Manga: I'm Standing On A Million Lives 3

I'm Standing on a Million Lives Vol 3 
Rating: 3/5 
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

The ever-calculating Yotsuya carries out an unheroic act of vengeance, and the players successfully manage to complete their quest. Their victory allows them to ask the Game Master a single question, and the truth about the world they've been sent to is revealed. But when he learns that this strange new world isn't as virtual as he believed, Yotsuya is forced to confront the consequences of his actions...

The volume opens with the moment we've all been waiting for...Yotsuya and Tokitate carry out Yotsuya's plot of vengeance against their betrayers, and he's not particularly bothered that he's going to have to level down to achieve it. I've got to say, it was a wonderful moment to see and perfectly executed. 

However, their clash with the soldiers of Deokk draws the attention of Deokk's monarch. It turns out the heroes are supposed to be neutral, and now they're worried that Kamilto and his men have drawn their ire to more than just them which adds a sense of the ominous to the volume although considering the time twist I'm not sure whether we'll see this play out at all...or if it's something that'll be lying in wait for upcoming volumes. 

While one quest may be completed there's another still to tick off but time is running out, as the volume reminds us more than once with the repetition of the time left to complete said quest. This serves to ramp up the tension in the volume as we're left to wonder if they'll complete it on time. Not to mention we have the snow storm messing with their revival and bringing it down to the wire. 

I still don't particularly like Tokitate, she's the only one that I don't really like to be honest. But she manages to grow a little bit of a backbone to carry on with the quest and she causes us to meet the mysterious Fatina. It remains to be seen whether or not we'll be seeing her again in coming volumes, but I suspect the chances of it are high! I'm excited to see more of Fatina and find out what her deal is, as I have a few suspicions about her and a lot of questions. 

While we have a new mystery in the form of Fatina, an old mystery is solved as we finally get some more answers about the world and how it works. I haven't quite decided if I'm surprised or not about the answer, but the shock reveal provokes some interesting reactions and thoughts in Yotsuya which aren't necessarily the ones I was expecting. I was surprised to see him freak out a little bit over his actions, I wasn't sure he'd be even remotely effected, if I'm an honest. But of course he goes right back to being his usual self and I'm enjoying how morally grey he is. 

Getting some answers not only means we get to start a new round but it means we get to meet the newest player. His name is Keita and our first meeting with him is..wild to say the least. As if we didn't have enough tension and danger in these volumes, he throws us a little bit more! I'm yet to decide if I like him, so we'll see how the next volume goes! 

The beginning of a new round brings some slight changes. Revival time goes up as is to be expected, but there's a new feature for our group to use...fast travel. The beginning of the new round brings us a few surprises as well as a new quest, and the implications for future rounds are intriguing. We do take a little interlude to get the lowdown on what's been going on since they last visited, and again, there's more threads of plot that could come in to play more fully in future volumes. 

The new quest is an interesting one that I can't wait to dive in to more fully in the next volume, but there's a sinister, snakey guy with the potential to ruin it all! As one quest wraps up and we embark on a new one, the pace for this series shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Each quest is a decent length, giving enough time to get everything done, help us get to know the characters further and the new characters being brought in without having the story drag on for too long and we don't waste any time before moving on to the next one!