Eldritch Guidance

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

In the city of Graheel, a small antique shop sits quietly mixed in with all the other shops. Its unassuming appearance is easily overlooked by many. However, this store and its owner has a terrible secret. A devil lives in that building. The owner of the store, John Li, an enigmatic figure whose origins and intentions are unknown. The desperate from around the world, often unknowingly, come to him in search of salvation. A red witch thinks the owner is an ancient creature, a white fox calls him a wizard of eld, a warrior believes him to be a spirit, and a holy woman declares him a god. This mysterious individual and his customers would set off a strange series of events that slowly change the world. From the store owner John's perspective, he has no idea what's going on. He really was just an unlucky dude that got caught up in some crazy stuff. “Volume 1: Strange Beginnings” Chapter 1-46 “What does a depressed student, investigator, a wanted witch, refugee, priest, and a man from another world have in common… nothing actually. Just that where they started was a little special, but where they are all headed is somewhere truly strange. For eventually they will cross paths with each other both directly and indirectly. In the meantime, there's a whole bunch of strange deaths and murders going on in the city of Graheel.” "Volume 2: A Gathering Of The Fateless” Chapter 47-139 "The mysterious murders in the university have been resolved, or has it? There might have been more involved in that matter that is still brewing, drawing both Alan and Cid back in as well as a certain investigator. The priest Crowley will have to make a tough choice that will test his convictions and involve him in things he never thought he be doing as a priest. All while Joe is still far from solving who murdered Rob, and is about to make a desperate move to get the information he needs. The red witch prepares to take action against the Graheel University to protect her new disciple while being forced to work with other patrons of John. All different people taking different paths in their lives, but are about to meet at a crossroads, forming new groups and alliances. "And finally John discovers his reason for him being transported to this world, or maybe not. Trying to get a simple-to-understand answer from an eldritch being is not so easy." "Volume 3: The Nightmare Show" Chapter 140-? "In the uneasy aftermath of the Mount Gol incident, the city of Graheel remains a tinderbox. While officials publicly pretend control, the criminal underworld moves, convening to confront traitors and the rise of fanatical cults that threaten their illicit empire. "Amidst this turmoil, a secretive group made up from John patrons orchestrates global schemes from the shadows, dispatching agents on a critical mission to find certain individuals. Meanwhile, the Sleuth-Hawks detective unit is temporarily sidelined, giving Detective Joe a moment to use his newfound resources to pursue his personal investigation into Rob’s death, while Alan and his friends grapple with the consequences of their actions. "As these forces collide, a new threat rolls into town: a mysterious circus that leaves horrific tragedies in its wake, serving as a front for a powerful mage’s bold grab for power and relevance within the cultist world. At the center of it all is John, a man surrounded by strange, distorting powers—and their effect finally starts to force him to question what his presence on this world is really doing. "The stage is set. The players are in motion. And the show is about to begin!" This story is a slow burn and hasmanylead characters and points of views, so don't expect too much in the first many chapters.I'm a very, and I mean very, slow writer so I'll only be updating this once a week on Saturdays. I also release mini intermission chapters in between my regulars updates sporadically. This story is also written in a weird experimentalplaywrightstyle to allow quick and easy conversation between multiple people to occur at once. This style might not might not appeal to some. Also, if it wasn't obvious, most of the artwork you see in this series is AI generated.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2023
Author: Saberfang

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.2/ 5.0
Followers: 2,332
Views: 985,744

Chapters(193 total)

What readers say about Eldritch Guidance

“At first this novel starts off as a you can have my homework but just change it a little of I'm really not a demon lords lackey. The palworld to pokemon if you will. Some of the similarities. Eldritch Guidance -- IARNADLL John Li --…”
StepwiseUrchinRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“This has got to be one of the eldritch-themed fictions I have most enjoyed on this site. STYLE This story does use the 'playwright style' for dialogue, which can be somewhat jarring when first encountered. It's basically bolded text, followed by each charac…”
FauxPraetorRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

StepwiseUrchinRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
At first this novel starts off as a you can have my homework but just change it a little of I'm really not a demon lords lackey. The palworld to pokemon if you will.
Some of the similarities.
Eldritch Guidance -- IARNADLL
John Li -- Lin Jie (aka Mr Lin and Mr Li)
the pet being an eldrich monster dog an called lunar -- pet is an eldrich monster cat but is made from a seed of the lunar godess cult.
antique shop -- book shop
scarlett wich experiments with necromancy -- mr wilde part of the corpse devouring sect , that basically does human sacrifices.
being that is sponsoring him called onyx -- being is called blackie (onyx is a solid black jewel)
those are just some
But as the novel and the author's skill ages it ages like a good wine. The skill level and the writing has improved immensely. We get less juggled around POV's and longer stints where we have POV's from characters where we dont know how they fit into the grand scheme yet. It goes from being a copy of something cool . To taking that cool thing and making the concept its own. The stories are intricate. There are actual plot twists. Its not just moving from a to b knowing where the ship will go. Its showing you a deck and the angle of the sun and reveiling you are actually in a ship scrapyard. Describing it does not do it justice. This is a must read. For anyone. Sofar it has been awesome. It is captivating, there is a scene where they go into an abandoned house and i was actually stressing that they would get caught. Very well done. Can't wait for more to come out.
FauxPraetorRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This has got to be one of the eldritch-themed fictions I have most enjoyed on this site.
STYLE
This story does use the 'playwright style' for dialogue, which can be somewhat jarring when first encountered. It's basically bolded text, followed by each character's lines, and while it's a peculiar choice, it doesn't take away from the reading experience.
The story also occasionally contains images to go with the current scene, which frankly helps set the ambience quite well. The style does a pretty good job at ensuring a level of immersion in the story.
I'd describe it as atmospheric. The worldbuilding is good and you can get a good grasp on the setting from the narration alone, plus it's well-complimented by the other story elements.
STORY
To call this slow-burn would be accurate. There are multiple plotlines and we can watch them unravel as the story progresses. Said progress feels natural, and at no point do the reveals feel like info-dumps. It's slow but satisfying.
Interconnected plotlines also develop in ways that make sense, at no point feeling forced. Events are properly foreshadowed when applicable, nothing ever feels like a twist for the sake of a twist. You can look back and think, 'oh, yes, that makes sense.'
GRAMMAR
I didn't notice any glaring issues. The occasional sentence might feel slightly off, but there's nothing glaring about it.
CHARACTER
I'd say this is one of the story's greatest strengths, even if I don't consider the characterization perfect. Not all the characters are interesting nor are their decisions always understandable, but they're incredibly consistent. It's true that this has a lot of characters, but they all feel sufficiently unique.
Each character has their own backstory and solid motivations, though much like the plot, we get to see those unravel slowly.
—————————
Overall: This story is very atmospheric. It really does feel like you're taking a glimpse at another world with eldritch undercurrents at play, and it makes for a great re
FinnTheHumanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story starts very similar to "Im really not an evil gods lackey". The part where a guy summons a demon that transports the main character to another world then he gets a store that sells stuff he doesnt even know are powerful artifacts or books to also powerful figure in their lowest moment. He also give "guidance" using vague advice that can fit most situations. The difference is, in this novel the characters purposefully use normal day analogies to their problems to communicate them to Mr Li cause they know they cant break the "normal guy" image John in playing as. Also, John is told right at the begginning there is magic in that world.
There are a ton more similarities, specially the side characters. I only read the manhwa of "im not really a evil gods lackey" but comparing these two i honestly prefer this novel cause it focuses more on the side characters and the interactions between Mr Li and the clients are not as repetative.
Overall, i really like this novel and its writing style, and how it differs from other stories.
cheetah71114Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
when I first started the story I was worried it would be another on of the "mc is secretly op but without knowing it himself, ha ha" stories, but this one is so much more, it focuses mostly on the world around the main character and how it changes with his actions.
Bodhisattva in the wrong wayRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Following the theme of Chinese stories, this story promises many misunderstandings but unlike Chinese stories the protagonist is partly aware of what is happening.
The only bad point would be the chapters about the backstory of some characters, I feel the author couldn't find the rhythm until later in the story and gave us too much information about a character we weren't interested in too early in the story.
Actually the rhythm is good and I'm liking more and more the stories of the other characters
it's like a police drama.
TrishRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
John has been met with a series of hardships and performs a demonic ritual to bring his family back from the dead. That sums up the entire prolog.
The style of this story involves a lot of repetition with minor variances. They are unnecessary and make an otherwise very dramatic scene drag painfully. I think this story has potential. I would like to see the execution mature and improve.
For Saberfang:
