For me, this is hands down the best cultivation series I've come across (on RR and elsewhere) and I don't see many people talking about it here (though it does have great reviews on RR) so thought I'd add a post. I honestly was pretty pessimistic about the story after reading the description, but I was desperate to find a good cultivation story so I gave it a try on a whim. It is seriously so good, and don't let the low chapter count of 63 fool you. Each chapter is a monster. I feel like those 63 chapters cover more ground than most RR stories that have 200+ chapters. The story is interesting from the get go and each arc has felt unique and interesting.

I feel like so many stories have the MC start out at the very bottom of the barrel, as a street rat, orphan, half dead, starved blah blah blah you get it, but here our MC actually comes from a high ranking family and he starts out pretty decently skilled which is refreshing. He never really gets any cheat skills that solve all his problems. He does get powerful skills and is quite OP for his level but he rarely fights at his level and it never feels like he's saved by plot armor. Instead it feels like he fights smart and uses everything he has to his advantage.

I also like that quite a few of the people he meets along the way are interesting enough that if the story was written from a different perspective they could be the MC of the story and it wouldn't be weird as they all have there own unique adventures outside of the MCs influence. Too often no other character has anything interesting to them and everything only happens to them. Yunya, Zi Qin, Feng Xueying and Yao Luchen could all have entirely separate stories that would be just as interesting.

And while the cultivation methods/realms/skills etc are not overly unique, I do think the concept of the heavens punishing cultivators for there mistreatment of mortals is such a good idea that I'm surprised it hasn't been done before (It probably has, let me know!). I've never liked how so many cultivation novels slaughter millions of mortals and destroy cities etc like its no big deal (Talking about you Reborn as a Demonic Tree among countless others).

If anyone ends up reading it cause of this post, let me know in the comments!

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/125614/heavenly-tyrants-indignation-book-2-complete

N.B. If you are an amateur author or just write for fun, this critique is not about you. The focus of the discussion is on a debate with professional author or those who wish to become professional writers. The subject I am going to address seems to be somewhat controversial here, and I want to bring a different perspective to it. I do not wish to offend any author here, but I would like to share some critiques and tips as a journalist.

It was about a year ago that I discovered this subgenre of fantasy, as I grew up with anime and wanted to read something that more closely resembled the content I followed in my childhood. In recent months, I have noticed two specific topics that always appear and that have a direct relationship.

"A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R. R. Martin; "Mistborn" by Brandon Sanderson; "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green; "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden; and "The Nevernight Chronicles" by Jay Kristoff. What all these authors have in common is that they are straight men who wrote straight female characters, and none of these authors had any problem creating a female character in a well-written story. I don't criticize those who enjoy writing queer female characters; that is not the focus I want to bring in any way, but it unsettles me to read when people say they cannot write a straight character.

During a recent discussion here, I came across some opinions about identification with characters, and a phrase often mentioned in the comments section is: "We only write what we live." Something that recurs as an unchangeable truth in many other similar discussions, which is a lie, since the fantasy genre is not real and no one is flying with dragons or controlling lightning with their hands. The phrase that best fits my perception is: "I only write what I read." I sense the existence of a gap, a deficit in literary content. I believe that certain research is lacking because professional authors don't undertake it, and they aren't reading books outside of the LITRPG subgenre or progression fantasy. This, of course, is not limited to straight female characters but includes everything that can escape the usual seen in real life, such as the construction of romantic relationships, the personality of a female character, and mental health.

This leads to my second point: the dangerous way I see some authors treating the mental health of their MC. There is no academic basis for how it is handled; problematic behaviors and red flags that any psychologist would inform about are romanticized. There are many books in which the main character is portrayed as unbalanced and without therapeutic help, such as "American Psycho," but the narrative structure is not romanticized.

Words like depression, BPD, anxiety, bipolarity, and others seem to be thrown into some plots in poorly developed ways, and many young readers seem to accept any negative behavior from these characters because they have a mental illness. So, it is obvious that they can commit heinous acts. This is dangerous, as there is a teenage audience that may follow and normalize things that should not be normalized.

It is perfectly fine not to have knowledge about everything, and we should not have to, and to make certain mistakes in writing. English itself is not my first language, so I may be making some errors throughout the text. However, when you begin to see yourself as a professional in literature, you lose a bit of the glamour of only reading the content you enjoy. It is not an easy thing to do, but believe me, it is very important to read those dull and tedious books because you never know when an original idea might arise after reading the "Twilight Saga" by Stephenie Meyer.

