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.

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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 audiobook for the first, second and third arc is available for 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.

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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.

“Would you like to make a contract?”

When eldritch horrors known as the Anathema began tearing through reality to invade Earth, aliens calling themselves the Zenith stepped in to protect humanity. Individuals were chosen and gifted with the ability to use magic and advanced technologies to combat the existential threat. Over twenty-one years later, the so-called “Magical Guardians” are still hard at work keeping the peace. With their flashy outfits, superhuman abilities, and reality-defying spells, they are the part-time heroes and full-time idols of modern society.

But none of that really matters to Mai, whose biggest problems are dealing with her family, classmates, and the ever growing dread of her imminent future. As far as Mai is concerned, mundane problems are more than enough to worry about, and the idea of magic and monsters might as well be nothing more than daydreams. At least, they were until she finds herself in the middle of an Anathema invasion… 

A Dark Magical Girl LitRPG with sci-fi elements. Note: Slow burn and slow, gradual introduction of LitRPG mechanics that become a focal point once introduced.

Please be aware this story contains intense violence, gore, traumatic situations, and other potentially unsettling content.

Chapters tend to be longer but with inconsistent updates.

Art by Sayta.

This story is inspired by Stray Cat Strut, by RavensDagger. The "point system" for buying items is based on SCS's system. Magical girl Familiars are also a shared concept as both stories are in the magical girl genre. Some of the major differences between the two stories is this has a substantial LitRPG system including levels, stats, skills, magic, and also a generally darker tone. The first "arc" of the story is, however, an introduction into the world and characters, and as such, the LitRPG elements do not come into full play until later.

Jin Rou wanted to be a cultivator who defied the heavens, and surpassed all limits.

Unfortunately for him, he died, and now I’m stuck here. Arrogant young masters? Heavenly tribulations? Cultivating for days on end, then getting into life or death battles?

Yeah, no thanks. I'm getting out of here.

In which a transmigrator decides that the only winning move is not to play.

Beware of Chicken will be updated Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

According to prophecy, the ninth-born child of Lord Orellen will have the sort of power that changes the world. But in a land ruled by magical families, no one welcomes the possibility of a dangerous new player. Fearful even of their allies, the Orellens come up with an extraordinary and deadly scheme to protect themselves.

If the most powerful people in the world wish to kill the ninth-born, they will have to find him or her first. And that's not going to be easy when the Orellens have called upon dark magic to create hundreds of heirs. The boys and girls are given new bodies, new names, and even new magical talents before they are scattered across the continent. Only one among them is the real ninth, but all of them will have to grow up in a world where they are fugitives.

Kalen, once fated to die, is now an Orellen heir in hiding. And he is determined to survive, even if he has to master his strange new powers to do it.

The Last Orellen is a long, character-focused epic fantasy with progression. It's set in a vast universe, and it's about a boy's journey to become a powerful magical practitioner. Reviews are deeply appreciated. Please do not repost my work elsewhere without my written permission.

What type of reader is this book for? You might enjoy The Last Orellen if you like...

Clever and resourceful protagonists.

Big fantasy worlds. Multiple cultures, lots of characters, many different types of magic--this story is expansive rather than closely focused on a narrow storyline. 

Old-school epic fantasy.

Progression fantasy that takes its time. Our main character will be progressing through magical ranks, but this is going to be a lengthy story. If you're more about the journey than the destination, this might be the book for you.

Currently, the story is updating approximately once per week. Short chapters may appear more frequently. Sometimes it may be a bit longer. 

This is a story of vampires as I believe they should be, with their strengths and weaknesses, with their remnants of humanity and the beast inside. Updates every Friday. Mind the tags. 

Cover by Antti Hakosaari: https://www.artstation.com/haco

Special thanks to Svensonsen for getting me started, as well as Omi Nya, Hesketh, Rhaegar, Yaksher, Selkie and Raven for proofreading my stuff. Thanks to my patrons and you dear readers, for the support. I could not do it without you.

Journey is on Amazon, both in ebooks and audio. here is a link to the first one:

https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Black-Red-Alex-Gilbert-ebook/dp/B08DK6G8Y8

The story probably exists in your local marketplace as well of I can tempt you.

For as long as anyone can remember, humans have been preyed upon by Harbingers, living nightmares which devour dreams and passions and souls, and defended by Keepers. These children alone hold the gift of magic, the wild and wondrous ability to impose emotions over reality and empower their frail bodies with the splendor of their souls. Under their protection, humanity was able to survive and thrive.

While modern Keepers have come to enjoy a social position somewhere between celebrities and religious idols, very few accept the mantle simply to be a hero. The Messengers of the Goddess Claiasya, spirits charged with awakening the magic in suitable souls, promise that Keepers who consume and purify enough Harbingers will obtain the power to change themselves or the world in nearly any way they wish.