Try to condense the prolog into a shorter, neater package. I would also better appreciate more "showing" and less "telling". This can take many forms. Perhaps while John mutters the foreign incantations, he flashes back to conversations with Lisa and Rick when they mock him and tell him their plans to ruin him and take his inheritance from him in court. Maybe he describes the padded walls of the mental institution, or the humiliation of being turned away by the police. Maybe he relives the moment of shock when he receives a phonecall telling him that his family is dead. Or remembers the grotesque image of finding his dog's head. Add descriptions to more than just the room John is in. Show John's mental instability by making him babble to himself or lick the blood off his fingers or laugh/cry at odd moments or make his thoughts jumbled and incoherent.
Let me know when you make edits and I'll revise my review. 😉
sztrzask2Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I think I've seen too many clickbaiting articles recently because I have no clue how to create a proper title anymore.
Inspirations (I am not an evil god, Please stop summoning me, etc.) are obvious and author freely admits to them.
To any nay-sayers, like a certain other reviewer - the focus so far of this book is on the supporting cast - if I can even call them that - and the clueless powerful owner acts only like rabbit foot, like wish-granting star or maybe a monkey's paw. I think that as long as Owner will be confined to this role and will not become main character, this book might be awesome.
If the author ever decides to make the Owner the focus of the story, make him solve the problems that others are facing - then this book will become at best a wish-fulfilling dime-store novel.
klein.moretti.Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I love this story so far and I think it has a lot of potential but I think there are a couple of aspects that could be polished.
1-MC, I think the MC's personality could be polished more, which is quite flat beyond wanting to help those in need, basically the MC could be changed for an automatic wish machine and the story would not change. In Demon God Lackey the protagonist helps in his own way beyond his eldritch powers, trying to infer his clients' problems and giving advice that is appropriate for the situation he thinks they are in. This is a big difference for me, here the protagonist shows no interest in Scarlet's research beyond what the narrator tells us, also Mr. Lin has a backstory that allows him to do more, he is an archaeologist who has published several works and who has an interest in the foreign culture he finds himself in, and tries to do good without his powers (since he is not aware of it). I think that John's occupation could be polished more and add more details and more interests to make it feel alive.
2- The changes in point of view and how textual things become. In the original, we were shown the 2 points of view of a conversation between Lin Jie and his clients so that you could immerse yourself more in the misunderstandings. Here, almost everything is dealt with from the client's point of view with John's thoughts included in between, which I think distills too much of what is intended to be conveyed.
3- Lack of coherence between the characters and their lack of change (or very flat change) when interacting with the main protagonist. Scarlett as a character the first time she is introduced is very imposing, and when we see her backstory it makes sense how it is presented but everything in between seems out of character to me, her conversation with Cid seems strange to me and her way of exposing her past and that she does it so easily (even though she believes that she should do it because that is what John wants) clashes with the impressio
DracoNonDeoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
1 (0.5 stars) — Horrible or I don't like reading this genre and won't admit it.
2 (1 star) — Very Bad.
4 (2 stars) — Poor.
6 (3 stars) — Average.
8 (4 stars) — Good. Nothing wrong with it.
10 (5 stars) — Excellent.
12 (5 stars) — Perfect Masterpiece. Nigh impossible.
Overall Summary (9/12 – Very Good): The book has a solid story, decent style, good grammar, and excellent character work, though the narrator can sometimes feel flat and John’s role is basically non existent in later volumes. Somehow, the book (or at least volume one) feels better than the average of its parts, so I bumped the score from 8.375/12 to 9/12. It’s a strong read, even if not flawless.
Style (7.5/12 – Good-ish): The style took me a bit to get used to, especially the “play-right style” dialogue, but it grew on me and I ended up liking it more. That said, in parts of volume 2 it feels like the author is burning out and leaning on AI assistance, in how the the narration feel oddly flat, repetitive, or fake at times.
My other complaint with the style overlaps with my complaint with the story: a noticeable lack of elderlich guidance, especially in volume 2.
Story (8/12 – Good): Overall, the story is solid and engaging, but it’s badly mislabeled. Book one has at most three cases of John giving out elderlich guidance, but by volume 2 he’s basically absent, and the people he does guide only show up in mostly minor background roles.
Grammar (8/12 – Good): There are some grammatical errors here and there, but book has editing suggestions enabled, and the author seems to take them seriously, which is a plus.
The only other issue to do with grammar I have overlaps with style: the narration sometimes slips into being flat or repetitive.
Character (10/12 – Excellent): While I personally dislike the personalities of several characters, I can’t deny that they’re well-written. The cast is consistently three-dimensional, with unique traits that actually shape their choices. Although personaly that just makes i
HippioScipioRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
I'd say the main character is probably the best part of this particular work. His air of mystery is well-done and positively manga-esque. The man's intriguing what can I say?
While the storyline isn't mind-blowingly unbelievable in terms of its quality, it works and the author does a good job justifying the character's action as you follow John Li and his clients.
I would say that I would agree with a previous reviewer in saying that there is a lot of tell rather than show so far. For example, the prologue's heavy emotional content could have probably been shown rather than told and the story would be far more immediately appealing for it.
Finally, aesthetically speaking, I am not a fan of the "JOHN:" for speech, but this is a pretty minor complaint.