Dungeon of Knowledge [Complete]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Aliandra Amariel loved magic, dedicating her academic years to the study of runes and spells, pushing the boundaries of mana's infinite possibilities. Like most Fae, her destiny seemed clear until that fateful day of her Class Trial, when the Blind Lich unleashed an undead apocalypse on her home, the fabled underground city of Dal’mohra, and triggered The Breaking – a cataclysm that forever reshaped the world.

Saved by her mother’s legendary time-stasis spell, Ali wakes thousands of years into a dark future. Everything she knew and loved is gone, buried under a mountain, transformed into a twisted dungeon by the malevolent will of the Lich.

Now, Ali must confront her deepest fears, mastering the arts of battling monsters and braving a town riddled with corruption. As the Lich's grand design shadows her every move, she scrambles to forge new friendships and unearth ancient knowledge in her fight for survival.

Why must she struggle? All she had ever wanted was to curl up in a comfy chair with a few thousand good books. But the immortal Lich is drawn to her unique magic, ever hungry for more power to fuel his cold-hearted ambitions.

How will she survive the giant target painted on her back as her advancement slowly reveals the horrifying truth of the Class she chose to save herself? Will she falter, forced into the eternal servitude of undeath, or will she rise against all odds and cast him down, ridding the world of his evil?

Release Schedule:Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday.

Patreonhas +50 additional chapters.

What to expect:

- LitRPG elements cover classes, skills, monsters, enchantments, and items. Stat blocks appearing at the end of chapters are generally considered informational and can be skipped if desired.- Multiple POVs as we follow Ali and her friends on their adventures.- Heavy focus on Group and Raid dungeon combat inspired by games like WoW, PoE, and Diablo.- Some profanity, lots of gore, a touch of humor- No romance.- This is not a traditional dungeon core story with a fixed consciousness plotting levels in a hole.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2024
Author: timewalk

