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 by Vitaly S. Alexius. 

This is a collection of what-if scenarios for my other story, Mother of Learning. Time related stories are full of interesting concepts, and alternate timelines are one of them. I've always been fascinated with AU stories, and I've decided to make a few chapters to celebrate getting Mother of Learning official published on Amazon.

(By the way, if you are interested in that, you can find the Amazon link here.)

And yes, this is basically the author making AU fanfiction for his own story. Don't take this too seriously: none of the stories here are canonical and are made purely for fun.

If you aren't familiar with my main story, this will probably not make too much sense to you, but Mother of Learning is a story of a magic-using teenager stuck in a time loop, set in a fantasy world that is in the midst of a technological and magical revolution. If you like what you just read, go hop to the main story and give it a try.

An anthology and companion piece of The Perfect Run, covering the question you've all asked once... what if?  

What if Quicksave had become a Psycho? What if Len Sabino had taken the Violet Elixir rather than the Blue? What if Jasmine had remembered? What if Ryan had gained a different power or fallen in love with someone else? Follow the Ultimate One as it guides you through these roads not taken. 

Updates on special occasions. 

Cairn is a prince who is already tired of ruling. Faced with an imminent coronation and an overbearing father, he wants nothing more than to drown his responsibilities in cheap liquor and poor decisions. With the help of his sister, he hatches a plan to escape the clutches of the throne once and for all. It all goes terribly wrong, and Cairn finds his priorities shifting in the face of unimaginable tragedy. The change of heart comes too late, however, and Cairn dies. He reawakens to find himself transported ten years in the past. He immediately begins to plan for the future, only to discover his killer has somehow followed him. To succeed, Cairn must unite the kingdom and discover the motivation of his killer, using as many tries as it takes. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I exhausted pretty much every time loop story ever written and decided to write my own. You'll see a few similarities here between this story and some existing stories, at least initially. There's a lot of inspiration drawn from both MoL and Re:Zero, though in terms of pathos and darkness, this story leans more towards the latter. Be warned, it is something of a slow burn. The main character will grow and become powerful, but a theme of this story is that power comes slowly and often at great cost. 

Book One: Kindle Edition and Audiobook 

Developmental Editing by the all seeing Irock4691

This is a 100% reader-interactive, game-like book, based on my novel Technomagica. It is written in collaboration with the readers - every comment drives it forward. Once there are enough interesting or fun comments on each chapter, various paths forward begin to manifest that you can [choose] to follow. 

Summary: Soviet bio-weapons designer Vladislav Kerenski died in 1992. Upon meeting "god" he rejects a continuation of his narrative. It's up to you to help him survive the darkness of the Astral Ocean.

This is the only book on Royal Road where your choice can make the MC become a villain or a hero, to die horribly and quickly, or slowly and painfully, to live out an interesting life, to become god, or to be trapped in a nightmarish loop without an end!

Book 1 available on Kindle, KU, and Audible!

Name: Paradox

Species: Snake, ?

Description: A tiny snake with great potential.

That was who I was. That was what I was. A tiny snake with great potential. The sole creation of the Great Core.

It was just us, the Great Core and I, tucked away in our little corner of the World Dungeon. Together, we hid from the bad-things and the Coreless of the world outside - safe from the horrors that would consume us.

Until, one day, the Coreless found us. Until they tried to steal away my creator. Until, with no other option, I swallowed the Great Core that had made me.

Only after that did I become what I was always meant to be.

At last, I became the Great Core's Paradox in more than name.

[The Endless Cycle] began.

Thus begins the story of a little snake zealot and his journey to greatness.

For millennia the demon lords known as the Goetia enslaved the human race, until a group of mortals known as the Archons received divine blessings of power and overthrew them. Under their dominion mankind flourished, though the war in the shadows never ended. A thousand years later, sixteen-year-old Leones' family is executed for the crime of heresy. Burned to death for questioning whether the Archon of Flames is a divine being, and whether any of the Archons truly are. 

After manifesting the power to control time, Leones survives and embarks on an uncertain journey for power and revenge. But if he is to overcome a god, he may need some help. Along the way he will discover the truth behind the demon lords, time, and reality itself, as he walks along the razor path. 

