The Broken Knife - COMPLETE Monster MC Cultivation

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The Broken Knifeis complete. It will be published in 2026 (with audio books!) and will stub once I know the publication date. IWILL NOTbe reading comments onTBK, however, so feel free to comment for other readers, but I won't check it, so I can focus on my current story,Lucky Rabbit.

In the meantime, come hang out with me onDiscordor theLITRPG group on Facebook!

Kaz is a kobold, just trying to survive, grow, and protect his tribe. But his efforts are about to become complicated, as dragons are nesting in a cave nearby, and humans are seeking an ancient secret in his mountain, with potentially deadly consequences. Join Kaz as he finds out what magic and cultivation are, gets up close and personal with a dragon of his own, and delves deep into the mountain to find secrets... and a freedom he never dared to hope for.

**NOTE: There are brief depictions of slavery in an escape arc from chapters 90-119. It is neither exploitative nor glorified, but you may want to skim or skip this section if you are uncomfortable with even references to this topic.**

What to expect:

• Fuzzy kobolds and scaly dragons

• Magical companions

• Mysteries around every turn

• Slow burn

• An inexperienced and humble protagonist learning about his world and his power

• Believable and interesting characters

• Occasional chapters from the PoV of secondary characters (human and non-human)

• Non-human society and characters, not just humans who look different

• A mixture of humorous and serious

What not to expect:

• Stats

• Too much focus on romance

• Lots of fighting

• Harem or sex

Information

Status
Completed
Year
2023
Author
SilverSidhe

Tags

ACTIONFANTASYADVENTUREMAGICDRAMAMALE LEADNON-HUMAN LEADHIGH FANTASYCULTIVATIONPROGRESSION

Royal Road Stats

Rating
4.7/ 5.0
Followers
1,959
Views
2,460,386

Chapters(371 total)

