Summary
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The System inSolo Levelingpresentsso much potential for the protagonist Sung Jinwooto exploit in his quest for power. Unfortunately, the show doesn’t focus too much on Jinwoo attempting to maximize the System’s benefits in an intelligent way. Jinwoo often accidentally manages to use the system’s power to his benefit and sometimes forgets about some if its features.
While this makes sense for his character, it leaves those wanting to feel like they are in Jinwoo’s shoes frustrated when he doesn’t do something they would do. InSolo Leveling, perhaps the most underutilized aspect of the System is the shop, which has the potential to be truly world-breaking if properly applied.
What is the Shop?
Jinwoo’s Ace in the Hole
When you stop to think about it, it’s hard to overstate just how overpowered Jinwoo’s access to the shop is. It contains a seemingly limitless supply of weapons, armor, and other useful items that Jinwoo can access at any time as long as he has the proper payment. Despite this,Jinwoo interfaces with it very sparingly, only using surface-level strategies to exploit it. He buys mana and health potions to keep himself alive, and realizes he can sell the items he acquires from the shop in the real world to secure himself financially.
“I haven’t really experimented with gear much. It’s invisible? Nice. I’m glad I don’t have to stand out.” -Sung Jinwoo in Episode 11.
Jinwoo nearly forgets that the equipment screenexistedbefore his battle with Igris, and he is only saved during the job change quest because he forgot to do his daily quests and got teleported out to the penalty zone. Luckily, the skills Jinwoo had acquired barely allowed him to defeat Igris, and even he admits that he got lucky against this superior and fearsome opponent.
“More of a fluke than a win. He had me beat in ability, technique, experience. Surpassed me on every level. Death was one screw up away.” -Sung Jinwoo in Episode 11.
What Could Jinwoo Be Doing Better?
The Shop Could Be So Much More
InSolo Leveling, Jinwoo approaches many of the earlier fights as the underdog. His battles against some of the dungeon monsters and other hunters are won just by the skin of his teeth. However, with access to the shop, he should have been able to put himself in a much better position for each of these fights. Jinwoo could convert his shop items into real-world cash to ensure that he always had the best gear and items available for battle.
The ability to gather mana and health potions seems like it wasn’t fully utilized in many of his battles, as he seems to often only buy them when he needs them instead of stockpiling a supply of them. This makes his job change quest harder, as he’s restricted from buying potions during the quest and has to wait to be sent to the penalty zone to use the shop.
“No wonder it wished me luck. I wouldn’t have survived that mess without it.” -Sung Jinwoo in Episode 12.
During his time in the penalty zone,he starts to plan around his opponent’s weaknessesto give himself an edge for his return to the job change quest. However, we don’t see him make such tactical purchases much more in the series, preferring to make due with whatever drops he happens to come across.
“Buy. ‘Knight Killer.’ This thing deals twenty-five percent more damage to armor types, huh? It’s a little pricy but should be worth it.” -Sung Jinwoo in Episode 12.
Another way neglecting learning about the shop hurts him is that he doesn’t get to experiment with the system’s limitations as much.Jinwoo prefers to learn on the fly, and his less methodical approach to preparing for battle leads him into desperate situations that could have been avoided. One example of this occurs during the Jeju Island raid, when he discovered that he couldn’t use his potions directly on the other S-rank hunters, likely because he had never tried to. Instead, he has to hold the potions to their lips himself to get them to work. Hopefully, in future seasons, we will get to see Jinwoo utilize more tactics and exploit the power of the System more than he has shown so far.