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 6,737
Views: 6,721,541

Chapters(631 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

AztecTempleRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have been following this story for 2 years, and I've been gripped to it like little else. It's one of the first stories I've read on this site, and the impetus for me making an account, just so I can track its updates. There were times I would force myself to let chapters build up, just so I could enjoy a stream of such a gripping tale in chunks.
I was hesitant at first; I had never read a story with multiple, equal protagonists who each had their own points of view, and I've never played MMOs that had raids. It was also one of the first LitRPG stories I'd ever read, and I didn't fully understand what the genre entailed. And at the time, Dungeon Core and Dungeon Crawler weren't even tags on Royal Road.
Yet, despite my hesitation, I was hooked almost instantly. The characters and their growth - both in levels and abilities, and in their own personal development - was engaging and interesting. In between waiting for chapters, I would check timewalk's profile, just to see if he was writing another story concurrently that I could devour with equal enthusiasm, but he devoted his entire attention to Dungeon of Knowledge, and it shows.
This truly is one of my favorite stories I've ever read, and I'm not just referring to Royal Road. It is a thrilling tale with fascinating characters and a compelling plot. That isn't to say it's faultless; there are some questions unanswered, some stories left to tell, some fights I would have liked to see in more depth, and (very, very rarely - props to the editor and proofreaders) a typo or two that slipped past. Yet I only notice those because of how engaged in the story I am; how I hang on every word and detail.
Perhaps with this story, my biggest regret is that I cannot read this for the first time again, and though it is a cliché to say, I truly mean it. Yet, even with over 600 chapters and over 2 million words, reading it again isn't off the table for me. I sincerely believe that this might be one of the best written works on Royal
MalbolgiaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Just finished reading the chapter "CODA", which is the end of the story. I love this book, it is suspenseful and very exciting. I really like the characters, the setting, the plot builds wonderfully, and the characters develop well throughout the story in a way that really kept me hooked. Five stars with out question. Some of the best on royal road, I really hope the author keeps writhing. I would even enjoy the continuing story of Aliandra and her friends.
McBlasterRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Great story here. MC has a lot of the 'feel good' that I get when reading Cinnamon Bun.
Four main characters with a decently large cast of secondary characters that brings the story out.
Dealing with what most of the rest of the population believes to be an evil class, Ali must grow in power to protect herself and friends. While the real evil of the world is planning to bring it into ruination.
Well thought out classes, abilities and builds.
Great battles, strategies and close calls.
Definitely one for the reading list
PhourcRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I don't usually review stories unless I feel like their misleadingly advertised, but this one really vibed with me.
There's an intense focus on teamwork, strategy and raid tactics (like... WoW raids) in this one and it is friggin cool.
The one caveat I'd give is sometimes the author doesn't consider something important and thus the characters also don't. It can be incredibly jarring when the characters say, narrowly avoided being killed or sold into slavery by the fantasy mob that's been depicted as more or less completely controlling their town. And then... they just go shopping. Without even trying to disguise themselves? And no one minds, not the super streetwise character, nor apparently the fantasy mob?
But if you can ignore the few places where it gets jarring, it's a really fun story. Maybe they'll get cleaned up in editing at some point, I don't know.
TheBlestKittenRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
For those of you who like fantasy worlds and exploration that is just a little different than the normal LitRPG, characters worth investing in their growth and change, and an overall easy to read and descriptive style, Dungeon of Knowledge is well worth your time!
This is such a beautifully crafted, edited, and polished story you have begun, and I cannot wait to watch the rest of this journey unfold.
The numerous edit passes you did have really paid off; your work has become so much more descriptive and clean. The magic and colors and fantasy is exciting, but I love how right off the bat you have put magic in the mundane. Things we would experience here and now but just a little bit more special. You’ve done a really lovely job with that, and it really has helped to make this expanding fantasy world of yours to shine.
Adding to that, you have immediately given us multiple characters to begin to invest in, both positively and negatively! Their struggles and perspectives are realistic enough to relate to and fantastical enough to be excited how they will navigate their journeys in a way we couldn’t in the real here and now.
I truly cannot wait to see where you go from here, and will keep my notifications on.
Well done on a smashing start!
* Updating now that we have gotten to chapter 75
I am very pleased that I do not feel any need to change my initial review. The story has continued to be very well written, both in terms of grammar and structure as well as a compelling story. I will speak for myself (although comments lead me to be inclined I’m not the only one!) when I say I am very emotionally invested in these characters and how they will go about solving this next challenge that has recently been presented.
wonderful job on continuing to deliver a wonderful story.
Logan HailRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story is well written, I like how the author juggles between each characters pov without making it seem messy. Most authors try and end up creating a mess which you'll have to take time to understand whats going on.
The grammar is on point and the style of writing is just so good, the story is one of the best I've read in a while.
I hope the author doesn't mess up cause for the past two years it's like I've been cursed or something all novels I read starts nice then digresses to utter trash so this was a rare find. 🤞
