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382 series

Land of the Elementals

Aaron Oster

B64/100
Life is cruel — Arbor learns this the hard way when everything he loves is taken from him in a single night. Left alive by the men who butchered his family, Arbor has two options: give up and perish, or rise up and fight to take back the life he's lost. To do that, he must leave behind the only home he's ever known and venture into a world far more dangerous than he could ever have imagined — a world filled with magic, monsters, and mythic beasts powerful enough to destroy entire nations.
Goodreads4.40· 575
GoreGrimdarkSecondary WorldSkill CollectionWeak to Strong

Evil Eye: Hexcaller

LuckyFrey

B64/100
In a broken world once ruled by almighty Mage Kings, the chosen of the gods are all that hold against total annihilation. Harald Horste — naïve, humiliated, broken, and penniless — inadvertently changes his fate with a single act of spite, finding himself drawn into a life of conflict. Demon cultists, savage monsters, and entities of the abyss threaten the lands of men from the remnants of a long-dead empire. To survive, Harald must attend the academy of Ashmere, nursing the pain of a lifetime of mistreatment while navigating scheming nobles and undead horrors.
Royal Road4.56· 1K
CozyGrimdarkLitRPGSchoolSecondary WorldWeak to Strong

Neon Dragons

LunaWolve

B64/100
Everyone is obsessed with Neon Dragons — the latest highly immersive cyberpunk aRPG from Sparksoft. But when our late-twenties protagonist's PC broke days before the game's release, all she could do was watch content creators play through it, limiting her knowledge to what she saw in those playthroughs. Things change drastically when she wakes up inside the body of a 15-year-old girl inside the city of Neo Avalis, six years into the game's past. She can level herself just like a character in the game, and with everything she's read and watched about Neon Dragons, she sets her sights on solving the mystery of the enigmatic Wall at the edge of the play-area. But she quickly realizes that this game is very real — life in a cyberpunk future is full of danger and intrigue, and the world has some surprising differences from the game she watched.
Royal Road4.34· 1.2K
CozyGameLitGrimdarkIsekaiLitRPGOverpowered MC+4

The Way

Mike Ignatov

B63/100
A raging fire devoured the world of the Ancients. Where great cities once stood, there is nothing but ruins swallowed by sand. In this wasteland, strength is the only currency that matters. A young man who enjoyed his childhood without paying attention to the world around him pays a devastating price for that ignorance. Cast out and humiliated, forced to look into the eyes of the man who took everything from him, he resolves to become one of the strong — to avenge his father's death and bleed dry the bastard who destroyed his family.
Goodreads4.39· 722
GrimdarkLitRPGSchoolSecondary WorldWeak to StrongWuxia

Beyond Sunset

Cebelius

B63/100
No one has ever come back from beyond the veil. To Viggo, the veil was simply a landmark — crossing it was considered suicide, and he'd never given much thought to what might lay beyond. Then his life collapsed around him: ejected from the military academy, disowned by his family, passed over by the gods themselves. Viggo's last chance lay beyond the veil. Yet from the very beginning, something was deeply troubling about the realm from whence the gods came — its cities lay in ruins, its lands peopled by lunatics locked into tasks they could not escape. Even the natural laws were corrupted. Viggo's access to a strange, seemingly omnipotent system gave him new abilities and limitless potential, but in a world where death itself had lost its grip, the hard part would be keeping his sanity.
Goodreads4.41· 321
GrimdarkIsekaiSoft MagicSystem Apocalypse

Vae Victis

Ivan Kal

B63/100
When alternate Earth is subsumed into a new reality comprising many worlds, Marianna Rojas — a young vampire who was sold to a cartel as a child — is chosen as one of thirty Exemplars to experience the new world ahead of everyone else. Accompanied by a tiny dragon named Saia, Marianna works to master the mysterious Mask and the skills it unlocks. She has one month to explore this strange new realm before she's sent back to a freshly integrated Earth to help with its transition — and every faction there seems to want her blood.
Goodreads4.41· 319
GrimdarkIsekaiLitRPGNon-human MCSkill CollectionSystem Apocalypse

