Not everyone gets a soul. The rise of industry and mechanization has sent the world's population booming upward, striving relentlessly for the fixed handful of souls that level armies and steer the fate of nations. The remnants of a crumbled empire fight in a grinding, bloody war against their ancient enemy. Not everyone gets a soul, but Michael must - for he is the scion of a lord, and the soulless cannot hold such a title. For five years he has tried to tempt one of the souls freed by its vessel's death. Five years of pain and failure, earning only his father's contempt. At last, one more opportunity to earn his soul has come. But not everyone gets a soul quite like his. Updates weekly on Wednesdays. Cover art by Harry Rowland.
348.78 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 15:49
Razzmatazz | tragedy | Complete
[Every time I die, I respawn as a trash-mob at the very bottom of the dungeon. It's a rather troublesome existence, but honestly, I think I've managed to adapt, guy.] A lost soul is trapped at the bottom of what may be the world's deepest and darkest dungeon, constantly being reborn into the bodies of new monsters over and over again after every time it is forced to fight and die against the human incursion into the underbelly of the world, which is led by the unbeatable hero-party' who has never lost a single fight. However, unlike all of its other monster brethren, who suffer the same fate, this unnamed soul alone seems to remember each and every lost life and also each death in excruciating, painful detail. After an eternity of this cycle of violent reincarnation, something changes. The soul discovers a secret passage that it has never seen or heard of before in all of its hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. Making a desperate bid to fight against the crushing weight of continual death, it pushes out through this new way, climbing up to a higher floor of the dungeon for the first time, fostering hopes of an escape from this torture as it navigates the dungeon from the bottom up, using trickery, guile, and the capabilities of many wildly different bodies and repeating timelines to outsmart the dominating hero-party and the dungeon itself, which seems all too unwilling to let this trapped soul escape from its belly, deep in the underworld. What is the secret of the dungeon and the forced cycle of reincarnation? Will the soul be able to break free from this arduous, slow grind that is existence, or will it be crushed into madness from the pressure finally beginning to break its fragile mind? Find out in this ultra slow burning, litRPG inspired fantasy novel by renowned dark fantasy author D.M. Rhodes!
235.73 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 18:15
Wandering Agent | adventure | Complete
Reborn into another world as Alana, the former resident of Earth must now try to make her way. While heroes fight great monsters and kings war the peasants suffer and die, unable to save themselves. What is a girl born into a poor family to do except learn and work as hard as she can to just make it through; and that's what she will do. Strive, strive all she can against an unfair and uncaring world of dark lords, dungeons, uncaring nobles, heroes, and magic. Come along as she uses magic and wit in a bid to survive. Updates on Tues. and Fri. Participant in the Royal Road writathon challenge.
327.83 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-21 15:58
nobody103 | adventure | Complete
Zorian is a teenage mage of humble birth and slightly above-average skill, attending his third year of education at Cyoria's magical academy. He is a driven and irritable young man, consumed by a desire to ensure his own future and free himself of the influence of his family, whom he resents for favoring his brothers over him. Consequently, he has no time for pointless distractions or paying attention to other people's problems. As it happens, time is something he is about to get plenty of. On the eve of the Cyoria's annual summer festival, he is killed and brought back to the beginning of the month, just before he was about to take a train to Cyoria. Suddenly trapped in a time loop with no clear end or exit, Zorian will have to look both within and without to unravel the mystery before him. And he does have to unravel it, for the time loop hadn't been made for his sake and dangers lurk everywhere... Repetition is the mother of learning, but Zorian will have to first make sure he survives to try again - in a world of magic, even a time traveler isn't safe from those who wish him ill. ********************************** Mother of Learning is now available for sale on Amazon. The story will remain available in full here on Royal Road and on Fictionpress, but if you're more interested to read the story as a Kindle Edition e-book you now have a way to do that. The audiobooks can be found on this link here. The physical edition is available through a Kickstarter campaign, which can be found here. I will keep you all updated on that as things develop. ********************************** If anyone is interested, I have a story-related worldbuilding site that can be found here. I don't update it as often as I should, but there is a fair amount of content there already. It also contains a page with all the fanart, fan translations, audio books and the like - you can reach it directly by clicking this link. I have a patreon account for those kind people that want to give me money. It also contains info for those who want to donate via paypal. The story was originally posted on fictionpress, back in 2011. When I reached chapter 91, I started uploading the story to RoyalRoad, one chapter per day. The Fictionpress version of the story can be reached by clicking on this link if somebody is interested, though at this point there is nothing there that isn't also on RoyalRoad.
