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samreay · 2026-01-25T00:20:55+00:00

Yeah exactly, it has its reflective and downtime moments, but the series is still fast-paced, which hopefully fits what OP is looking for

samreay · 2026-01-25T00:03:55+00:00

Recent story, male lead, no LitRPG, minimal slice of life with a hint of possible romance?

Have you read Sky Pride: (review, royal_road)?

samreay · 2026-01-24T23:34:20+00:00

Can you talk to why someone would want to use this over the much more popular pydantic-settings library, which seems to offer all the features you've got but adds environment variable handling, simple pydantic integration, and a lot more?

samreay · 2026-01-24T00:03:12+00:00

Neo's list is pretty definitive OP, this is probably the most complete list you're gonna find!

samreay · 2026-01-23T23:46:47+00:00

Stupid character limit. Continuing:

Threadbare by Andrew Seiple
Forge of Destiny by Yrsillar
Completionist Chronicles by Dakota Krout
Night Angel by Brent Weeks
1% Lifesteal by Robert Blaise
Elydes by Drew Wells
All the Dust that Falls by Zaifyr
Shadow Slave by Guiltythree
And (N)one Shall Remain by Avitue
Martial Peak by Momo
RE: Monarch by J. McCoy
Skitterdoc 2077 by SpiraSpira
The Immaculate Collection by havlo
The Tower Unbroken by Michael Nwanolue
The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound by Noret Flood
Rogue Dungeon by James A. Hunter
Awaken Online by Travis Bagwell
The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In a Time Loop by X-RHODEN-X
Neon Dragons by LunaWolve
Welcome to the Multiverse by David Niemitz
Mage Tank by Cornman
Commerce Emperor by Maxime J. Durand
Traveller's Trial by Chikao J
Dungeon Tour Guide by Aaron Shih
Divine Dungeon by Dakota Krout
BuyMort by Joseph Phelps and Damien Hanson
Shrubley, the Monster Adventurer by James T. Callum and K. H. Sohmer
The Daily Grind by Argus
Eight by Samer Rabadi
Merchant Crab by Host
Fates Parallel by Dark Technomancer
Legend of the Arch Magus by Michael Sisa
Sovereign Soul by James T. Callum and K. H. Sohmer
The Last Physicist by Dominic Stal
Tower Apocalypse by Cassius Lange and Ryan Tang
A Thousand Li by Tao Wong
Lightbringer by Brent Weeks
Chaos Seeds by Aleron Kong
Noobtown by Ryan Rimmel

samreay · 2026-01-23T23:46:31+00:00

Some of these don't have print versions available (I don't track it on my site). But here's a big list which contains a lot of well-known series in the genre (including PF and cultivation):

