The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible Volume 1 Review

The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible narrates the story of Rick, a 32-year-old man who decides to become an adventurer at 30 years old, way past his prime according to him and other adventurers. However, he doesn’t let this stop him from fighting for his goal, and he undergoes torturous training under the mentorship of the Orichalcum Fist party—the legendary party in the nation!

In a world that gives fantasy and medieval vibes, Rick has worked fourteen years as a receptionist at the adventurers’ guild, but now it’s his time to shine. He’s ready to take the adventurers’ test and get his E-rank license, accompanied by the dark elf Reanette. However, the adventurers’ accreditation is composed of a series of tests, both written and physical, and he’s sure he won’t measure up to all the youngsters also attending. When 11-year-old Freed Diarmuit who is said to be a magical genius attempts the first text, Rick’s self-esteem hits rock bottom; after all to be known as a genius, the kid must be as strong as Rick’s magic teacher who can level down mountains easily. But the spell that Freed demonstrates to measure his power is something of a let-down. Rick’s physical power measures higher, which Freed doesn’t take kindly to and gets his older sister involved and when she fails, it’s their older brother’s turn. They all attempt to disturb Rick’s tests even reaching the point of attacking him with A and B-ranked adventurers to stop him from taking the final test. Can Rick beat them and get his adventurer’s license? Well, there’s only one way to find out.

I found the first volume quite short and although many attacks against the protagonist happen, the story doesn’t develop too much. We know about Rick’s training, thanks to his flashbacks as the readers accompany him through his adventurer tests throughout the whole volume. We still don’t know much about him or why he decided to become an adventurer—the first volume is just an introductory volume that sets the scene for the story to develop in later volumes (at least that’s the hope).

It’s too early to tell if Rick is a lovable or an irritating character. He goes from feeling like a failure and powerless to being strong and then going back to feeling like a failure all over again. It’s a vicious cycle throughout the volume, no matter what people tell him after witnessing his actions. The readers don’t know if this is a problem caused by a lack of self-confidence or because he trained under legendary adventurers with powers outside the norm, but I wished for him to realise his strength and not feel so defeated all the time when he doesn’t have a reason to be—it gets annoying at times. Reanette is introduced as his companion, who gives him moral support while he goes through the tests. The relationship is shrouded in mystery, but it seems she also has connections with the Orichalcum Fist party.

Readers don’t even know much about the legendary party as through the flashbacks Rick only shows parts of his gruesome training, but the preview of the next volume hints that the party is about to make its first appearance. So many people are introduced in this volume but so little is being revealed, even about Freed and his siblings. Rick is quite unlucky to get involved with them one after the other for things he hasn’t done, but I have a feeling this experience with them will shape what adventures will come next.

The art is somewhat simplistic and fits into the ‘adventurers in a fantasy world’ genre where humans and supernatural creatures live. So far, we only know of dark elves, but the readers are aware that other creatures exist, not so much from reading the story as they haven’t appeared yet, but by the volume’s blurb. The volume is word-heavy as the readers are told everything that’s happening inside and outside Rick’s mind—and everything that’s mentioned is then explained as we are introduced to adventurers’ system. I appreciated though that the translator included translation notes on the page where the word is mentioned, so the readers don’t need to go back and forth between the story and a glossary of terms, which in many volumes is placed at the end of the story.

The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible started as a serialised light novel, before being adapted into an anime available on Crunchyroll and a manga released in the English language by One Peace Books, with a translation by Jameson Taber. We don’t have yet a date for the release of Volume 2.

Our digital review copy was supplied by One Peace Books.