He Who Fights with Monsters

Jason Asano spent his days managing an office-supplies store. Then he wakes up somewhere else entirely, naked and unexplained, with an interface that lists his new abilities in words like afflict and consume. He would rather be a hero. The powers he has been given look much more like a villain's kit.

The first day is crowded. Cannibals, cultists, wizards and the local aristocracy all want something from him, and he has no map, no clothes and no idea how this place works. He gets through on humour and plain stubbornness, more than the situation seems to deserve.

The book is an isekai LitRPG, which means an ordinary person is pulled into another world run by game-like rules. Here the progression system draws on cultivation as well as levels, so growing stronger has its own logic and costs. Jason is a laid-back Australian who keeps declining to treat a very serious world with the gravity it expects, and the tone stays wry as a result.

As he learns more, he starts to see that a system rating people by number is a different thing from a world that makes sense. Alongside the monster fighting runs a thread of political intrigue among those in power. It is the first book in a series, so expect a story that opens up its world and does not rush to close it.