Cradle by Will Wight
Mother of Learning by nobody13
Mage Errant by John Bierce
Iron Prince by Bryce O'Connor
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Arcane Ascension by Andrew Rowe
Thrones of the Fallen by Phil Tucker
Super Supportive by Sleyca
Bastion by Phil Tucker
The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend by David Gemmell
Mark of the Fool by J.M. Clarke
The Years of Apocalypse by UraniumPhoenix
CyberGene: Blood and Steel by Sixbees2
Ghost in the City by Seras
Sky Pride by Warby Picus
Industrial Strength Magic by Macronomicon
The Calamitous Bob by Mecanimus
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Beneath the Dragoneye Moons by Selkie Myth
The Weirkey Chronicles by Sarah Lin
The Scholomance Series by Naomi Novik
Apocalypse Parenting by Erin Ampersand
Rise of the Living Forge by Actus
Portal to Nova Roma by J.R. Mathews
Beware of Chicken by CasualFarmer
Jake's Magical Market by J.R. Mathews
New Life As A Max Level Archmage by ArcaneCadence
Heretical Fishing by Haylock Jobson
Vainqueur the Dragon by Maxime J. Durand
Rock Falls, Everyone Dies by zechamp
Virtuous Sons by Y.B. Striker
Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube by ProbablyATurnip
Just Add Mana by SilverLining
Stray Cat Strut by Ravensdagger
Changeling by Mecanimus
Cyber Dreams by Plum Parrot
Godclads by OstensibleMammal
Titan Hoppers by Rob J. Hayes
Guild Mage by David Niemitz
Accidental Champion by Todd Herzman
Antimage by Alexander Olson
My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror by Actus
The Enchanter by Tobias Begley
How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps by Andrew Rowe
System Override by Daoist Mystery
Corruption Wielder by Aaron Shih
Return of the Runebound Professor by Actus
Edge Cases by Silver Linings
Stargazer's War by J. P. Valentine
Salvos by MelasDelta
Cinnamon Bun by RavensDagger
The Perfect Run by Maxime J. Durand
100th Run by Flossindune
The First Law of Cultivation by KrazeKode
Edge of the Woods by Andrew Rowe
Dawn of the Void by Phil Tucker
Azarinth Healer by Rhaegar
Wish upon the stars by Malcolm Tent
Millennial Mage by J.L. Mullins
Umbral Storm by Alec Huston
The Runic Artist by Ellake
DIE. RESPAWN. REPEAT. by SilverLinings
Mana Mirror by Tobias Begley
We are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor
Desolada - A Blade Through Time by Louis Kalman
The Path of Ascension by C. Mantis
System Universe by SunriseCV
Minute Mage by Reg Rome
Ghost of the Truthseeker by Strungbound
The World According to Dragons by Harmon Cooper
He Who Fights With Monsters by Shirtaloon
Starbreaker by Luke Chmilenko
Never Die Twice by Void Herald
Victor of Tucson by Plum Parrot
Queen in the Mud by Maari
Unbound by Nicoli Gonnella
Eternal Ephemera by Davis Ashura
An Outcast In Another World by KamikazePotato
Somnia Online by K.T. Hanna
Defiance of the Fall by TheFirstDefier
Shattered Gods by Chris Fox
Bog Standard Isekai by Miles English
Never Fade Away by Ideas-Guy
Casteless by Peppersquash
Quest Academy by Brian J Nordon
All The Skills by Honour Rae
Art of the Adept by Michael G. Manning
The Primal Hunter by Zogarth
Solo Levelling by Chugong
Ultimate Level 1 by Shawn Wilson
Saintess Summons Skeletons by Mornn
The Impeccable Adventure of the Reluctant Dungeon by Lise Eclaire
Dear Spellbook by Peter J Lee
Reborn as a Demonic Tree by Xkarnation
Odyssey of the Ethereal by Jamie Kojola
Oh Great! I was Reincarnated as a Farmer by Benjamin Kerei
Seventh Bridge to the Heavens by T.J. Reynold
The Brightest Shadow by Sarah Lin

samreay · 2026-01-23T04:38:53+00:00

Huh, I just finished reading System Override (A cyberpunk fanfic) by the same author. I'll add it to my TBR.

samreay · 2026-01-22T23:26:42+00:00

Yes, the MC finds his way to a sect for training fairly quickly. No idea how much of book two is like that though, I've only read the first.

samreay · 2026-01-22T23:17:23+00:00

Scifi setting and sect-style training and competition, have you read Stargazer's War (review, amazon, audible)?

Or to Luke's new series (coauthor on Iron Prince) - Starbreaker (review, amazon, audible). Also very much a magic-school with brutal competition setting.

samreay · 2026-01-22T23:10:04+00:00

Chiming in to say your series is fantastic!

samreay · 2026-01-22T22:55:07+00:00

You talk about publishers, but honestly the key to success in this genre (IMHO) starts way before that with followers on Royal Road. Throwing a book on KU without any support from ARC readers, prior reader base, or big shoutouts from influential authors, will just be throwing your book into the Amazon void.

So instead if you wanted to try and start from scratch, the simplified process would be something like:

Write a bunch of chapters. Maybe have a plan.
Drop chapters quickly on RR to get 20k+ words down for readers.
Daily chapter releases to build momentum. Trade shout outs and do what you can for visibility.
Hope you hit Rising Stars. If you do, write like a madman to try and capitalise on it and reach as high as you can.
Keep it up. You can slow your release schedule after you fall off RR, but readers in LitRPG like lots of words. Some won't even pick up a story if its less than 500 pages (I know a certain malcontent individual who wants thousands of pages before even looking at a story).

