(Book 3 Complete!) Runeblade: A Delving & Skill Merging LitRPG

Self-Published

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Description

Kaius just wanted to unlock his class - instead, he restarted the apocalypse. After years of training, Kaius has barely acquired the first two of his family's legacy skills. Powerful and vanishingly rare, the method of creating them is a secret people would kill for. Now they might be the only thing that keeps him alive. Narrowly surviving a bandit ambush, he gets trapped in the Great Depths- a world spanning dungeon.To escape, he will have to slay one of the Guardians that defend the exits; a feat no one without a class has survived. Ever. If that wasn’t bad enough, if he succeeds he will reignite a forgotten trial that nearly ended civilization. Posting Schedule: 1/day 9:30 am NZT (2:30 pm PST, subject to daylight savings kerfuffles) -My love letter to classic litrpg adventures. The kind with long arcs, gratuitous fights, fast paced progression, and a focus on worldbuilding. -Runic-Tattoo Wizard/Spellblade in a world of sorcerers -Exceptional MC, with some initial Slow Burn elements -Large scope, inspired by epics such as Azarinth Healer, BTDEM, PH, and more. -Third Person POV, with a 99% MC focus -Numbers go brrrr -Attack Badger (Friendly?) -Battle maniac MC who is not a murderhobo -No harem, romance, or VR Hi everyone! After being a RR reader for many, many years, I have decided to throw my hat in the ring. This isn’t the first litRPG i’ve ever written, but it is the first I’ve decided to post. I hope you enjoy and leave plenty of comments and feedback :) Patreon is 50 chapters ahead.Writathon winner - Nov 2024

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2024
Author: Bacon Macleod

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 17,154
Views: 16,251,320

Chapters(552 total)

What readers say about (Book 3 Complete!) Runeblade: A Delving & Skill Merging LitRPG

“This story is starting to show great results. While a little slow to start things are picking up nicely. The characters are engaging and the litrpg elements are well ballanced. Kaius is a great protaganist and shows good motivations and solid reasoning. The…”
Cypher92Royal Road5.0 / 5
“I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am really looking forward to see where it goes. The storyline and overarching plot has been somewhat of a slow burn but the skill/magic system is quirky and interesting and I really enjoyed the characters. I believe Book2 i…”
Dark ProphetRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