Artwork is used with permission from the creator, @chinfongart.

Updated on Tuesdays and Saturdays

NOTE: This story has a patreon. It has not been linked into the fiction page due to some issues. You can find the Patreon at this link

***
Previously titled Truth Seeker. 

Synopsis 1:

In a trial of gods, where eight Marks would compete to find treasures unseen and vast, a ninth one appears with the ability to revert time.

***

Synopsis 2:

Jennifer was ready to enter Lienmont's Mage Academy, the place she'd been aspiring to reach for years now, in hopes of learning the many secrets of magic. What she hadn’t expected was to be dragged into the city's dungeon.

Her journey found her in a trial of life and death that left a Mark seared on not just her body, but her very soul. And if that wasn’t enough, when she escaped the dungeon, she found her city in flames, burning as monstrous invaders slaughtered everyone they came across, including her.

When Jennifer closed her eyes, she was certain her life had taken an unfair and tragic turn. But then she opened them, only to find that none of it had ever happened.

The only proof she hadn’t gone mad was the Mark on her hand, burning with an inner fire.

Ian Dunai is trapped in the only maze an arch-decemancer can't escape.

Time.

Only 1% of the population is blessed with magic affinity at birth. Fewer still have high enough affinities to rule. Ian’s decemancy eclipses all, granting him ultimate control over Death. He conquers cities with a thought and turns them into ruins with a gesture. But overwhelming power isn’t enough to escape the time loop or reveal its purpose.

When Ian discovers a critical clue that he missed years ago, escape is finally at his fingertips.

Little does he know, it's only the first realm.

Release schedule: 2 chapters/week (Mon/Fri at 11:30 AM EST).

Book 1, The Menocht Loop, is complete at ~100k words (~370 pages; chapters 1-41).

Book 2, The False Ascendant, is complete at ~110k words (chapters 42-83)

After being on Royal Road for nearly 20 months, Book 1 came down from Royal Road on Nov 17th, 2021, and Book 2 came down on Feb 8th 2022. Please consider buying the books on Amazon. The first 10% of book 1 and book 2, respectively, are still available to read on Royal Road so you can try before you buy. DM me if you want to read the books but do not have the financial means to purchase them.

Book 3, The Eldemari's Wrath, is complete at ~145k words (chapters 84-143)

Book 4, The Samsara Crucible, is complete at ~165k words (chapters 144-211).

Book 5, The Seed of Chaos, is ongoing (chapters 212 and on).

Constructive criticism welcome.

Join the discord.

Vote on Top Web Fiction!

View the wiki.

Cover art by the very talented Jeff Brown. (Higher res version here; 3840 x 2400 ultra high res wallpaper version here)

They asked Amber to become a magical girl three times.

She refused.

That only made her more interesting.

The fourth time, she asked them.

Decades ago, strange gateways to other worlds opened across Earth. With these came alien races, strange magic, and danger unlike any other. Reed is what most would call an everyday citizen, but when thrust into a broader universe filled with ancient civilizations, eldritch horrors, and godlike powers, it's only natural one must adapt in order to survive.

It is an age of wisdom and prosperity. The world has been at peace for two centuries, all things are available in abundance, and the human lifespan has been extended further than ever before, with many living for five centuries or longer. In this strange era, a class of gifted young arcanists are invited to attend a conclave that pursues the secret of eternal life, but one of the guests, Utsushikome of Fusai, has an ulterior motive for attending. Soon, however, a dark truth is unveiled, and a tragedy unfolds at their hidden refuge.

And all of them must ask: What can be found in the world, that is truly eternal?

The curtain rises on this, mankind's final battle with entropy, and the outcomes are death, and a slightly later, more complicated form of death. Please try to enjoy yourself.

This story is a time loop murder mystery with a slow pace and a focus on psychological elements.

Discord: https://discord.gg/RTFjaKTbUe

The rewrite for this story has been posted as Mark of Time.

Live. Study. Repeat.

Tal never saw himself as an adventurer, but the call to adventure never much cared for his opinion. Despite his best efforts, his search for answers on the murder of his parents ever draws him into danger. Accompanied by a group of seasoned warriors, thus far Tal has gotten by on his own meager magical talents, but when one day he wakes up to find himself back in his bed of the night before, he is faced with a challenge he must conquer alone.

