An Unknown Swordcraft

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

A strange accident hurls a man thousands of years into the future to find that disasters have transformed the world into a fantastical setting of monsters and magical swordsmen. Our protagonist does not become a hero. Instead he is recruited into a heretical cult led by a foul necromancer. To survive this new world, he must adapt to life as one of the dark lord’s evil lieutenants, carrying out impossible orders, scheming against his rival cultists, avoiding the real heroes out to kill him, and developing his own personal brand of magical swordcraft.

[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]

(Placeholder title until I come up with something better.)

Features:

– Minion to Dark Lord progression.

– MC lurking undercover as an evil lieutenant.

– First true spellcaster in a world of magic swordsmen.

– Wuxia power levels.

– Minor base building / project management.

– A little bit of crafting.

– Meandering progression/plot.

– Dumb comedy.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: sporad

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 2,596
Views: 859,060

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

epicfarmerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It's a shame you seem gone. For me, this story has the most promising main character in a progression fantasy ever. I think this is what turns away some readers. When you read, you can feel what he could become, how he would do it, and what he could change, if only he could get himself together. He then slowly, very slowly, but surely, makes jerking progress towards this goal as he recreates aetherics only for this new reality to provide setbacks. His character growth is tied in too as learning to accept the realities of the world and compromising on his utopian principles ties directly into his growth in power. This slowly closing gap is the essence of the progression fantasy, where the reader believes and expects what a character will grow into, while the character struggles to meet that expectation. While it seems like we won't get more, thank you for what you have published here. Hope this finds you well.
AllantherRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Review at chapter 31 / 327 pages.
Wow. I don't know what I expected going into this story, even after reading the blurb, but I am absolutely floored by what I read. I clicked on it as an 'eh, I'll see what its about', and somewhere between chapter two and three I was hooked. I binge read thirty one chapters in one evening and felt disappointed when I reached the end of the current postings.
Style Score: The style of the story is very smoothly done. Narrative flows well, with no confusion due to changes in tone.
Story Score: There's a lot I want to say about this story.
Let me start with that I very much enjoyed this story.
That's not to say it was perfect. There was a few hiccups in the early chapters of the story, growing pains I would call them as the author fell into the groove of writing, but nothing egregious. The worst example I could point out is a narrative misplacement before the scene where the mc boards the dark lord's boat. Other examples would include extensive scene-setting descriptions in the earlier chapters. Probably an intentional to deter the readers that are fanatics of murder-hobo main characters.
Despite any minor chinks, the story itself is immersive and wonderful. The worldbuilding is EXCELLENT. I would have a blast writing a story in this world. Scene-setting is done well. Pacing is great. This story is very impressive.
If there is anything to be unimpressed with, its that the cover/title/blurb aren't as attractive as they should be for a story like this.
Grammar Score: Let me preface by saying I'm not a grammar aficionado. I did notice one or two typos that I pointed out in the comments. The author has thankfully turned on suggested edits to make that easy. None of these typos rose to the level that I lost immersion.
That being said, I know that some readers are more stringent about grammar, spelling, etc, and if I found a few I can reasonably assume there are a lot more I overlooked in my zeal to find out what happens next. So, I didn’
Ethan2197Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
im doing this review on my phone and it's 4 am so cut some slack if it seems a little lackluster
This book is incredible it sets out to do a couple things and does them so well. For example the characters truly drive the story they all contrast eachother they all seem like they have ambitions it makes the story itself feel alive and believable. The main character isn't some generic idiotic isekai'd chad who pulls every girl in existence either which this site has a lot of. No he's a believable guy who just has to quickly adapt from living in a utopia to a well a dystopia. IDK MAN I LIKE THE BOOK READ IT IM GOING TO BED
The Book and the WyrmRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Really loved the premise and plot. The characters are compelling and the world-building is interesting.
Shame that the story died. Somewhere in my heart I hoped that this story will someday continue, but the rational part of me decided to not put hope. Now I finally unfollowed the story after 2 years of keeping it at the bottom of my follow list.
This review is my metaphorical flower on the headstone for this story. Until some miracle of destiny bring us together gain, farewell.
Across_The_StreetRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This won't be an advanced review, as although I love this book, it is on a long hiatus. Delving deeply into its rights and wrongs doesn't mean much at this point.