Cypher92Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is starting to show great results. While a little slow to start things are picking up nicely. The characters are engaging and the litrpg elements are well ballanced. Kaius is a great protaganist and shows good motivations and solid reasoning. The supporting cast is well fleshed out and their pov chapters are nice and showcase the differences very well.
Dark ProphetRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am really looking forward to see where it goes. The storyline and overarching plot has been somewhat of a slow burn but the skill/magic system is quirky and interesting and I really enjoyed the characters.
I believe Book2 is only going to continue to get better as we now get to explore the wider world. I have loved the portrayal or a young man making young man mistakes that are neither cringe or an incredibly overdone trope.
Another thing I particularly found interesting was the glipses of the culture that has built up in the world. While some of the old tropes such as adventurer guilds are on display its also interesting to see how ordinary people would adapt and have adapted in the society and I'm hoping we will get to see more of the unique classes and skills.
Finally the approach to skills and classing has been a very interesting take on things and the idea that we will bet to see people adapting to changes in a system is also going to be interesting to see. The concept of a family's legacy skills is also very interesting and it I hope we get to explore the culture of that more deeply.
ArkhRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The book is very well written, with a clear-cut plot that draws the reader in from the very beginning. The progression of the main character is both concrete and realistic, allowing readers to connect with their journey. The incorporation of interesting LitRPG elements adds a unique twist that keeps the narrative engaging. It’s fascinating to see how the character navigates challenges within this immersive world, offering relatable struggles and victories. This book marks my first advanced review out of the seven or eight nice ones I have read on RR, and it definitely sets a high standard for future reads. I only wish that themc's animal companion was some sort of scouting animal like an eagle or something. This is a definitely a matter of personal preference though, as I prefer mc's who are mostly solo - fighting.The scenes depicted are almost comparable to Defiance of the fall or Primal Hunter, in how the mc is made to adapt to to his new reality fast. Progression is well paced, action is decently depicted. I hope that this wonderful story does not devolve into village building/town building type things with adventurer guilds and stuff once the mc is out of his 'tough area', for that sort of is not very nice for me. Kingdoms/royals are cool though.
AlexanderScottRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is a satisfying and fast-moving LitRPG that is a blast to read. There’s a well-thought backstory, a fully-formed magic system, and a detailed world built for the characters to roam around in. The motivation of the main character drives the story forward and keeps the reader interested and engaged. Well done!
ArcMagRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have a lot stories in my library but a few I will drop what I’m doing to read when the notification comes through. Runeblade is one of them.
The style of Litrpg divorced from isekai/another world forces the author to give reasons for their story choices. Nothing feels handwaved or leaves you wonder how this society could have formed with this underlying system. It feels like a solid fantasy story rather than a erratic power fantasy that many stories can end up as.
The world is refreshing in its completeness. I feel the scope and lived in nature of the protagonist’s world. I have enjoyed getting to explore along side Kaius as he grows in power.
The characterisations and development are top. Never have I felt the author has someone act for the sake of storytelling. Instead the characters feel their actions are nature for their knowledge and experience, their needs and desires. It’s so refreshing not to have walking character tropes, instead we have a small world so far of living, breathing people. Given how the story starts, I was surprised that one of my favourite things is how characters interact.
Top 3 favourite story. I’m excited to see where it goes.
CPT_CavemanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Started reading on a whim and it has gotten more fun as I have moved through the chapters. Really enjoying the story. The mix of undead and animals within the world is nice as the MC is not always fighting the same thing. I am looking forward where this goes with the new character
Casille_VRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Kaius is driven, determined, and just the right kind of inexperienced to take risks that should've gotten him killed once or twice already. It makes for a very entertaining protagonist. He's not foolhardy enough to be annoying, either, and does have the skills to back up his confidence.As of this chapter, we don't know a whole lot about the history of the world, but we keep getting glimpses of something larger going on. Something that has gone wrong, that needs to be fixed somehow? It's exactly the right kind of intriguing mystery to make me excited about more information, without being frustrating.The writing style is absolutely amazing. The action is gripping. Very descriptive, in a way that lets me imagine entire fight scenes as a movie sequence before my inner eye. Very visual, without spending multiple paragraphs on scene setup every time Kaius goes somewhere new. The author just highlights important details, things your eye would naturally be drawn to, and leaves you feeling immersed in this strange new place Kaius has found himself in.I haven't noticed any trouble with the grammar. Sometimes there's a letter missing, but it happens so rarely that I hesitate to even mention it here.All in all, I'm hyped for every new chapter, and super glad to have given this story a try. If you're curious, check out the first chapter or two, and you'll know if it's your cup of tea :)
CindersRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Binged this in like 2 days, so if nothing else it's an enjoyable read but there is more!
The characters are great even when they make choices I disagree with their internal logic, and personality is consistent which makes reading very enjoyable as they feel like dynamic people. The world building is super enjoyable, I love the take on how skills and abilities work. The pacing is both slow and realistic from one perspective (attaining a class) but also fast in that you constantly feel like the characters are progressing in power and goals are being accomplished. The fight sequence are imo a huge selling point so many stories my eyes glaze over and I skim fights but the descriptions in this story for fights are 11\10 I'm always engaged and always enjoying it. It doesn't become a a boring list of "I used skill A then skill B" or a gratuitous "I am all powerful and crushed them With ease how could they compare!" No, the MC is very powerful but so are his enemies and the fights are absolutely thrilling and fantastic. To jump back to the world building, not only is the system good but the way the dungeon environment is handled as well as the pieces of countries, organizations are also looking super fun. I love world building and can see a great bones being built for a world to be explored. The style is well written, I barely notice any grammer or typos and the couple I have noticed are super minor. The flow of dialogue and environmental descriptions are great.
Overall, of you enjoy visceral fights, litRPG, and fantasy worlds this is 99.999999% chance something you will enjoy and it's only not 100% because some people don't like cheese and thus cant be trusted to have logical opinions.
AothRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Well, It's a slow burn but not too bad and really I really want to see how this goes. Very well written and fun. I love delving, i love numbers and skills and this book is doing a great job giving me everything that I'm looking for on RR. Check it out
Dracansi_tufaniluxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story has been amazing. It is wonderful to learn about the world along sides the characters and having such fertile soil from which the progression and plot can grow has me chomping at the bit wanted to see what is coming down the road. This has quickly become one of my favorites and I hope the ride never stops.Spoilers after this, read at your own risks:I love the way health is done in this story it provides a logical way to measure how close someone is to death without negating things like headshots and other instakills. Not too mention giving every character a realistic means of healing that would make it reasonable for someone to go out and fight to gain levels when one mistake is less likely to kill.Greater beasts are a fascinating concept and I love their inclusion in the story. It makes sense that if animals gained human levels of intelligence they would have societies and cultures built around their needs and desires. It is not something seen often as animal companions are written as pets even when they have higher level cognitive abilities. I am really interested in how the author weaves the meles and other species of greater beasts into the story and the world building.Adding new aspects to the progression after each phase change is an ingenious way of ensuring that growth is never just about levels going up. It adds a measurable way of showing progress that keeps the story fresh and provides a great way to shake up the politics of the world. Having so much of this world's structure based around legacy skills means that the inclusion of aspects, which are inaccessible to those at the highest tiers of power, gives a realistic way for the characters to ascend to heights where they can compete on the world stage. I can't wait to see how the author uses that and similar changes down the line to rearrange the political landscape of the world.