It’s for this purpose that Liadain Shiel, a young girl born terminally ill, throws herself into life as a Keeper when her opportunity comes, hoping against hope to rewrite her fate and save her life while she still can.

But magic wants its wielders to grow and change, not simply continue living, and the secrets swimming beneath the sea and behind the sky have lives and designs of their own.

Nowhere Stars is an ongoing fantasy-horror web novel about traumacore magical girls, nightmares clothed in ribbons and lace, alienation from reality, and broken children twisting the world into whatever shape they must to make their dreams come true.

This is a mirror of Nowhere Stars' home site, located here. Updates will be posted at the same time, currently every other Wednesday.

Support Nowhere Stars on Top Web Fiction here!

Humanity is dying, hunted to extinction by creatures of legend. One boy was born to save them all.

That boy just got knifed in the back. He looked a bit too much like Aaron, you see.

Now it’s Aaron’s job to step up, lest his Death correct that little mix-up. But Aaron’s skills as a street rat run more towards stealing and stabbing than towards saving. And the more he learns of what brought dear dead Markus to that fatal alleyway, the more he has to wonder just what the world’s savior was really up to the night the wrong boy died.

Cover art by the incredible Lakatos Csenge (@art-emisz)

The world is in ruins. 

Extreme sub-zero temperatures suffocate the surface, making even simple survival an ordeal. Frozen derelicts of bygone eras span across massive ice wastes. And the survivors closely guard any technology rediscovered within.

The only escape from the deadly climate is beneath the surface. But it’s another disaster underground. Monstrous machines lurk in the depths. Unhinged demigods war against them, dying over and over, treating it all like a game. The land itself shifts over time, more contraption than rock. And an ominous prophecy states that the key to everything waits on four heroes - but nobody knows who or where they are.

When an expedition into the far uncharted north goes terribly wrong, Keith Winterscar and his father get trapped together in a desperate fight for survival. Stumbling upon an ancient war of titanic scale; the two will need to set their differences aside while they struggle against Gods, legends, and the grand secrets of the realm that lies below.

Updating Monday and Thursdays.

Discord can be found here (This is a shared discord server with other books.)
WARNING: This series is ridiculously filled with spoilers, every book has multiple reveals. Discord was made for up-to-date readers since there's no way to really police spoilers.
Don't join until you're current!!

A man given a new lease on life finds himself amongst pokemon. From his memories of pokemon as a whole, he assumes the power of pokemon and the world around him runs on convenient fate, rule of cool, and cheesy friendship just like any other anime. Unfortunately for everyone else, he's 100% right.

Takes place in a universe similar to but separate from Borne of Caution.

NOTE: If Borne of Caution is an attempt at a coherent and realistic look at pokemon, then, Borne of Desire is the opposite. It's all the mindless indulgence I DONT want in a serious story. It's a very seat-of-my-pants for-fun project and is written with no storyboard. Updates will be inconsistent and quality cannot be assured. Not to be taken too seriously.

[I originally wanted to become a poet, but I decided to become the terrible Demon-King in order to end the life of every living creature in my search for true beauty instead!]

Despair – Lost in its bleak depths, Swain, a young poet who is driven toward horrific power by the crushing circumstances of his life, takes on the spiritual and physical embodiment of the one-hundred year crisis, becoming the destructive, primal entity known only by the people in their hushed whispers as ‘The Demon-King’.

Obsessed with his new onslaught against the world to find the only thing worth existing for, the Demon-King casts the nation under his horrific dominion, killing tens of thousands in his quest to finally remove the stain of ugliness from existence and to find the thing that his heart yearns for now in this new life more than ever before, a thing that simply can’t exist in the physical world. It is a thing that lies deeper, far down below the physical realm, and to reach it, the tangible barriers of life, of cities, of nations, and of living, breathing beings all have to go, so that he can finally breach through to the spirit world that lies beyond the veil to find it – True, ephemeral beauty.

Even if millions of souls have to die in his pursuit.

[Dungeon-Core][Demon-King][Base Building][litRPG][Villain][Revenge][Long Chapters]

Updates every 3 out of 4 Thursdays

An irritated Pokemon might tell you to stop what you're doing. An irritated animal will probably just attack you. Pokemon, for all their power, would be open books and a breeze to care for to any competent animal handler on Earth. After a fiery death, a professional zookeeper who never outgrew Pokemon games ends up in the world of Pokemon. The entire world is thrown onto its side.

Vainqueur now has a Webtoon adaptation!

It is now available on Amazon! Book 1 (Audiobook 1), Book 2 (Audiobook 2), Book 3 (Audiobook 3), Book 4.

