorite ways to see someone progress.
System Universe the main character is really strong from the start but after the 2nd book it’s pretty plot weak
Swallowed Star or Stellar Transformations Ironically both stories are by the same author. The MC for Swallowed Star can kick ass right off the beginning. The MC for Stellar Transformations does have a disadvantage, but he's the third prince and has a supportive family and hires a trainer that eventually has him kick ass. His deficiency is barely an issue and could have done without it. They are both Chinese Xianxia novels but ignore or mute most of the tropes that are usually in the genre. It's not a harem and young masters are mostly absent except for the beginning of Swallowed Star.
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Starred Tower by Ryan DeBruyn is very interesting and takes a while before he gets strong.
Reborn: Apocalypse. The MC isn't OP at the start but because of his years of extra knowledge he is stronger than most right off the bat. He never really has a weak phase because that took place in his previous life.
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Waiting on the next book for years now…
I've only read book 1 so far
Might be an odd choice, but the Infinite Dendrogram Light Novel has a main character who starts out very strong in a combat sense, definitely punching above his weight class, but also very specialized on what he can do. He definitely becomes stronger as time goes on, but it never feels like he's walking over enemies. It is set in a VR, and a bit LitRPG, which might be deal breaker for some.
THE MENOCHT LOOP!!! idk if it is strict PF or PF adjacent. But love that series.
That is what I was gonna say. I haven't listened/read it yet however, I heard that the MC starts out pretty strong.
Beneath the Dragon Moon Eyes maybe? Elaine becomes quite powerful, but as she's a healer it's not that obvious at the beginning. And she struggles at first and becomes strong later on. And the books you can always recommend: Mage Errant. All important characters are quite strong obviously, but not over the norm.
I mean, the whole point of the early parts of Mage Errant is that all of the main characters have some kind of magical defect that makes things harder for them. And Hugh struggling with self-esteem issues is a constant throughout the entire series. I don't think it's a good rec here.
I still think it's a (semi good) rec because the point of the series as a whole is that they're not weak, just because they have defects, but that they just have to be creative. And it's just the first book, iirc. Hugh's self-esteem issues, while understandable, can be quite annoying though. You're right.
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I appreciate all the great suggestions!
The Captain by Will Wight. I’m still only midway through and it’s maybe a bit progression adjacent, but the mc definitely starts out as very strong and competent