Description

Meet Seth, acolyte in the Church of Virtue. He’ll be a Priest like his father soon, he just knows it. Sure he didn’t inherit his mother’s preaching power, but he doesn’t mind being the secondary priest at whatever temple he is assigned to. Just as long as he has a library.

Meet this genetics textbook. Hmm, that doesn’t belong here. It must have come from somewhere far away, I guess something happened to its owner. I’m sure a studious young man who likes healing could go far with this information, whether he wants to or not.

This is my first time really writing anything, so I hope you like it! Please let me know if I make any mistakes; I have a new R&D tech job at a genomics company, so I probably don’t edit as much as some people. I’m shooting for two thousand-ish word chapters released on Sundays, since none of the webnovels I read ever seem to update that day. Underserved Market!

Genre is fantasy, possibly progression fantasy. Maybe a tiny bit litRPG if you wait a while and squint really hard, but that’s the most I’m prepared to claim. Hedged my bets on the content warnings, nothing that bad.

Cover art from A. W. Gelman

What readers say about The Priest of Genes

“A great start to a first foray into writing. The magic system seems pretty unique and I'm looking forward to seeing how things work and how the characters can get stronger with their Birthright gifts and Essences. I like the characters, the relationship bet…”

ConFusion112358Royal Road5.0 / 5

“Pretty clearly a first stab at writing, but mostly just with grammer and dialoge. The story's got a pretty slow start, but seems to be doing groundwork to help you get to grips with the world it's in and the characters. The rough little hometown is definite…”

bluebookwyrmRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Community Reviews(2)

ConFusion112358Royal Road

★★★★★ 5.0

A great start to a first foray into writing. The magic system seems pretty unique and I'm looking forward to seeing how things work and how the characters can get stronger with their Birthright gifts and Essences.
I like the characters, the relationship between Seth and his parents is a standout in being authentic-feeling. Seth seems like a precocious, somewhat naive young lad, hope to see him learn and grow as the story goes on.
The writing flows smoothly and there were no grammar errors that I saw.
No massive plot movements yet, but there seem to be things set in place to happen soon. Not slice of life, but Seth ain't saving the world.
The isekai'd ghost is an especially interesting touch.
I'm always a big fan of the intersection of science and magic, so I'm excited to see where this goes! Plenty of hints as to mysteries to be uncovered.
Gotta hit 200 words so: book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good book good

bluebookwyrmRoyal Road

★★★★★ 5.0

Pretty clearly a first stab at writing, but mostly just with grammer and dialoge. The story's got a pretty slow start, but seems to be doing groundwork to help you get to grips with the world it's in and the characters. The rough little hometown is definitely going to get torched or something once things really kick off.
The author is better at writing people than places for once. Everyone the main character interacts with feels like a real person, but other than what the walls are made of there isn't a lot of setting description at times.
That said, I like it a lot actually. There's a sort of genuine feeling in the feelings and relationships between the characters (the mc's parents are cute).
The magic is clearly trying to do something, but exactly what isn't clear yet. Everybody's got a bit of it, like My Hero Academia or something, but magic is also apparently classism.
There's no litRPG that I can see, and unless they add some HUD magic, I can't see it fitting in really. But it is early, I look forward to finding out.
In conclusion, pretty good. Give it a shot. If it's in your wheelhouse, you'll definitely find it interesting at least.