Vainqueur Knightsbane is your average dragon: a giant, fire-breathing lizard who loves to take naps on his golden hoard, kidnap princesses for fun, and make the life of adventurers miserable. Vainqueur's only pleasure in life is to watch his treasure get bigger, one coin at a time.

So when a would-be thief turned unwilling minion tells him about "classes," "levels," and "quests," Vainqueur wonders if maybe, just maybe, he should consider a career change. 

After all, why bother hunting monsters for free when you can get paid for it?

After experiencing five years of an adventurer's life, Arcanist Sylar Spellsight now spends his days catching up on developments in Essence Studies and teasing apart the functions of arcane trinkets and artifacts discovered by him and his companions throughout their time travelling the realms of Resham. An unexpected accident during the study of his latest subject of intrigue, however, displaces him across the Planes beyond what any known spell is capable of achieving.

Now finding himself lost in a realm rich in previously-limited Transcendental Essences, however, does he truly even want to return back to his old world? If nothing else, plagiarising - ahem, learning new spell structures by observing the local mages should prove entertaining. Sure, he will face new dangers in this foreign world, but they wouldn't be anything a fancy bit of spellwork couldn't solve.

Confused though he may be by this ‘cultivation’ business that the local mages practise and their lack of appreciation for the finer details of Essence manipulation, he nonetheless discovers that perhaps there are hidden depths to both their arts that each side has yet to fully realise. 

The world of Nyil, with its monsters, its knights and its mildly sociopathic gods. Come and see! A soul flees and a soul arrives, blessed by luck. Will she survive? Will she thrive? Will she become a calamity?

After all, luck is such a fickle thing.




Temporary note: I am trying to publish this web serial on Amazon under the pen name Alex Gilbert. 

Through all of Linaria, no dungeon holds such a grip on the dreams of men as the Eternal Depths.  Hundreds throw themselves against its trials each day.  Dozens survive, walking away with power and wealth beyond their wildest dreams… until they go back for more.  One way or another, they all eventually feed the Depths.

Edmund Montgomery Ahab has sworn to destroy it.

Underleveled, undertrained, and underprepared, Edmund steps into the maw of the world’s greatest predator, a sword in his hand and vengeance on his mind.  At first his task seems impossible, but with every level he earns, every piece of loot that drops, every secret he uncovers, and especially every bit of power he can squeeze from his mysterious connection to the Aspect of Madness, Edmund crawls closer to accomplishing that insurmountable feat.

With nothing else to lose, Edmund has already given the Depths his life.  All that remains to be seen is whether he takes the dungeon’s right back.

Dungeon Devotee is an episodic serial.  It will never be taken down for KU.  Each chapter details a single floor of Edmund’s journey through the vast Eternal Depths, with all the levels and loot and lack of cliffhangers that entails.  New chapters come out on the first of each month.

Milo lives in a steel cave within a man-made mountain of steel and concrete. He spends his days repairing the machinery that keeps the habitat livable and tinkering with the prosthetics that help his twisted body move about through the small tunnels and air shafts that are his world. He's as much a piece of discarded machinery as the equipment he keeps running. 

Given a chance at being someone different will he become a hero and live in the sunlight? The light beckons, but there are secrets buried in the ground. Ancient mysteries left by races that delved deep and stayed below. Maybe only a tunnel rat could find them?

And thanks to the artist of that handsome rat for inspiration. Find more of her work here: https://www.deviantart.com/watch/memymine/deviations

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.

The royal bastard of House Vasquer, Argrave, changed after his stay studying magic at the Tower of the Gray Owl. The sickly man's awkward posture and cruel behavior have been replaced with a neat dignity and acerbic wit. Though once listless, he now strives towards his goals with a life-or-death tenacity. Most come away thinking he seems to know too many details about too much. Few can claim to know his motives or his goals. 

Yet behind that confident appearance, the primary contributor for an open-world RPG's wiki battles existential dread and things far beyond his ken as he struggles to adapt to a grim, gothic fantasy world mirroring his favorite game. The prospect of fighting against a world-ending calamity loses all of its appeal when it transitions from entertainment to reality. Argrave is spurred towards unwanted heroism to preserve his life as he struggles desperately to keep this sinking ship afloat.

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Releases 5x a week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday!

Cover by Mitchell Kirby: mdkultra.com

She became a dungeon core.

Everything pointed Delta to murdering her way to success. People were just mana farms, right?

No, that was wrong. Delta refused. Then everything became odd.

Alternate Title: The Snake Goes Ara Ara

By cruel trick of the fates, intervention of stupid gods, or just the apathy of an uncaring universe I find myself woken up as Orochimaru just after he had possessed a woman for his new host. Now I need to find a way to turn this hoard of sycophants and psychos into something that will not only keep me from an early grave, but also how to change it to a force of change in this messed up world.