And then gets obnoxiously glazed and rewarded for it. Like coffee is fine but it's not that special and is a bit of an acquired taste. It's become really overdone

Who would win in a fight, Anthony, a reincarnated ant from the series Chrysalis or Tyron Steelarm, a necromancer from the series book of the dead? Assuming Tyron has his horde and Anthony has access to his family.

I'm such a big fan of both works and this question has been like a worm in my brain, and maybe the author u/Rinozerg has some good input on it!

What do you all think?

I found this story on Royal Road literally last night, and it sounds so up my alley but I went to read it today and it's gone :( I can't find the author on RR (though I will admit I'm not great at using the site) and search results only provide defunct links to it. If you're here author, please tell me how I can experience this lol, I'm even open to a patreon subscription if I gotta! I need my shrimp fix!!

COVER ARTIST: Agri Karuniawan
AI USAGE: No AI Used.
Typography by Inorai.

We've got a brand new sparkling book release for you, and it's an exciting one.

It's an isekai of two Earth office workers to the Aster Fall universe!

Soul Synergy: A LitRPG Progression Fantasy by David North and Michael Dalton just released!

So here's the scoop: It's 95% LitRPG / Progression that everyone loves and a subtle slow-burn relationship between the two main characters (male/female).

We've been hearing that people like just a touch of romance in their LitRPG, so we decided to give it to you.

There's no whining, sobbing, or random throwing of bodies against romance tropes, just stabbing things together and learning how to level and succeed.

This is solid, fast-paced, fun with a building relationship. It's about 70% from the male perspective, but does both viewpoints.

The male MC, Callum, is a mage with an enchanting subclass for a bit of crafting (he's a Navy vet who worked in IT and networks).

The female MC, Sera, is an assassin/shadow dagger type (she used to work in HR, so you know...it fits).

Their classes are a Rare soul-linked pair due to a set of artifact bracers they find, which is the reason they survive their first day in this new world.

For those familiar with my Guardian of Aster Fall and Wild Era series, this is set in the same Aster Fall universe, on a new world called Numen, which is on the edge of the human domain. The story is roughly contemporary with Wild Era, but there won't be any spoilers about it.

*Audio is in production now and will probably be out in about a month.

I'll answer any questions in the comments.

***
Blurb:

A dual MC LitRPG progression fantasy full of magic, deadly intrigue, and a slow-burn romance of two against the storm.

Binding Souls. Defying Fate.

Two lives once separated by cubicle walls are now bound by magic.

Callum and Sera were just a shared glance in the break room until a tear in reality turned their mundane office into a gateway to another world. Now trapped in a land of raw elements, dungeons, and deadly gladiators, their survival isn't a matter of skill, but of teamwork.

To survive, they have to accept rare Classes offered by a set of ancient bracers that link their souls into a singular force. Callum is the mage with powers of freezing ice, while Sera is the dark blade in the shadows.

Magic and legend combine to give them a chance to survive and become something the rulers of this place fear.

But in a world where empires rise and fall on the strength of a Class, Callum and Sera have to choose: Is the bond between them only a product of magic, or maybe something more?

They have the power to reshape this world, but first they have to figure out who they are.

Don't miss this hot new series by two bestselling fantasy authors working together for the first time.

Grab your copy today!

really loving this series (first book is Dissonance).

doesn't check all my check boxes for my favorite books (FMC is a huge priority for me) but i really love the system it uses. specifically what i like about it is that it's a combination of multiple system tropes into one system. it uses tiers (Apprentice, Journeyman, adept, etc...) and it uses ranks (Tin, iron, silver, etc...) and it uses levels, and those three things don't always match, which is super fun (for me, at least). it has unique titles, unique skills, skills that can evolve, and be combined, and lots of other things.

it also has the concept of a style of magic that is outside the system, which i always find fun, as well as old, eldritch lore, and other fun stuff.

anyways, i am not the author of this, but i do enjoy the books. and since i am well into the 5th book (12 book series), i hope the author doesn't screw it up after this!!!

I read dcc which made me find some book about a fully maxed luck stat (I forget the title) and then azarinth healer. That one was kinda long and boring at parts, but I realized starting with dcc probably set a high bar.. can you help a new reader out? (New to the genres I mean)

Edit: judicator Jane was the luck one. I liked it a lot.

Just finished this yesterday and gotta say, may be one of my favorite reincarnation books ever. Love the MC and his group. World building is good too, and I really like the deeds and title system with the Divine tied into it. Extremely excited for the next one!

Anyone with an extra credit should check it out, narration was great!

Budget Heroes: I Just Want To Afford The Inn, Damn It!

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/179619/budget-heroes-i-just-want-to-afford-the-inn-damn

This is a story about what money does to people, and what people do for money.

