Dungeon Inc. [Portal Fantasy • GameLit • Progression]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Dungeon Inc.is the biggest 'fake' reality show on Earth - college kids pretending to be actors, starring as fantasy heroes. But on the other side of the portal? The monsters don’t follow scripts, the loot is real, and there’s no respawn button. Step 1:Sign the contract.Step 2:Walk through the portal.Step 3:Try not to die on camera. For Alex Mercer, this was supposed to be the ultimate campus job: cosplay, clout, and enough cash to kill his student loans. Cast as the team’s “wizard,” he wields tech-enhanced equipment designed to fake magic for the viewers back home. But then he discovers that magic is real. Now Alex must survive a world powered by karma, Qi, and consequences.Somewhere between science and sorcery, Alex begins to wonder: Can he become the mage he’s only been pretending to be? And can he show others how to do the same? ** Writathon Winner! ** *** Important Note: This is a slow burn start. And contains a lot of Slice of Life content. The story moves forward at it's own pace. About the story: This is a traditional Portal Fantasy with GameLit elements smashed into a Cultivator-esque world and framed in a Reality TV show setting. It is a little bit scifi, and a little bit fantasy. It's like a great big giant mashup of concepts. It takes place in the near future in a dystopian world and features faux Magi-tech early on, but later the real magic takes over. Have fun reading!! What to Expect: Slow Burn [✓]Magi-Tech [✓]Slice of Life Content [✓]Deserved Progression [✓]Analytical but Flawed Protagonist with lots of Character Growth [✓]Larger Cast of Characters & Team Building (Comes Later) [✓]Kingdom Building (comes later) [✓]Faction Building (comes later) [✓]Occasional, HTML Coded, Stats Blocks [✓]3 Chapters Per Week (as often as I can manage it); Mon-Fri [✓]Each chapter runs 2.5-3.5k words on average [✓]

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: Colossal Soup

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.7/ 5.0
Followers: 2,095
Views: 354,660

What readers say about Dungeon Inc. [Portal Fantasy • GameLit • Progression]

“I think the easiest way to put it is that when I want a new read I keep looking at this books others also liked section, hoping to find another I’ll really enjoy. This book really hits alot of spots for me. The MC bugged me a bit early on but has developed…”
Ricky the World BuilderRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“The story is captivating and feels both unique and comfortably familiar, striking a balance that is surprisingly difficult to achieve. From the very beginning, it draws you in with its premise, but it’s the execution that truly makes it shine. The character…”
VuntsRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