Behemoth

lkal92

B63/100
Cyril, the affable third prince of the Wandering Phoenix Tribe, awakens in the desert with no memory of his recent past. Destined to serve as the future Librarian of his people, he never expected to become the vessel of Behemoth, one of the World Titans — celestial beings ancient as the world itself, viewed like the eruption of a volcano or a tsunami capable of washing away an entire nation. More interested in reading romance novels than conducting war, Cyril seeks only to return to his family. But he soon discovers he is not the only anomaly to arise, and not everyone has such peaceful intentions. Armed with an unfathomable reservoir of mana and the spirit of a colossus, Cyril must stand tall through the upheaval of the old world and the birth of a new one.
Royal Road4.67· 274Goodreads4.12· 67
CultivationGoreGrimdarkLitRPGOverpowered MCSecondary World+2

String

Sivam

B63/100
After a short-sighted endeavor to quietly make some money, Maxis Troy finds himself a target of the Brotherhood of Cain — a violent gang led by a man renowned worldwide as the Grim Reaper. Luck appears to be on his side when a girl with her own agenda comes to his aid. Armed with the superpower to alter and improve any technology with just a touch, the two enter a three-way stalemate between the embodiment of death itself, a worldwide organization of religious zealots, and a woman who fancies herself a Goddess. In a world rampant with superpowers, criminal organizations, and questionable authorities, Maxis will quickly learn that a cruel world only breeds crueler people.
Royal Road4.63· 880
Competent MCGrimdarkLitRPGMysterySci-fiSecondary World+2

Brainpunch

Slifer274

B62/100
Do not kill. That's the first rule of being a superhero — and it's the first one she broke. Vivian gained a superpower that allows her to telekinetically apply ten pounds of force. Weak. Useless, some said, but she's determined to make it work. On her first night out, she found out how wrong everyone was as she reduced a man's brain to mush. Now, pitted against villains, shady corporations, college debt, and the government's brutal hero program, she has to find a way to become the hero she has always wished she could be — a hero who could have saved her.
Royal Road4.60· 921
Anti-heroCozyGrimdarkSci-fiSecondary WorldSuperpowers+2

Nora Hazard

Blaise Corvin

B62/100
On Ludus, life is often cheap. With nowhere to go after losing her family, Nora joined an old friend in a street gang and found an unlikely home there. But tragedy is about to befall her — grudges from the distant past and shadowy organizations are about to take away everything she holds dear, possibly even her life. Survival may require escaping her old life and embarking on a desperate journey. Along the way, she might stumble into both an incredible opportunity and an incredible burden. Her enemies should be warned: Nora was no pushover before discovering her powers.
Goodreads4.37· 1.2K
GrimdarkSecondary WorldSuperpowersWeak to Strong

The Dark Healer

Alex Toxic, Nadya Lee

B62/100
A necromancer prince lies down in his crypt to rest for a few decades and wakes to find that centuries have passed. His castle is in ruins, his clan is gone, and necromancers are dismissed as children's fairy tales. The world mistakes him for a healer. That suits him fine — the world is sick, and he intends to administer strong medicine.
Goodreads4.30· 1.4K
Base BuildingGrimdarkLitRPGReincarnationSecondary WorldSummoning

Slave Origin Playthrough [Grimdark Gamelit]

wkrrk

B62/100
Han is a 30-year-old gamer who has finally beaten World: Mountain, Sea and Sky — a brutally difficult soulslike RPG that kills your character on every game over. He has written guides, found every secret dungeon, and tried every trick in the book. But he has never started the game as a Slave. At least, not while inside the game.
Royal Road4.59· 931
Dungeon CrawlingGameLitGrimdarkIsekaiLitRPGSecondary World+1

Unfathomably Cute

Strahdsillystraw

B62/100
Brooke believed she understood the tug-of-war between entities seeking to end or save humanity. She believed in the Vanguard — heroes granted immense power via contracts with the eldritch. She believed she would have no part in any of it, and above all, she believed in a path back to some semblance of normality. She was wrong. Follow Brooke and Roosevelt's incomprehensible journey as they contend with forces beyond understanding. As she delves deeper into the abyss, she'll find new allies, horrifying phobias, and a healthy respect for anything with more than two mouths.
Royal Road4.67· 233
GrimdarkHorrorPost-apocalypticSci-fiSuperpowersUrban Fantasy

灰と幻想のグリムガル [Hai to Gensou no Grimgar] (Light Novel)

Ao Jyumonji

B61/100
When Haruhiro came to, he was in darkness, with no memory of how he got there or where "here" even was. Others were with him, each remembering little more than their own name. When they emerged from underground, they found a world that felt just like a game. To survive, Haruhiro forms a party with others in the same situation, learns skills, and takes his first steps into the world of Grimgar as a trainee volunteer soldier — not knowing what awaits him. A tale of adventure born from the ashes.
Goodreads4.15· 1.6K
Class SystemGrimdarkIsekaiLitRPGSecondary WorldTragedy+1