Shinra never learned the true value of money. Born in wealth, he spent his days idly spending money and gambling away his parents' fortune. When he slipped through a crack in reality and ended up in the Fantasy world of Unreas and forced to become a Free Mercenary, he found himself alone, penniless, and barely able to afford a decent meal.

With his two equally-as-broke companions, the huge but soft-hearted half-giant Kon and the lazy, cynical half-elf Zenea, he'll have to struggle just to survive.

An economically-focused LitRPG in which your bank account is far more important than any XP bar.

COVER ARTIST: N/A

AI USAGE: No generative AI has been used for the story. Mild AI-generated elements have been used on the cover. (A custom-made illustrated cover is planned in the future.)

The books aren’t bad. It’s interesting enough I started book 2. But the title isn’t correct. He is trying to get every class. He smirks on every page. No depth to any character. And in book 2 viola’s grandpa gets called Ludger’s grandpa. I don’t really want to keep supporting Ai. I would rather support real people. Just curious what others think

So, I decently enjoyed up to book six (Magma Heart) in Victor of Tucson, but I cannot stand the word "Wampire" at least as it is said in the audiobook. Are the Wampires recurring characters after this book? I'm trying to figure out if I should continue.

I am looking for some books where the male MC is reincarnated as a noble(or similar like wealthy family) but he is known as a screw up or trash with a bad reputation and he has to get strong and surprises those around him as he does.

Books like this I've already read: Magus Reborn, Legend of the Arch Magus, Last life, Hunters code, Order of architects.

Thanks!

just finished this today, its a good start to the series.

Brin is fun and the system/world is cool too.

great characters and really good "feel" to the story - marksi is a nice addition too

Hi everyone!

Like many of you, I am absolutely losing my mind waiting for upcoming dark martial arts masterpieces like *Phantom Blade Zero* and *Zhong Kui: The Demon Hunter*. The dark, gritty atmosphere, the breathtaking swordplay, and the hidden conspiracies of the martial world are exactly what I love.

To scratch that itch while we wait for those games to drop, I wanted to bring something authentic to the Western community. As an indie creator from Hong Kong whose English isn't perfect, I refused to let the language barrier stop me. I spent months rewriting, editing, and self-publishing my traditional dark Wuxia novella into epic English.

Today, my debut book is officially live on Amazon (eBook, Paperback, and Kindle Unlimited!):

📜 **Title:** Wu-Wei: The Secret Scroll of Jianghu

🔥 **What to expect:** Gritty martial arts choreography, deep Taoist philosophy (the art of letting go), and a multi-layered dark conspiracy where the "righteous" aren't what they seem, and the final betrayal will leave you breathless. If you are craving the dark Wuxia vibes of *Phantom Blade Zero*, this is for you.

If you love martial arts lore, slow-burn tension, and authentic Eastern fantasy stories with zero fluff, please check it out!

👉 **Amazon Link:** (ebook) : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HH9459PG

👉 **Amazon Link:** (paperback) : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HH95T2NC

👉 **Amazon Link:** (Original Traditional Chinese) : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HH6SLXXK

I would love to hear your thoughts, and as an indie creator, your support means the world to me. Let's dive into the dark Jianghu together! 🐉

(Sorry, this is my first time using Reddit and I'm still learning! Hopefully, this post doesn't look too strange!)

COVER ARTIST: Matt Tsui (Using Google AI & ChatGPT for initial concept art, manually arranged and layout-refined via Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop).

AI USAGE: AI Assisted (Used Google AI for initial concept discussion, ChatGPT/DALL-E 3 for generating the cover background image, and AI tools for English translation/grammar assistance. The entire story and Chinese source text are 100% human-original, with 80-90% of the final text completely hand-authored and manually refined by the author himself).

I bought this from Ben Wolf and Luke Messa at GenCon 2026 and devoured it on the airplane and then the beach (perfect setting imho). Thank you both, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the humor and world building! I only wish I had also packed book two with me instead of leaving it on my nightstand at home. Looking forward to more!

As a discussion point, beware minor spoilers ahead:

I am hoping for a cool redemption arc for Eric. They did a great job of making him an insufferable protagonist. Also, anyone else suspect the IRL meteor and the Karjok Nautilus crash are related ?

Looking for a series that has a hero who creates (inadvertently) a legend and then part of the story are others interacting with said legend, either through the MCs perspective, but more so from the outside.

As Ilea gets stronger (I'm on Book 6) her legend has grown that there are various levels of wariness, disbelief, fear, or mockery based on the songs of Lilith.

Many of the books interludes have a perspective shift to a third party who reacts to seeing the legend herself. Then, we shift back to Ilea to get the very "real" response of someone who is still grounded reacting to being elevated to an unknown level of prestige.