Devi LunaRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
Did you ever wondered what happened when the story said "And they fought relentlessly for a fortnight, only to emerge victorious"?
Now you can! Dungeon of Knowledge gives you the full, detailed experience. For the low, low price of feeling like you were speedrunning World of Warcraft!
Don't get me wrong of course - it does exactly as advertised - the focus is on fights and mechanics. If you played MMORPG's and enjoyed completing difficult dungeons and raids, dove deep into how to beat each and every encounter, you will enjoy reading Dungeon of Knowledge.
But for me, there are some... trade-offs that feel like a step too far.
The world feels to me like it's a snowglobe, already forgotten and dusted on the shelf. The miniature inside is crafted with detail and love for sure, but it's still just a fragment, an imitation of the real thing. I wish the characters - and I as a reader - would experience much more then just few random crumbs of the world. Especially, that the author doesn't lack the imagination nor penmanship to create breathtaking descriptions.
Let me jump now to the story. It is as straight-forwards as the story can go. Revenge and... that's really it. Yes, the whole 631 chapters are story of revenge against one villain. No escalations, no puppet-masters hidden behind the curtain, not even gods having their games. Which on it's own, is refreshing. But the big baddie is interesting, right? Right? Sadly, it felt to me that the main antagonist is more one-dimensional then a line, so predictable you could sketch his entire arc on a napkin and still have room for doodles.
Same could be said for many of the casted characters. They come from diverse backgrounds, and I - as a reader - feel like they are growing as they overcome the challenges. Unfortunately, as the story goes past the mid-point, they fall into their archetypal roles and have trouble experiencing anything outside of them. Maybe with one exception, that gets a little more attention from the author,
Zero HeroRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
This is a good story that gets better as it goes on. It reminds me a lot of my WoW gaming days and you can see the author took also inspiration from there. Having said that, this story is way more than just some dungeon group fights with multiple POVs. It has a fantastic world building and the MCs make sensible decision. The first part of the story is more fight heavy while after chapter 100 or so it is a bit more balanced and gives room for the characters to grow. I really like this story!
Xemon.SeekerRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
The series starts out with an interesting take on dungeon cores and a litRPG system that has good progression that isn't just numbers going up. As the series progresses these elements are reduced until by the end of the series there is no meaningful progression bar numbers going up and the dungeon aspects of the series being mostly ignored.
Characters
The four main characters start off with goals and their own personal arcs related to their progression and their chosen paths and roles however after chapter 300 these solo arcs and character plots just stop. It begins to feel like they regress in some aspects to become tropes with very little changing from chapter 300 to the end of the story.
The side characters start off interesting but then rarely have any real follow up arcs. By the end the side characters rarely ever get any meaningful moments and are relegated to offscreen events.
Story
The story starts off with there being various dungeons the main cast explore with minor impacts on the local area of the story. The issue becomes when the plot begins to expand to the wider worlds with the other places in the setting ending up as little more than dungeons to go to or a dot on a map. The main example of this is the story is mostly set in a town on the border of two human kingdoms. These kingdoms are never relevant to the plot in any way even after they really should of been.
The overarching plot with the blind lich ends up feeling lacking. The early appearances of the lich's actions are done through his agents but as the story progresses and the lich becomes personally active it feels like the author forgot about these agents as they are never mentioned again. The lich himself seems to lack any real motivations beyond personal power and often feels like he shows up and does what the plot needs to progress and nothing more. This also involved removing every point on the world map like flicking over pieces on a chessboard.
By the end of the story the lich seem to hav
KarmicInfiltratorRoyal Road
★ 0.5
For the most part this story is competently written and engaging. The world is interesting enough and I would have loved to see the events play out if not for one simple fact that makes this book entirely unreadable.
My detailed explanation is hidden in the spoiler tag below, but I can only recommend reading it before you start this book - I certainly would have wanted to. I've avoided using names etc. in order not to completely ruin the reading experience.
Triggerwarning: Mindcontrol, Abuse of Authority
1) The protagonist gets mindr*ped and almost killed in the process
2) The one commiting the act is a trusted person in a position of authority
3) This course of action was the very first thing the perpetrator tried - there was no attempt at prior communication. The perpetrator only ends the act after she herself can no longer withstand the torture she is putting the protagonist through. This is given as the justification for not taking it further.
4) Upon coming to the conclusion that the protagonist should be left alive, her memories are wiped and the perpetrator attempts to hide the attack. There is no attempt at redemption made.
5) The whole incident is played off as a necessary process. The mindr*pist is oh so sorry, has trauma blah, blah, blah. Really, the protagonist should feel sorry for the whole thing.
6) In the end, the perpetrator faces no consequences. What's a bit of mindr*pe between friends? Good thing the protagonist likes the perpetrator (a fact that was previously linked to the very same mind control). Truly, they are a trustworthy and noble person.
The combination of this blatant abuse of authority, astonishingly and unrepentingly vile act and the complete lack of consequences has sent my blood boiling. I must assume my anger comes through in this review and I might edit it once I have calmed down a bit.
As I said before, apart from this one plotpoint, the book is entirely well written. If you can stomach this part of it, I would honestly recommend