Rise of the Living Forge

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

STUBBED UP TO CHAPTER 453 FOR BOOK 5.

You can read Book 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 on Amazon HERE

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Ever since Arwin was summoned as a child, all he has known is war.And now, to claim the demon queen's life and end the war, he has to kill himself.

But, as he deals the final blow to his mortal enemy, the Hero of Mankind is betrayed.

Caught in a magical explosion thought to end him, Arwin awakens a month later to find that everyone has already moved on. His [Hero] class has changed to a unique blacksmith class called [The Living Forge] that is empowered by consuming magical items, but some of his old passive [Titles] remain, giving him the power to forge his new future exactly the way he wants to.

Arwin isn't going to settle for anything less than completely surpassing the powers he wielded as the Hero.

After all, you are what you eat – and Arwin’s diet just became legendary.

What to expect:

- Item focused crafting story, where a lot of the MC's power comes from his equipment

- Mix of crafting & combat as the MC has to get the materials himself. The MC does not spend the whole novel in one room crafting.

- No Harem

- Strong to Stronger MC

- Slow burn revenge with a focus on the MC rebuilding his life and discovering new purpose

Chapters every day at 11:30 AM CST

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2023
Author: Actus

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.5/ 5.0
Followers: 12,882
Views: 2,325,759

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

kattagarianRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have always heard that Actus writjng is great. That's the first novel that i'm reading that was made by him and he indeed met my expectations. This review has no spoilers.
Rising of the living forge is everything that i was searching for in a litrpg. Well designed characters, an interesting plot, good class, simple system, understandable villains and mystery.
The system:
Instead of thousand of skills, stats numbers that makes no sense and a system that is always giving you unique things, this novel goes for a different path: simplicity.
Characters:
Each of them feels unique, have a good background story that justify their actions and i just like them.
Villain(s):
Instead of the insufferable villain who just hates you out of nowhere, here we find that villains have their own agenda and couldn't care less about you as long as you don't try to steal anything from them, including their spotlight.
Class and MC:
It's easy to guess the class by the name of the novel but here i found the perfect balance that it needs to be both fun and unique. But not only that, the motivation of the MC using it is really good. It makes sense. he tries to be as safe as possible given the circunstances, he don't just know secret information. I think the way he acts and the choices that he makes, i would do the same in his position.
Worldbuilding:
While i like what we know, we don't know much. But that's fine, because the last novel that i read i knew too much and i felt like it was a big info dump on me. Here the author takes time explaining the world but some things are just not the priority of the MC for now. I imagine as the MC grows, so will the world.
The author:
That's the only part that i'm concerned about the future. Does the author sleeps at all? He is known for having multiple novels of the same level going on right now. I hope he doesn't burn out himself, take it easy buddy. I want to read more things from you for decades to come.
MalphasInanisRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I found this story yesterday and basically read through the night it was so great.
I encourage you all to give it a go.
The characters are well written, the story is interesting and moves at a good pace, and the class system is very interesting.
Overall 5 out of 5.
BeeGneissRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is going on my list of 'instant reads' for updates. The writing is well rounded, the worldbuilding leaves your asking questions, but promises to deliver in time, and the characters! I love reading these people, their interactions, learning their motivations.
I can't recommend it enough. Something drew me to this work- it wasn't just the meteoric climb to #1 on Rising Stars -and I'm SO glad it did!
Excited for more!
Danzafan37Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall, this is one of my favorites. Even the memes Actus uses to advertise it are pretty good since I've decided to check it out through an ad more than once 😅
What I really like about it:
1) The pacing isn't crazy; some LitRPGs go way too hard, too fast. I think the pacing is quite good to be able to actually be able to meet the characters and have them be actually interesting and not weird self-inserts.
2) There is romance but it's not hit you over the head and just adds the the characters instead of _is_ the characters. You know the ones.
3) The writing style is quite nice and easy flow. I took a bit off on grammar because there is usually only one or two small issues per chapter and that is pretty darn good for RR 😅
4) Frequent updates (literally daily at the very least) that are only foiled by the author (like every author on here it seems) being utterly incapable of understanding time zones
5) Not a massive world and an interesting - if a bit overly opaque - character management system
6) The chapters are pretty well balanced so there aren't like 1K word chapters and then 8K chapters, at least not very often. If I save up for a few weeks, I know about how long I need to reserve to read.
7) Dialogue is pretty normal and not stilted. The characters feel real versus just as mechanisms to move things forward.
8) Doesn't get overly bought into exposition and wanting to lore dump instead of focusing on the story.
What I don't love as much:
1) The overall premise isn't that exciting at the start.The characters carry it but you have to give it a bit of a chance (5-6 chapters)
2) The economic min/maxer in me kinda hates how bad the MC is at actually buckling down to make enough money to not be riding by the skin of his teeth sometimes
Overall, recommend highly
