Voltsmith [LitRPG Apocalypse] (Book Two Stubbed)

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Book One available onKindleandAudible!

Book Two available onKindle!

Every problem has a solution. When the problem’s the apocalypse, the solution might be a big hammer.

Hal just wanted to go home, listen to the Rolling Stones, and figure out what was wrong with that damn Ford Explorer back at his boss’s garage. He didn’t ask for the world to be destroyed during his subway ride.

Thensomeonedestroyed the world during his subway ride.

Now he’s trapped in a multi-phase System Integration, Chicago’s crawling with monsters, and the subway’s turned into a hardcore tutorial. If he wants to survive, he’ll have to combine magic and technology into a new type of power. But Hal’s solved plenty of problems, and this one? It’s going to regret giving him the power to survive, advance, and thrive. It’s time to engineer his way through the apocalypse.

The universe has plans. It didn’t account for Hal.

Book One is stubbed. If I cut you off mid-chapter, please let me know. We can figure something out. Sorry.

Book One launches on Kindle in the next few days. Keep an eye out. Thank you!

Cover Art: NK Studios and Inorai for Typography

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2025
Author: Aest Belequa

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.2/ 5.0
Followers: 1,453
Views: 72,968

What readers say about Voltsmith [LitRPG Apocalypse] (Book Two Stubbed)

“I'm really enjoying this one. I've been following the author through a couple of works and this one is immediately engaging. A little tropey, but that's what we're here for. I'm excited to see how the system and story develop. I'm always skeptical of male p…”
VrplValRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“This is one of the story I've read the Beta version for, that I'm always happy to come back and read on Royal Road. With fun characterization, a world that expands at a good pace, and fight scenes that never feel like they drag, it is a book I can recommend…”
ZenkarnRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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

Community Reviews(10)

VrplValRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm really enjoying this one. I've been following the author through a couple of works and this one is immediately engaging. A little tropey, but that's what we're here for. I'm excited to see how the system and story develop. I'm always skeptical of male protags, this ones worth a try
ZenkarnRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is one of the story I've read the Beta version for, that I'm always happy to come back and read on Royal Road. With fun characterization, a world that expands at a good pace, and fight scenes that never feel like they drag, it is a book I can recommend to fans of the sysapoc genre.
To expand:
Characters: None of the characters ever feel superfluous, be they side of main. Hal, our MC, is more of a brains over brawn type, but without that slinking into the shadows/manipulation angel that often gets used. A magical engineer we can watch build tools and actually use them, instead of relying on other party members to bail them out.
Monsters: Unique, fun, memorable, and die with a satisfying splat. While it's not as a 10 level gore fest, all the fights do culminate in good deaths, and puzzles to solve. Plus, Snake Train.
Story: Simple and easy to follow. With engaging set pieces, it does a good job at pushing the reader forward to find out what happens next, which is always worth the payoff.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I do recommend that people give it a proper shot.
Inauspicious readerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Hal is so based.
I like the minecraft exp orbs from mobs, I like the stats, I think magic is cool. The way Hal solves fights with half-thinking half-smashing his way through is fun to read about.
He's a decent person, which is cool. I like the way he thinks. Story is fun to read, monsters are unique, class and crafting is cool. I hope he makes more bombs.
Overall, I'd recommend this story if you're looking for a run, action-rich litRPG. Numbers go up. Monster gst smacked. People get saved. Items get crafted with magical electricity!
gostsamoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm fan of the author and he never disappoints. This time the aliens are not subtle and literally running Earth through a meat grinder. Left are only the lucky and the crazy, forced to run through unending danger which they meet with unending violence. Somewhere there the rock music is giving a beat to the action and it is a real shame that the mc has his player totalled in the very beginning and cannot provide us with an additional playlist.
If there is something to beware, it is that Aest with all of his other positive qualities still struggles with fleshing out some of his characters and the skeleton underneath gets visible from time to time. Not a show stopper though and it never distracts from the main entertainment.
SmilingSatyrRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I have, on my kindle, a copy of the full first book of Apocalypse Engineer. And it is AWESOME. At first I was initially a little skeptical of the concept, but Aest manages to take what could be a basic litrpg apocalypse and injects humanity, humor, and rock and roll into it just right. The plot is about what you would expect for this kind of thing, but the characters and the execution set the story apart and make it stand tall next to its peers. More than that, it's a smooth, compelling read that escalates expertly and promises a cool, fun adventure and plenty of power to come.
As of writing this review, I am about 60-70% of the way through and eager to finish it. My favorite part are all the themed dungeons and seeing what Hal can do with his increasingly potent arsenal. This is going to be one that leaves an impact on RR, I'm sure of it.
LitLevelerRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
Okay, I want to preface this by saying that I think the story has potential and good be good. Why the rating then? It really isn't for me and the flaws for me are glaring.
The first problem is the class of the MC. I feel like the class broke one of the rules that he spoke of a few chapters earlier. On top of that, it feels like a class with limited growth outside of author influence. It feels like an enchanter but much less versatile and is reliant on other items and having items. It's like a cross between MacGyver, a weapon master, and an enchanter...
My next issue is that the justification for the class choice is shallow. You basically handicap yourself to do something you're already doing and give up versatility and strength to be reliant on luck and drops. It just doesn't work for me.
Finally, leaving enemies behind you is story breaking for me. It begs trouble and feels irresponsible. I feel like it's a tool used to cause strife and it is a major pet peeve. I'm not saying that people should be murder hobos, but leaving a murderer alive to hurt your friends or others later just puts me off stories. It can work sometimes but in this situation it doesn't for me.
All things considered this may be a fun ride for some. I think everyone should give it a chance. It just isn't for me. It feels like everything will be author driven and that the only reason he will survive his choices is because the author decided he would. That, mixed with the choices of those close to him, make it feel more like dumb luck than anything else.
laservaderRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Story seemed like it could be really good, Tori is a super annoying character. Kids who actually act like kids are of course going to be annoying, and edgy teenagers even more so. The character is well written, or maybe a better way to say it is she is written realistically, coping with the situation using her experience from games and generally being an idiot, hypocritical, and not very logical given she is a teenager. Exactly how you would expect someone in her situation to act. (At least in my opinion). But as a result that makes her super annoying.
MC also doesn’t want to kill, but as opposed to the Batman path of imprisonment ops for the delusional path of letting killers, murders, and generally abhorrent men go completely free after he knocks them unconscious, not even tying them up or removing weapons or anything, which is just a wild take in my opinion.
the early leveling curve is definitely different from other system stories I have read, and the voltsmith idea is also unique at least from what I have seen, so that was cool.
PendejoDeMexicoRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
Dropping it, I don’t like the MC. He found a murderer goes “I’m not a killer” let’s him live, then surprise surprise the murderer kills someone close to the Mc, he finally kills him and then he starts to question another murderer who was helping the original murderer, MC then goes “I’m not a killer, just don’t tell your boss about me and my friends” and surprise surprise the murderer goes to his boss, and now they’ve locked up the girls mom and is going to be used as bait or some be like that. Tried to keep going but stupid storylines like that are just too annoying to read through
BiSeannRoyal Road
★★★ 3.0
I'm having trouble understanding the long list of absolutely glowing uncritical five-star reviews on the front page. This really isn't very well written. The action is poorly described and often confusing. The weapons either don't make sense or are also not well described, so that they don't seem to make sense. The characters are not only unlikeable, they are written as if by someone who has a poor or immature and undeveloped understanding of what people are like and how they behave (describing the method to perform a proper handshake? Really?). In a sum, there is very little to keep one invested in reading; it is not an interesting world, it does not consist of likeable characters, and it does not contain thrilling action.
Silver_DarkRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
So when reading the synopsis I liked the story but when reading it was dissappointing. First the tutorial was allright. Solid start even if some choices were weird but could be explained as being the MC's character and then it went bad once he got the class. I expected more out of the system but he only received one skill. From the tutorial to level 45 he only has a single skill which makes for very boring fights.
Then the characters. Mc was fine not like how I would personally be but i could empatize except for his hypocritical views about murder. Then you have the girl he helped in the tutorial, the typical teenager with problems however i found her to be the most fleshed out out off all characters. Finally you have calvin an old guy who was a medic in vietnam, wow he is horrible it seems like he was written to be a sort of guide but since he didn't want to level and help he comes across like an asshole. Tells the 'kids' what to do and how but doesn't practise what he preaches.
So at chapter 48 i'll tap out since the characters and system is bad enough that i personally don't like the story enough to continue reading. I hope for other stories author can keep some of this in mind.