Description

A second life to atone for the first.

Cards to summon weapons and creatures. To cast spells and empower oneself.

A set of Trials that the mythological gods would be watching. Those who still live.

Frank didn't know what waited for him as he drifted away to his final sleep. He expected relief from the regrets that came back to gnaw on him when he had nowhere to escape them. He hoped for it.

What he didn't expect were the magic cards, the levels, and the Celestial Trials he was now part of; A series of challenges created and officiated by the all-mighty Automaton, a mysterious being believed to be under the control of the mythological figures that filled Earth's imagination since the dawn of time.

Earth was only the prelude to a larger world. A Great Realm administrated by the mysterious Automaton. And if Frank was alive, were the loved ones taken from him so long ago here as well? Were they safe?

Frank will find out. And to do so, he'll need allies. He'll need knowledge about this world and how to navigate it, and he'll need all the cards he could get his hands on.

What to expect

This is a deckbuilding LitRPG, so expect card choices to matter.

There will be a heavier focus on action whenever a Trial is ongoing, and a mix of intrigue, worldbuilding, action and relaxed slice-of-life whenever there's downtime.

This story has a form of stats, but they're not prominent and will show up rarely.

And last warning, which I'm including because this type of magic is pretty divisive: This story contains mind magics. It can't fully take away agency, and the subject gains a resistance within seconds of the effect. And it can't be used to force "magic contracts" on anyone.

Inspired by stories and games such as Omniscient Reader, Slay the spire, Hades, and abunchof others.

Also, English isn't my first language, so let me know if something sounds awkward.

I hope you enjoy it. I'm definitely having fun writing it.

ON HIATUS. Might do a re-write eventually.

Publishing on RoyalRoad and Scribblehub.

Cover byDimitry M

Also if you like Monster Reincarnation, checkout my other story:Undersea Reincarnation

What readers say about The Celestial Trials - A Deckbuilder LitRPG

“Enjoying it so far, really excited to see how the story progresses. The story takes itself seriously enough to keep me immersed without forgetting it's fundamental identity. The balance between plot points gives the reader time to breath without being overw…”

KithulhuRoyal Road5.0 / 5

“After being desapointed by a few deck-building story on RR, this novel is a real breath of fresh air. No OP main character, no harem and MC is not the only smart person in the world. Add to that a rich world-building and really well-writen fights and you ob…”

Sarloc GoodenoughRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Community Reviews(3)

KithulhuRoyal Road

★★★★★ 5.0

Enjoying it so far, really excited to see how the story progresses. The story takes itself seriously enough to keep me immersed without forgetting it's fundamental identity. The balance between plot points gives the reader time to breath without being overwhelmed by the moments of intensity, something hard to strike when the dark backstory elements are interspersed throughout the stories body.

Sarloc GoodenoughRoyal Road

★★★★★ 5.0

After being desapointed by a few deck-building story on RR, this novel is a real breath of fresh air. No OP main character, no harem and MC is not the only smart person in the world. Add to that a rich world-building and really well-writen fights and you obtain this jewel in the making. Go for it!
Style : The first story of a new author so there isn't a definitive and original style, yet. But the foundation is here : great vocabulary and good skills in pacing. The fights are near perfect for me : you can imagine where each characters are, what they are doing and the tention is alway here! Plus no bulsh*t moves or non-sens reactions.
Grammar : A few mistakes, but it's really minor.
Story : It's where it shine the most! Great world-building with a lot of mysteries. Different political plots in the background and no mustache twirling vilain ! (at worst it's at the level of the gods in greeck mythology, so temperamental assholes) And the MC have a very good purpose, which isn't simply becoming the strongest whatever.
Character : They are well-done human whith character flaws and insecurities. Which is better than most fantasy story. But there is more! The transition of the MC from an old body to a young one is very carefully done, there are a lot of details in the writing to make it more smooth. The characters didn't have much time for introspection yet, so not much development so far. But I'm really not worried ;)
All in all a great piece of work I'm expecting to see in the Rising Star soon!

Mridula RRoyal Road

★★★★★ 4.5

As I mostly read to relax, feel happy and lose myself in the story, am enjoying this story a lot as it fits the criteria which I usually get attracted to:
Good MC who is not unbearably morally grey (I dont mind "flawed" MC's but i just don't want to think too hard and justify all their actions and feel sad - I just want to feel happy about people trying their best to do the right thing). Also it's nice to see that this MC acts his age.
3d characters with good dialogues
Strong female characters who are not just props and body parts
A story that is going somewhere - not just a "get stronger at all cost and defy the heavens" sort of thing
Fast paced with decent twists and not much of overly detailed fights, stats and lengthy internal monologues about agonizing and analysing all the numbers
Interesting world building that leads the imagination on but doesn't leave me with too many questions and confusions.
So there - if something like the above is something you'll like then you can give this story a try.