What to expect:

This story was born of an attempt to create in world lore reasons for many of the mechanics and tropes of D&D, but you do not need to know of them to enjoy the story.

It's a single POV time loop story with slow paced progression fantasy elements. The story is not one of fast-paced power ups and non-stop action, but as it progresses, the action picks up. There is a lot of magic system exploration on a system built to unify the diverse magic of D&D into one cohesive magic system. The setting is an original world with familiar races and monsters but with new unique origins and motivations.

The average chapter will be 2-5k words long, most being around 3k but there are a few less than 1k, due to the nature of the story telling device I used.

Book 1 is complete. Posting is on hold until I finish book 2.

Book 2 progress: The rough draft is done at 141656 words as of 7/9/2022. I need to reread and edit it but I'm aiming for resuming chapters in September. 

A rewrite of this story has been posted here:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/49881/dear-spellbook-a-fantasy-time-loop-rewrite

Live. Study. Repeat.

Tal is a sorcerer in a world where they are killed on sight, traveling with a man charged with carrying out the task. Every night Tal must pretend to study his spellbook to maintain his disguise as a Wizard’s Apprentice. If his disguise slips and his charade is uncovered, it will be his death. Seeking answers to mysteries that arose after his parent’s murder, Tal must accept any allies, no matter the risks, to uncover his family’s secret. But when he wakes up one morning to find himself trapped repeating the same day, he has to overcome his challenges all on his own.

This story is an adaptation of a D&D campaign I ran but never was able to complete. I tried to capture the feel of a table-top RPG session —tropes and humor— without relying on the mechanics. This is not a litRPG or gamelit story and no D&D mechanics or system appear in the game. It follows one member of an adventuring party as he deals with the problems with that arise from being an adventurer. Namely, getting roped into adventures. The story has a time loop element, but will eventually move past that.

This story explores the magic systems, the history, and the lore of the world through the lens of Tal's entries in his Spellbook and interludes from other written works in the world.

New entries on Mondays

Credit to JackOfHearts for the cover.

Blurb:

Silas--a scavenger living off the ruins of humanity--has spent his entire life fighting tooth and nail to provide for himself and his crew.

But when a scavenging run goes awry and he's snatched up by an android patrol, he finds himself thrown into a cage and priced to sell as a pet.

And when a suitor comes calling, he fears the worst: that he'll be turned into a Domestic, a human lapdog brainwashed into total obedience.

Instead, he discovers an equally disturbing truth: that the creatures who stole his world have created a videogame the likes of which Earth has never seen; a sprawling, game-like theme park where humans are the Avatars and androids are the players who control them.

And to make matters worse, his android guide is as hopeless as they come, having gotten all of her previous Avatars killed in record time.

So if Silas wants to regain his freedom, he'll not only have to fight his way through a world that was specifically designed to murder him in brutal fashion--he'll also have to convince his android guide that he should be the one calling the shots.

FAQS:

Q: Who are you, handsome stranger?

A: I'm Kyle Kirrin, the author of Shadeslinger, book 1 of The Ripple System, published by Portal Books, and I write crunchy LitRPG.

Q: What is Wildling? And is it complete?

A: Wildling is a crunchy LitRPG mash up of Fantasy and Science Fiction. And yup, Wildling is already complete at 64 chapters, or about 120,000 thousand words. You're looking at something like a third draft here--it's fairly polished, but it hasn't been picked over by a copy editor yet nor has my developmental editor seen it.

Q: Upload schedule?

A: 5 initial chapters today (2/15/2021) and one chapter a day for the next month. After that I'll probably slow down to 2 or 3 chapters a week until the story is complete.

Q: How crunchy is it?

A: It's pretty crunchy. I'd put it on the same tier as Ascend/The Land/RSSG, but it might be a bit crunchier than those three?

Q: Is this the first book in a series or a web novel or what? And what are your plans for it?

A: It's currently a standalone with series potential. Full disclosure: this story may head the way of my publisher eventually, but will be available on RR for quite a while no matter what. Likely several months after it's complete with plenty of warning before/if it's taken down.

Q: What kind of build does the MC create?

A: Sword and board!

Q: Crafting?