Eibon EthosRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I came here after reading, and falling in love with, Runebound Professor. Which, meant I had high expectations for this work considering it's author. Making me excited when I felt the familiar tug to read and ignore all as I got past the audiobook.
It took a day to read the remaining chapters, and I found myself annoyed at the end I ran into. Yet, everything has been worked out in neat rows. Plot devices aren't ignored, and characters have understandable issues and growth.
There are several plot threads that need to be tied up, but Actus has shown their capabilities in using them later. In fact, I found myself thinking something that the story followed moments later. Which was a nice change of pace for once.
One of the larger issues many authors make, myself included, is forgetting powers, items, or details. In the pursuit of the story mechanics you want to show off.
This book has grammar issues that will pop up from time to time. But, it stays consistent in its tone and feel throughout. My only concern is the accelerated pace of growth for the main cast, and diverging perspectives.
I understand the reason for them both, but without seeing how this arc will tie up. I worry it will brake the pacing.
JaqzynRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This has been one of the most entertaining reads. I continue to catch myself laughing and calling out encouragement to the characters. Looking forward to continuing on this journey.
Writing is as superb as always and I already feel invested. I am looking forward to where this is going to go.
Joy of ReadingRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Rise of the Living Forge is easily one of my favorite all around stories on Royal Road at the moment. It has touches of action, mystery, slice of life, crafting, leveling, revenge, romance, and even some philosophical scenes to make one think about themselves and the world around them a little bit deeper.
Style: I would say the style is phenomenal. It is unique and intentional. The author has a clear vision of their world and the characters in it and does not compromise on anything. They prefer a slow burn story with chapters dedicated to action and/or drama mixed in to keep things interesting while allowing previous plot points to be mulled over before they are resolved.
Story: Similar to style, the story pulls no punches. It does seem so far to have several definitive good and bad guy dynamics, but there are a few factors that may be neither. Or both! The story is thought out and keen eyed readers can occasionally predict what will happen much later on, which suggests long term story planning and/or actively listening to the audience.
Grammar: Not much to say here, the grammar in the story is better than my own! There are some odd moments where I might not have said something the same way that a character did and I was confused for a moment while I dissected the discussion as a whole. But I am not the writer and people who are not me, do not talk the way I do.
Character: If I could give 6/5 stars for a category, this would be the one for me. Each character has their own hidden backstory and motivations, yet they masterfully manage to work together towards common goals and inch their way towards their personal goals in the process. No character feels like an overdone trope with a new coat of paint. None have lore dumped or tragic backstory vomited onto anyone. Information is made public as it becomes necessary to the plot. And not a moment before. If I had to pick, my least favorite character would have to be the one I have yet to meet yet. And if that isn’t satisf
LithovoreRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm not one to offer in depth analysis or critique. I just know when I like a story and I really like this story. I find myself eagerly awaiting the next chapter, and I hope the author knows how we appreciate their work. Reviews must be 50 words long, so thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.
Carl408Royal Road
★★★ 3.0
Runeforged is pretty good, but if you read that one, its utterly pointless to read Living Forge.
this book has nearly identical characters and relational dynamics as his other work. Similar voices, emotions, humor, etc. the same is true for nightmare realm summoner.
Actus clearly designed plot pieces and then wrote three series using all the same tools. There really isn’t anything unique in any of the to set them apart.
it does seem like living forge was his first work? I say that because runeforged seems overall better…more polished and refined…but that could just be entirely author’s story bias.
in a sense its amusing to see him explore some nuances here are there, but generally the characters and plots in the three books are all of the same depth…which has the negative effect of showing how shallow there are…i feel like i did myself a disservice having skimmed through this and NRS after reading through Runeforged.
harkanomRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
The premise is quite interesting, a story of both the Hero and Demon Queen being betrayed by those they trusted, and learning to live alongside each other as they sought answer (probably, maybe).
But while the story is called Rise of the Living Forge and a Blacksmith LitRPG, you will have to wait 150+ chapters before the MC actually start learning how to blacksmith without being controlled by the LitRPG part of the blacksmithing.
Until then, you will have to live with over 60% of the story being about fighting monsters, in either the wilderness or a dungeon (stolen from other people).
This could have been acceptable if the MC was even building his class by taking crafting related skills every level ups, but sadly it isn't the case. Every single time the MC received a crafting skill to either get or upgrade, he has chosen combat skills. Crippling himself and his growth, which as a crafter class require him to actually craft items to receive EXP.
Even worse when you consider he actually require to eat magical items he has crafted every weeks if he want to survive, and the items need to be stronger/better over time.
Something made worse by his quite lack of talent in anything crafting related, despite the author attempting to present him as a genius : wether it is selling what he made (scammed every single time), even buying ingredients/ores (again scammed), or crafting anything (the System craft them for him).