Path of Salt

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

After running off with his best friend to fight as Mercenaries, Tobias found out that he wasn't built for battle. Swiftly defeated but not dead, he could only lay down on the grass, and watch as Marcus fought off their enemies almost singlehandedly.

Both of them survived that battlefield, and they both decided to return back to their Village.

Tobias' ideals and expectations were shattered by the reality of War, so he decided to settle down instead.

On the other hand, something awakened within Marcus. He woke up one day, only to be greeted by a floating panel of light.

[Name: ... Marcus][Race: ... Human][Class: ... ... ...]

[Hero]

[Welcome to the System]

What is a village-born Hero to do, but answer his calling?

Current schedule: No chapters for the next few months. I'm still writing the entirety of Volume 2.

WARNINGS:-Yes, this contains LitRPG elements after a slow start, promise.-This work is incredibly Slice-of-Life heavy-Also conversation heavy-Also plot heavy (But not inthatway,unfortunately)-The pacing in terms of plot is slow

-(Edit after a review)-

This story is also known as: I honestly don'tunderstandwhat's the difference between "light" and "dark" stories. I realized that far too late, so this story is... weird. It might be light at times, and dark at times, and in all honesty, definitely has dark undertones. Oh, and prepare to be disappointed or pleased by this story; I understand that this story is polarizing, at least.

Cover made by:Fei (@Chippy03966650) / Twitter

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2021
Author: father mask enjoyer

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 3.8/ 5.0
Followers: 128
Views: 59,565

Reviews

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Community Reviews(4)

BullerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
T̴h̷e̴r̸e̷ ̶i̷s̴n̶t̸ ̴n̷o̸t̷ ̷m̷u̸c̵h̸ ̷I̷ ̵o̷u̷t̸r̵i̷g̵h̵t̴ ̴n̶e̴e̷d̴e̶d̵ ̷t̶o̸ ̷s̶a̶y̶ ̵a̶b̵o̶u̵t̶ ̵t̶h̵i̵s̶ ̷s̴t̷o̶r̵y̸.̸ ̵T̶h̶e̶ ̶s̷t̶y̵l̸e̵ ̸i̷t̵s̸e̴l̸f̴ ̵i̷s̴ ̷p̴r̶e̸t̵t̵y̶ ̴s̶t̶a̶n̸d̵a̴r̵d̷,̴ ̶t̵h̶e̴ ̴w̵a̸y̵ ̸i̶t̶s̷ ̶w̴r̸i̴t̸t̶e̴n̴ ̸r̶e̶m̸i̵n̷d̴i̵n̵g̸ ̷m̵e̸ ̴o̷f̴ ̶m̵a̵n̴y̵ ̶o̴t̸h̸e̸r̴s̷ ̵s̷t̷o̵r̷i̸e̷s̴ ̵i̴n̵ ̷t̷h̶i̷s̶ ̶g̴e̵n̷r̶e̷.̴ ̴I̴ ̸h̸a̷v̶e̷ ̷n̶o̴t̵h̸i̷n̷g̷ ̵a̴g̴a̴i̴n̶s̷t̸ ̷i̶t̸,̸ ̸t̷r̶u̶l̷y̵,̶ ̵a̸n̶d̵ ̵I̷ ̷d̴o̵ ̷r̴e̴c̴o̶m̶m̵e̶n̶d̴ ̷o̶t̸h̸e̴r̴s̴ ̷r̵e̴a̵d̶ ̴i̷t̶.̶ ̶T̷h̸e̸ ̸p̶l̷o̸t̴ ̸s̸e̷e̵m̷s̸ ̴g̵o̶o̸d̵ ̶e̸n̶o̷u̵g̴h̴ ̸f̶o̵r̴ ̸n̷o̸w̷ ̸a̷n̸d̵ ̴w̴i̷l̴l̸ ̷l̶i̸k̵e̵l̶y̸ ̴b̷e̸c̴o̶m̴e̷ ̶b̶e̶t̸t̸e̷r̶ ̴w̵h̴e̴n̸ ̴m̴o̴r̶e̸ ̵t̴h̷a̶n̷ ̷t̶h̸e̵ ̷p̸r̸o̵l̸o̶g̶u̴e̸ ̴i̶s̸ ̵r̵e̵a̵d̶.̷
There's also cursed text in this one which made it kinda funny in a weird way. Also, this is kinda a test to see if the reviews can handle the cursed text. If it doesnt, the review can be found here again:
There isnt not much I outright needed to say about this story. The style itself is pretty standard, the way its written reminding me of many others stories in this genre. I have nothing against it, truly, and I do recommend others read it. The plot seems good enough for now and will likely become better when more than the prologue is read.
WasgregRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Path of Salt has many twists and turns. To say that there are plot twists would be an understatement. In fact I have been wanting to write a review for some time now it was always going to be positive but I was unsure what to write without giving away spoilers. And as there are so many plot twists I worry at this stage I would be making false assumptions about how the story will be progressing.
I was drawn to this story originally based upon the author's own description. The idea of a slice of life story between two friends one with a system of one without, intrigued me very much. I don't see the slow pace the author speaks of, curiously I find it a very fast-paced story. There was a lot of groundwork and much information learned about the protagonist without being a info dump, which I found appealing. But there is a variety a plots going on, yes there is the arc of friendly dungeon delving. There is also a pervasive metaplot involving sacrifice and redemption. There is also a mystery involving the system itself and a personification of death. Don't be misled by the author's description of his yarn. Though there is truth in it, it is much like saying Lord of the Rings about a birthday party. Also do not read this story expecting character sheets, skill points, and level ups.
There is a somewhat skilled yet naive protagonist marked by events and powers out of his control. In someway, he reminds me of Goblinslayer, but less comically focused. There is a world with adventurers and dungeons and monsters and magic. Even as far as I have read, there is continual world-building and much to learn. There are good people selfish people and bad people yet all of them have reasons.
I like it enough that I favorited it and anxiously await each installment. I would invite any that have made it this far to give it a try. I think you will be intrigued as well.
luda305Royal Road
★★★★ 4.0
You might think from the synopsis that the protagonist of the story is Marcus, a [Hero] with a System, who heads off with his System-less best friend for adventure.
You'd be wrong on several points.
To start, are you familiar with that story about the wife who sells her hair to buy her husband a watch chain and the husband sells his watch to buy his wife an ornamental comb? That's kind of what happens here. In Part IV of the prologue, capital-D Death comes for Marcus. Tobias interferes and is instead carted off (metaphorically) in an act of self-sacrifice. Marcus then self-sacrifices himself to Death so that Tobias can pop back into existence.
Hold on, I'm not done yet.
Tobias then steals a relic sword from Marcus' father and ends up in a magical dungeon which is also Death's domain (that seems like a remarkable coincidence). Death is unimpressed but tells Tobias that if he impresses Death, then he can have Marcus back. Tobias dives into this wholeheartedly and gets Marcus' father to agree to train him based on this "deal" he has with death. Through chapter 7 is the training montage with Marcus' father. And then, in chapter 8, Tobias leaves the village to head out into the world to get even stronger on his quest to impress Death.
Now, frankly, the above is all very preliminary points to the story, all arguably before the "threshold" is crossed in the hero's journey (though I'm doubtful that conception works well for this story). The above should have been in the synopsis and so now, dear prospective reader, now you know and can consider it.
So, that's that.
Now, where's the story going. Well, I did skip ahead and read the last main chapter and the epilogue.
In short, it looks like a pretty standard adventurer story, gaining a party and whatnot. Though, apparently, he's also attracted the attention of a serial killer psychopath with a System and he's started preying on Tobias' team. And apparently Marcus is still dead.
Frankly, between Tobias and Marcus self-sacr
aaronboxaaronRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
The book is well written and has well written characters and grammer, but the premise of the book is straight up wrong. The book at least as it is currently is not light hearted as the character struggles with themselves constantly and a lot of the backstories are quite dark. The book is a great read until that last set of chapters where the author seems to derail most of his plot and character development and replace it what they felt was fun at the time.
Style: To me style is a combination of how a author writes their book combined with how it matches what they say they are writing: Path of Salt certainly has a style to it. It's writing is consistent in what the author is trying to portray but does not stand out particularly. Unfortunately this changes in the last chapters of the book were the author seems to change styles in an attempt to match the plot.
Story: Well written with a decent hook. Has a consitant story until the last arc of the book where everything changes for the worse. Long term characters and throw away for what seems like cookie cutter stereotypes. (More in characters)
Grammer: very readable to me, however I clearly don't have good Grammer so I can not give it 5/5 defined score.
Characters: The prologue gives us some brief time with characters like Marcus and sets up some of the family. The training segment helps flesh out the rest of the family and mentor to give us solid background characters. The party arc is were character goes from 3.5 to 4(Would have been 5 if not for the last batch of chapters throwing away character development) we get a solid party of non stereotypical characters the archer who gets fleshed out to be a character with competitiveness and a happy background. The Keeper choice could have used more development, but it was acceptable. Bastille was a great character as he is developed as a intelligent member of the group that isn't also nerdy and is shown to have interests while also being based on his parties education. Char