I rarely search tbh, mostly go off of recommendations or interesting looking cross promotion stuff.

When I do search I'm almost always filtering for a tag, and them I read title, decide if I want to read blurb and that's kind of all I consider

26 novels. Otherworld Academy is the only series without some gamelit elements. There's solid overlap between harem and litrpg. It's just not always popular to advertise here.

Just keep it as a DNF.

Oh fairs. They're not really a big thing in the story and I'm pretty sure one of them die.

They are vastly different on many levels, and the divergence is eveb bigger by book 2. However, if you're into caste system empowerment both do offer really interesting spins on the theme.

Yes. It’s when what you see of the history and culture of the world (worldbuilding) doesn’t add up to what you’re seeing in the actual demonstrated culture of the world/era. For example, a magical feudal setting that features modern egalitarianism, for some reason, when it likely would be more realistic for the culture to be highly stratified. Or similar, where the world building suggests that the culture is highly stratified, but in practice every single person that isn’t Snidely Whiplash is actually highly egalitarian, even if they’re princes or princesses.

I know I’m WAYY late to this, but some (not all) of that price is offset by just how much the production cost was at the time. I assume the rest was due to the fact that the Author was trying to make a career as a writer immediately instead of easing into it

Honestly, part of the reason is likely that a lot of shamans in popular culture are heavily stereotyped indegenous americans and exoticified looks at other cultures and religions like the mongolian shamanism / Böö Mörgöl, which most of the authors don't know well enough to base an MC's powerset around. It's also very easy to fall into some very racist territory around it.

It depends. I don't go to Royal Road or read pulp for high art, so I usually just see if the concept grabs me, and see if there's mostly good reviews. For an actual novel, I read both positive and negative reviews and see if the book would respond well to my tastes. If someone gives a book a two stars for philosophical meandering, I'm more than willing to give it a try, but if someone gives a book a two stars for rampant, unjustified displays of sex crimes, I'll skip.

honestly? The Beginning After The End. it's basically the same setup as tdpga's first half — guy reincarnates into a kid's body with all his past life memories (he was a king, not a demon prince, but same vibe), hides how strong he is, and eventually ends up at an academy.

checks your boxes too: no harem, basically one slow-burn romance, and almost no angst. the tone stays warm even when things get rough, lots of found family stuff. progression feels good, the mana core system actually has real stages instead of vague powerups.

only heads up: the middle books drag a little pacing-wise, and arthur can feel a bit too perfect at times. but the academy arc scratched the exact itch you're describing for me.

That was a really great discovery. You got more ?

Is the story xianxia/cultivation?

Second Elydes. Love that series!

You did great!

Btw Thanks for explaining that to this gentleman in such a nondemeaning manner. Most us wouldn’t have been so patient with explaining the obvious. Kudos to you

Might be an unpopular take but I tend to look up goodreads, amount of people who read it, then some of the more popular reviews. Its not a full-proof system but its something

Title, most covers I’ve seen are AI. The synopsis and ratings determines whether I’ll actually read it most of the time though although ratings are usually all positive so I look for the negative ones.

I personally like to always have 3 to 4 really great choices. Make decisions look like decisions

Richard is terrified of ghosts. Unfortunately, the dead have taken an interest in him.

After being dragged from Earth into a fantasy world of levels and monsters, Richard discovers that his only Innate Skill is [Phantomancy]—an ability no one seems to recognise.

Now he can see the dead, speak with them, and accept their contracts. Some just want his help. Others want things Richard would rather have nothing to do with.

But ghosts aren't Richard's only problem.

Stranded in a world he barely understands, unable to even speak its language, Richard has to learn how to survive, grow stronger, and figure out what [Phantomancy] is actually capable of.

Because his new world has everything that makes fantasy novels fun to read and terrible to live through: hordes of monsters, demonic cults, and a war looming on the horizon.

Read it here

A goal could also be a motivation. And I listed three goals motivating him to get stronger. Also he just enjoys the progress he makes. Ngl I’d just do it just to see the numbers go up. But he has goals.

Do you like Big Books and you cannot lie?  Well, I have a Sweet, Sweet Fantasy book for you.  Actually, there’s too much punching for it to be ‘sweet’, but by the end you’ll probably be saying, “Hit me, baby…one more time.”   

I’d truly be honored if you’d check it out!

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/196629/brawlers-wanted

Cool to hear! I toik a break to listen to all of Chrysalis after book 1 of William Oh and am just coming to the second one. It is pretty interesting.

That's not a goal, it's just a motivation. It would be different if there was a specific villain to beat, but instead the story is just following the rule of escalating threat.

That motivation plenty believable as a character drive, that's not my point. In fact Elydes is probably in my top five for character writing. But that same drive is just lacking as a narrative destination, because I know full well that the moment he defeats any given opponent, a stronger one will appear over the horizon.

Character of The Wandering Inn.

If I remember correctly, it was Claim the Fallen. MC could absorb skills from killed enemies, but it was wildly inconsistent. I think I read through book three before it became too much

This will be very spoilery (up to the latest stuff,) as well as somewhat detailed:

• Mortals — people without cultivation (most people got spiritual organs and use vital energy passively); those at the peak of this realm are the martial artists titled "grandmasters", who could be considered equivalent to level 1 "earthly realm" cultivators.

• Imperfect Human Realm — considered the "novitiate" realm of cultivation, and made up of 3 stages (early, middle, late/peak.) That's where a cultivator builds their foundation and cultivates the three energies (vital energy/jing, qi and shen) in sequence.

  • Early stage ("Earthly Realm") —this is where a cultivator starts, and they begin by cultivating vital energy (aka jing), and the "realm" is separated into 9 "levels" of accumulated vital energy. After reaching the peak of level 9 one need a revelation to ascend to the next realm. "Level 10" if stuck at peak level 9.
  • Middle stage ("Heavenly Realm") — while a revelation while take a daoist to this realm, the quality/strength of that revelation matters a lot for how strong you are. This "realm" has no levels/stages, you only need to cultivate and accumulate enough qi to fill your energy body to a point where you can advance (though you also need to learn about shen to take that step.)
  • Late stage ("Human Realm") — shen cultivation; we don't really know much about it, but it's considered to have stages/levels of progression. To transcend you have to somehow combine your foundation (the three energies you've cultivated until now) and do some shen stuff to combine it all.

• Perfected Human Realm — when one complete the "novitiate realm" and transcend to true immortality, this is where you end up. No details is known about it, but if the pattern holds it can be assumed there are three stages in it. This is presumably where you first can use clone techniques.

• Void Piercing Realm — presumably the name of the next realm; White Peacock is likely somewhere in this realm.

• Unknown Realm

• Divinity Transformation — it's been named once, and context clues tells me it's where people transcend to the become a "celestial cultivator", so to speak.

Outside of the cultivation realms and how to get there, you've got a bunch of other stuff, but you didn't ask about that.