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

  • AlargeClamRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Loved it lots. Great characters, good pacing, and natural dialog.
    Loved it lots. Great characters, good pacing, and natural dialog.
    Loved it lots. Great characters, good pacing, and natural dialog.
    Loved it lots. Great characters, good pacing, and natural dialog.
    Loved it lots. Great characters, good pacing, and natural dialog.
  • AthalahelmRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Needed something to read and gave it a try. I'm not big on non-human MC's but this one has been captivating and engrossing. Kobolds put me off a little. I think of tiny lizards; but I suppose they could be any sub-human creature.
    It's been enjoyable so far and I might patronize the author depending on their back-log.
  • PappamoRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Once I started the 1st chapter, I was hooked all the way to the current end (Chapter 119?) Silversidhe has given Kaz great depth of character leveraging his non-human roots to create an atypical perspective. I am very grateful for the people who pour out their creative gift in writing to ignite my imagination and entertain my soul. Ms Oswald, you have done a great job on this story!
  • PixieLuiRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Wow, I really loved this! Such amazing characters, very real, flaws and strengths and all. The world building was fantastic as well, and the inventive technology I thought was so fascinating! I've already recommended it to some friends, it's really very good. Love love Kaz and Li! Raff is probably my favorite secondary character.
  • PodPGHRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Great story so far. The characters pull you in and as it progresses you get views of two main cultures, with various aspects of each. Not a traditional litrpg but has some feel for such. Looking forward to finishing the chapters already completed and wait on the new ones as they get written and released
  • Recreation_2Royal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    A great story to binge read in your free time. I quite enjoyed Kaz's (MC) journey throughout the story. The plot line and twists were marvelously written. The end was very well closed.
    There were no grammar mistakes. Characters were very well written as well as their development through out the series.
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    I was slightly annoyed, however,  with the fight scenes. I thought it could be more varied in style, for it seemed a little bland and nothing more than either an overwhelming victory or ki balls slinging matches, disregarding the 'elements' and their expected effects and, what should have been, their consequences for each fight. There are, however, exceptions to that and epic fights to read and see, that I was enjoying myself very much while reading them. The more annoying thing was, in fact,  the power system that was absent in all but name, during combat and cultivation.
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    But, should you read the story, you will find it an enjoyable ride guaranteed. Thank you author for the story
    4.5/5
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  • ShadowsoftheFallRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    I found this site a couple months ago, and honestly wasn't really impressed by most of it. So much litRPG.
    But this story convinced me to stay. I managed to binge to entire 290+ chapters over the last few weeks, and it's just really excellent. I do have a few complaints. The time frame seems really crunched. It seems like this story should have taken place over a year or so, given how attached some characters are. I also feel like it could use a downtime chapter every now and then. Sometimes it's just really nice to see characters interact without an immediate threat, and this story has very little of that.
    However, I love pretty much everything else. Especially the general tone of the story. It is very hard to have a balance between light and heavy content. A lot of stuff seems to really drift strongly to one side or the other, but SilverSidhe is nailing it with this story.
    I don't have a patreon account but I honestly might get one, because I don't know if I have the patience to wait for more.
  • TranquilClawsRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Kobold leads humans down the hole.
    But seriously, this is a world of endless caves, told through the eyes of the guide who's lived there all his life, with all the cultural nuances you would expect from that. The world-building is top-notch, and the character interactions are full of nuance and depth.
    The world itself is brutal and unforgiving, in other words, very real. But that only makes the friendships all the closer and more meaningful to have. I cherish this story and hope this review convinces you to give it a try.
    Fair warning though, it makes you want to turn pages until you realize the sun is rising and you forgot to sleep.
  • VeresTheRedRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 5.0
    Reviewing at chapter 52, which the author says is the end of arc 1/ book 1.
    This might be the first Non-Human Lead story I've read on here so far that actually deserves the tag. The MC isn't a human with pointy ears calling themselves an Elf, or a short bearded human calling themselves a Dwarf, or a human with green skin calling themselves a Goblin.
    Kaz isn't a human mind stuck in the body of a blue dog-person, he's not a human reincarnated as a Kobold (unless there's some kind of reveal later, but there's not been any hint of that so far), no transformation curse, no soul swap, no whatever other nonsense authors seem to use that tag for.
    Kaz is a Kobold, he has always been a Kobold, and he is delightfully odd for it. He struggles dealing with human weirdness just as much as the humans struggle dealing with his kobold weirdness. Their cultural contrasts make for a wonderful backdrop to Kaz's somewhat unwilling adventure as he guides a group of powerful humans through his mountain home... and possibly discovers the secret to ultimate power along the way.
    Style
    Word choice has so far been both varied and interesting while also successfully avoiding reading like the author keeps fifty different thesaurus.com tabs open at all times. From how humans are portrayed during the Kobold perspectives to how Kaz's particular body language is described, the author clearly put an abundance of thought and care into presenting this story.
    Story
    Honestly, I felt the story's first handful of chapters rushed the story a little bit overmuch. That said, it recovers quite nicely and settles into a comfortable pace once the initial introductions and setup are out of the way. The world building so far has been quite interesting between clan politics, traditional Kobold hierarchy, cave layouts, magic systems, ecology, and so on each receiving a hefty amount of attention.
    Grammar
    No errors or oddness that I can recall.
    Character
    Kaz, over the course of a single book, goes from kind of cowardl
  • melluruvaRoyal Road
    ★★★★★ 4.5
    This story features an unique non-human lead traveling through an unique setting, with the journey and it's stations along the way as the focus. Our main character is a kobold, Kaz, although not of the standard draconic kind, but the canine one, and the culture of kobolds is unique for the story and can stand on it's own and distinctly not human. The story so far also takes place entirely inside the mountain and an unique ecosystem within. The beginning is a bit rough, both in polish and as we learn the world, but not for long
    Style: There is a good dynamic between Kaz serving as the guide to the humans, with Kaz bringing knowledge about the mountains and the humans bringing their own advanced knowledge, making exposition largely unnecessary and the details of the setting are teased out slowly. Some secrets we learn with the characters, but others are slowly revealed as we learn by the hints the characters drop. The pacing of the journey feels very tight, and there is little time wasted. There is a lot of focus on the exploration and the social interactions, and little on humour and action, so you should know it's not very combat-focused, if you expect that. There is also a clear sense in direction, as we are always feeling that the story goes forward and what the goals of our characters are, and there are clear themes at the heart of the story that are developed
    Story: The story is indeed slow, but not because very little is happening. Quite, the opposite, we are indeed moving at a good speed through the story, but because there are tons of foreshadowing and build-up. There are multiple great mysteries at the heart of the story, that are slowly built up over the course of the story before they revealed. Although with all great mysteries how they stick they landing is as important as the mystery itself, and you must decide yourself how well it does. The worldbuilding is very good, and both the ecosystem of the mountain and the society of the kobolds is very unique a