Tanath

Rare classes and powerful skills are helpful. Too bad the system doesn't seem built to handle them. What even are all these errors? 

Our team of outcasts and adventurers will have to rely on their trust - and the bane of all stories, healthy communication - just to survive, let alone understand what the system is doing. Because they're quickly realizing that not all is as it seems, and it's doing something to people, to monsters, and maybe even to the gods themselves.

And their goal isn't just to survive; it's to make things better. It's a good thing they're not doing it alone.

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Edge Cases is an attempt to take the LitRPG genre and the overpowered MCs trope and write a story where numbers aren't everything. Sometimes it takes trust, support, and just a touch of being very, very clever.

Expect a mix of action, slice-of-life, friendship, and ominous worldbuilding.

Updates M-W-F at 6pm EST. 

Cover art by Alovck of Artstation, and typesetting by jessessey right here on RoyalRoad.

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.

***

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.

The arch-wizard Orton hasn't been an ordinary human for many years, but traveling back into his own past for a fifth chance at defeating the evil magus Gentry puts him back in the year 1997, in his teenaged body as punk-rock dishwasher Dennis Wilkerson.  Now he must retrace his steps through his adventure yet again -- recruiting his allies, defeating his enemies, and accruing his spells and powers all over again.  But this time, one thing is different -- he's not alone.

This novel takes place in the setting of Entangled Shadows, an urban fantasy quantum-physics magic system in development for use in Tabletop RPG play!

Now on Book Five!  Check the Volumes selector to make sure you start at the right place!

Book One: Paranoid Mage

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Callum had seen things all his life.  There are monsters and beasts living among people, but he learned very early not to admit such things, not if he didn’t want people to think him crazy.

It turns out that the supernatural is real, but at thirty Callum has no desire to be part of that secret.  Not that he has a choice when it turns out he is a mage, albeit one that hasn’t cast any spells in all his life.  There are requirements, duties, and education that the powers that be insist he be subject to.

To hell with that.

Book Two: Renegade Mage

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After escaping from the Guild of Arcane Regulation and the Bureau of Secret Enforcement, Callum has lost his greatest protection: his obscurity.  Now the powers that be know who he is, and hiding is harder than ever.  Nor is hiding a plan, just a reaction.

Now Callum is forced to decide how he wants to approach the supernatural world, and how he’s going to keep himself secure when the apparatus of government is arrayed against him.  Even if he wanted to live as a mage, that bridge has been thoroughly burned, and even if he wanted to live as a normal person, he is far too deep to close his eyes to what he’s seen.

He has to make his own terms.

Book Three: Heretic Mage

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Callum is at war with the Guild of Arcane Regulation, the organization that governs mages on Earth.  He’s spent most of his time lying low and hiding out, trying to understand what he can do and how he can remain free from their meddling.  What he’s learned is that he can’t.

It’s time to move from reaction to action, and take on GAR and its evils directly.

Book Four: Reclusive Mage

The Guild of Arcane Regulation has fractured, and new forces move on the board.  Callum cannot quite declare victory, for even a weakened GAR still forces him to hide from the world at large, yet he is no longer prepared to run. Instead he builds his own strengths to stand against those who wish to do him harm.

Change, once started, is hard to stop.  Callum’s actions have brought change to the world of the supernatural, but that can bring chaos and destruction even as he eliminates tyranny and corruption.  He has to move beyond being one man against the world, and stand in the world he’s made.

Book Five: Sovereign Mage

The portal to the Night Lands is closed, and vampires are barred from Earth, but at a high cost.  Not only does Callum have to deal with the fallout of the vampire race’s final spasms, but the political consequences of demonstrating his ability and willingness to attack portal worlds directly.  The forces that were moving to control a weakened GAR have come out into the open, and Callum has to deal with stakes much higher than his personal freedom.

It's time to join with his allies and move to open conflict.  Even the secret of supernatural presence on Earth is at play, and Archmage’s Council and the Seven Lesser Courts threaten the very concept of human sovereignty.  Everything comes down to removing the would-be tyrants, and so preserving the Earth as it should be.

Paranoid Mage is an urban fantasy but it goes rather sideways from the normal stuff fairly quickly. 

Chapters are Fridays, 5PM EST, with approximately 5,000 words per chapter.

Join our Discord!

The Wilds relentlessly reclaim all things. Humanity shelters within their ever-dying cities. Mages create the only path forward.

Tala had to fight tooth and nail in the Magic Academy to forge a path to power that was her own. She knows it’s her duty to use that power to serve humanity, defending them against the creatures of the untamable wilds. However, she skipped a few steps in her education, like apprenticing to someone who actually knows what they’re doing.

Now, Tala has to balance learning as fast as she can with paying off the veritable mountain of debt the Magic Academy dropped on her shoulders for the opportunity; not to mention staying alive.

Even though she should only be a Mageling, the world considers her a Mage. Bless the stars she directed most of her magic toward survival.

I do hope you enjoy this tale, but let me know what you think either way! Critique, both positive and negative, is welcome.

Release schedule is weekly: M-W-F

Thank you for your time and for giving this story a try.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: If this is found on a site other than Royal Road, or the linked Patreon, it was not posted by the author. Please find this tale, here:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/47826/millennial-mage

A twenty-first century human mind is awakened in a strange land of boundless cults, spirit servants and immortal cultivators ruled by titanic god-beasts. Coexisting within the body of a street urchin girl, the last pharmacist in the universe attempts to fix the broken world of tomorrow by wielding the long-lost power of science and rationality.