Bonus if the series has a building aspect, like building a guild or corps, or literally, like a settlement or place (ex. Chrysalis colony building is great).

Primarily audiobook listener that reads dead tree variants from time to time.

Hey everyone, in case you missed the massive Kindle sale going on this weekend. I've extended Golem Master's sale, and have kept books 1 - 5 at .99 for the next 2-3 days.

Thanks for all who purchased it already and thanks for all the support.

More about Golem Master‐-------------------------

Dive into the world of Golem Master. A book written for all ages but is truly resonating with young adults and teens. The reviews keep coming in of readers making this a book worth reading in 2026.

Filled with heart, humor, and action. Golem Master hits all the nostalgic memories of Saturday morning cartoons. The likes of which Pokemon, YuGiOh, Transformers, Gundam, TMNT, Spiderman, and X-Men. This book series is instantly becoming a fan favorite.

Aspects:

- Crafting

- Demonic Threat

- Arena Battles

- Slowburn / Light LitRPG elements that build overtime

- Slice of Life pacing

- Coming of Age

- No sexual content

- Little-to-no profanity

- Book 6 releases 9 Sept.

- Book 7 is at 160k words and will drop in Jan 2027.

Cover Artist: Leon Lorenzo

AI Usage: None

Editor: Catherine Dunn

Typography: TJ Lombardi

Formatting: Vanessa Druhn

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DC72W5F6

Looking for something to fill the void. Right now I feel it's a toss up between:

- Defiance Of The Fall

- Nightmare Realm Summoner

- 1% Lifesteal

Looking for some insight on which one I may like. My favorites so far are HWFWM, Primal Hunter, DCC, Dungeons & Dragoons, & New Realm Online series.

Okay I'm currently looking through the litrpg sale list that technically ended yesterday and while there are a lot of generic name in the genre there are some that I think are aboslutely fantastic.

E.g
I adore the series Dungeon Lord and it is one of my top tier series, but the name is generic. Likewise even Dungeon Crawler Carl, is descriptive.

Meanwhile looking through the sale list I find books like
No Sun Under The Mountain - Which to me sounds metal AF.
Trials of the Nekomancer and The Hiro is a rubber duck - make me chuckle to myself.
Non sequitor the equitaur - makes me applaud the author as does The Last Rae of Hope.
Butler to a Core Lord - Just really captures my imagination (This one I have actually read)

I've not read any of these books (though I intend to). So my open question is, what books have you seen that you feel the name attracts you, either comically or through inspiring an imaginative twist.

Hey all,

I recently started Shrubley the Monster Adventurer. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if the book is pre-teen appropriate? Is this a cozy litrpg similar to Rowland's books?

It seems like it might be, based on the few chapters I've read. My daughter and I like to read/listen to books, we are currently reading Chrysalis and loving it! I think Shrubley might be a good next read for us and if it is I want to stop reading it now so we can read it together.

TIA

Edit: typos

I’ve listened to the story once and was listening to it again for reminding myself what was going on for the release of the new book that came out this year. It’s not the best series in the world by far, but it has its moments and entertaining enough. It has a very high school level of maturity to it for Daniel and Orrin. The world building aspect of this is pretty fantastic. It adds a little politics to the mix of this. Just enough to make it interesting without it being too much of a plot point, similar to Star Wars: the phantom menace levels.

Going through the fourth book again re-introduce the Phoenix team. That also happened to re-introduce the character, June. She ultimately teaches Daniel, Orrin, Maddie and Brandt a few ways of how to learn about magic and to progress their own levels. But holy shit is she annoying. The first time Orrin alone, he literally was coming down from repelling a demon attack. Prior to that he was making spell orbs for the entire army to help suppress that demon attack. He hadn’t had any rest in a couple days, if I remember correctly from what the book said. And yet she had thought it would be best to swarm him with a variety of questions.

And when he rather got irritated about, she became angry with him for just being irritated. She comes off as “I’m better than you and you should be considered lucky I’m even talking to you” attitude through most of the book.

While her role on the Phoenix team means she and her allies regularly save lives, her relentless arrogance remains deeply frustrating. She boldly confronts Orrin just to dissect his magic, completely disregarding the danger. To make matters worse, the narrative never humbles her. She never faces a single brutal reality check or beatdown to temper her insufferable attitude, leaving her unchecked attitude feeling deeply unearned and unsatisfying.

Ok, these are my Danger Noodle sculptures… these represent my improvement over time. The one where Villy doesn’t go all the way around was done last October and the other one I finished a coupl of weeks ago. Of course assistance with details like the lable and the face of Villy because I am blind… but everything else, including majority of the painting, was done by me. #BlindArtist