459.97 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-21 11:39
Ever been a god? Well, I was! Until I died.... and got judged by the other gods! Apparently, they didn't like the whole "My Faith is the only true one!" idea. Oh, and for the record: The Apocalypse wasn't intentional, ok? In my defense, I want it to be known that my enemies threw the first stone and the whole 'Offer the other cheek' just isn't mything. Seems like, for punishment, I get sent onto a vacation! Or so I hope? Reading Order of the Multiverse-Books Author's Comment: It's here, a rewrite? Yes! I would like to think that this version will have better grammar, better jokes, hopefully, everything better. Since it was my first work and started solely to improve my English,the grammar always caused me headaches when I looked at it. Well, and there are the plotholes which appeared with the whole multiverse thingthat came with my other works...Let's just say that the first one was never written with the idea of turning it into a series. So let's get a shovel andfill-up the plot so that hapless readers won't fall into those pitch-black pits. They might break a knee! Or worse, vanish forever. And now the disclaimer everyone knows: I was asked about reading my work on other sites. The answer is simple: Currently, I am not active in any other networks than royalroadl.com. Only here, I correct mistakes and errors. If you read it anywhere else and have to pay for it or have to deal with an annoying amount of advertisement, You Are Being Betrayed. You would do good if you make other people in that network aware of it. This is a free project of mine for the purpose of having fun. And if people try to make money with it you shouldn't bother visiting their website. The only one whom I actually allowed to have my work on his website is Armaell who invested the time to compile them into pdf. (http://armaell-library.net/author/andur)
205.02 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-13 16:11
He left his home, unwillingly, to a realm of cultivation, Xianshu, mythical manuals and Dao. And now he's here due to a failed attempt at going home, a place bears a lot of resemblance but not the same. "At least it's close enough here. I'll get there on my next jump." Jianmen Yu said to himself, "But while I'm prepping, let me do my old job here for a bit." And there we have it, "Xianshi Inn", run by a cultivator, who's not of this world. Don't mess with it or its employees, the owner will kick your ass, no matter who you are, no matter WHAT you are. The full book of this novel is now available on Amazon, if you would like to support me and my work, head to Amazon and search "Xianshi Inn"! New book from Egao Chan "Poison City" is available and serializing! Check it out!
392.00 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-21 13:24
TowerCurator | action | Complete
Alyssa Meadows, a worker at a local home improvement store, returns home one evening to her home invaded by burglars. A bad night gets worse when, after accidentally killing one, an angel appears before her and tells her she is destined to die. Alyssa takes exception to that and saves herself, only to find out that angels don't like destiny being messed with. She finds herself shunted off to an alternate world filled with magic and monsters to preserve Earth's future. Story is complete, though you may find a handful of extras at https://www.towercurator.com/vacant-throne/.
556.70 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 18:57
Maxime J. Durand (Void Herald) | adventure | Complete
The Perfect Run is now available on Amazon and Audible: Volume 1 (Audiobook), Volume 2 (Audiobook), Volume 3 Ryan "Quicksave" Romano is an eccentric adventurer with a strange power: he can create a save-point in time and redo his life whenever he dies. Arriving in New Rome, the glitzy capital of sin of a rebuilding Europe, he finds the city torn between mega-corporations, sponsored heroes, superpowered criminals, and true monsters. It's a time of chaos, where potions can grant the power to rule the world and dangers lurk everywhere. Ryan only sees different routes; and from Hero to Villain, he has to try them all. Only then will he achieve his perfect ending... no matter how many loops it takes. The Perfect Run updates on Tuesday and Saturday. Cover byVitaly S. Alexius.
271.37 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 15:15
In pursuit of reunification with his love who died far away, the deathless Liu Xie makes a deal with the heavens to bring her orphaned daughter Idony to the First Palace where the Heavens meet the mortal land. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done, even for him as the fate of others link to his and Idony's journey. Bo is a lost dog of a man, seeking vengeance. Rui Yifu is a false friend fleeing from his own face and past, and Li Baobao comes for penance. Yet something else may be pulling the strings, its own designs expanding like terrible roots in the soil. A slow burn. Uploads every Tuesday and Friday.
320.30 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-20 15:37
QuasiTemporal | contemporary | Complete
A war in the future is spilling into our present. Enter Carrie Waterson, a teenage girl who ends up witha time machine. In using it, she learns thatshe istied to a future destiny. What does that mean for her now? Who in her high school can be trusted to help out, given how some of her friends have their own agendas and mystic connections? Most importantly, how might Carrie fight against the future, when the future is herself? (ASIDE: Cover was an old commission from Sabrnyan.)
