Cutting to Life: an NPC LitRPG (Battle Royale)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Nikola is an NPC in The World of Wills, a video game where players can feel sensations as if they were truly there. She leads a life of bloodshed and murder - that is, until one day she wakes up sapient. Just as she begins thinking real, non-scripted thoughts and making connections, she and the players in the game are told that if they die in the game, they die in real life - and it's time to get killing.

But what of Nikola, the emerging AI consciousness? How does she win in a game that can only end in her being wiped from existence at the end of it all?

- Updates weekly onFridays.

Cutting to Life is a slow-burn LitRPG with a villainous (later anti-hero, or maybe still villainous, haha) female lead.It's told from the perspective of Nikola, an NPC within the World of Wills who's become sapient and is now mysteriously able to play the game as a PC. It's quite light for a LitRPG, but the system and stats become more of a focus later when Nikola herself can access them.The story gradually builds into a Battle Royale where the players' lives are on the line (if you die in the game, you die in real life), and only one party of savvy adventurers can win. They'll have to spend their time and stats wisely as dungeons promising rare gear float down from the sky - but is a legendary sword worth killing someone for, knowing they'll stay dead forever?- This story is told in third person, past tense.- This is a slow-burn LitRPG that spends a lot of time establishing its setting and characters, because I believe this will make for a better payoff in the end. As such, the Battle Royale doesn't start until chapter 30 or so.- Chapters are anywhere between 800 words and 3000 words long.- Book cover byVixeona.Cutting to Life is also being posted onSPBandScribble Hub.Thank you sincerely for reading.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: cowllumi

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.3/ 5.0
Followers: 828
Views: 265,410

Chapters(86 total)