Unconquered Tower

DR PEAK

B61/100
A hundred years ago, thirteen towers arrived on Earth. Each year at noon on the summer solstice, the tower gates open, admitting any who wish to climb. Those who survive return with incredible powers and riches. Over the decades, the worlds inside the towers have leaked free, changing Earth and her inhabitants. Except for the Thirteenth Tower — the Unconquered Tower. Nobody has ever left it. Every year it leeches more life out of the world, turning the American Southwest into a growing graveyard. If it isn't cleared, it will consume the planet. Roan doesn't care about that. The tower has long been the gravestone for his family, as generations have tried to best it and save their ancestral homes. All he wants is to put one burning question to rest: are they dead? He only needs to clear the tower to find out.
Royal Road4.67· 210
CultivationGrimdarkLitRPGPost-apocalypticSci-fiSecondary World+3

Realm of Monsters

Frostbird

B61/100
In a land ruled by vile monsters, where death is common and life is cruel, one outcast aspires to have it all. When misfortune drags the odd goblin Stryg from his forest home into the ruthless city of Hollow Shade, he must adapt to a world that only sees him as a dimwit savage. Stryg finds himself embroiled in a school of magic where an aristocrat's smile hides deceit and the simplest remark may lead to death threats. Yet nothing will stop him from pursuing his ideals of glory: power, honor, and food with salt. As he navigates the muddled grey waters of the Ebon Realm, he will learn that some monsters lurk everywhere.
Royal Road4.42· 1.5KGoodreads3.53· 319
Anti-heroGrimdarkNon-human MCSchoolSecondary WorldSoft Magic

A Draconic Rebirth

Undercover_Dragon1

B61/100
A tale of reincarnation with an unexpected twist. The protagonist is reborn not as a human, but as a dragon. Stripped of everything familiar from his former life, he finds himself in a world unlike anything he has ever known. To survive, he must adapt, evolve, and carve out a place for himself in this strange new realm.
Royal Road4.66· 312
Anti-heroBase BuildingGenius MCGrimdarkLitRPGMilitary+6

Elysium's Multiverse

Jay Aaseng

B61/100
When Earth is swallowed up and transmuted into a bestial landscape, it marks the first stage of induction into Elysium's multiverse. In an instant, the bloodthirsty creatures of Riven Thane's worst nightmares are unleashed. Riven is among a select few with a singular bloodline, and the Elysium system has its eye on him. Deadly trials, labyrinthine mazes, and mind-bending puzzles await — and surviving them is just the beginning. Riven is about to unlock the secrets of his past, embrace a vampiric nature he never imagined, and build an empire of the undead in a merged post-apocalyptic world.
Goodreads4.38· 709
Base BuildingGrimdarkLitRPGNon-human MCPost-apocalypticSummoning+1

Becoming the Dark Lord

Mark Evenhart (aturato)

B61/100
The System integrated Earth into a multiverse of gods, monsters, and dungeons. Half of humanity answered the call. Some return stronger. Others never return. Thirteen years ago, Luke's mother entered the Tutorial and vanished. Now Luke faces the same trial — not for glory, but for answers. What should be a beginner's test becomes a death sentence when he falls into a forgotten dungeon floor where monsters are scarce, supplies are limited, and the only way out is a temple hanging over an abyss, guarded by a sleeping demon. Every puzzle kills. Every step risks his life. No buffs, no tricks — just a knife and the raw will to survive. When the light fades and the body breaks, Luke has only one choice: embrace the darkness and be reborn.
Royal Road4.08· 1.2K
Anti-heroBase BuildingDungeon CrawlingGameLitGrimdarkLitRPG+5

I Am Become Death

J.M. Clarke (U Juggernaut)

B60/100
Matthias Stonebreaker is tormented every day. He has no talent for The Gift of magic or the Enforcement of life energy, and will one day be forced beyond the frontier where ferocious monsters destroy all who cannot defend themselves. He certainly cannot — until a near-death experience awakens a new path to power: the path of Divine Breath. Now he must learn to cultivate the very energy of the gods to steal their divine strength. Supported by his cursed brother and younger sister, he will walk the path of shadow and death itself. But he must be careful — in this world, even death could die.
Royal Road4.65· 439
CultivationGrimdarkOverpowered MCSecondary WorldSoft MagicWeak to Strong+1