205.99 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 17:07
ReavingBishop | fantasy | Complete
Or: An Anthropological Expedition Into the Beyond Carza vo Anka is a recently graduated anthropologist and linguist from the renowned Court of Ivory in the city of ALD IOM. She loves her home. She loves her typewriter, her books, her peace... And now she's leaving it all behind. Because apparently she can't become an accredited scholar with her damn office unless she embarks on an expedition. A gas mask, some clippers for mutations, a pearl-handled pistol, enough currency... ...that should be enough to deal with frostbite, malfunctioning railways, contaminated air, putrid cities, revolutionaries who are physically incapable of sleeping, men made of glass who scent their passage with the finest perfumes, and other, stranger things.To strange currencies, strange grammars, and stranger food. (Cover by @vio_lenceee)
264.50 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-22 17:11
If he had to be reborn in a fictional world, then he would prefer that world to not be violent.Instead, he was reborn in Azeroth.If he had to be reborn in Azeroth, then he would prefer to be born in a society in which he could live in peace.Instead, he was reborn in a kingdom fated to be destroyed by an evil necromancer intent on creating an army of the undead.If he had to be reborn in a kingdom fated to be destroyed by an evil necromancer intent on creating an army of the undead, then he would prefer to be reborn as a human in Lordaeron.Instead, he was reborn as a nerubian in Azjol-Nerub.Join an unfortunate nerubian on his journey as he tries to live in a world that would very much prefer him to die. Crossposting from SB/SV/FF. If you like this story, then don't forget to drop a follow or a review to help me out.
304.58 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 15:13
TowerCurator | contemporary | Complete
Dyna Graves grew up thinking she was special. An exception to the average. Not necessarily above her peers, but simply outside their context. However, toward the end of her high school life, she started to realize that nobody was really special. At least not in any fantastical way. Just as she started trying to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life, she got an invitation. A psychic institute scoped her out, realized her psychic potential, and asked if she would undergo psionic training at the Carroll Institute. Almost immediately, Dyna realized that she wasn't quite up to the same level as many of her peers. Surrounded by clairvoyants and mind readers displaying obvious abilities made her own lack of ability all the more apparent. That was, up until the researchers and scientists of the facility realized that there was a bit more to Dyna Graves than met the eye. After an explosive incident during what should have been a routine experiment, Dyna quickly found herself wrapped up in a world of cutthroat espionage. The story can also be viewed on my website, https://www.towercurator.com/collective-thinking/. Cover art by Zoern.
230.06 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 15:27
A Writers Refugium | historical | Complete
The heroine is good and the villainess is evil. That was the absolute truth. That rule was undeniable as well as the fact that only the heroine would receive true love and her happy ending. Likewise, the malicious villainess would always suffer and leave the stage to clear the path for the perfect heroine in the end. So, for Blanche, it felt like her world came crashing around her when she remembered the truth about her life. As the villainess in the typical romance novel "To Be Empress", she was fated to be condemned and abandoned by her lover. No matter how devoted she was to Theodore Estien, the emperor of Artias, she would only be the bratty concubine that would obstruct the heroine, who happened to be Theodore's lawful wife and the empress. In the end, the villainess would be deserted and executed. It was destined to happen like this, and yet she couldn't give up. She had to change the future. Preventing the romance between the main characters would get her killed. Much like trying to steer away from the enemies' intrigues, in which she was already caught up, would. But neither the heroine nor the emperor's political rivals would change the fact that Blanche loved the man that was supposed to be the heroine's. And no matter what happened she would always stay by her lover's side. So she wouldn't just follow the book's storyline and let her own doom arrive. Blanche would survive while trying to suppress all of the selfish desires that had made her the villainess. But was she truly fine with that? Did she not desire more than just surviving? Did she even have the right? Could the villainess ask for a happy end? Was she too brazen if she just wanted to stay with the man she loved and receive his affection? And wasn't there a bit more to this novel than she remembered? She didn't know and in the end that mattered little when the world around her changed with each day as more and more questions about the future and the past arose. *The Profanity tag was added due to the characters' occasional swearing, which should not happen too often.