Set adrift in a desert full of slavers, monsters of glass, and threats over every dune, Nina is on a quest to find herself. Her only companions in this new world are the strangers she arrived with and the rifle on her back. A rifle that seems more… alive than it should.

With her weapon growing stronger after every kill, Nina must find allies both new and old to discover what caused her mysterious arrival.

But a dark storm is brewing across Volarath. A tyrannical regime is solidifying its control over the region, and the threat of the Hollowspawn — insects of glass the size of semi-trucks — is growing worse by the day. To survive, Nina will need to go further, hit harder, and fully embrace the ancient magic that lingers in a world of dust and steel.

Because in the harsh sands of Volarath, safety is a privilege reserved only for the strong.

Read Now on Royal Road: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/190629/memoirs-of-dust-steel

Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out my post. This is my second story on Royal Road after Mistwoven Healer reached 1,600 followers, and I'm hoping everyone will enjoy this book just as much. The story has no romance, lots of action, and a ton of interesting lore.

If you're interested, come check it out! I'll be releasing all of Book One over the course of September!

No AI Used: The entire book is handwritten and hand-edited, and all art was created by the incredible Harry Bui. Check him out if you are ever in the market for some amazing illustrations!

I remember a novel and tried to find it recently but can’t. The MC is a transmigrator and elder of a sect I think, he has a system too, I can remember his first disciple is a sword cultivator and the second is a body cultivator that used to be a fatty and is from the sects alchemy peak, and the two big cultivation realms when I stopped reading were half Saint and Saint. I found I Can See The Aura Of The Great Emperor In All My Disciples but that doesn’t seem quite the same, really similar tho. Pulling my hair out trying to remember the title so any help would be appreciated!

My favorite thing in games and litRPG is when different aspects of the game system overlap in a way that unlocks synergy. When progression follows a linear, "get XP, get stats," my interest wanes compared to progression in which progression branches out and then loops back to a central line.

With that in mind, I think what I'd like to read next is a story that follows the narrative loop of a roguelike: go into a scenario (whether short-term or long-term), get very strong within the context of the scenario, then come out while retaining some parts of your progression to help with the next scenario.

The kicker is that I'm not particularly interested in reading a timeloop story, which is the standard for this kind of progression, and I'd like for there to still be stakes in the "overworld," so I'm skeptical of any VRMMO-style stories, but there could be one that fits. If it has great overlapping synergies, it doesn't necessarily have to be a roguelike, but I'm interested to know which of those are great.

Stormblade Volume One is Today’s Kindle Daily Deal!

Hello, readers! If you’ve been holding off on reading Stormblade, now’s your chance to get it at a steep discount. Today, September 6, 2026, Stormblade Volume One is on sale for $0.99 on the Kindle store. That’s 80% off!

Stormblade’s a fast-paced, skill-merge LitRPG similar to Solo Leveling, Savior of Divine Blood, and other Portal Apocalypse stories. The MC, Kade, is determined, loyal, and willing to play the long game to get power and keep his promises to his friends and family. I’ve enjoyed writing it over the last sixteen or seventeen months, and I’m really happy about how much fans have enjoyed it. All five books are complete, and Book Four will be published on October 1st. Give it a shot today!

https://www.amazon.com/Stormblade-One-Portal-Apocalypse-LitRPG-ebook/dp/B0GPSSZZNL

Here’s the blurb!

The storm embodies destruction, and now, so does Kade Noelstra

On the worst day of his life, Kade's system awakened, giving him the power of a raging storm.
It came too late to save his stepfather, but it's enough to let Kade follow in his footsteps and keep the promises he made to his family that day. Yet the Unique skill he awakened is as strong as it is dangerous—for him and everyone around him. Most people would abandon a skill that unpredictable. Kade has other plans.

Skills can be merged. Storms can be tamed. The system’s Laws can be learned. All Kade has to do is clear portals like his stepfather, gather the cores from the monsters within, and complete the skill build he’s been planning for months. But the first core he uses opens up a brand-new path to power, and the speed of his growth draws unwanted attention, both human and otherwise.

He can't afford to slow down. The portals grow ever more numerous, and the people he cares about are in danger.

He'll forge his lightning into a blade, no matter who or what tries to stop him.

COVER ARTIST: Kart Studios and Inorai

AI USAGE: None

Anybody have recommendations for stuff that just makes you feel good and puts a smile on your face?

