Incremental Torture [An Idle-System Tower Climbing LitRPG]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Ripped from her regular life in New York during a picnic with her best friends and thrown into the tower, Evelyn must face down her worst fears with nothing but a loose rock to defend herself. Battling terrifying monsters is just one part of her new normal, but the situation is not hopeless. Every time she overcomes a challenge, the tower rewards her through the mysterious game-like system. Attributes, skills and more enable her to reach a level of power far beyond anyone on Earth could dream of. And that's not all.Through the accumulation of stars, she can passively earn essence and boost her skills and attributes into ridiculous territory. The sky's the limit. Or is it?Evelyn will not only have to grapple with her changing personality and morals, but navigate complex relationships with the other challengers of the tower, as well as figure out how to reunite with her estranged parents and hunt for her missing friends. As she unlocks the deep secrets of the tower and the wider universe, what horrors will rear their ugly heads?Schedule is MWF at 14:03 GMT+1Read 10 chapters ahead on the Patreon, and come hang out with other fans of the story in Discord!Patreon:ClickHereDiscord:ClickHere

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2024
Author: MischievousMuffin

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.3/ 5.0
Followers: 729
Views: 272,735

What readers say about Incremental Torture [An Idle-System Tower Climbing LitRPG]

“This story has a flair I don't see often on this site, and it is a breath of fresh air. I actually finally made an account just to leave this review. The author made the bold decision to base the tale around a lesser talked about genre of RPG's, the Idle on…”
NyxisRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“I love a good system apocalypse/tower climber story, and this is my first that explicitly introduces idle game mechanics. As a fan of numbers going up, it is definitely scratching that itch so far, and I’m looking forward to new idle tropes being introduce…”
rrreaderzRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

NyxisRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story has a flair I don't see often on this site, and it is a breath of fresh air. I actually finally made an account just to leave this review.
The author made the bold decision to base the tale around a lesser talked about genre of RPG's, the Idle ones. As a common user of such games I am thoroughly enjoying each and every chapter the author is posting.
Most main characters in these types of stories either start out extremely overpowered or find some skill or item that makes them so. Not Eve, it is simply just her ability to think about how the system is operating and to strategically plan for the future. It's a tough balancing act between immediate survivability and future-proofing, but one she is pulling off.
And while the wording can be a little tricky to follow from time to time, it isn't enough to deter me from eating up each and every line,
If you're looking for a fresh take on the litRPG genre, then look no further Incremental Torture is a stunning work that I never expected to find. But I am so very glad that I did.
Keep up the great work Muffins.
rrreaderzRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I love a good system apocalypse/tower climber story, and this is my first that explicitly introduces idle game mechanics. As a fan of numbers going up, it is definitely scratching that itch so far, and I’m looking forward to new idle tropes being introduced (another classic one was recently heavily hinted at). Battles have also been well written with fun variety in the tower level design.
My one critique is that the character development is a bit thin at times, particularly with regards to how quickly they become numb to violence against other humans. That being said, I can’t really complain that we are back in the action rather than reading pages of introspective hand wringing.
Really looking forward to how the story progresses!
NofatherfigureRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story is just starting, yet I wish I could read to chapter 500. I don't think there's any grammar mistakes, and the characters have--well--character! one of the only stories I have rated, so i'm not yet sure how to do good ratings, but all I know is that I can't wait for more! I think this is a five star, even if I can't express how in a very good way. good work!
grimizenRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is one of the rare gems of RR that seemingly has it all: good writing, a well paced plot and compelling characters.
Style:
I can’t really say a lot except that personally, the style and writing appeal to me. It is however a well written piece of work, and I could find no discernible drop in quality despite the author taking part in the writathon for very large portion of the published work at time of writing this review. Perhaps the one thing I would say is that the world is brutal, and the writing doesn’t shy away from the realities of shoving normal people into a tower of death; it can be brutal at times, but it’s not grimdark, and I think the style fits the setting like a hand fits a glove.
Story:
Again, quite a personal rating but I’m really enjoying the story so far, based on the writing, the characters and the content of the story itself.
Character:
This is one section I’m struggling to write. I find the characters to be compelling and well fleshed out, seeming to be real people with real emotions, thoughts and doubts. I’m drawn into the world the author has constructed by their personalities and interactions, but at the same time there is just something I find hard to quantify that means I’ve dropped half a star. Maybe it’s because they’re all such big personalities that I find it hard to believe they’d all be like that, but I really can’t put my finger on it.
Grammar:
Faultless, truly. I’ve spotted one bit of phrasing I would personally change and that’s it; as I said earlier, I would challenge anyone to work out this was/is a writathon participant at any point in the novel, I’ve not found there to be even a slight drop in quality for the author’s taking part.
Overall, I would highly recommend this fiction to anyone willing to give it a go.
NenhetoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a pretty solid story so far.
It's a unique take on the 'Tower' and 'System Apocalypse' genres, in which the similarities to those idle games we know and love leads to something really interesting. The actions scenes are really satisfying and I find the character interactions to be pretty good.
It's worth a read for that alone.
Now on to the sub-categories...
Style
The story is well put together and it lends itself to be pretty serious, but ultimately we're seeing it from the POV of what we all know and love - a battle junkie. Other POVs are rarely used, but they're quite effective when they are. Cliffhangers aren't shied away from and overall I really think it's the type of novel to have you at the edge of your seat.
Story
We've actually only just recently been introduced to the main plot point of this story and honestly, it's pretty generic. It's not bad but it's nothing unique and a pretty comfortable plot to read along to. What I find more noteworthy are the minor plot points, and without spoiling anything, they serve to show progression and well, ambition. It's all very solid and unless I'm missing something, there's no plot holes or anything.
The pacing is very normal. It isn't fast by any means, nor is it slow at all. I know I've used the word a lot, but it's a comfortable pace.
Grammar
Not much to say about this one. I've noticed a couple things here and there but none of them have impacted my enjoyment or immersion of reading this story. Muffin is very competent and comfortable in their writing.
Character
The characters are believable and realistic for the most part and fleshed out nicely. To preface, every character is a certain kind of person. At the end of chapter 3 you will know what I mean, as it does shape how you think about every single character you come across. So far every character that has been introduced has been unique in some way and never not enjoyable to read about.
Evelyn herself is a fine main character. I find her to be a little
RenlolRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
this is a very different litrpg a little more game like where I enjoy more realistic litrpg. But it’s different system and interesting main character is very good. The main character is clearing becoming OP and in a new and interesting way and I love it. She’s strong but still has room to grow and I love that the essence you receive has to be decided between attributes, skills, or abilities.
PhantomBuniRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
i did not expect to like this story so much going into it. The concepts in this tower are intriguing. It’s clear there is a deeper lore that I’m just desperate to read more of. The writing quality is also far above my expectations. I haven’t noticed any significant spelling mistakes or grammar issues.
the hiatus is absolutely brutal. According to the note on chapter 81 there are more chapters on patreon but the story hasn’t been updated since August of 2024.
the story itself leaves off on one of the most agonizing cliffhangers of the series so far and right in the middle of an intense arc. Please author update this story!
yy24Royal Road
★★ 2.0
really digging the power and litrpg system but a lot of the events feel unpolished and break my suspension of disbelief
e.g. an untrained, skinny girl beating a jacked guy in a fight, and in that same fight she managed to dislocate his shoulder by throwing a rock? just doesn't make sense, how can a rock thats light enough for the mc to throw with any speed at all dislocate someones shoulder?
a couple chapters later and the following exchange happens:
“Sure.”
“Me and Zach-”
“Zach and I,” interrupted Graham with a cough.
“Darlin, if you don’t want me to give you a new cut on that beefy chest to match the one on your back I’d suggest you don’t interrupt me when I’m talkin,” Kayla said with a fierce glare that left no doubt in everyone’s mind that she meant what she said.
“Keep talking dirty, I love a dangerous woman,” he retorted.
Evelyn didn’t even see Kayla move and only realised what had happened when Graham cried out in pain and when she looked over she gasped. Anthea was staring at her empty hands in confusion and Zacharias had leapt between Kayla and Graham, perhaps just in time to prevent her from killing the man. While Evelyn honestly couldn’t fault her given the disgusting comment, they needed every single person alive to deal with the mini boss before sorting out personal grudges.
Kayla had stolen Anthea’s dagger from under her nose and buried it in Graham’s stomach and was prepared to rip it out and go again when Zach had gripped firmly onto her arm and refused to let go. Honestly the most surprising part of the whole ordeal was the fact that the skinny young man was strong enough to hold Kayla back.
“All of y’all need to relax. I know this slimy bastard can still take a full recovery for the 4th Floor reward. I’m sure he wanted to get something nicer but that’s too bad. I’m gonna pull this dagger out, you should probably spend that essence if you don’t want to bleed out,” Kayla said, rolling her eyes.
“You got me,” said Graham, straining to speak with a kni
Rando99Royal Road
★★ 2.0
If you ever played some incremental game you have noticed that something normally boring will become addictive.
The same is to said for the first chapters of this fiction. It's not terrible but far from something one would call a masterpiece or really well written, regardless you will continue to read.
It was fun until Evelyn 'ascended'. After this it got just boring. The tower climb changed to a kind of stupid tower defense and guild management and the fiction lost all of it's steam.
MurkelRoyal Road
★★ 1.5
I read up to the point where the MC becomes a cold-blooded murderer against a defenseless person who had done absolutely nothing to her or anyone (an early chapter). I was so appalled, I simply could not bring myself to read any further.
Sure, these stories always provide "reasons", but that itself is a problem The fault is not the MC but the author. What is their fascination with creating such twisted tales? OF COURSE the author will come up with a justification, that does not change anything, that's cheap and easy! People will claim that this explores moral dilemmas. I claim that It doesn't. The situation just is, there is nothing to learn whatsoever. If you read this you are not doing it for educational purposes, you are doing it to be entertained by murder, similar to watching videos on LiveLeak (until it was forced to shut down)..
On top of that, even up to that point I found it mostly boring. Too many ruminations about nothing of use or interest. I also found the first fight already more than unbelievable - and actually rooted for the rats.
Lots of redundant text. For example, the very simple status is shown and than.. "explained". Except, there is zero no new information, it's just padding the chapter length with words. The story-information density is abysmal.
Writing is fine, but what is written matter just as much, I don't want to hand out points just for being able to string together grammatically correct sentences.