About the Series
King Grey was the strongest warrior in his world — and miserable. He dies and reincarnates as Arthur Leywin in a new world with a magic system based on mana cores. With his previous life’s discipline and combat knowledge, he advances rapidly through childhood and academy years. The story evolves from academy progression into a war narrative as interdimensional forces threaten his new world.
TBATE’s strength is its long-game structure. The early books (childhood through academy) set up character relationships that pay off during the war and aftermath arcs. Arthur’s reincarnation gives him a “cheat” — adult strategic thinking in a child’s body — but the new world’s power system has its own ceiling that past-life experience can’t trivially bypass. The series also has a popular manhwa (webcomic) adaptation that drives significant readership.
This works for readers who enjoy isekai/reincarnation progression with strong world-building and a protagonist who earns genuine emotional connections in his new life. The arc from academy to war to post-war recovery covers more narrative ground than most progression series. The tradeoff: the early academy books feel similar to many isekai light novels — prodigy child dominates peers. The series commits to Arthur losing things he cares about, which makes it darker than the first few books suggest. If you want pure comfort progression, the middle and later arcs will challenge that. If you want only English web-serial style LitRPG, the light-novel/manhwa DNA of this series may feel different in tone.
Reading Order
- The Beginning After the End: Book 1 (2018)
- The Beginning After the End: Book 2 (2019)
- The Beginning After the End: Book 3 (2019)
- The Beginning After the End: Book 4 (2020)
- The Beginning After the End: Book 5 (2020)
- The Beginning After the End: Book 6 (2021)
- The Beginning After the End: Book 7 (2021)
- The Beginning After the End: Book 8 (2022)
- The Beginning After the End: Book 9 (2023)
- The Beginning After the End: Book 10 (2023)
- The Beginning After the End: Book 11 (2024)
- The Beginning After the End: Book 12 (2025)
The web novel on Tapas continues ahead of published volumes. A popular manhwa (webcomic) adaptation covers the story through a different format.
If You Like This Series
- Cradle by Will Wight — Progression from weak to powerful with similar satisfying power scaling; completed
- A Thousand Li by Tao Wong — Cultivation with philosophical depth; different tone, completed
- Mushoku Tensei (light novel) — The definitive isekai/reincarnation story that influenced TBATE; Japanese, completed
- He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon — Isekai with system mechanics; more comedic, ongoing
- Iron Prince by O’Connor & Chmilenko — Academy combat progression with the “prodigy proves doubters wrong” arc