An Unwavering Craftsman

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Given the hereditary nature of classes, everyone expects Damien—the child of two high-tiered adventurers—tobe granteda high-tier combat class of his own.Expectations are betrayed, however,whenDamienfinds himself insteadsaddled with a crafting class of the lowestpossibletier:[NeophyteTailor].

Left practically crippled compared to those with better classes, Damien wants to avoid becoming a pawn in the machinations of the nobility,desiring only togrind his level in peace while wondering why the usual rules of inheritance were broken. Was it his desire to excel by his own effort, rather than an unearned blessing from a god? Did the Five take offence at his opinions on the unfairness of hereditary classes? Or maybe it was something to do with thealienvoice that intruded on his ceremony?

A voice that offers great power,and freedom from the tyranny of the Five,but that never namesitsprice.

This story is litRPG-lite.While the class someone possesses controls most of their lives, peopledon't get dinged at for every level they gain,nor can they see their status without undergoing a special ritual. The MC has no romantic interest. Crafting is merely a way to game the system, and doesn't feature heavily in the story, aside from a few descriptions on how they're carrying out the system abuse. There is, on one unfortunate occasion, maths. The pace is quick.

Published here, Scribble Hub and patreon. This was a participant in the Spring 2022 writathon. (i.e. it was posted as-written at high speed, with no pre-planning.)

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2022
Author: cathfach

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.3/ 5.0
Followers: 1,401
Views: 527,482

Chapters(49 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

whoeverRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
After only three chapters, it is a bit too early to get to know for sure, but there is all already there that is needed for a great story.
Even only the chapters titles would make this already worth reading.
World building is interesting but more importantly nicely inserted the story without data dumps but with hints and furtive remaks that make reading interesting.
The characters are worked out fine. While they might be a bit too clichee for some drama, they seem to be perfectly what is needed for some entertaining LitRPG.
LitRPG elements so far are well balanced. All the basics seem to be there and actually have an effect and being properly utilized by this world inhabitants, while not containing any tables for the sake of tables nor disruptive descriptions for what anyone should know.
What could still go wrong is power progression. As it seems to head towards the "unique underrate mechanic" LitPRG trope, MC is entitled to some OP powers, which always has the danger of derailing a story if not managed right. But given all the other qualities of the stories, I'm very hopeful this will also be done right.
SteveabaileyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Great story with unique setting. The rest of this review is rambling because it must be 50 words long. I recommend reading the story and I look forward to new chapters. The characters are all interesting g with depth and unique personalities. The main character is intelligent and does not make a lot of dumb decisions just to make the plot go forward.
Typo FaerieRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
An interesting take on both a giant tentacled beholder, and how power corrupts. World building is good, characters are relatable, and good English, the words flow.
The reading of the others text is hard, but it has an effect.
I liked that the MC thought about why has no one noticed this before, looked into it, and found the huge conspiracy behind it.
hedgehogwarsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is extremely good, as it takes an interesting turn on systems where the main character decided to find bugs / loopholes in the system. I would recommend you try to read it. I honestly do not know what to put here as o said everything I could without purposely stretching the review
jnobodyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
For what it seeks to be it delivers, its a pretty easy read that starts with a simple concept (in terms of litRPGs). The main character forced with a low ranking class, and has to work with what they are given.
The world building is rather unique and the system is very math-light despite the main premise is breaking the system which for that is very well designed in my experience dispite normally liking system/math heavy novels like Delve (Different Author)
As the story develops it's shown rather similar to A Friendly Voidling, where things just happen. However instead of being an being of unfathomable propotions, the main character mostly just dragged along for the ride which is expaned upon as the novel progresses as the main charcter gains more control on their 'choices'.
It was a fun read there was alot of world building that I would have loved to have a few side chapters showing off some of the side characters but it is a nice story on its own.
One of the first stories I decided to leave a review, Its a great story to put on a read later list and read 3-4 years later. I would reccommend their other stories above this one though.
GlassSpidersRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
So far I have enjoyed both the characters and the plot. There are some interesting long term plot threads emerging and some short term problems being built up. So far the characters are fairly likable and logical. The main character's relationship to his parents is a bright note in the story that seems to be heading for more development later as the world building the author is adding in becomes clearer. Every time there is a plot hole or illogical thing going on in the next few chapters there is eventually an explanation given which helps me stay immersed in the story.
MacronomiconRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
What are the main characters stats? What stats even exist? I dunno. strength and durabiltity gains are mentioned offhand, but I suspect the author doesn't wanna have detailed spreadsheets for every little thing, nor to fall into the trap of power creep, which I totally understand, as handwaving allows much of that to be avoided.
but it IS hand-wavey, and less of a hard litRPG than you might expect. The classes and levels could easily be swapped out with analogues and this would be a pure fantasy book.
As the readers, we know the main character's class and level, the existence of a handful of perk and traits, which are used as more of a plot device to progress the story than actual things the main character gets to use.
none of this means the story is bad.
The author is writing this at a feverish pace to make the 55k for the april writeathon, and so with that in mind, they obviously have a talent for making up stuff on the spot that is fun to read and reads smoothly without too much need for editing.
There are a few things that probably need to be addressed, but for the most part, it's good.
M3lchiRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I liked this one so I'd suggest anyone give it a shot. That said, there were some pain points. The garbled text for the demon dialogue causes screen readers to spit out mostly gibberish.
The title is a bit misleading. Yeah it is about someone with a craftsmen class but it really is about loophole abusing.
Some parts felt a little rushed, not like plot holes rushed but a little unsatisfying. When the loophole abuse finally pays off the story comes across as more of an epilogue.
I really wished there was some more depth to the crafting but that is just a wish, it would be nice but isn't really necessary to accomplish what the story sets out to do.
moonst0neRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
As a story intended to fit within 100k words, it got off to an excellent start. There were some people complaining about the fast pace, but they must not have read the entire description. It was there from the start. Overall, a decent litRPG with interesting worldbuilding.
Style & Story:
The story typically flows fine, even despite the fast pace, and the first half is decently strong. By the halfway point, however, there are multiple plot contrivances and unresolved points that lead to a crash at the end where the author ran out of time and words trying to tell the tale, ending abruptly with no closure. The plot surrounding the forbidden nature of their infinite loops should have been more mysterious and drawn out, but mostly resolved itself too quickly. Several times, the story feels like the author is trying to connect dots on a picture and isn't terribly concerned how crooked the lines get.
Grammar:
It's alright. There were no glaring spelling mistakes or anything, but the story could really use a proper editor's touch. I suppose that's just a product of the nature of a writeathon story; not enough time for polish.
Characters:
The characters often feel two-dimensional and their dialog is sometimes difficult to distinguish between speakers. Several times, the characters feel as if they're doing something or going somewhere because the plot demands it, rather than by any of their own desires. They're also generally lacking in distinct voices, each character sounding about the same as the others except for one or two distinct features.
Overall, it's a decent story. I hope the author goes back and properly cleans up the final act.
The-Anti-AkumaRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
It's frustrating how little the MC seems to get to decide in his own story.
Like the first time I actually saw much of any crafting done was in chapter 18 and 19... It's cheating crafting... But at least he's finally doing SOMETHING
Honestly the story so far can be simplified into must reach level 80, have family and allies defend until then, rinse repeat.
EDIT: I wrote this review as I was actually reading the story, and rewrote it at chapter 17, then added more onto as I read to chapter 25.
In summary: My frustration is that it feels as if the story is all about the goal and not the journey. The way it seems is that all that matters is reaching that goal, if anything happens before then? It's really just things happening around the MC because until he hits that goal, he can't really effect anything around him.