At The Precipice [A Survival LitRPG]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Following his ‘death’ at the hands of a vicious magpie, Brock is rescued by the machinations of the newly instated, all-powerful System and thrust knee-deep into a brutal world catered only to the strong. Fluctuating between two states of being and quarantined within a city ravaged by time, he is told to either seek out the mysterious ‘Source’, or die trying.

He just hopes he can do it without scuffing his expensive suit in the process.

*****

Honestly, I've just always wanted to write a story. I had a crack at it a few years back, but the entire thing fell apart before it even began. At The Precipice was originally written as a way for me to destress and play with System elements and characters, but eventually I decided that if I was gonna write, why not post it too? Writing's just a hobby of mine, so don't expect this to be at published novel level, I guess, or even anything of relative polish.

Updates everyMon-Tues-Wed-Thurs-Fri

Average chapter length is 2000 - 3000 words

*****

What to expect:

- A semi-comedic/light tone, mixed in with a gritty world and brutal survival (not ever grimdark though)

- An MC that thinks about what he's going to do and why he'll do it, even if his internal logic is lacking. Is a rather rational person, not often influenced by his emotions, but can be in extreme situations.

- A plot heavily focused upon the MC, but one that will branch off to envelope the other characters in the world at times. Often, it's just other people's perspectives of him.

- A story of power growth. While the MC is certainly going to be powerful, even over 100 chapters in from what I've written, he still isn't the strongest being on Earth, let alone the entire Multiverse.

- Lots of gore, vivid fight descriptions, and often times deaths of people, some even somewhat important to the story.

*****

Things this story will never have:

- Harems

- An edgy, villainous MC

- An MC that does jackshit about things for 'plot reasons'

Only on Royal Road and Scribblehub.

