The Mundane
Community Rating
Description
No Parents, No Friends, and No Plans for the Future
Seth Shrike has lived a lonely and uninteresting life.
The only thing keeping him alive is the promise of freedom gained from graduating high school.
Unfortunately, fate has a different plan for him.
Right on the cusp of leaving his woes behind, Seth is thrown into an unforgiving human experiment and is exposed to the cruelness of the infinite universe.
Now, the power to shape reality itself is within Seth's grasp... But with power, comes madness.
The only caveat to this new power is that Seth must be sponsored by an Umbra, a being of unimaginable might. Unfortunately, Seth finds that his Umbra has no interest in him outside of entertainment, so Seth is left at a severe disadvantage to his peers.
Even with this handicap, Seth will survive long enough to face horrors and bloodshed on a cosmic scale, discover untold secrets of the universe, and find treasures and power that would turn any man into a monster.
Join Seth on his (incredibly) uphill battle and watch as his presence alone eventually shakes the very foundation of existence.
Content Warning: Body Horror, Profanity, Traumatic Content, Gore, Sexual Content, Generally Uncomfortable Content
Information
- Status
- Hiatus
- Year
- 2023
- Author
- -Sterben
Tags
Royal Road Stats
- Rating
- 4.2/ 5.0
- Followers
- 112
- Views
- 71,394
Chapters(65 total)
Reviews
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Community Reviews(3)
- Aalron404Royal Road★★★★★ 5.0a rather abrupt start with an interesting world/power concept...
really looking forward to the future of this
some may think that the author is just some luncatic losing his mind in violence right here but i just think that the kind of erratic behavior of the mc gives him some more personality and depth
the kind which most progression novel usually lack - ParogarRoyal Road★★★★★ 5.0I really liked this! Seth is living what you might call an ordinary, mundane life high school existence until he is basically ripped out of his entire life while forcing to buy sodas for his jerk of an uncle. I don't want to state exactly how because that'd be a spoiler, but suffice to say, something beyond his explanation takes him away from the world he knew and forces him to become part of something he could never have prepared for.
It's almost funny in a way, because at the beginning, he's complaining about the hell that is his normal, every day life, and then this poor kid finds himself as "Subject 50." Right away, I was drawn into the mystery and wanting to know more about it.
I've only read the first 5 chapters, but it's a very solid start. In fairness, though, I'm a huge anime fan and I really like these kinds of stories about young protags starting from nothing and building themselves up.
The only criticism I have is that I felt that the bullying scene in the beginning of chapter one didn't feel necessary for the story, as it did not really involve the main character and I'm not sure how it fits in. But that might be something that plays into things later on.
5/5 would recommend! - just add wolframiteRoyal Road★★★★★ 4.5Joe Portalfantasy, a highly online, high-school-aged "man of culture", is yoinked into a portal by a wacky creature. He wakes up in a room filled with other people, gets yelled at and is dropped into another portal. He receives bonus points for getting through not one, but two portals before the story actually begins.
With only the clothes on his back and a lunchbox full of useful items (pizza Lunchables notwithstanding), he must brave whatever crazy shit the author decides to throw at him next. Now stranded in the middle of a science fiction nightmare hellscape, he must figure out how to not get dunked on by the "wildlife" and maybe figure out the secret to magic power.
I have summarized the first five chapters in two paragraphs and it is actually pretty okay. I tentatively recommend that the author write the main character to be smart enough to avoid approaching a big, flying skull that screams "BEAR TRAP".
Status update: the story hasn't technically gotten far from an in-universe time scale (it's been like 2 weeks since Joe Portalfantasy left the Wonderful World of BEAR TRAP. However, we do know a lot more about the wider uni-multiverse that Joe now inhabits. Exposition and characterization is great, but the good parts are starting up, and it's shaping up to be BEAR TRAP 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO - in which the main character actually learned from his previous mistakes and now immediately starts fighting things.