Exemplary

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Mari has always loved being a hero. Hunting humanity’s foes and dicing them into saleable parts brought her no end of joy, and she had no end of monsters to hunt. Whether they coalesced in the dark corners of mankind’s last city or amassed in the wilderness, Mari would heroically seek them out and end their deadly invasion of Earth, earning her a name as one of the most renowned heroes even as a child. When humanity discovered how to give their heroes a second unique ability, those who could copied hers, a supernatural talent to master any technique and be the best version of themself. Mari's once very exclusive edge became commonplace. Desperate to regain her prestige, Mari sought the best training at humanity’s finest institution of learning, Aspiration, the university with dungeons in its catacombs and portals with impossible challenges. Monsters stalk the halls, demons infest the dorms, and the least dangerous professors eat inattentive students. Only constant vigilance and her school assigned team will preserve Mari during her tenure. After arming herself with newly forged gear and friendships, Mari will need to prevent the school's destruction and a horde of monsters from sweeping through mankind’s rear line, all while coming face to face with what her version of heroism really meant all these years. WARNING: This story is about a problematic queer woman. If you have any particular aversion to any letter of LGBT+, then this story isn’t for you.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: Wupwup

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.8/ 5.0
Followers: 270
Views: 42,433

What readers say about Exemplary

“We have been following wupwup’s work for a long time in the fanfic community, and we are really happy to see her first original work off to such a good start. As of right now, only chapter one has been released, but from what we have seen, this story is sha…”
rachaelismadRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“I've known Wupwup for a long time and it is incredible to see how far she's come with her writing in the nearly two years since she began. Exemplary offers a gripping tale of what Mari, our protagonist, views as heroism. She is a very confident yet deeply f…”
GameTortoiseRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(9)

rachaelismadRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
We have been following wupwup’s work for a long time in the fanfic community, and we are really happy to see her first original work off to such a good start.
As of right now, only chapter one has been released, but from what we have seen, this story is shaping up to be something great.
GameTortoiseRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I've known Wupwup for a long time and it is incredible to see how far she's come with her writing in the nearly two years since she began.
Exemplary offers a gripping tale of what Mari, our protagonist, views as heroism. She is a very confident yet deeply flawed individual that finds her beliefs constantly challenged by her closest peers while being reinforced by the world at large. You get to watch her struggle with emotions she can't/won't process. The kind of protagonist where you groan at how dense they can be and cheer when some semblance of self-reflection breaks through. Mari is not scared to punch a bigot while still explaining to her monstrous allies how she would kill them.
The world is unique and mysterious. A blend of magic and sci-fi in a far flung future that allows for a wide spread of powers, weapons and abilities. Cool fight scenes and interesting takes on familiar monsters can be found throughout. Wupwup really lets her characters shine in these scenes making sure that each character demonstrates they are supposed to in an academy of heroes. No one feels like they don't belong in Aspiration.
The characters are a standout. Each one feels fleshed out and Mari's team get time to have their own stories and perspectives told. A task that Wupwup handles well even as more characters get introduced. Minor characters aren't left out either, each one has been memorable even if not all survive the dangers of the school.
Wupwup continues continues to deliver excellent writing. Minor grammatical mistakes are few and far between and even then you always understand the scene. The dialogue feels real and human with everyone, except intentionally Mari, displaying emotional intelligence that you would expect of adults in college.
Exemplary has been a great read and each chapter leaves me craving for more after it ends. I am excited to see where the story takes me and watch the mysteries of the world unfold as Mari continues to grow as a character and truly exemplify
Gwyn, Lord of TinderRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Remnant academy in Brockton Bay
I love this.
It's rare that a WN plays with an unreliable narrator, rarer that it's done so well you don't realize its even happening for a little while. It's more rare even than that the resulting protagonist isn't intolerable.
The knife's edge Mari walks between utter delusion and unshakable confidence is her most endearing quality, and where the title of this review comes from; the absolute contempt she experiences for those who step to her rules. Its also the only way she has to deal with a society that manages to still be transphobic when there are actual demons to hate, but hey, that might require the least suspension of disbeleif of any part of the world.
Speaking of the world, this author clearly did a lot of worldbuilding before ever putting pen to paper. It is intricate, expansive, and drip fed. Sometimes slightly to a fault; there are places where a little more explanation would go down smooth. I was pretty lost as to how Mari knew all about teams, dorms, and how it all worked with, near as I could tell, none of it being explained.
The flipside of that however, is that the world feels like a mystery, and discovering it is a delight. In addition to excellent worldbuilding, the fight choreography is tight, which put me in mind of RWBY as much as the mix of ultra-basic and creative powers. I really beleived Mari is a preternaturally skilled combatant.
Overall, I'm really excited to keep reading. So many characters, so many powers, are so close to what I write myself, but looked at through such a drastically different lens it feels like a funhouse mirror.
Oh, only reason I knocked a point off of character is that I've spent a good amount of time with Mari and I have *no clue* what she looks like: either her actual physicality or where she gets the weapons she uses during the aforementioned excellent fight scenes.
RonDuneRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Been a big fan of WupWup for a while from her fanfics and I love to see an original story from her. The best part of WupWup stories is that there is very little downtime and that fully visible here. Cinematic action scenes, character perfectly defined within a few sentences, and a big central mystery.
I'm sure the story is going to keep surprising us too, with WupWup's traditional massive twists that recontextualizes everything that came before.
Very excited for more.
SylphicazureRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This has been such an absolute delight. Mari is a really engaging protagonist, and just the best sort of unreliable narrator. There's a very generous number of problematic queer women which really makes everything better. And the pacing is excellent.
The first chapter or so felt slightly awkward for me. But the story gets moving very quickly, and once I started to really understand Mari more it really clicked.
I'm so excited for Mari to just have a complete and utter meltdown. Keep pushing those emotions down girl! It'll never go wrong! Will it be in the arms of a pretty girl? Will she finally snap under the pressure and do something unforgivable? I really can't wait to find out.
While not the focus, the romantic elements have been really enjoyable so far. Really rooting for Mari to kiss the elf.
The SecretaryRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A girl with the most heroic heart in the world fights monsters.
I fuckin love Mari, she's the single most charming protag in like. Any story I've read ever. I've been quoting her calling her murderous urges "her heroic heart" ever since i saw it. I also very much appreciate the depiction of her sociopathy, where she still feels emotions! she cares about things! she just has different priorities. I love her...
ErikbongoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm on chapter 24 so far and I feel the burning need to compliment the writing. I love this type of story, and I constantly feel a strong draw to read more. I love the overall direction and story, and I think the interpersonal relationships are really well written. I prefer some over others, but everyone in this story feels well thought out and It seems really clear to me that the author has a clear vision for the story, and are really skilled at writing it.
clue1234567Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Let it be known that I consider the author(s) a good friend of mine as I write this review.
Exemplary may only have a single chapter at the moment, but it is clear to see just how far the wups have come in a (relatively) short amount of time. Strong action scenes and an interesting world. Things were a bit confusing, especially with all the proper nouns thrown at you, but given how this is only chapter 1, I will give it some grace to explain some things.
The genres of superhero, high-tech sci-fi, and fantasy are an interesting mix that feels... unique. I have trust that wupwup can make wonders with this world, just worried about how complicated it will be.
ajprimeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The story has a lot of good combat scenes, but the heart of it is the main character, Examplar. Who despite being human, has a warped enough mind that it sometimes feels like I'm reading xenofiction. Seeing people react to her, and her having to confront exactly what her damage is, is a delight. She is also just the right level of unreliable narrator about her own mentality to be interesting, without making it to hard to track her actual issues. She legitimately, does not seem to see why anyone should take being on opposite sides of a mutual war of extinction personally. She also is somewhat introspective, and has an accurate self image, except for a few key blind-spots where she is utterly in the dark. She is not quite as inhuman as she thinks she is, in ways that both make her not as monstrous as she presents herself as, and in ways that make her not as heroic as she thinks she is.
aside from the Examplar and her damage, the wider world is delightfully bloody. The seting asks "what would a very post portal apocalypse world look like?" and takes things to their logical conclusion. Monsters can and do just randomly appear anywhere, like a room no ones been in for a while, under your bed, or just in the subway. A lot of settings will talk about how mankinds on the brink, this one makes you feel like this is a society built to survive on a total war footing, where no one is safe and everyone is part of the war effort.
The magic system is interesting, while i would not call it a "hard" magic setting, it's consistent enough. Any given monster or weirdness will have rules for how it works, even if there may not be a universal set of rules. One of the most interesting things it does is letting Examplar use their magic to slightly tweak reality. She can do comic book super strength stuff that shouldn't work like lifting several tons without cracking the ground, because she can exert herself to fudge the physic to get away with it. This plays a major part in how she, and s