Information

Status
Hiatus
Year
2021
Author
R. R. Quan

Tags

LITRPGACTIONFANTASYADVENTURESUPERNATURALMARTIAL ARTSSTRONG LEADMALE LEADPOST APOCALYPTICLOW FANTASYURBAN FANTASY

Royal Road Stats

Rating
4.3/ 5.0
Followers
1,532
Views
821,992

Chapters(137 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

  • JMMatheisRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    *Trying for a no spoiler review*
    ‘At the Precipice’ is a LitRPG with a focus on survival of its main character Brock as he tries to navigate revival after death and the heavy-handed inclusion of the ‘System’. It is a breath of fresh air, with a welcome mix of light-hearted humour, system attributes and survival of the more suitable. One thing for certain, it doesn’t pull punches!
    Style + Story:
    The style of the tale is a predominant mix of LitRPG, rebirth and survival elements. A very welcome aspect is a strong hand on the implementation of storytelling instead of falling back to and relying on the ‘Stats’. The system is used to support the story and to provide a silent character for Brock to play his frustrations off against as he works out what has happened to him.
    There is a great presence of world-building and exploration of the surrounds that lends itself to the overall feel and helps to create an immersive atmosphere. I am really enjoying how the framework for the story digs deep into the everyday and how it is twisted to the system’s demands. It sets a believable ‘post-apocalyptic’ vibe that makes this story so accessible.
    I am thoroughly enjoying the novel-like pacing, allowing time to get to know the character and build knowledge of the surrounds and what happened. Such as exploring and allowing the reader to build our own ideas before discovering the little truths as they are uncovered by Brock. This style of pacing is perfect for this tale, allowing time for readers to build their own conclusions before offering a peek behind the curtain.
    Character:
    The main character… He is such an average, everyday Aussie office worker… And that is what makes this story so easy to get into and connect to. The main character is a normal, awkward person, not some born-to-rule power fantasy that always has the answer, or JUST enough power to overcome the odds no matter how overwhelming they are. He grows into his power with plenty of mistakes on the way. A very welcome cha
  • Natasha Velkirk (Zach or Zach)Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Style
    This story has so much style that its straight up unfair, everything feels as if its flowing into the next thing like it should. Though somethimes it really isn't, hence the half off on story.
    Grammar
    I don't pay to much attention to the grammar so long as I can understand it, and the author has conveyed everything very well.
    Character
    The characters overall feel like real people, like the MC isn't going to kill his childhood bully just cause the guy was a jerk and tried to kill him. While for the most part as readers we don't mind so long as he doessn't go murder-hobo it is nice to see a character with a slightly, if not by too much, larger moral compass. The other characters are all fun, and well written. The MC is pragmatic, but a bit of an idiot, so he does what seems best even though he maybe shouldn't have done so. This is addressed in the story at a point I found suitable and I find that part to be a good part, and hope the MC actually does better.
    Story
    The only place i'm taking off points from for one simple reason. Sometimes the author will do something that is kinda funny, like taking away the MC's hard earned reward, and its done in a comedic fashion, but its still frustrating. Especially so when we learn that what he lost was a pretty big deal. I can totally see why this would drop the overall and story scores by a bit more for some people. Personally, I though it was funny, but mildly annoying. The reason im giving 4.5 and not 4 is because it makes a small amount a narrative sense. You'll get it if you read it. Also because the rest of the story is really well written.
    Fight scenes
    Probably one of my favorite things is that it feels like ATP's fight scenes are visceral. It's not a particularly uncommon theme, though I find that more have more fight scenes that feel fantasy esque rather than visceral. Which is fine, but it makes ATP pop even more. Noramal battles are typically interesting when they aren't the simple "and then I killed it" that eve
  • D.M. Rhodes (Razzmatazz)Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    At the precipice is a unique spin on the ‘reborn in another world’ genre, in that the other world is the same world as the original one. Sort of. It’s kind of like silent-hill, where there’s the spooky town and the normal town, but they’re the same town, you know?
    Brock, the protagonist of the story, finds himself brought here after his unfortunate death at the ‘hands’ of a magpie. It’s not really the most heroic way to go out, but it certainly sets the both humorous and grim tone for the story. Brock is a bit of an odd-ball, but that’s what makes him enjoyable to follow as he is essentially the only character (Barring some enemy creatures) for the first majority of the story and I appreciate that. The story really does have a unique direction and tone (The monster names are great, but I won’t spoil) and I’m glad that Brock is the way he is, otherwise I’d start feeling very lonely as we follow him through the ruins of the other world. Thankfully, he doesn’t need other people around to play his personality off of, you can kind of just see who he is when he’s by himself.
    Being reborn in ‘the other world’, Brock fights against time and rummages through the other-city, trying to find something called the ‘Original Life’ located at an otherwise unexplained ‘Source’ in order to stop himself from perma-dying. He often phases in and out of his new existence and the [system] seems to have multiple hang-ups about him in general, considering him an error of sorts. So things get a little trippy sometimes, which is cool.
    I found no noticeable spelling or grammar mistakes.
    It’s a very refreshing take on the reborn genre, with a protagonist and settings unlike ones we see a lot in these parts. If you want an other-world story that makes good use of the [system] and [values], but you’re tired of ‘isekai fantasy land’ as a setting, then you should definitely give this one a fair shot! =)
  • TrowRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    The polish on this story, so far, vastly exceeds the usual on Royal Road. Definitely give it a read, you will be hooked from the beginning. Can't get enough of Aussie apocalypse, it's like there's no better setting for it. I want to see a koala zone boss lol. Also great job to the author promoting on Reddit. I wish more authors would. It makes finding new stories a lot easier to read.
  • S.N. KeirsteadRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    The story's blob does not lie. Everything in there is present within the story. System? Check. Action? Check. Urban Fantasy? Check. Comedy? Has it in spades. At the Precipice hits all the notes of a traditional System novel but the POV of Brock, the main character, helps to distinguish it from others in the genre. Despite his dire situation (and the fact that he just died), he manages to be down to earth with his reactions and add in his own flavor of humor.
    Definite recommend. It's a fun story that's smooth to read.
  • DownutsRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Not a pro in making reviews (or anything else), but this story deserves a push so I'll do my part.
    First, you won't find any problem about grammar or anything, just some rare errors, which are swiftly corrected once you point them out.
