Obligate of a Self-Ordained Sorcerer

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

It was a typical late-night for Mara, secluded in her apartment in front of a digital expanse, relentlessly mashing code into a keyboard. An introverted workaholic to her core, but this was what she wanted, what she had strived so hard to achieve. So why did she feel so lost? Her life was productive, comfortable, and satisfying. Plenty had it worse, but still she felt... Ungrateful? Stunted? The right word escaped her, but with the realization came a choice. One that would set events in motion far beyond the meager scope of a 'New Game+'.

So taking an intrusive portal to god-knows-where, Mara finds a new world that offers boons and banes with equal abandon. A world that could offer all the magic and skills she could want, but laced an unforgiving difficulty throughout. She knew she was gambling when she set out, but she didn't expect to just get dropped in the middle of a fantasy forest with zero explanation.

Behind the curtain, this story is a 'scientifically fictional' perspective on what magic is and why it doesn't exist, masquerading as a critique on modern isekai, and wrapped up in an onion-pretzel of time-shenanigans. It is a mystery of an isekai, which provides ample opportunity for wordplay and foreshadowing, but can only be fully appreciated in hindsight.

"Cosmic problems meeting fantastical solutions."

Information

Status: Cancelled
Year: 2021
Author: SeraEris

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 1,087
Views: 145,174

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(7)

Irina StarveilRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This review was made at ch.8
The story so far seems quite promising, the character is alright and the hidden/implied lore is very tasty. I haven't found any grammatical errors, although that might be just me being sleep deprived. I would recommend giving it a short read and seeing if you like it, I sure do.
CodRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Summary:
Interesting concept + agreeable author. You can't go wrong with that. It's not for those with smoother brains, however.
World: 5/5
Without spoilers, I will say that the world has many interesting aspects and is a breath of exotic air compared to other series. The world has so much potential that I'm rife with inspiration every time I consider the possible stories that could take place in the OSOS universe. There is so much to see and explore in the world of Somniantes and as a Ko-Fi patron, I've gotten a glimpse into the expansive thought that has gone into the different factions and characters. The only problem is that it will probably be a long time before we explore these amazing places since the release schedule is quite limited compared to some other series on RR.
Characters: 5/5
It is easy to see how much thought has gone into the characters, and I'm excited to walk beside the characters. We have been introduced to many different characters recently and that number will only increase, but I'm afraid the author won't let them take a break and let us digest these interesting personalities who all have different stories and experiences. I believe there needs to be some filler even though the chapters are quite scarce. But it's not really fair to complain about this since there hasn't been much opportunity for the characters to rest.
Story: 4.5/5
The story suffers from the same problem as the characters, there simply isn't enough time. I wouldn't say the story is going too fast, but it becomes a problem for some readers as the story delves into many complex topics with little guidance and as the release schedule is at the moment of writing, one chapter a week, the story becomes quite dense. While this problem will probably solve itself with time, I would not be able to keep up if I wasn't able to ask questions directly to the author through the Discord server. Aside from the overwhelming complexity, the story is varied and expansive in its scope and I am
MagnusArchaeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Still rather early to comment on world building, but what there is so far is both interesting and unique. We've only had one character, but i personally quite like how she is written. It may be quite early, but for the moment i feel rather optimistic that this will become a wonderful story.
RedMistRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I love how the MC gets into discovering all she can along with the way skills work and especially how they behave. The respawn mechanic is a nice boon to the story as well, making it so the mc isn't shy to do more things and experiment.
I really like the Sci-fi aspects of it too, it gives it more depth and mystery as to what is going on this planet and other places potentially.
That being said it's on "HIATUS" *Cough* * Cough* and I don't see it coming back anytime soon sadly.
Honestly a good read but it ends on cliffhanger.
A V DalcourtRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Excellent read for readers who don't like to get bogged down with world building and excessive character development. There's certainly more to come and we may get to know Mara and the depths of her misadventure in time. This story weaves it's imagery quite well and has great potential. Give a shot to see if it's to your tastes.
Sondrex76Royal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
What I have seen so far is interesting, the main character is a game-dev with what I must qualify (as a professional developer myself) as a far above average ability to visualize systems in their entirety (if the descriptions of her visualizing large amounts of code sufficient in amount to code for hours and hours on end without needing to move on to the next thing, and having this as something of a regular occurrence).
The main character is good at analysing information, is obsessive when she starts, and is oblivious to other things while losing herself in her work. So a high int low wis character if we go by D&D classifications.
There is an interesting respawn mechanic, whose exact nature is not actually confirmed at this point in the story, though the main character is pretty sure her guess is correct (admittedly based on pretty compelling evidence, though there are other ways the situation could occur).
So the story is interesting, it has a premise that utilizes (reasonably) common mechanics in isekais but with a twist that makes it interesting, and it is moving in a direction I think will be entertaining.
The main character is competent and logical, but is no Mary Sue, gets caught up on things, isn't good at everything and has a tendency to get lost in her work.
What little we have seen of the magic system so far is mostly runes and skills, which most certainly are different than normal, at least as seen in the later chapters, which I feel will only evolve further as the story progresses.
GomRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
The beginning of the story is solid. There a even some places that I can confidently rate 11/10.
However, it soon devolves into an incomprehensible mess. And there's not even much buildup to it. The MC just cast a spell and suddenly there's 5 different stories each with unique characters, in completely different time and place with zero connection to each other.
The book description does say "tike shenanigans that are better appreciated in retrospect". And I really hope that retrospect answers some questions because now I've just been pushing through the last few chapters already completely disinterested and confused about what is happening while hoping to get some answers soon.
If my guess is correct and everything will converge back to the point where all this mess started - it's all useless and can be deleted without impacting the story at all. I hope I will be proven wrong about that.
Obligatory 200 words to publish this:
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0