Lost in the Future

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Tags:GameLit / LitRPG, Adventure, Drama, Action, Character-Driven, Slow-Paced, Power Progression, Overpowered Main Character (eventually), Magic, Slice of Life-ish (at times), some Romance

Release schedule:1 chapter every Saturday, at least 5k words long

Arthur didn't like being crown prince very much. It meant he couldn't become what he had always wanted to be, a knight. It also required him to sit in long lessons where people talked about useless magic and boring math.

His life changed the day he awakened.

His father needed him; hiscountryneeded him. They were at war, and he would be the key to bring them victory. He only needed to learn how to do that.

Being trained as a squire, he learned, wasnotwhat he thought it would be. It took focus, drive, and facing his shortcomings. It also required dealing with embarrassing conversations.

By the end, he learned well. He grew. He became a better person.

Yet, his training wasn't over yet. That had been only the start. One didn't win a war at level 1, much less with mere peak natural stats. Having no skills also didn't inspire much confidence.

So, Arthur was thrown into a dungeon with three other people. His goal: not leave until he reached level 100. Fortunately, time ran over a hundred times faster inside. To those outside, he would come out in no time and bring a glorious end to the war.

Nine years later, he accomplished the goal set for him—even became a mage, of all things!—and learned he had been lied to.

There was no war waiting for him outside. No kingdom either. No parents, familiar faces, or even the society he knew. Time actually ran over a hundred timesslowerin the dungeon.

Arthur found himself lost in a very strange future.

The world's mana levels were low, and mana-effective magitech replaced awakeners and magic. Dungeons were few and far between. The Fated Races were splintered just like before the Great War from fifteen hundred years ago. And prophecy foretold of a shadow to come.

Now, he had to navigate an unknown world in search of his place and purpose in life—all the while surviving conspiracies from old enemies and allies alike.

Warnings:

- A lot more show than tell (usually), which affects the pacing

- So, slow-paced

- Character-driven

- 3D characters who make mistakes, too

- The main character takes 9 chapters to enter the dungeon, then another 17 to leave it (chapter 26)

- The main character will be overpowered when he leaves. Not invulnerable or unkillable but close enough, at least for a while

- I'll try to balance character growth, mystery unveiling, learning about a new world (sense of adventure), overall plot, and action—but I might fail

Special thanks to my Discord mod, The Ritualist, for the cover art!

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2022
Author: Autonomous Pen

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 488
Views: 175,835

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(7)

Pattern111Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Short review here, also my first! I've read probably over 150 stories on RR, lots of genres, especially blue box litrpg. This one has been special. The writing quality is high, and the pacing is slow but composed and full of emotional and intellectual payoffs. Having a ton of fun reading this, can't recommend it more.
Gory WolfRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I accidentally clicked spoiler and have no idea how to get rid of it.
The following is so I can post my review, cause advanced review you need to have 200 words.
Which is quite long when you think about it. I've only seen about 7 reviews that most likely hit 200 or more.
This is quite long, any way you should really read this story. It is really entertaining and fun to read, the chapters are nice and long, the characters feel quite real, how everything is described makes it simple yet complicated, but easy to get across. Their isn't any really long info dumps so it makes it really easy to read and get into the zone of reading it.
Didn't expect 200 words to be so long and time consuming to write, it seemed so short writing essays in school, probably different time perspective.
This story is amazing!
Aside from slight misshaps when it comes to he and she in chapter 9, this story is extremely well written, has character growth and leaves you wanting more every step of the way.
By the way I clicked the spoiler button by accident, it isn't actually a spoiler of the story.
No idea why it says I reviewed it at chapter 5, I only review once I get to the final chapter of writing this, which is chapter 9.
PunpopeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Arthur's journey from an unwilling heir to a formidable mage is fraught with challenges and revelations. As he navigates treacherous dungeons and confronts the mysteries of a changed world, Arthur must forge his path amidst political intrigue and ancient prophecies. With its richly imagined setting and compelling protagonist, this tale promises an epic adventure of self-discovery and redemption.
SlaapmutsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Till chapter 26 probably one giant prologue;
1. Chapter 1-9 pre dungeon was a very enjoyable read, 5/5!
2. Chapter 9-15 very boring info dumps, growing MC enjoyable, 3/5.
3. Chapter 15-26 will still be in dungeon, no more info dumps please!
True story will probably start at chapter 26+ as mentioned in the description. Hope it will be as good as first part :)
flopezr2018Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
its a good entertainig read, to bad the author has forgotten about it. it promises a lot of enterteinment if its continued. and also did ya know reviews need at LEAST 50 words or they wont be published? weird. but ok hey author continue this tale its really good, dont abandon it!
NIK220VRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
This is an early review (I know, sounds weird - 23 chapters in, early?), so it may become irrelevant in the future.
First of all, the premise behind this work has amazing potential. We are quite literally still in the prologue, though. So far, no idea how long the story will take to flesh out everything to it's fullest.
Style & Story:
Closely intertwined, they are both the strong and the weak part. Since we witness the story from the point of our main character, who is a prince, it has a somewhat.. limited perspective. That's actually the good part - it makes everything more belieavable. The story makes sense, for his worldview.
Now, if an outsider looks at it closely, it may seem kinda weird.. dungeons, with thousands of monsters each room on each floor? It either means that monsters are incredibly weak when at the same levels as a human (which would be weird), or that humans don't actually clear those dungeons (which is false). They would never have the time to clear them otherwise. But, oh well.
The rest.. I must admit, it's incredibly fun to read about "minmaxing" a real character. This is basically what the prologue is about - trying to powerlevel a prince with his kingdom's whole vault worth of treasure. "How far can we go?" Unfortunately, the level to which it's planned.. it feels overdesigned. Everything is part of "the plan", so far. Some parts are extremely obvious to the reader (MC doesn't notice), some parts are obvious even to MC. My hopes are high for the future, when this will no longer be the case.
Grammar: everything is a-o-key, we can just leave that one be.
Characters:
It's.. a struggle. An intended one, but still painful to watch. Everyone is miserable and we are here for the ride. Good guys suffer, bad guys suffer, our MC suffers. Because he is literally a kid (teenager) with so much responsibilty on his shoulders that it cripples him. Realistic, believeable, but reading through stuff like that is just unpleasant to me. Especially when from the
BroccoliBeefRoyal Road
★★ 1.5
Great idea, good execution, grammar and fun to read. I was looking forward to the rest of the story until it got wired. Putting a 6 year old through puberty? You’re literally dying and all you can say to your father is you got the best sex of your life? It just got weird, not in a good way.