Getting Hard (Journey of a Tank)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Herald Stone made a tank in every RPG he played. To be immortal, unkillable by anyone, be they players or monsters—that was his first Goal, a simple boy's dream. However, the turbulent realities of life put an abrupt end to his gaming days.

Years passed, and Herald Stone, now a successful businessman, his gaming days almost forgotten, was presented with the opportunity to redeem himself... to fulfill his first Goal. Childish? Trivial? Most might think so. But Herald Stone always fulfilled his Goals—every single one. No matter what. Immortality beckoned in Mother Core Online, and this time Herald Stone would answer.

Choosing a long-forgotten race, hidden away in an unknown region, the journey of an immortal tank begins. This is the tale of Herald Stone…Getting Hard.

Also published on Scribblehub. My other ongoing story:REND | Royal RoadDiscord

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2022
Author: _GD_

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 2,375
Views: 234,680

What readers say about Getting Hard (Journey of a Tank)

“Despite the popularity of the Virtual Reality LitRPG genre, it never really clicked for me, the stakes were just too low. After reading this, my opinion on the genre has changed significantly; in that the lower stakes can lead to a better story, assuming th…”
1Royal Road5.0 / 5
“This story is superb. The character is multidimensional with believable and understandable motivations and logic, the story itself is well told and the plot is intriguing. I love that the author has built a unique world and game where the story can be told,…”
AlmostaVillainRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

1Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Despite the popularity of the Virtual Reality LitRPG genre, it never really clicked for me, the stakes were just too low. After reading this, my opinion on the genre has changed significantly; in that the lower stakes can lead to a better story, assuming the character development and setup to the main adventure is done well.
Getting Hard is a story about a man, who has been wildly successful throughout his life, except once : In his quest for digital excellence. On a whim, he decides to try out the most popular game in the present, and is quickly sucked in.
The main character, while not quite sane or relateable, nontheless has an effusive charm that makes me care about him, and if he can complete his self-determined goals. Dialogue is crisp, and the pacing is slow enough to expand upon detail, yet nowhere near glacial enough to frusturate. Technically, this story is written very well when looking at the grammar, and the few errors remaining are corrected quickly.
The plot is relatively simple, the established goal is to simply become strong enough to withstand anything that this new universe can throw at Herald. This goal can pretty much lead through anywhere, so there isn't any restrictions on where the story can possibly go from here. Indeed, in this reality, everything imaginable can be found, for those willing to look.
I'm extremely excited to read more, and will be following along for the forseeable future, so expect this review to be updated when I deem it relevant.
AlmostaVillainRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is superb. The character is multidimensional with believable and understandable motivations and logic, the story itself is well told and the plot is intriguing. I love that the author has built a unique world and game where the story can be told, it draws you in and I find myself anxiously waiting for the next chapters.
AudumnRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I expected this story to be like most other VRMMORPG, but was quickly blown away by the solid worldbuidling and quality of the story.
the MC is one for the books, great character (though sometimes a bit of a dick) and unlike most VR story MC's he actually starts without the sudden overpowered class or cheat skill.
Herald Stone, Man of the People, Priestpuncher extraordinaire.
Detrius VimesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I checked several times over the years with fading hope to see if this story had any new updates. As one of my top 5 stories on this site and one of the first I binged, it holds a special place in my heart. Couldn’t be more excited it’s back. Give it a shot 15/10
GryzzlleRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
+A rare gem where the author decides: "Nah, the mc shouldnt be a magician." so thats an instant 3 stars for me.
+The Pacing is on the slower side which is how i like it.
+Cant say much about the grammer but no big mistakes which confuse the heck out of you.
+Good jokes.
Conclusion: Not for everyone, but generally good.
VytmuirRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I had thought i really disliked the VR and isekaied into games genre, then I read this piece of brilliance and reconsidered. I have really enjoyed reading this series so far, and expect i will for quite some time going forward.
The world is very well done so far, the game systems are a comfortable mix of unique and familiar, and above all, our protagonist is fantastic. The comedic narcissism that defines the protagonist is one of the major driving forces for this series and has never failed to put a smile on my face. it even makes the few real world scenes we have very enjoyable, even tempting future interactions that i cant wait for.
This is a brilliantly done story with a great protagonist that you should definitely read right now.
grovekeeperRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story is beautifully written with the author concentrating on each and every aspect. The balance between real life and the game world is perfect with adequate time being alloted to both. The MC has a cheerful personality which is way too different from the sombre pessimistic MCs you usually see in LitRPG. The story is slow paced and has excellent grammar. So far there haven't been any other characters popping up whom you are sure would stick, so the charavter development is a bit lacking. Its a fun read!
pringlescanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I follow about 20 stories and this is always the one I'm most excited for (maybe tied with paranoid mage). As someone who used to play Eve Online spending hours and hours and hours theorycrafting and finding unexpected, unintended, or unused game mechanics/builds it really hits a sweet spot for me, but anyone who has played a game where they stumble onto an overpowered build can appreciate it as well.
The story is also fantastic, the characters well-written and fleshed out. It is very well edited, no grammatical errors, and plot moves along at a good rate.
The story is very much sort of a vessel of wish-fulfillment for all of us who had to grow up and change from serious gamers to casual gamers at best, a 'what if' you were in a position where you could go back to the time in your life where you had no responsibilities and could give game your full attention without sacrificing the rest of your life. If that idea doesn't appeal to you, you might not like the story.
ThinesmotherRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Cool story with a more complex mc the the usual litrpg protagonist. Story isn't rushed and the development feels natural. Isn't the biggest story in terms of a protagonist hopelessly struggling against some grand deadline and it doesn't need to be. Its's a good novel so far with the potential to develop into an even greater one. With the mc hopefully developing more unique powers unbeknownst to any others and him using them to possibly humiliate other players this will be a story worth sticking with. The groundwork is being layed for us to see how truly hard Herald is and hopefully he delivers. Apart from that nothing else more to say except maybe more detailed combat scenes in the future where we see him actually attack things without the assistance of gravity- well as much as gravity doesn't effect all of our actions anyways, I'd like to clarify I'm not asking for a space battle. Okay, now that I think of it, a zero g battle waking be pretty cool. Otherwise ots great with its strong points definitely being Herald's eccentricity and the world of hco. The mountain mystical landscape definitely adds interest to the story. Okay this is plenty of words. I'm basically waffling at this point. An inmate object as a nemises would be funny.
MooblesRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
It is an absolute joy to review this gem once more. I also wrote a review of the original all those years ago, and followed along as it was released. It is to my astounding joy that the Author has decided to continue and remaster this story, as it stands, the beginning has been altered slightly in favour of world-building, which was already leaps and bounds better than the general slop on this site, now having been elevated even higher.
The fact of the matter is such, that this story is not a vehicle for a fantasy-story using a VR-device as a plot-piece. But an actual VR-story, with the outside world playing just as important of a role, as the game.
Let us start with the very thing that carries this story: The no-nonsense tone and goal for this story. We all know it from the very title, we know it from the description of the story, we know it from the name of the main character: 'Herald Stone', the one who will become hard. We know how the story will end, Herald becomes the HARDEST tank that ever lived, what we don't know, is how he will get there, or how the world is shaped by him, or if the world shapes him in turn before that point. Which is what is interesting in this story. Thankfully the author knows how to write entertaining characters and has a genuinely funny sense of humour.
The artistful way the author makes such a simple goal the onus for this entire journey is beautiful. The main-character is a delightfully ego-centric, yet completely altruistic vortex of a persona, who will suck you in. How does the Author create such a character? Through the use of witty and funny selfish internal monologue, with an exterior of kindness that never fades. Our character never acts in a selfish way, he does good things, yet he does them out of selfish end-goals. He uses social manipulation to help his image, but never to put others down. He is very much a hero of the people, just a closeted internal villain as well.
I highly reccomend looking at the story solely for the