    The story uses a common trope to give Brock (the mc) an opportunity to get an edge on others, while also making things really hard and dangerous for him. Which is what (I think) most readers want.
    The pacing is good, you won't be bored at all and reach the last posted chapter pretty fast (disclaimer : argument invalid from march of 2022 onwards).
    You'll find some fine Australian humor, mostly based on danger pigeons and other things making Australia the survival mode of life.
    I just don't recommend reading the story if you want some guy doing a perfect run at everything. Brock makes mistakes, the System makes mistakes.
  • Evra-KazeRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    This story has gamelite elements that I usually don’t really like, but I still found it interesting because of the author great story telling and what they chose to focus on. I will start with what seemed to be the focus since it gives example to the story telling. In my opinion, and this is only my opinion, a focus is on a sort of depressive view on life and the hardship and struggle that can be experienced from it. Even when improvements are made, the main character still struggle to survive. I used the word ‘depressive’ because the main character is alone in a world full of danger and they keep living without any real goal, only to maybe see the light of hope by pure luck. It’s almost as if the first part was a love letter for depressive and suicidal thoughts. This is all the more impactful when the gamelite elements are presented as they act like the slight ray of hope that try to show that life isn’t so bad.
    The hardships are always present and the bonus the main character gain, mostly, only allows them to keep on living and to present the wonderful world that this author created. In my opinion, the story deserve praise.
    For the style, the story uses a lot of description. It allows to create wonderful imagery. But I felt that some parts were too long and other parts too short. I think this flaw is shared with every story that rely heavily on description since there are parts that can be guessed and parts that are understood wrongly. I think it’s an impossible balance since each reader will imagine the world differently. Still, I fell like it does a lot more good than bad in this story.
    For the characters. I can only really use the main character as an example from where I am in the story since he is the main focus of the story. Still, he has a lot of quirk and a believable personality. The darker tone of the story fit well with him since he reacts like most people would. Basically, he is a likeable character!
    Finally, for the grammar, I didn’t see any mistake.
  • HayataRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Style: I really enjoy 'At The Precipice' style and take on the litRPG and apocalypse genre! The author does a really good job at portraying the world at it's affected state, and I personally enjoy how he builds the world and portrays the system. Overall, the writting style feels invinting and really entertaining!
    Grammar: It's honestly really good! There weren't many mistakes and the author is ever so willingly to correct something when it's pointed out in the comments! English is not my first language and I had a really easy time enjoying it (plus, I love the word Harbinger... Don't ask me why!).
    Story: The pacing feel adequate to what the author wants to show us. It's a really good take on an apocalypse caused by a system, in which our protagonist thrives at costs that make me wonder if he's really winning in many situations. The power spikes Brock receives aren't really exaggerated by any means, and his abilities take their sweet time developing, in a manner that only feels natural for what he's living through (but does he suffer... GOD, DOES HE SUFFER)
    Character: I honestly really like the characters! The author didn't introduce that many of them, but the ones present up until the point I've read (chapter 46) more flashed out and well-built! Most of the characters have a well defined personality and manneirisms that make them really believable!
    Overall, it's a great story that has his own unique take on what a system should portray when acquiring a world into it's litRPG multiverse (even though we haven't had that many alien interactions)! If you're into this type of tales, and enjoy kicking some butts in an apocalypse, suit up (tee-hee) and jump in!
  • HexenblumeRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Style: The style is good. The delivery of the story was nice and the pace was stable, though a bit slow (maybe that's just the word count speaking). I love the narration, it's serious with a twist of some comedy here and there but not enough that it takes away the tense post-apocalyptic atmosphere of the story. The length of the chapters is good, though it drags on a bit longer than necessary for some chapters. All in all it's just a great style for an equally great story. 5/5 keep up the amazing work!
    Grammar: I'm not an English teacher or professor so with what grammar knowledge I know it's pretty perfect! Super understandable and doesn't have that many difficult words so people that don't speak English as their main language can appreciate it. Kudos to you!
    Characters: I don't know why, but I just can't really like the MC, maybe it's their attitude or just the way they act. Not saying the character is unrealistic, it just doesn't click with me for some reason, and I think it's more to do with what happened in the first chapter. He already knows that there are dangerous and bitchy magpies and the chance of a very bad accident happening is very high, and yet he still decided to go up there. Again, not saying that the character is unrealistic, I just didn't really click with him. More often than not I ignore my nitpicks when rating but I just really feel that there's something wrong or missing with the MC, just can't pinpoint it. 4.5/5 cause the MC is written very well, I'm just being super immature.
    Story: It's the perfect blend of LitRPG and Post-apocalypse. It's really good! I don't want to spoil anything for the story but I do think that the story has a lot of potential that it's definitely using, a normal everyday-office worker with minimal knowledge of LitRPGs plunged into another earth and suddenly becomes a part of a LitRPG system. It's not perfect and I think the MC is being abused a bit too much, but it's still very good, the storyline isn't like one of a
  • C. Ron IcklerRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Brock has found himself under the control of the System, a strange entity that seems to be keeping him 'At the Precipice' between life and death, some sort of terrible limbo. Very strong opening chapter that keeps you gripped.
    Style: Imagery is king in this fiction. Get ready for lush descriptions that are easy to read and to picture, as well as strong action sequences.
    Grammar: Far as I could tell, there were no grammatical mistakes. Clearly, attention to detail has been paid.
    Story: I still want to know more about how the System works, but I would really enjoy it if we meet other people in Brock's situation - which the author could very well have planned. It was due to this that I found myself more gripped and connected with the first chapter, which is an absolute home run in my opinion as far as beginnings go, than with the latest chapters, which deal more with Brock securing his life through taking action and establishing new world mechanics. However, this aspect being a slight negative is probably due to my own tastes. Regardless, the story is compelling, entertaining, and does a great job getting you to ask questions and engage with the world.
    If you want a story with lots of action, adventure and intrigue, look no further.