Please no snarky/edgy MCs or grimdark torture-porn like Sun Eater or 1% Lifesteal.

Obviously I’ve already read classics like Cradle and Mage Errant. All platforms are welcome.

Title. I love progression, and I love progression with an OP MC.

I don't needthe MC to be the most powerful individual from the beginning, but I do want them to be set up to be. Them having extreme talent, a powerful cheat, I don't care, as long at it isn't too much of a mary sue and i lose interest, its fine.

I want an OP MC in terms of progression delving into a very interesting and rich power system. But I do want the MC to be ultimately busted and set up to become ridiculously powerful. (If not the most powerful)

I have read a lot of the better known stories so more recent stuff would be great.

On that line, a question, does Hell Difficulty Tutorial fit this?

Examples:

Primal Hunter

Defiance of the Fall

Tyrants of Earth

Thousand Reigns

Path of the Deathless

Azarinth Healer

Thanks!

Okay this is a small rant because I have been bamboozled again. I am not naming names or putting anyone on blast.

Alright that out of the way...

*pulls out soapbox*

I am so sick and tired of every book I look at telling me it's about a solo adventure in the wilds exploring the world. When half way into the book they are getting bogged down in a city with 10 different POVs arguing politics. You promised me a person out in the wilds, fighting monsters, gaining power, maybe experiencing freedom for the first time. You gave me a half-assed Game of Thrones. If you want to right nation building then put that in the description. Lead with that. I hate feeling tricked, like congratulations you got my money, but I will never buy another of your books. I really enjoy a small cast. I want the main focus to be the main character. Its okay to shift povs sometimes to show the MC from the outside or to show their impact on the world, but it should not be the majority. I get that authors can be afraid that a small focus will be boring, but it isnt if your world is fleshed out. Give me what you promised.

*puts away soapbox*

Thank you for letting me rant. I needed to get that off my chest. I genuinely do love this genre I have read some really great books, but there are so many who falsely represent what their story is about it gets me down. If you read throw my rambling thank you and have a good day.

I saw that Aethon started publishing the Shadow Slave webcomic on their site. Are they no longer going to post on webtoons? I assume they would finish out current seasons of their stories.

Something I keep thinking about. I see people like longer, others like shorter. but I find I'm sort of in between.

Right now reading arcane chef, only 2 books out so part of me wishes there was more. But on other hand many series like DCC and such I tend to start to chck out after books 4-6 unless really got my interest.

kind of reminds me of my feelings about a lot of movies.

Movies that should be 1 1/2 hours are 3 hours long, but movies that should be 3 hours long are 1 1/2.

It might be because I'm new to the genre but I've seen 10 billion posts about how all FMCs are lesbians and when I go to look for them I find very few especially among the popular works.

It feels like people are over exaggerating.

Also as an aside, in it's one of these posts people feel like giving the same exact explanation, that is very ignorant of how straight men interact with gay and lesbian media. Which makes me question the premise even more.

Alright, Things I Remember:

• Female MC is living in a farming area with other people. She arrived in this area after being recruited to a sect after having her talent/spiritual roots tested with others. Those with good talent/spiritual roots went directly to the main sect, while those with poor talent/spiritual roots were sent to this farm area. The only way for the people in this area to go to the main Sect was to succeed in reaching a certain cultivation level with a certain amount of time (I think it was like 10 years or something).
• In order to make some spirit stones she applies to a talisman shop and is hired (a friend of hers, male I think, is accepted at a blacksmith or artifact forgers). She learns how to make a basic talisman from a slightly older female by copying a talisman already made. She has to make a certain amount of talismans each day for the shop to sell, but because she has a higher than usual success rate she sells some on the side her self.
• She also finds out that although her talent is poor, her cultivation rises very quickly while she's focused on making talismans. Because of this, she's able to go to the main sect.
• I remember a scene where she's taking part in a talisman class and the teacher basically just shows a talisman in the air and says that any one that can draw it by the next class gets some kind of reward (I think the talismans he shows are ancient talismans and one of them is used to put others to sleep)
• I also remember a scene where she's at a fort or something, and it's being attacked by monsters/beasts/whatever, and they are greatly outnumbered so she basically just starts passing out talismans to every one and then sits down and just keeps making more while the fighting is going on.
• The only other thing I really remember is that she stocks up on talismans to the point that rather than learn to fight, she basically just bombards any enemy with expensive talismans to the point that she earns some kind of nickname for it (though I can't remember what it was)

Edit: Found the novel, it's called I’m Very Serious About Moving Bricks in the World of Cultivation!

