Garek was a magical artificer. Now he's a conscript.
The Empyrean Army doesn't train soldiers — it forges them in the Hall of Trials, a sentient, ever-shifting pocket dungeon. Survival isn't even Garek's primary goal; progression is. The Military Service Act only applies to those over twelve, which means Garek has less than two years to reach the fifth grade — Sapphire — to claim his son as an attendant and save him from certain death.
No one has ever progressed that fast. But Garek has no Mana Core, only a unique Soul Core to power his spells and skills, and he treats every combat encounter as a puzzle to solve with strategy and intelligence. He has no other choice.
Earthlings cannot awaken. Humans cannot evolve. Mortals cannot slay gods. Such truths shatter when Ori Suba escapes an infernal prison hidden halfway across Fate.
To return home, Ori must battle monsters, master the arcane, and form dangerous alliances with supernatural beings. Through harrowing trials, his unique Affinity awakens — one potent enough to disrupt Fate's delicate balance and usher in a new age. As an Irregular walking the Path, and an Entity of Power capable of granting patronage to warlocks, Ori must weigh his desires against the needs of his bonds and the man he must become.
This is the origin story of an Entity of Power: a lover, a fighter, a crafter, and an Archmage with a complicated relationship with Antimatter.
4.35· 187
Base BuildingCozyCraftingDungeon CrawlingHard MagicHarem+6
The greatest hero alive died to save a level 1 blacksmith — Tristan. Son of a renowned armorsmith, he always wanted to surpass his father's legacy. But when presented with a quest to avenge the man who died saving his life, he knew he had to become more than just a smith.
Bound by an unusual Core that only allows him to use gear he crafts himself, Tristan must fight to survive in an ever-expanding magical world filled with legendary loot, dangerous dungeons, and all-too-human gods.
Sword and hammer in hand, he will have to forge himself into something greater.
4.36· 1223.08· 52
CraftingDungeon CrawlingGameLitLitRPGSecondary WorldWeak to Strong
Magical glassblower Nuri Shahi is pursuing the pinnacle of his craft. His journey to create a masterpiece of glass detours into exploring magic, delving treacherous Rifts, and dragging his friends into crazy schemes — but he won't let life get him down.
Impulsive and resourceful, Nuri treads the fine line between madman and visionary, determined to prove that Glassmaker is a viable path to becoming a superior Mage.
Ethan Cross wasn't supposed to be on this mission. He snuck aboard the doomed vessel, desperate to find his fiancée Maria, only to crash-land on an uncharted alien world. Now he has nothing but a basic omni-tool, a shredded suit, and the sarcastic company AI, CelestOS 4.2, whispering performance evaluations in his ear.
The official mission was simple: find the Veslayan research team Maria was on and recover valuable data. But the environment is hostile, the wildlife is worse, and the remnants of something ancient and dangerous ripple beneath the surface.
To survive, Ethan must rebuild from scrap, fight evolving alien threats, and uncover the truth behind a mission that was never meant to succeed.
3.84· 217
Base BuildingCraftingHorrorLitRPGPost-apocalypticSci-fi+1
The Crazed Scholar. The Hoarder of Knowledge. The Thief of Ten Thousand Techniques.
After ten thousand years, a cultivator attempted to ascend — to join the Heavens, to become a God. He failed. Yet the story of Xu Han did not end there. The Heavens gave him another life: as a dungeon core.
When an overpowered NPC goes off the rails and starts killing players — even in safe zones — Coral, Daniel, and their friends accept an impossible quest: stop him, at all costs.
Coral joined the immersive MMORPG Travail Online because her waitressing job was automated by a growing robot workforce. She starts as a Seamstress, hoping to craft and sell items for real-world cash — but the game has other ideas. Daniel has played longer, but the game assigns him a class that doesn't seem to exist, leaving him to chart his own path through a world of magic, intrigue, and betrayal.
Stan can't afford to have his brain removed. The richest and luckiest players of the video game Thousand Tales get their minds uploaded to its virtual paradise world, while Stan can barely buy a handheld console. Instead of sulking, he plays and grows — becoming a skilled craftsman and seafaring explorer.