Ricky the World BuilderRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I think the easiest way to put it is that when I want a new read I keep looking at this books others also liked section, hoping to find another I’ll really enjoy. This book really hits alot of spots for me.
The MC bugged me a bit early on but has developed and fleshed out well. The side characters are enjoyable and developing. They aren’t the most individual that I’ve seen, but they aren’t cookie cutter either. There is a little bit of MC cheerleading going on, but they’re also excited for their own achievements.
I think my favorite is the world building. It starts of feeling like normal earth before realizing it’s a post modern setting. The way it’s framed feels plausible in a development sense. The world the portal to also feels pretty interesting.
my biggest issues are based on ignoring natives. They’re on a strange and dangerous earth with different energy signatures and not only are they ignoring those signatures but everything else. The natives use guild stones to know who are adventurers, yet these people refuse to get any of the cheap/free stones. The author makes it mostly seem like arrogance. But these are scientist, exploring an realm you would think there would be some mindset for things that aren’t explainable in our own or in their normal realm.
VuntsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story is captivating and feels both unique and comfortably familiar, striking a balance that is surprisingly difficult to achieve. From the very beginning, it draws you in with its premise, but it’s the execution that truly makes it shine. The characters feel grounded and believable within their setting - realistic not in a mundane sense, but in a way that makes their actions, flaws, and growth feel earned. Most of them are genuinely likable, easy to root for, and enjoyable to spend time with… and you definitely know who isn’t, which only adds to the narrative tension.On a technical level, the writing is impressively clean, with almost no grammatical errors to distract from the immersion. The worldbuilding deserves special praise: it unfolds naturally within the story rather than being dumped on the reader, and the epigraphs add an extra layer of depth and intrigue that elevates the overall experience. They feel purposeful, not decorative, and reward attentive readers.Most important of all - the cherry on top -I simply couldn’t put it down. Time seemed to whisk by as I read, and catching up felt like it happened in the blink of an eye. That, more than anything else, speaks to the story’s strength. I’m genuinely excited for what comes next and cannot wait for more.
HikinBearRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I found this story on Rising Stars and am really enjoying it. I’m not a DnD gamer but have picked up the lore through many LitRPG books and prefer the light-on-stats stories like this one.
What we have is a slow burn story as the MC learns ‘Real Magic™’ as opposed to the ‘Science’ that the scientists believe is happening. (There is no such thing as Magic, etc...)
The story has a nice, readable style and the content is well presented. The grammar is very good and the pace is very good.
EDIT: I previously had a concern about the world building. The author added Epigraphs to each chapter that took care of that.
An enjoyable story.
Recommended!
JadeSidheRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've just found this story and I'm still several months behind the new chapters. This is now in my top 5 favorites and I read a lot. I haven't personally wanted to join a fictional world so badly since Stargate Atlantis. I can't wait to see this world unfold as the characters grow. I love the different viewpoints and multiple stories that all build off each other. If any story deserves to be put into film , this one definitely tops the list. I hope the author can keep this up for a long time.
KyuuSyronRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've not read anything like this before, and that makes it difficult to explain why someone else might go about liking it too. Or at least, it is hard to compare it to other things meaningfully. The closest I can come up with is Dungeon Crawler Carl, but with a summer camp combat training montage. At any rate, the chapters aren't terribly long, so just read it! It's fun!
Leahcim ZanathaxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm only about halfway through this story, but I only have one thing to say about it.Its good. REALLY good!Well, that's probably two things, so let me expound.This story is very well written. The characters feel real, the plot is moving along nicely, there are funny moments and dramatic moments... this is one of the best new stories on RR that I've read in a long time!Check it out. Its pretty damned sweet!
Lethal trap 2Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have a real problem with sleep lately. I started reading this ant 9 at night then glanced at the clock to discover it was 3 am. Ohh noo not another story to loose all sense of time. Oh, it seems I need more words to finish this review. What to say...ohh there we go.
Yeehaw13Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Amazing.
Many books on Royal Road are good in their story and content. However this book actually had quality writing and depth to the story. It doesn’t feel like a new writer learning how to tell their story. It feels like a writer who knows what they want to say and says it well.
The story is great and I am loving reading it. I really hope it goes until completion, I’d be a fan till the end.
Love this.
WishfulPlotterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I originally gave 4 stars, but I have changed the review to 5 as the story has only improved.
I was hooked at the prologue and the following chapters haven't let go.
This story is firing on all levels for me:
The Main Character, and world are both interesting, and I am loving how they have developed.
I am greatly enjoying the Character's interactions, the author clearly knows whats what when it comes to dialogue.
The grammar and sentence structure is also fantastic.
I have now read up to chapter 49, and I can say that the amazing parts have stayed amazing and the good parts have only improved.
Nomad1791Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Not enough here for a in depth review so I'll keep it short. World building solid and easy to understand. Characters don't feel flat and are growing so that's good. Writing is clear and I haven't come across any jaring grammatical errors so it's easy to read. Supper slow burn so far feel like we are finally getting to the action as of the latest chapter. Curious to see where it goes I was expecting something darker but no one has died or been seriously injured yet, no evil back ground group, I don't have a lot to go on for what's driving the story other than hey new world with magic. Worth checking outWith all that said giving anything less than 5 stars tanks a stories view count. Id honestly rate it 7/10 the story just doesn't make a whole lot of sense yet.