Rebuild World

Plot

Decades after an unknown cataclysm, humanity survives in a post-apocalyptic world where most live in squalor and only the wealthy can afford non-experimental food. The primary livelihood is hunting: exploring Old World ruins for lost technology and fighting organic and mechanical monsters. Akira, a street orphan, aspires to become a hunter to sell found technology for a better life. His first venture into the city ruins nearly kills him, but he is saved by Alpha, a mysterious artificial intelligence visible only to him through augmented reality.

Alpha seeks to explore a dangerous part of the Old World but cannot physically do so. She offers to train Akira as a hunter and guide him in exchange for exploring the ruins on her behalf. Akira accepts, and they become entangled in the perilous world of technology hunting.

Media

Nahuse began publishing Rebuild World on Shōsetsuka ni Narō and Kakuyomu on February 1, 2017. ASCII Media Works' Dengeki no Shin Bungei imprint has released it as a light novel series since May 17, 2019, with nine volumes out as of April 2025.

J-Novel Club licensed the English digital release in 2022. A manga adaptation by Kirihito Ayamura began serialization in Dengeki Maoh on July 26, 2019, with its first tankōbon volume released on December 27, 2019; J-Novel Club also licensed this for English digital release in 2022. An anime television series adaptation was announced at Anime Expo 2023.

Did You Know?

• The series ranked fifth on the 2020 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!.
• By July 2023, the series had over 750,000 copies in circulation.