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

superlloydRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A great story. No boring XP grind and bluescreen gazing (so far), but good character and world building.
Multiple well developed characters, which are (most of the time, but not always) pleasantly surprinsingly (but not unreasonably) level headed. The world building is also just right with new relevant fact popping every now and then.
At chapters 65 mysteries still keep piling up at an easy to absorb pace, while the character slowly start to gain agency in the world (beyond just "awakening", she starts to make plane), and the world building keep on expanding hin
Chaos JesterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've read a handful of NPC becomes sentient stories, but this one honestly taes the cake.
Nikola is an intriguing character in amd of herself just from the game's standpoint, with a great background story and personality. Her becoming self aware is done with finesse, allowing her to maintain her programmed personality while slowly taking baby steps in learning her newfound free will.
This paired with dynamite storytelling, great pacing, and solid action makes for a great story. Let alone an intriguing plot that leaves the reader excited to find out what Nikola is going to get up to next, but why this happened in the first place.[
Drew RoystonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Cutting to life describes itself as an NPC LitRPG. It could easily also be described as a GameLit reverse-Isekai (is that a thing?) for those who like their definitions finely gradated. However you describe it, it’s a super fun, well written story.
The basic premise is that the MC is an NPC in a game who become sentient. The MC starts of as an anti-hero, but one with a huge conscience. There is a hint that this conscience may be related to why they gain consciousness. The story so far revolves around how they interact with both PCs and NPCs and also how they slowly gain understanding of what has happened and come to terms with it.
This whole process is done really well, and despite some of the odious things that the MC does, you end up wholeheartedly rooting for them. That is not an easy trick to pull off, but this author does it.
It is still early days for this story at the time of this review, but it looks like an absolute cracker and I can’t wait to read more.
Detailed Scores
Style: Good vocab, evocative descriptions, believable dialogue. All good.
Story: Fascinating so far. You want to find out what is behind everything that’s going on. One minor point is that the story sometimes jumps a little and you can make a major leap without feeling like you have completely finished with the previous section. Also some of the descriptive sections (e.g. making soup or washing) feel like they are sometimes a little unbalanced with the other elements of the story in terms of length. Nothing major though.
Grammar: Generally great, a few minor things to sort out, but nothing that takes you out of the story.
Character: Fabulous. The MC and the PC that they interact with the most so far have clear, distinct personalities. I don’t know how you make a computer NPC seem believable, but this writer manages it.
JEPayneRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a story that just ask, what would happen if an NPC gained sapience? It asks what would happen if an NPC gained sapience but is also a serial killer grappling with a newfound vestigial sense of morality, and it is entertaining as hell!
Style - The style is fantastic, the prose is clean but beautifully descriptive in places, with an underlying tone of really off beat, understated humour that is hilarious without trying too hard. A comment I left on one of the chapters read 'the funniest mass murder scenes I've ever read' and it's a pretty good primer for any readers heading in. It leverages the fundamental clash of realities that occurs when a mass murdering NPC gains sapience and explores this new found understanding through conversations with a PC (the specific circumstances of which make it even funnier) to keep the tone constantly alternating between dark and absurdly funny, and it's resonated with me in a way that not many stories on rr have.
Story - The story so far has been great! It's an interesting premise to start with, but what takes it up to 5 stars is the way it's executed with such wit and clarity of writing. There's a world out there waiting to be explored and existential questions to be grappled with, and I can't wait to see where it goes.
Grammar - Nil issues I've seen, one of the easier stories to follow along with on rr.
Character - The real stand out of this story. The MC is constructed and conveyed wonderfully, and far from the wooden cut outs that take centre stage in a lot of fantasy stories, she is, while simple in some respects (she's just a girl, who likes meat cleavers and killing people, and loves her dad. Can't we all relate?) she's also conflicted and is forced to navigate her evolving emotions while dealing with the dangers of gaining sapience in a world you've always lived in, but never really 'seen' before.
All in all, followed and favourited, and if you like your humour a little dark and your heroes a little conflicted about m
VyStarlitRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is a incredible fun dark comedy about an murderer NPC growing sentience. It was refreshing and just my type of story. Let me get into the details.
Style: For the most part I really enjoyed the style. It's a very concise style that gave the feeling of being inside the head of a psychopath where killing is just a normal everyday task. I really enjoyed the voice. The only reason i drop it half a star is because there are chunks of the story where the detail is overly long, like her washing in the river and describing herself. Otherwise the style is very good.
Story: The story is good. There is a lot of clues about the world but nothing is completely explain. We're learning as Nikola learns but at the same time the scenes are intense and her responses to what is happening really drive the story since her responses are from the viewpoint of a murderer. It's an interesting take.
Grammar: Grammar is good. I didn't see any obvious errors that detracted from the story.
Character: Nikola is an excellent character. Just the way she thinks and does things are fascinating and horrifying. She really helps drive the story forward. It's also interesting to see her grow a conscience but not a very strong one that stops her from murdering several people.
In the end, I like a good dark story and this one is great without being overly grimdark. I'm curious to see where it goes and will continue to read on.
earthwraithRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
An already compelling premise, it's made even more interesting when the NPC straddles the line between knowing the way her world works and discovering aspects of it she hadn't known before. The interactions with the player characters are also amusing (I love the mention of the mods being busy) and the descriptions are used well, being immersive when the pace needs to slow down.
1Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Interesting premise, a murderous NPC gaining awareness. Decriptive details are good, though I also appreciated the interspersed art in the first few chapters. I'm curious about where this story will go; the system governing this rule is having a few major glitches, so really anything could happen. I'm liking this weird, dark tale.
TealiciousTeaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This is existential horror. At least the first five chapters. Murder and the terror of becoming conscious. Poor lass. To be born fully into an edgey persona and a murderhobo.
Light joking aside this is an entertaining start that meshes humour, with action and darkness.
Grammar is okay now.
a.c.rockatanskyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I've been really enjoying Cutting to Life over the last couple of days. The concept was already really intriguing to me and I appreciate the steps by which the MC is starting to break out of her mold. In particularly, I enjoyed watching her confusion with regards to speech choices v finding her own voice. I'm enjoying Nikola's journey despite her murder-y tendencies and somewhat rash choices... but then again, what's a former NPC to do?
Bummed that the author decided to cut the illustrations, but I totally understand why as it's better we can get the story faster! Hopefully someday there will be a fully illustrated version.
Josh WellsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Let me preface this by saying that this story is quite dark in some parts, yet, undoubtedly enjoyable with a unique plot and a similarly good execution.
Style: The only reason why style is not a 5/5 for me is purely a personal one. That is, multiple chapters so far have images embedded in them, and while this might even be a nice plus for others, I prefer to imagine these things myself and seeing them from the perspective of another slightly ruins the imagination side for me. Beside this the style of this story is otherwise brilliant. It is very easy on the eyes, has consistent formatting and flows smoothly. The descriptions are also very well done.
Story: I think the idea behind this story as well as its execution is superb. It definitely intrigued me from that start. The idea behind the story, an NPC awakening, is communicated to the reader very early on in the story. Some parts are definitely on the scary side though I still enjoyed every moment of it.
Grammar: A clear 5/5. No issues that I could find without going over each sentence with a 'fine tooth comb', even then I am not sure I could. All that is to say that any flaws in the grammar are minor unnoticeable so full points here.
Character: The main character, Nikola, is remorseless - but that's part of the fun, isn't it? The author gives Nikola a unique blend of cruelty while crafting a character that the readers will grow to care about. The emotional conflicts she faces serve to develop the character further into a intricate murderhobo (more murderhobo at the beginning so far).