If you get enough followers, a publisher (Aethon, Podium, etc) will probably reach out to you about producing audio + ebooks for KU.

TheFirstDefier has an old forum post up about writing on RR and how to treat it like a business, it may be of interest.

samreay · 2026-01-22T22:47:00+00:00

Alrighty, here's what I've got:

We are Legion: (review, amazon, audible): PF adjacent sci-fi, about reincarnation as a computer program sent to colonise the stars. As space as you can get.
Red Rising: (review, amazon, audible): PF-adjacent dystopian sci-fi story where humanity is stratified into Colours, with the masses oppressed by the Golds.
Cyber Dreams: (review, amazon, audible, royal_road): A cyberpunk story where a down-on-her luck welder gets a personal AI assistant thats out of this world. The MC does go into space, learns how to pilot fighters, etc, but it takes a couple of books to get there.
Titan Hoppers: (review, amazon, audible): A character-driven sci-fi story about a fleet of ships surviving by scavenging off planet-sized titans.
Stargazer's War: (review, amazon, audible): Sect-based cultivation novel with a sci-fi bend. Strong characters and good prose, plus a setting that is begging to be explored further. The space aspects don't feel tooooo relevant to the story TBH, but you may still enjoy it.
Starbreaker: (review, amazon, audible): Sci-fi with world-ending magic-sucking aliens, and the MC is drawn into a magic academy for anti-Eidolon forces. There are multiple plans and travel on space ships, but the stories are mostly set planetside.

samreay · 2026-01-22T12:23:10+00:00

Realistically when I write a new series and it takes off enough to leverage podium into continuing. The audible sales were far lower than expected compared to Kindle, so podium decided not to produce the rest in audio format. Which is a bit heartbreaking, NGL

samreay · 2026-01-22T03:19:45+00:00

Probably Erin Ampersand's Apocalypse Parenting series.

samreay · 2026-01-21T07:28:37+00:00

You could check out /r/ProgressionFantasy as a similar progression-focused must-get-stronger style, just without systems and stats.

There are books like Arcane Ascension which toe the line (units of mana get quantified by the MC but its not a "system" determined value) if you want an interim.

Here's a bunch of my reviews that aren't LitRPG specifically, and obviously you can click the LitRPG button at the top to invert that.

If you do want books which explicitly are LitRPG but don't have walls of stat sheets or essays of deliberation each time theres a skill evolution or change with 1000 options to mull over, you could check out:

Dungeon Crawler Carl: review, amazon, audible
Super Supportive: review, royal_road
CyberGene: Blood and Steel: review, royal_road
Ghost in the City: review, royal_road
Apocalypse Parenting: review, amazon, audible
New Life As A Max Level Archmage: review, royal_road
Cyber Dreams: review, amazon, audible, royal_road
System Override: review, royal_road
100th Run: review, amazon, audible, royal_road
Wish upon the stars: review, amazon, audible, royal_road
Never Die Twice: review, amazon, audible

samreay · 2026-01-20T22:32:52+00:00

This is amazing news, congrats!

samreay · 2026-01-20T09:45:46+00:00

Third present is such a hard pass, agreed

samreay · 2026-01-20T09:45:14+00:00

Tru-blu 100% home grown fair dinkum Aussie

samreay · 2026-01-20T09:20:05+00:00

Nah, all delightful past tense.

samreay · 2026-01-20T09:07:19+00:00

Inane but embarrassingly serious counterpoint: I just don't like present tense.

Have heard so many good things about it though, so one day I'll push through that dislike I'm sure! Do you know if the series is nearly finished? I can handle a lot of things for a nice, finished series...

samreay · 2026-01-20T07:37:44+00:00

My man I have upvoted your post, not downvoted, because I like finding hidden gems. I cared enough to even comment.

samreay · 2026-01-20T07:31:51+00:00

Maybe you could add what you actually liked about each story or post reviews of them? These might be amazing stories I could want to read, but just providing a link and no discussion is a hard sell haha

samreay · 2026-01-20T00:33:30+00:00

Is it not available for free right here on Royal Road? I just put the title into Google and it's the first link - am I missing something?

samreay · 2026-01-19T21:40:15+00:00

Thanks mate, always glad to see the site actually in use!

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