The game's ruling AI, Ludo, helps him find the hope and inspiration missing from his real life. When Ludo starts asking for favors and having him reach out between the real and digital worlds, Stan has a chance to turn his life into an actual adventure — but first he needs to earn the most valuable prize: his freedom.
Death makes exceptions for all the wrong people. Malfrasius wasn't trying to destroy the world — even as everyone called him a Dark Lord, he fought to save them. The Heroine didn't believe him, and his life ended with a blade between his ribs.
When he woke up six years in the past on his way to magic school, he resolved to do things the right way and without attracting attention. But the butterfly effect has a funny sense of humor. His clumsy changes to the timeline have landed him in a team with two members of the Heroine's party, the academy's top prodigy suspects he is her equal despite his F-grade core, and his loyal maid is growing suspicious of his sudden personality shift.
Malfrasius wasn't trying to destroy the world. It's just a shame the world seems so intent on destroying him.
Civil engineer Arthur Vance was two days from his wedding when a truck ended his future. Instead of death, he awakens in the body of Oliver Ashborn — a frail thirteen-year-old noble who has just survived an assassination attempt.
The once-powerful Ashborn family is collapsing: mines exhausted, roads ruined, territory drowning in debt, and powerful enemies already circling. But Arthur is not a noble. He is an engineer. Armed with knowledge of physics, chemistry, and structural engineering, he sets out to analyze and systematize magic itself.
If mana follows rules, it can be understood. If it can be understood, it can be engineered — and in a world where magic decides power, one mistake could destroy everything.
3.90· 162
Base BuildingCraftingGenius MCHard MagicMilitaryOverpowered MC+5
A truck. A heroic sacrifice. An isekai adventure — with one tiny, flickering problem.
Jessica has been reborn in a new world, but she's trapped in a form without limbs, voice, or a way to move — a single, dying flame. When a system message offers a terrifying and bizarre chance at survival, she must possess, adapt, and burn her way through a dark and unknown world to find a place where she can finally shine.
When an otherworldly portal transforms Manhattan into a deadly fantasy realm, construction worker Chris Mason is chosen as a "salvager" by a mysterious System that has haunted humanity throughout history. Armed with only his sledgehammer and guided by a wise-cracking rat named Bunny, Chris must scavenge the ruins of New York to craft weapons, armor, and shelter as the city continues to transform around him.
To survive, Chris must level up his salvaging skills and build a community strong enough to reclaim their world—but among the survivors, loyalty is scarce, and some are willing to betray humanity for the promise of power.
3.76· 267
CraftingLitRPGPost-apocalypticSystem ApocalypseUrban FantasyWeak to Strong
The Doomsday Trials had one purpose: forge the ultimate warrior using every age of human history as a gauntlet, from the stone age to a future of demonic hordes and twenty-foot mechs. No one ever advanced. Everyone died, and the trials were forgotten.
Then Felix falls from the sky — naked, broken, five hit points — with a sabretooth tiger about to end him in the primordial jungle. The system hasn't been updated in centuries, but Felix is an obsessive gamer who knows how to exploit rules and stats. Suddenly, he is doing what no one has done in ages: winning.
First priority: don't die. Next: find some pants.
Sen Locke slew gods, saved the world, and became known as the God of Magic — yet even he hit the ceiling of his System. Seeking stronger opponents and a System capable of supporting his growth, he traveled forward in time.
Things went sideways. His notes were scattered across history, secret knowledge was unleashed, and he now faces the ruins of a kingdom he once helped build. Low-level mages wield spells that were considered overpowered in his own era.
Armed with a unique new class, Sen enrolls at the world's top-ranked magic academy, determined to catch up to the god-class magicians of this age and discover just how far the System has come.
4.14· 70
Class SystemComedyCraftingGameLitGenius MCLitRPG+4
When the system apocalypse hits, Haley is ready to become a wizard — but the system has other plans for her. A feel-good slice-of-life series following Haley Landry, her grandmother Nana, and the small town of Refuge as they navigate a cozy post-apocalyptic world with a game system imposed by magical aliens.
Each installment is a short, warm read complete with a recipe.