A: Plenty! Crafting isn't as center stage as it is in The Way of the Shaman, but it's close.

Q: Base building?

A: Two fully separate, distinct bases, both of which play a major role in the story.

Q: VRMMO? Portal? Reincarnation or what?

A: This one's a bit tricky. Basically an advanced race has created a game-like world that closely resembles a theme park. Think Westworld but with copious amounts of loot. And the MC has to fight his way through that to earn his freedom.

Q: Permadeath?

A: Nope! The MC gets 3 lives to play through the entirety of the game world, and death is extremely punishing, but not fatal.

Q: Harem? Or romance?

A: No and no.

Q: Cursing? Blood?

A: Quite a bit of cursing, yeah. There's blood, too, but it's not a gory book by any means.

Q: How can I support?

A: Instead of a Patreon/donations etc, I'd ask that you consider giving my debut LitRPG Shadeslinger a chance. It's free on Kindle Unlimited and the audio is already out narrated by Travis Baldree. It's an epic fantasy VRMMO where the main character gets 3 days of exclusive access to a new game plus a snarky, talking axe to guide him through it in exchange for agreeing to become the target of a serverwide manhunt once the Head Start period ends.

Q: How's it similar to Wildling? And how's it different?

A. The crunch level is very similar, but Shadeslinger is a much lighter, epic fantasy take on the genre. It's also VRMMO, but without any real world components aside from the first chapter. The MC is very different--he comes off as a bit of a jerk early on and can take a bit to warm up to, especially before his backstory is revealed--but he's also got a talking axe that constantly puts him in his place. Shadeslinger's a much more humorous story in general, and it's a great deal more polished as well.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy Wildling!

Dear Diary: I was reincarnated as a catgirl in a dungeon. There are time-loops. There are marble races. There are other catgirls. What else is there? (Pizza) Turn the page and see!!!

Updates Sat, Sun, Wed.

Come join the madness on Discord!

Come join the Discord!

It was a typical late-night friday for Mara, secluded in her apartment in front of a digital expanse, relentlessly mashing code into a keyboard. An introverted workaholic, but this was what she wanted - what she had strived so hard to achieve. So why did she feel so lost? Her life was productive, comfortable, satisfying. Plenty had it worse but she still felt... ungrateful? Stunted? The right word escaped her, but she could feel the general revelation settling upon her. With it came a choice that would set events in motion far beyond the meager scope of a 'New Game+'.

So taking an intrusive portal to god-knows-where, Mara will come to find that her new world offers boons and banes with equal abandon. Magic, skills, and unforgiving difficulty. For a frail human shut-in, finding herself stranded in the middle of a sprawling dungeon was one of the least desirable outcomes. Food and water would be the least of her problems, why oh why couldn't she just get summoned by some pervy king to slay a demon army or something?

This is a story of magic and adventure with skills and stats galore. A litrpg / isekai epic that I've been inspired to make after years of wonderful works like "So I'm a Spider," "Rimuru the Slime," "Azarinth Healer," "Negima!?," and plethora of other isekai and fantasy novels and animes. Special shout-out to Douglas Adams, a big influence on narative humor that's had a non-insignificant effect on my writing style. I hope you enjoy joining Mara on her journey as I attempt to scratch the itch they left behind.

Chapters target 3-6k~ words. Though I'm personally aiming for a chapter every couple weeks, I think I can at least promise one a month with how busy work's been.

I made a Patreon due to requests, if you'd like to support me there I'll be using it to fund artwork and RR ads for increased exposure.

At the world’s top college of magic and technology, every day brings a new discovery -and a new disaster. The advanced experiments of the college students tend to be both ambitious and apocalyptic, with the end of the world only prevented by a mysterious time loop, and a small handful of students who retain their memories.

Last year, Vell Harlan became the newest student drawn into the loop, and faced off with all the chaos it included - along with a few mad scientists (and one mad ex-girlfriend) looking to exploit a mysterious rune engraved on Vell's back. Now a new school year is underway, bringing with it new loopers, new mysteries, and new disasters - and in spite of the vampires, collapsing multiverses, and evil pizza, the biggest disaster might be one of Vell's new friends...

Book 1 Complete, Book 2 in Progress. Updates Tuesdays and Fridays