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382 series

Starbreaker

Luke Chmilenko

B64/100
"Starbreaker, thrice named. Starbreaker, awake." Sylvas Vail is the most powerful mage on his planet — a big fish in a small pond. When the doors to the cosmos come crashing open and all the untold wonders and terrors of the universe pour in, he is left with only two choices: ascend or die. A dark prophecy foretells his rise, and the path ahead is written in blood.
Goodreads4.38· 1K
CultivationGrimdarkSchoolSci-fiSecondary WorldWeak to Strong

Fleabag

SomeoneToForget

B63/100
In the deepest reaches of the Bone Pits, a canine woke up in the ruined remains of a wooden box — with knowledge it shouldn't have, fleeting memories it couldn't reach, and the icy grasp of death crawling up its spine. It simply wished to live another day. In the industrial underbelly of Carmera, gangs, religious groups, Dungeon Barons, and cultists battle for supremacy — blind to what prowls below. In the writhing smog and murky sumps that none dare approach, in the deepest reaches of the dungeon, the last wolf rakes its claws through steel and howls to a distant sky.
Royal Road4.61· 1.1KGoodreads4.16· 495
Dungeon CrawlingGameLitGrimdarkHorrorLitRPGNon-human MC+3

Evil Eye: Hexcaller

LuckyFrey

B63/100
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

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· 323
GrimdarkIsekaiLitRPGNon-human MCSkill CollectionSystem Apocalypse

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

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· 275Goodreads4.12· 67
CultivationGoreGrimdarkLitRPGOverpowered MCSecondary World+2

Slave Origin Playthrough [Grimdark Gamelit]

wkrrk

B63/100
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 Road4.60· 950
Dungeon CrawlingGameLitGrimdarkIsekaiLitRPGSecondary World+1

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

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

Becoming the Dark Lord

Mark Evenhart (aturato)

B62/100
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 Road4.05· 1.3K
Anti-heroBase BuildingDungeon CrawlingGameLitGrimdarkLitRPG+5

String

Sivam

B62/100
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· 885
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· 923
Anti-heroCozyGrimdarkSci-fiSecondary WorldSuperpowers+2

Cursed Relic Collector

Maradina

B62/100
For thousands of years, magic has been obtained through trades with the gods: sacrifice magic materials upon their sacred altars, and the gods offer relics in return. But this world of powerful relics has always been far out of reach for Dain, a simple trinket merchant — until masked cultists try to sacrifice him to the gods. Vowing revenge, Dain commits the ultimate taboo: creating his own altar. Only, he accidentally creates one for a god who shouldn't exist — a god that will only trade him cursed relics. Dain will scour the world, hunt magic beasts, and barter their remains for greater and darker relics as he digs deeper into the ancient schemes behind the cultists who tried to destroy him.
Royal Road4.66· 319
GrimdarkHard MagicLitRPGMysteryOverpowered MCSecondary World+2

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

Fallen Eagle [Kingdom-Building; Military Strategy]

Theodorus Sideris

B61/100
The year is 1459. Constantinople has fallen, and the Romans are no more. In the dying embers of the Byzantine world, the tiny Greek Principality of Theodoro clings to desperate existence in the mountains of the Crimean Peninsula — its fall not a possibility, but a historical certainty. Dr. Nikos Karagiannis, a history professor ripped across worlds into the body of Theodorus, a bookish third son in a disgraced house, has no magic or divine blessings. What he does possess is the knowledge of the political blunders, shifting alliances, and military tactics that will lead this land to ruin. A gritty, grounded take on rebuilding a nation where intrigue and diplomacy achieve as much as a raised army, battles are won through strategy rather than superpowers, and no character is safe from the crucible of war and politics.
Royal Road4.65· 482
Anti-heroBase BuildingGenius MCGrimdarkMilitaryReincarnation+1

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

I Am Become Death

J.M. Clarke (U Juggernaut)

B61/100
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.
pf6.0· 1Royal Road4.65· 438
CultivationGrimdarkOverpowered MCSecondary WorldSoft MagicWeak to Strong+1

Ashlani's Reincarnation

No_Creative_Name

B60/100
As a soon-to-be chieftain, Ashlani's responsibilities were numerous, complex, and often boring. But as a recently reincarnated keelish — a reptilian pest — his responsibilities narrow to three: survive another day, keep his belly full, and kill anything that interferes with the first two. And, if the opportunity arises, take revenge on his best friend turned murderer. Ashlani was shot in the back by the man he was closest to during his inaugural hunt as chieftain-to-be. Post-mortem, he was greeted by a [System] and named the elect, singular keelish representative. Now his focus must be on continuous growth and evolution — to awaken to his grand potential and lead his new people into a new age.
Royal Road4.65· 409
Base BuildingGameLitGrimdarkLitRPGNon-human MCOverpowered MC+3

Tales From the Terran Republic

SlightlyAmusing

B60/100
It's the thirty-second century, and humanity is now part of a galactic civilization spanning hundreds of worlds. Savaged by natural disaster and centuries of war, humanity has fractured into several separate populations — all of which loathe each other. This is a gritty, drama-driven story that swings between action, dark comedy, and horror. There are no good guys here — it's less "good versus evil" and more "bad people doing bad things to worse people." Pick your favorite rogue, kick back, and enjoy the show.
Royal Road4.65· 389
Anti-heroComedyGrimdarkMilitarySci-fiVillain MC

Elysium's Multiverse

Jay Aaseng

B60/100
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.
Goodreads4.37· 727
Base BuildingGrimdarkLitRPGNon-human MCPost-apocalypticSummoning+1