Path of the Godscourge [Cultivation Progression Epic]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Yesterday, Vayra had nothing. Now, she’s sharing a soul with an Immortal.

As a street urchin, she had nothing but dreams—until she was chosen to fight in a war of Gods. She’s the Mediator, a mortal avatar whose spirit can host a God, allowing her to practice a forgotten form of cultivation. But the Goddess bound to her soul is the weakest of the pantheon, not to mention clumsy and forgetful.

The Mediator’s duty is to defeat the tyrannical God of the Sea and restore balance to the universe. But Vayra’s priorities aren’t the same. She must venture across the high seas—and to different worlds—to save her little brother from a deadly poison.

She’ll have to train, earn, andfightfor every inch of progress she makes. If she can’t master her power in time, she will lose her brother forever. And that’s if she isn't killed by the servants of an angry God first.

What to Expect

- Cultivation in a flintlock fantasy world

- Weak to strong progression

- Immense potential for growth

- An adventure. Characters have goals and destinations that often lead them far from home in the search for power

- A bit of grit. Characters aren’t invincible and injuries are inevitable

- Worldbuilding and slice-of-life. Characters won’t always be gaining new abilities and power each chapter.

- 1800-2500 word chapters.

A cultivation flintlock fantasy set during the age of sail, where life-energy is absorbed from magic waters, where black powder dominates warfare, and where pirates rule the oceans.In an era of gunpowder, cannons, and conflict on a scale never before seen, do immortals and magic still have a place? With the world against her, can Vayra turn the tides in her favour? Can she…even survive?

Story Milestones (And Rewards):

- 500 followers or 2 reviews: "Art" gallery—I'll make an extra chapter dedicated to posting any extra images in, hopefully for most of the characters.

- 750 followers or 4 reviews: I'll post "Extras" chapters, for lore tidbits and character sheets

- 1000 followers or 6 reviews: I'll make a map for the series

- 1500 followers: I'll commission extra character art to go in the interior of the book when it goes to KU (a while off, still)—but it will be shown for everyone to see, of course.

This is a re-edit and rewrite of a previous story.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2024
Author: kwerte

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 3.8/ 5.0
Followers: 824
Views: 43,500

Chapters(12 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(6)

RednyteRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I saw this book advertised to me several times before adding it to my list of things to read later. After that, it languished for several days while I started and caught up in other stories. That was a mistake. If you're currently making the same one, this is your signal to stop reading this review and start the book.
Excellent pacing, clean copy, and an engaging and unique universe filled with equally engaging characters await you, after all.
Slow burn isn't a joke when it comes to this story, but the slices of life incorporated further character and world development in such a way that you never feel held back. In fact, the pacing is a huge benefit -- genre staples that can tend to feel tropey and somewhat boring are smoothly and naturally incorporated into a pleasantly flowing tale.
Magic in this universe is physical and tangible,
with the Stream flowing between planets providing both magical powers to followers of various Paths (all of which give fascinating glimpses of a well-thought out and deep creation myth and system of magic), as well as FTL travel on wooden ships. With sails.
Drawing comparisons between works of fiction can sometimes be awkward, but nothing here feels derivative. The expansive universe is somewhat reminiscent of the Dune universe in later books, while the system of travel and overall sense of adventure are -- stick with me here -- as if One Piece and Honkai: Star Rail had a weird, glorious little baby that combined the best of both.
Beautiful and chaotic destinations, assembling friends on the ship, direct lines to various places -- you will not regret joining the crew.
The progression and inner struggle of the protagonist are somewhat to both animated Avatar journeys, yet another comparison I only find complimentary. She is strong-willed, determined, and likeable. It's easy to root for the home team. The growth of other characters is also handled well, and I'm personally invested in more than one.
There's a secondary antagonist who, if t
Moon C.H. LachsRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
This story is very reminiscent of xianxia stories.
We have 'Old grandpa' in an artifact, we have down in the dumps MC.
It skips a few tired tropes, thankfully. No Marriage, no breaking up. No, a female MC with a decent relationship with a brother who isn't jealous or vindicative so far.
But there are very evident xianxia style tropes playing into this, along with a Chosen One theme going on. So, if you like that style of story, then so far this is looking to be a good one.
It needs to be stressed though, while I consider this Xianxia style, it's not quite the same.
We have Mana of sorts instead of Qi, though you still cultivate by cycling it through your body.
Also, this is a space themed story, a flintlock fantasy where one flintlock pistols and rifles are used instead of swords and maces, at least by the mortals.
I look forward to seeing the blend of Magic and Guns, if there even is any, goes.
All in all, it's a decent enough story at the beginning and I'll need to read on to see if it keeps up. It's definitely worth giving it a read though.
BerjRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Currently on Chapter 15: Arcara Moulded.
In terms of style, the only minor grip I have with the story is that the author uses "She" to describe the MC 95% of the time. There's no other interesting ways they address the mc in the text. Not one of the many nice references to her: Not "discarded", or "mediator", or "halfkin", or "phoenix" or a even her name. It's only She she she.
About the MC. She is hard to like. Bratty, annoying, snappy, dumb, keeps repeating the obvious, all the time.
I reckon the author wanted the MC to be headstrong and set on her ways, hard to adapt to new things, but she just comes off as bratty, spoiled and annoying.
The Logic of the story also lost credibility to me early on.
Potential god learns (how?) about our MC basically minutes after she learns herself she's the MC.
Potential god, then decide he doesn't want to deal with the only person capable of defeating him, because "he doesn't want to punch down" (or so it seems to be the case to me)
Potential god minion disregards time and space, somehow, learns about a minor scuff about a irrelevant gang boss in a far away planet, immediately connects that with the MC, ignores time and space again to arrive in the MC planet just two days after the MC left, have one small talk with an irrelevant thug, and immediately is able to deduce all the MC's plan.
Story doesn't explain the leaps in logic, just saying "that's the only thing she could be planning."
I mean, sure. But at that point it just doesn't feel logical anymore.
MC doesn't make it easier to enjoy the story.
ButterblockRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Can you remember the stories where one member of the hero's party is loud, cringe, egoistic, bratty, self centered, a know-it-all, snaps at everyone, always blames others, doesn't think of anyone, ignores warnings, throws tantrums, doesn't learn from mistakes, dislikable and overall just obnoxious?????
A person whom a thousand chapters of character development can't help growing him/her a brain?
Everytime they meet an enemy, you can't stop anticipation the cruel demise of said character??
You just cheer on the antagonist to finally succeed in claiming that cursed head???
Meet Vayra, protagonist of the story!
Worldbuilding is quite nice, pacing is good, rooting for the antagonist Myrrir as male lead.
Soph.VRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
The beginning is very good, with an interesting setting and mc with a time limit, but the further the plot goes, the less the story picks up, mostly because mc just goes along without any consequences for her mistakes, and the world just remains a nice screen for her adventure.
GaroukenRoyal Road
★★ 1.5
The issue I had here is that within the first 10 chapters the main character is revealed to be a mary sue that needs to save the entire galaxy. She did not earn, train, or otherwise deserve these potential powers she is gaining. This alone is fine since a lot of stories here have overpowered protagonists without much character development; but there are other issues.
The magic system appears to be non-existent, as the main character can suddenly use powers by simply being told to concentrate a bit and requires no effort. There is not even the good old "numbers go up, main character goes brrrrrrrrrrr" to keep reader more engaged as there is no numbers at all, or any other magic system.
Last problem is that the story is set up where everyone is already aware that she gained these powers, including the main bad guy she is prophesied to defeat. His reaction to this is:
"She is the only thing in the universe that can stop me and my infinite armies. You there! You are my weakest minion, I am gonna send you to defeat this person with godlike power, and not send anyone strong to deal with them until they are strong enough to defeat my next weakest minion."
At this point we already know the entire story: 1) Evil super villain will keep sending henchmen one at a time after main char for a while. 2) Main character will power up from killing henchmen enough to kill main evil guy. 3) Kill all the gods or something? 4) The end.
TLDR:
1) No interesting magic/power system
2) Small 'world building' info dump at start, and no further development.
3) Story set up to have no plot.
4) Main character is a 'chosen one' robot.