A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Alice is a girl who loves science and lives on Earth. Then, suddenly, she was punted into another dimension. A dimension where magic and monsters roam the land, and, for some reason, a System keeps dinging at her and telling her that her stats and levels are increasing. As someone who loves exploring mysteries, Alice is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. After all, everything has to have a ‘cause,’ including the System, right?

(This story is also posted on Royalroad. If you see this story anywhere besides Royalroad, Scribblehub, KU, or Patreon it has been stolen).

What to expect: This story is going to be a LitRPG set in a fantasy world. However, unlike many LitRPG’s, the system has both a definite beginning and definite limits to what it is able to accomplish – rather than a singularly omnipotent, omniscient being that is tied to the laws of the world, the way systems are usually presented in LitRPG’s, the system is close to both, but has definite limits and rules which it operates by.

Note: the rest of volume 1 has been taken down, due to the requirements for the KU program. You can buy the e-book for volume 1 of Budding Scientist using the link below.

https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0CFW34H98

Or an Audiobook version here.https://www.audible.com/pd/A-Small-Town-in-Southern-Illvaria-An-Isekai-LitRPG-Audiobook/B0CFRK9ZK7?qid=1692201343&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=JJ1BXHB9NTSPP5FPNYXF&pageLoadId=AsHXZmcAq15OGzRW&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c

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Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2021
Author: acaswell

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 6,089
Views: 1,545,209

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

ipavel83Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Story started, good. Progressed good, and even some unexpected ways. Dialogues are look like real people could say.
Heroine, not stupid, but not boring ether.
There are some solid logic inside worldbuilding, and progression of story so far are well made.
Is it best story for everyone - no. Is it actually worth reading - yes, it is.
mun1nnRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Very enjoyable. I listened to the audio books of this series, and did not want to wait for the publication of the next books. It follows LitRPG genre conventions (a weak MC is reborn in a different world with a "System", mana and mosters, and gets strong quite quickly) with the twist that the nature of System itself (and its relationship to reality) is at the center of the story.
simleekRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Chapter 117:
It's obviously good if I read over a hundred chapters. Also, I'd say the author improved a bit in all the aspects I pointed out in my last review.
Chapter 47:
Character (4★): Alice is a fun character, but every other character is too Alice-y. I found other characters repeating super nerdy phrases that I would only imagine coming out of her mouth, "I am confused, therefore something I believe to be true is not true". Practically everyone, when asked about something, gives a logical, thoughtful response, as if everyone in that world is a scientist.
It would make sense in a school or a research facility, but in a fronteir village? It's completely unrealistic. I think the author could improve a lot if they tried writing more irrational/emotional characters, co-wrote, or read back whatever the characters said out loud.
Style (4.5★): There were a few times where the chapter read more like an attempt at a school research paper. 'however, therefore, thus', to the point where I noticed it and it dragged me out of the story. Might also be improved just by the author reading the chapters out loud when editing, or having them read back.
The blue boxes are really, really nice though.
Grammar (4.5★): I noticed missing words a few times. Could use some minor editing.
Story (5★): Alice has to work for most of her achievements, even though being from Earth gives her a slight advantage and unique perspective. It's exciting to see how she survives and what she'll figure out next. She's not really a great scientist and more a science enthusiast, but she tries her best.
The people around her tend to be more helpful than in many fictions, but the world and setting is both challenging and dangerous. While surviving her run-ins with death so far has been mostly luck, nothing really felt contrived or like a deus-ex. Meanwhile, I'm still curious what mysteries will be solved, questions will be found, or perks/levels will be achieved in the next chapter.
Edit after giving more re
Drew ArcheronRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
love the science and crafting mixed with decent adventure and saving the world. no murder hobo, and the MC isn't a world class healer from day one. however, she is a healer of sorts, but more the IT fix the broken computer in your brain type healer. thus it has been a fun tale so far. reviewed at chapter 218
DrundlsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Classic litrpg, survival story. I love this part, the limitations of knowledge, skill and Skill.
So far our protagonist has managed to not die quite a bit. Good tension.
I skim over some of her thinking sometimes though, cause I want to know what happens next. Other times what she thinks is very important. Maybe that's just me, well...
Keep up the good work.
EliareceRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've read a lot a LitRPG/Isekai stories, usually there are two problems I really hate :
- The main character is a horrible imperialist who genuinely believe in his world's superiory over the primitive natives.
- The combat are overdrawn, too common, and ultimately meaning less.
For a story about a scientist getting isekai, I would expect the author to heavily fall into these two traps, but not at all.
Alice realizes at one point in the story that her preconceptions are wrong, and she can't apply her knowledge from the old world to another reality with magic. The characters of the new world feel smart, and when they miss something obvious it's usually because of a difference in perspective and not because they're primitive savages that need to be educated by a highschool student
But what surprised me the most, is that the battles go so fucking hard. It's so much better than the most popular combat focused LitRPGs. I think the author missed their calling.
The story don't have many combats, but every damn time they feel extremely impactful. They always feel close. They always use the main character's research in a cleaver way. The opponents always feel like genuine threats with unique fighting strategies and not trash mobs. And they're quick and rare enough that I actually want to read them instead of getting bored halfway through.
The story's only flaw is in character relations. Alice doesn't form any strong bond with another character. She have friends and mentors, but the story don't really focus on them, or why Alice like to hang out with them. The themes of the story could have been reinforced a lot if Alice's research took a lot more time. She would have had more time to go to school, form bonds, learn the culture of this new world.
GoodGradesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have been reading a lot of gameLit story's that are all about the story and are fun to read. However I have really enjoyed budding scientist because it gives depth to the existence of the system and the world. I really have enjoyed reading this story. Keep up the good work! :)
Mr BookRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'd never considered the mechanics of a system being in a world and how one might investigate how it is constructed or how and why it interacts with the world (though I'm sure it has been done before). This book does it in a very interesting way. My only complaint is the occasional time where the supposed scientist jumps to unscientific conclusions. For example, 'the system breaks all known laws of physics.' Just off the top of my head I can think of several potential explanations that, while not currently a possibility, are quite possible within the frame of scientific knowledge as we know it (i.e. airborne nanobots, holograms, simulated reality, etc.). Luckily this rarely happens and she usually follows the scientific process with her experiments and conclusions fairly well.
QnesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
When I read the discription, I had high expectations.
And I must say that the scientific exploration of the System was mind blowing. But you should take that with a grain of salt, since obviously the story is there for entertainment and the explanation of the system is definitely incomplete and vague. Well for me it was very enjoyable. Other than that there is not much noteworthy.
But since focus of the story lies in science: five stars.
ShaggySchmackyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is an excellent first story. There are very few Grammar mistakes, the pacing is well done, and the action scenes are well written. I can't speak much about character personality and interactions yet because the MC has only recently come across civilization, but conversations between characters feel natural so far. The only real problem might be the title, which needs a change of some sort as it's rather misleading. While science IS an important factor in how the system works and how the MC survives in the wild, the MC isn't a scientist. At all. She's a smart, pragmatic 15-year-old girl with a high school education. However, despite the fact that she is not a "scientist" perse, it is still incredibly fun to follow her through her journey to survive in the wilderness and, eventually, the foreign civilization that she finds herself in.
The only other critique I have is, again, the lack of any other major characters. I'm sure this is likely to change in the next few chapters, but it is an important aspect of any story that this one is currently missing (for now).
Update: The MC is now doing science things and the title is no longer "misleading". Also the characters that have been introduced contribute meaningfully to the story and have interesting personalities. Overall the story is still pretty good and has maintained its level of quality