[Rational Progression] + [Xianxia] + [Litrpg] + [Comedy] + [Post-Apocalyptic] + [Humanity, Fuck Yeah!]
 [->Join the discord<-]

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. 

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!!

The Path of Ascension has moved to Kindle Unlimited (Chapters 5-41 removed). Here it is on Amazon and Audible.

The Path of Ascension BOOK 2 has moved to Kindle Unlimited (Chapters 45-72 removed). Here it is on Amazon and Audible. The rest of the story will continue here worry not but its a much cleaner version of the story you know there.

Discord link: https://discord.gg/6ukhCjayC5

***

The story follows Matt, a young man planning to delve the rifts responsible for the monsters that destroyed his city and killed his parents. His dreams are crushed when his Tier 1 Talent is rated as detrimental, and no guild or group will take him.

Working at a nearby inn, he meets a mysterious and powerful couple. They give him a chance to join The Path of Ascension, an empire wide race to ascend the Tiers and become living legends.

With their recommendation and a stolen skill, Matt begins his journey to the peak of power.

***

Chapters will now be MONDAY and FRIDAY AT 3:00pm EST.

This is a mix between LitRPG and Xianxia. It's like a car that looks like a LitRPG with dungeons and skills, but the interior and engine are all Xianxia. 

So no blue boxes and clicking +’s to get stronger.

***

What you won't see in this novel:

Bland protagonists.

Bland love interests that immediately fall in love with the MC.

Murder hobos who kill entire families and clans for looking the wrong way at somebody.

Pacifist MC’s who wouldn't kill a single person to save millions.

Cartoonish villains who are bad just to be bad.

***

What to expect:

A MC who acts rationally.

World building that has more depth than ‘strong people 'stronk'. There will be no rules only benefiting the strong and no rule changes as they see fit. 

An empire that actually cares for its citizens.

People who act and talk like real people.

A magic system and progression system that are logically and internally consistent.

Realistic fight scenes.

Volumes 1-4 of Fates Parallel are on Amazon's Kindle Unlimited! Check them out here!
  Also available on Audible!

After centuries of endless wars, the three greatest nations of the continent have come together in peace. As a symbol of their cooperation, they have worked together to establish the Grand Academy of Spiritual, Martial, and Arcane Arts, a place where the best and brightest of each nation can gather on neutral ground and share knowledge, techniques, and cultures. Can the peace truly last, or is the academy just another proxy for the constant conflicts the three nations face?

None of that matters to Lee Jia, a homeless young girl who's biggest concern is surviving the winter. But when she accidentally stumbles into the academy in search of a new place to stay, her destiny is changed forever. Determined to carve out a new place for herself and make the most of her good fortune, Lee Jia dives head first into the world of magic and martial arts.

Fates Parallel is my first serious attempt at writing a story, and a personal love letter to Eastern fantasy and xianxia stories. It's heavily inspired by East Asian culture, folklore, and mythology, with what is likely going to be a decidedly Western artistic license. I try to write every day, with a goal of about 45,000 words per month (~1500 per day). Chapter lengths are around 3000 words on average, releasing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Cover art drawn by the incredibly talented Tsuu (TsurotArtistry).

ALL HUMANKIND died thousands of years ago...

…but the xenos still worship them as GODS.

Today, hundreds of alien civilizations thrive in the gods’ lost cities and fallen megastructures. One Empire has learned to harness the remains of humanity's forgotten technology to reconnect the distant worlds... and dominate them.

Eolh is an old, jaded, avian thief who lives in the dark underbelly of a conquered city. When the Empire first opened the gate between worlds, they stormed his home, killed his gang, and burned everything he held dear.

But that was a long time ago.

Now, the resistance is dead. No one dreams of fighting back—for the Empire wields the weapons of the gods: warships that fly, robotic constructs that hunt, and rare mysteries scavenged from the tombs of the gods. Eolh lives a half-life, thieving, running jobs, and selling his services as a freelance listener for the last gangs of Lowtown. He trusts no one, and only looks out for himself.

When an unusual heist takes a deadly turn, Eolh must bargain with an overzealous android who carries an impossible secret—one that will shake the foundations of the universe.

There is one last hope for salvation. For his people, or maybe just for himself…

Read this series if you love Dune, Star Wars, or stories about prophecies and long-forgotten technology.

Take a journey across far-flung worlds filled with alien cultures and impossible technology. This epic Space Opera mixes elements of science fiction and fantasy, and features a cast of underdog characters who find untold strength as they awaken the ancient wonders buried by time.

All this was foretold... One day, a human god will return.

Now a Published Novel!

Buy a Copy Here or keep reading on RoyalRoad :)

In a world where magic is a science, Siobhan Naught is a genius.

But even geniuses need schooling.

Siobhan has just been banned from the country's only magical university.

As the unwitting accomplice to the theft of a priceless magical artifact, she has suddenly become a wanted criminal. There are fates worse than death, and if caught, she will face them. Unwilling to give up on her dream of becoming the world's most powerful sorcerer, she resolves to do whatever it takes to change her fate.

Even if it means magically disguising herself as a boy and indebting herself to a gang of criminals to pay for University tuition.

With the coppers after her, the pressure of trying to keep her spot in the devilishly competitive magic classes, and the gang calling in favors to repay her debts, Siobhan will need every drop of magic she can channel.