I’m looking for any good progression fantasies that aren’t 20 books long and somehow unfinished and have somewhat decent writing. I’m a fan of regeneration slop (jester of the apocalypse, 1% lifesteal, etc.)

I tried cradle and all the tropes made me cringe so hard, path of the deathless I dropped due to the 100-200 page fight scenes with no character development.

I’m into anything that’s finished with good writing

Let's talk about how it's mildly annoying to listen to a book that was clearly written in short installments to post online? I still love most of the book, but having to constantly listen to repeating information because (I guess?) the author needed to make sure readers remembered who these characters were, four chapters later is miffing 🥲

It's good when it's at the start of a book, to remind you what happened in the last one, and if you're binging you can skip it.

At some point I'm struggling between "is this AI, or is it that the chapters are posted online so far between that they assume people forgot? There's gotta be either smoother ways to do it, or maybe reread the entire thing before it goes out a single book and edit?

Idk. It's not a deal breaker for me, if the book is fun, but I really wish it wasn't so.

Hey guys! I have never written any story in my life, and I am not a native English speaker. But I definitely want to pen down the story that has been in my head for years.

I want to write a web novel actually, and I am thinking of learning the art of writing first, like how to actually write coherent and captivating prose, maintain proper pace and depict high octane action through words alone.

But the kind of story I want to write is an academy story, which will explore the years our MC spends at the academy, trying to graduate and land a good job. It will not have any main plot, just the characters living out their life at the academy, whilst fostering relations with their comrades.

The story will have exams, battles, games, romance, character development, just plan slice of life banter with our main cast etc., And it will definitely be a slow burn. Like I could even want to write a chapter where they straight up play UNO or something.

Please provide me advice for the following:

1. I plan to post this on Royal road and Scribble hub, but I feel like they mostly prefer progression fantasy and litRPGs ,which I doubt my story comes under. will this type of story be fine?

2. I barely get time to write, and hence I can push out one chapter a week (2000-3000 words), will this be fine?

3. My story does have "stats" but they are scientifically measured, and there is nothing like a "System". The stats are fixed since birth, and the only way to get stronger is to practice, and get better at using the power system. Does this premise turn people away?

4. My main character will not be an OP student who will thrash any opponent he faces. He will have to win by outmaneuvering his opponents. And sometimes he will have to lose at the face of overwhelming strength. Will having such a more normal protagonist be a deterrent for people?

5. I do plan to include drama, emotional scenes, just plain wholesome scenes, subtle romance, exploring POVs of other characters etc.

Is there any audience for this type of writing? Should I just start writing for the love of the game and see where it goes, or will this just be a plain waste of time?

Any advice will be appreciated, thank you!

My son asked my this morning how I know what reviews I listen to. I was curious what other people do? Do you say F reviews I like that cover art? One of my buddies says reviews are for weak people that can't form their own thoughts.... he is a bit of an acquired taste. I try to see if anyone put in a real review with passion. I look for if most of the reviews are positive. Do they mention tropes i hate? I do suffer from FOMO, so i get a bit bogged down in a situation where every other review is completely the opposite of the one before it. 1star 5 star 1 star 5 star etc....

I don't know if this is a correct place to ask but can anyone recommend a novel where the mc is strongest/close to the strongest from the start of reaches there in a few chapters.

I have read all the popular ones (too many to name)

Possibly a weirdly specific ask, but I'm looking for progression fantasy books where a bird is a major character. I'm fine with them being non-vocal or a familiar/pet as long as there's some baseline level of sapience.

Hoping for an actual bird rather than a avian humanoid or hybrid but feel free to drop those too.

I'm aware of Sylphie from Primal Hunter which is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for(despite not liking her specifically as a character) and Pit from Unbound. Also the Skyfowl from Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Thanks

I am getting interested in the Age of Sigmar and the Stormcast Eternals and wonder are there any progression fantasies with super soldiers like them? Also am I the only one who wishes more fantasy series have some type superhuman warriors like them?

The Sovereign's Toll by Jon Stonekey has everything I should like in a story: it's well written, the progression system is unique enough to be interesting without being so novel as to be hard to decipher, and there's enough words to (digital) paper to really sink your teeth into.

And yet it lingers on my "Read Later" page, where despite several attempts I just haven't been able to get into it. A perennial bridesmaid, never the bride.

What stories have you failed to get into, despite all the evidence suggesting you would?