982.28 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-11 13:58
In a deadly cultivation world, the only way to survive is to play dead! Trucked in the middle of faking his death, Xiao Hui finds himself transported to a cultivation world and quickly acquires a powerful master and a high rank in his sect. There's just one problem: it's a cultivation world, and only the strong survive. As a weakling who recognizes his place in the world, Xiao Hui faces certain death. So why fight it? A silly cultivation novel about a clever disciple desperately faking his own death all the way to the top of the world! -- old blurb -- A silly cultivation novel about an airheaded master putting his foot in his mouth and his poor, clever disciple ducking the fall. In the midst of faking his death, Xiao Hui finds himself trucked and summarily reincarnated into a cultivation world. With great hopes for what is to come, he gets himself taken in by a sect and chosen by a powerful master, but his master seems to have a hole in his brain! What's a poor disciple to do? What Hui does best, of course! A xianxia comedy in the vein of A Will Eternal and Spirit Blade Mountain! [Volume 1 - 7 Complete] -Cultivation/progression fantasy -Neither grimdark nor fluffy, but interwoven with both silly and intense moments -Not your typical cultivation protagonist [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
695.12 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 18:10
Hi,If you're receiving this message, I am unable to respond to your email.If this is an emergency, please contact Madhavaditya Sharma (adi.sharma) for immediate assistance, otherwise I will reply as soon as I'm able.Regards,CarlDirector of Information TechnologyPS. If you're reaching out from Engineering, please use the engineering-help@fire inbox to ensure proper handling of your request. The above message is intended solely for the named addressee and may contain trade secrets, industrial technology or privileged and confidential information otherwise protected under applicable law including the Uniform Trade Secret Act and Defend Trade Secrets Act. Any unauthorized dissemination, distribution, copying, or use of the information contained in this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender by email and delete this communication immediately.
491.99 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 17:44
A ritual, with the sole purpose of obtaining immortality, goes horribly wrong. What's left in its aftermath is aboy who receives an inheritance from the Void, a mysterious place that embodies darkness. With a newfound power, he is given a chance to carve his own way into the world.
336.65 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 18:01
Ellen Taylor | tragedy | Complete
A young man born with all four God-given powers would appear when Santollia needed him most, winning the war and giving them peace. The High Elders of the church thought the Warrior would be a holy man, but even the prophecy couldn't prepare them for Indenuel. Indenuel's mother never told him of the prophecy, nor a lot of things about her past, leaving him to hide his four gifts. The more he smothered them, the more easily he turned toward the darker aspects of the powers. When High Elder Martin discovers him, he's taken to train in Santollia City as the daunting task of fulfilling the prophecy crashes on his shoulders. To make sure people keep their holy image of the fabled Warrior, Indenuel stifles the darker tendencies he's always had with his powers. But as he learned before, he can't pretend to be something he's not, no matter what the prophecy says. *Book is COMPLETE!*
463.31 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 18:18
The rise of a young Fire Nation commander Xing, a survivor of a village attack-turned prodigious firebending colonel of the Fire Nation's 11th Regiment. Taking place not long before canon, Xing seeks to keep his adoptive family in the Fire Nation military as safe, sound, and sharp as he can, even as the pieces of the puzzle that is the main story start to fall in place around him, the biggest of which is Princess Azula joining the 11th in their military duties around the Earth Kingdom.
232.91 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-27 18:31
Cliff Hanger | comedy | Complete
Gods are, generally speaking, not fans of directly putting their fingers on the scale. This is for a variety of reasons, ranging from cautioun to amusement, but is generally because after a few hundred millennia and enough prayers to fill a hollow Earth, you're bound to learn the art of delegation. Luckily, among the unwashed masses, there exist the exceptional, the gifted, those with the potential to become Heroes. Useful pawns. Thus, the Gods adopted a more laissez-faire policy. Quasi Eludo has been a Hero. He did the whole "save the world" rigmarole, came home, and mulled over his magical journey. It was amazing! A whole lifetime as the destined savior, with magic and monsters, love and adventure, lifelong friendships and heartfelt goodbyes. There was so much, and yet, gone so soon. It wasn't enough. It was never enough. He wanted to do it again. And where wants coincide, there's a market, so he sold his services to the lazy, wanton Gods. Quasi Eludo, Hero for Hire. [No world too big, no quest too small] Now, after countless subjective centuries of Hero-ing, and several awkward conversations with the IRS, an odd God has come to Quasi with a unique request: Destroy a world, minimum payment of several million dollars on completion. Quasi sees no reason not to accept. *$50,000 USD minimum charge plus expenses for all fetch quests. Extermination requests subject to environmental review. Parental Warning: Contains descriptions of nudity and lizard sex. No eldritch abominations were molested in the writing of this novel.All characters are fictional. Any resemblance to actual Gods, Deities, or Discord server members is purely coincidental regardless of how accurately they are described.
433.63 Ten thousand words | Updated at 2024-03-29 11:16