The magic system is vague, as the title says. A complicated vagueness. This isn't to the extent that middle earth will hand wave magics and powers away without an explanation (that's not a bad thing, just a different style). The main character knows a scientific magic in an unscientific world, and much of his explanation for creating magic involve mentioning runes, drawing sigils, but not how they're drawn or why. This all creates a great book with engaging magic that isn't just "fireball," "magic missile," but it certainly isn't scientific for the reader.
Characters are great and have personality, and the main character is very interesting. He has a great and unique background that isn't just "Ah, I got hit by a bus after shopping at the convenience store and was headed back to my single bed flat to watch anime." Which is obviously refreshing in novels involving transmigration or reincarnation. (This one is closer to time travel). My point being, the MC isn't from Earth or an Earth equivalent. Usually characters like that are written to be relatable in comparison to the fantasy world they find themselves in, but the MC in this book is as much a learning experience as the world he's exploring throughout the book.
Read it, then cry since the author dipped.
Author, please come back.
Thank you.
joshuawachterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a really good story about a guy from ancient times who gets zapped at the very start of a mana surge which looks like it kicked off a global apocalypse and he only wakes up when his memories and personality, somehow copied into a crystal are downloaded into some rando-minion. The rando's spark is now a full fledged magical flame. And he goes on to have adventures as he studies with an evil cult of magic swordsmen.
I really enjoyed it and can't recommend it more.
DrAltRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
After seven months of hiatus, I should take this off my follow list, leave a lovely review, and move on.
Great characterization in Strythe and very memorable side characters with the witches. The humor elevates the story above the standard Royal Road fare. If it was finished, I could see this being of my favorites, but our MC never quite ends his base-building when the fiction stops.
I'd look elsewhere if you are a stickler for analysis in a fantasy world or prefer less initially passive isekai characters. For me, it had the right amount of slice-of-life.
I enjoyed what I read of this fiction, but it isn't complete. So if you want an unfinished snarky story with exciting twists on the worldbuilding and good characters, this is your jam—best of luck to the author on future projects.
apflbaumRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
What a great read. It's on another level than many other novels here, gammar and contents likewhise.
The setting is more of a distopian future which regressed in its technology and is overflowing with aggressive flora and fauna. The MC is not your typical overpowered know-it-all but still has more insights in magic than your average residents in this world but lacks in almost every other fighting aspects but the author copes it with nicely timed humor.
The worldbuilding is awesome, but keep im mind that there is little "beauty" or peace in this world. The side characters are so far enjoyable, not flat or anything, but also nothing too attaching to the reader. The stories biggest selling point is the unique mix of the dystopian setting, magic and swords and wuxia - and the worldbuilding itself. There is a very different approach to an evil sect which makes is somehow more realistic and interesting. A negative point for me would be the very slow progression of the main character. I know - and I don't want - popcorn cinema but a bit of satisfaction at this point would be nice.
As a non-native speaker (please pardon my english) I found it challenging from time to time but comprehensible. I wouldn't categorize this as a "light" novel and I'd advise it for an older audience with some time for story building.
FIENDRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
It's actually very quirky to read.
As long as you understand that mc comes from a different world from ours which is actually and has always been a utopia , which makes zero sense but roll with it.
you will either love or abhor the mc. I personally think his nativity and modern soy vegan boy quips are hilarious in contrast to the overly serious mideval magical dark fantasy world
Therrs a lot of culting, dark magic and dark fantasy at play
the dialogue is where the story shines I think. I think it's a good story and so far he's not trying to sleep with every women he meets or falling in love with every women he meets so it's great.
go in with an open mind and don't think take it seriously and you will enjoy the story.
Visual_Ontaris1Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I'm not really good at giving reviews but if that's what it will take to get author back on the story then so be it.
What I can say, it's good, the world building, the characters the MC everything is well thought out though sometimes I think the MC still doesn't seem to understand how dangerous the world he's in and therefore the need to have contingencies in place to protect himself but hey everyone has their reasons for doing what they do and I'm looking forward to what more the author has planned for us. There are a couple of things that make me like the story and few things that I dislike but it's not to the point where I want to drop the story, I would like to share them but I'm just to lazy to type them out 😸.
Anyways I think that's just enough blabbering, just read the Novel and if it is your thing give a review or something. I hope this help, I just want the author to come out from this long Hiatus.
And oh pardon my grammar.