The Alchemist's Bargain [REWRITTEN, link in blurb]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

This story has been rewritten and you can find it here https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/154836/engineer-of-ruin-isekai-progression I am keeping this one up for now, for people who might have started this version and want to finish, but take it from me, the new one is better and starts to diverge strongly around chapter 30 :) On the happiest day of his life, David died. Being brought back might be the second cruelest thing that ever happened to him. In his new life he’d love to take it slow and pick apart the rules behind magic. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t care to wait. Each month, an eclipse brings tides of monsters that leave countless dead in their wake. Among the carnage, he discovers a strange, unreliable power: the ability to absorb memories of the freshly dead. "I won! Why don't I feel like it!?" In a world where friend and foe look alike, David will have to find people worth trusting. He will do anything to keep them alive, even if saving one life means destroying a dozen. What to expect from this story: * Weak-to-strong MC * Multiple varied settings: from a poor village to a fortress-city to the wilds * Grimdark world * Multiple sides to every conflict * Extensive and in-depth magic system * Realistic characters * Morally grey MC

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: SneakyFrog

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.4/ 5.0
Followers: 1,037
Views: 219,406

Chapters(94 total)

What readers say about The Alchemist's Bargain [REWRITTEN, link in blurb]

“nice story i really like how its different from all the cliche child isekai stories ...very good iam waiting for more chapters then .. not much of a reviewer ... i like duskboud and this and the feeling it gives out .definitely more depth that other stories…”
wellasclanRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Ok, maybe you are dying and you don't want to leave with an unfinished reading. I understand that, but honestly, this would be a very fine last reading if you ask me. Maybe you are grinding 24/7 to support yourself and/or your family. I don't think that you…”
BrainstormRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

wellasclanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
nice story i really like how its different from all the cliche child isekai stories ...very good iam waiting for more chapters then .. not much of a reviewer ... i like duskboud and this and the feeling it gives out .definitely more depth that other stories where charcters are if good then only good and if evil only evil after all humans are both and both cannot justify someone
BrainstormRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Ok, maybe you are dying and you don't want to leave with an unfinished reading. I understand that, but honestly, this would be a very fine last reading if you ask me.
Maybe you are grinding 24/7 to support yourself and/or your family. I don't think that you would be here in that case, but if that is your situation, go make money and improve your life...so you can have time to read this novel.
Or maybe you are one of those readers that like power fantasy novels in which the MC always win, they go in a power trip with numbers going up without sense, and all that. Please leave, this is not your novel, this a very real and grimdark story, and I love it exactly because of that.
Grammar: very few mistakes, far apart from each other, and never gets you out of immersion (actually is very easy to miss them due to be too hooked in the story=
Style: The only point that I may criticize is, if you read this in a laptop, you wont get a full paragraph almost ever, every description is 2 or 3 phrases long, promoting a general sense of tension that links with the overal feeling of the story. And personaly I mostly read in the RR app, so it suits me.
Story:Oh boy! Ohhhh boy! a grimdark story, nice people die or go through very nasty moments, great characters, that you may get attached to, are sacrificed, executed, murdered, etc. And why I'm still reading? because the story is awesome, there are some misteries slowly unraveling, there's a worldbuilding done very nicely, explaining what it's necesary to know (both to the reader and the MC) when necessary, more showing than telling, without unnecessary info dumps. All in all, the story grabs you by the neck, throws you into a very hard world, and starts giving you a mix of hope, trepidation, mistery, action, intense bloody battles, and slow cozy, family moments...until you are so hooked that you read half a book in a seating, after a day of work.
Character: another great point of this novel, real characters, well described, with their o
EthanKantosRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
What would happen if you're met with a grisly end, only to reincarnate into a world where magic exists? Would you become a blacksmith? Nope. Neither did David. He's on the road to becoming an Alchemist and learning the mysteries of magic with the eye of an engineer, and I'm all in for it.
STYLE:
The prose is snappy, short, and easy to read. It takes you along, draws you in without burdening you with long descriptions of simple things. Once the scene is set, it's all in characterization and plot development. All that to say: this is gripping, guys!
GRAMMAR:
Nothing immersion-breaking here. The story is well edited, and you can see the author is taking their time to pump out something that is great rather than mediocre. As a reader, I can't emphasize enough how important good grammar is, especially in the first few chapters of a story. Great to see the author took good care in this regard.
STORY:
The first chapter did something few stories manage to do: make you care about a character that you won't have much interaction with in the future (trying to avoid spoilers here). After isekai shenanigans happen, it's where The Alchemist's Bargain truly begins to shine.
David is immediately thrown into a downright mind-boggling world that would have any Earth-born person stumble, and his reaction to it is the most relatable thing I've seen in a while. If magic exists, I'd jump at the opportunity to learn it. Glad our MC is of the same mind.
CHARACTER:
I'm not too far into the story, so there's still a lot of room for emotional payoffs. But so far, so good. The author made me care about David in chapter one, which is pretty damn difficult. Aura is on track to being another great character, and I'm just waiting to see the lengths David is willing to go to become stronger.
BleivRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
If you're looking for a well-cooked thriller, with chapters packed with emotion, the sort of story that keeps you glued to the screen until you’ve read all there is to it, you’ve found it!
There is a lot of mystery in the unique universe that the author created. It certainly does not feel like slop, unlike so many isekais out there that sometimes feel repetitive, where characters end up in similar universes through similar means, only changing what makes them OP.
If I had to pick a highlight among the themes the story brings, I’d choose the darker tone and its conflict with the living beings in that land. That was the strongest impression I got from reading. It’s not a light story, but it’s also not dark just for the sake of it, it uses darkness to be more intricate, giving more depth.
It reminded me a bit of Supreme Magus. But honestly, David is kinda cooler than Derik (the protagonist of Supreme Magus), and this story is more about the survival of the protagonist than about a power-up-driven pace. The power-up part feels like a necessity, not the spotlight.
It’s just a shame there are only two chapters a week. They are quite long, though!
PrimesupRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Personally I wouldn't call this grimdark, what it does have is a more "real" world where not everything goes as you want it to and people can be pretty horrible. I enjoy but it is something to keep in mind when deciding if you want to read it, the MC won't suddenly become the best around and he will suffer.
STYLE:
I would describe the prose as brief in description but deep in characterization and impressions. You won't get details about how a room, a house or a village looks, frequently not even characters.
What you might get is something like "a bleak muddy village with determined inhabitants that carry on despite the oppressive gloom of impending disaster hanging overhead", you get my point.
GRAMMAR:
Honestly nothing to complain about, there are probably some errors here and there but you'd have to be looking in order to notice it. Author is also receptive to feedback so any errors will likely be fixed quite rapidly.
STORY:
I would actually say the story so far is somewhat slice-of-life as weird as that sounds. We mostly follow David as he tries to claw back some form of control in his life in a pretty hostile world full of humans and monsters.
David has goals and ambitions but the rest of the world exists so it's not so easy to achieve what he wants, he has to work for it and seize opportunities as they come. The fact that the world is interesting and multidimensional makes this a joy to read.
I deducted half a star because sometimes it's very hard to understand how much time passes, some missing details and POVs that seem to happen in the future possibly, can't be sure.
CHARACTERS:
The stuff that makes this story great, the character feel like people and not your average boring person! The characters actually get affected by what happens and have some emotional depth.
Even for some of the side-characters you get an idea what type of person they are and you feel that actually had a life before the story decided to introduce them to you. Personally I feel that a s
SlimycoochieRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Expertly written story, the characters feel real and not annoying or overbearing in any way. The story seems like it will be a fairly slow burn, but none if feels boring or like it drags on. Interesting world and magic although not much has yet been revealed, looking forward to more!
SpagRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Great story!! If you like dark fantasy, you’ll like this story. Every chapter feels important and pacing is near perfect. No mistakes with grammar, prose engaging, quality plot, and the best part… the characters! So far, i have no criticisms, only hope that the author continues with the same quality of chapters.
TheDyingOfLightRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I find this story incredibly engaging, and I love the way the characters are written. The interactions feel organic and genuinely bring the world to life through the eyes of its people. That character-centric style is one of the story's biggest strengths.
We get to see the world from different perspectives, each distinct—with their own interests, goals, motivations, and biases. This layered viewpoint makes the world feel lived-in and real.
The story primarily follows David, who gets ethikied in a rather brutal way and is then reborn in the body of a young child. Life in a frontier town surrounded by monsters isn’t easy, but he slowly discovers the presence of magic and learns to use it, all while growing close to his new family in a surprisingly wholesome way.
As I already said, the characters are a highlight. Whether it's an old soldier, an arrogant noble, or a worried mother—Sneaky Frog nails them all. And by the time combat scenes come around, you care. You’re invested.
My personal favorite is the alchemist mother—she just has such cool vibes.
The grammar is flawless, and the writing style really works for me. It feels like the characters are right there with you as you read.
In conclusion: I highly recommend giving this story a shot. I’ve had a great time reading it so far.
WhitemanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This book is goated but makes the mc do a bunch of bullshit that ain't in character and makes him seem like someone he shouldn't be from both past experiences and overall everything example would be he made the same mistake like 4 times and even though he is a reincarnated person who's last life was stuff he is the most Nieve person that exist in the world completely ignoring redflages it pisses me.of so bad but the book is goated
lonely_in_big_cityRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The story is well written and unfolds in an interesting way. Additionally, it's nicely paced, you don't get bored, every scene adds some info/context, no filler material. Main character is complex, yet easy to understend. You can tell that there was a lot of research done for this book. Can't wait for more!