A Record of Ash & Ruin: The Grieving Lands - Chapter 37Book 1: : Rules of the Road

Warning This fiction contains:

Graphic Violence Profanity Sensitive Content

Summary – Level 1:

Delve is an isekai litrpg that follows an average guy who just happened to wake up in a forest one day. He wasn’t summoned to defeat the demon lord or to save the world or anything like that, at least as far as he can tell. The only creature there to greet him was a regular old squirrel.

Soon enough, he meets other people, only to discover that he can’t speak the language, and that not everybody immediately trusts random pajama-wearing strangers they met in the middle of the wilderness. Things generally go downhill from there, at least until the blue boxes start appearing.

Delve is a story about finding your way in a new, strange, and dangerous world. It’s about avoiding death, figuring out what the heck is going on, and trying to make some friends along the way. It’s not about getting home, so much as finding a new one.

Did I mention that there will be math?

Summary – Level 2:

Okay, but what are you in for, really?

Well, this story is supposed to be realistic, or at least, as realistic as a fantasy litrpg can be. The main character doesn’t instantly become an all-powerful god and murder-hobo his way across the universe. Delve is, at its heart, a progression fantasy, but that progression is meant to feel earned. The numbers in this story actually mean something. Everything is calculated, and if you find a rounding error, I expect you to tell me about it. That said, if math isn’t your cup of tea, there is plenty more that the story has to offer. Characters are meant to feel real, and progression isn’t only about personal power; it’s also about allies, connections, and above all, knowledge. Figuring out how the system works is a significant theme.

...

What, you want more details? Okay, fine, but this is going to get a bit spoiler-y. Are you sure?

Yes!

Really sure? I mean, this summary is practically half as long as the first chap–

Now!

Okay, okay!

The main character becomes a magic user, but he takes a route that is not very popular in adventurer culture, namely that of a support. There is a full magic system with various spells, skills, and abilities, but our MC decides that aura magic is the way to go, and that the only stat worth investing in is mana regeneration. Most people at the Adventurer’s Guild think that this makes him a bit of a dumbass, but he’s playing the long game. We’ll see how that works out for him, won’t we?

Because of his build, the MC levels up fast, at least compared to normal people. There are no cheats, though, and he is limited in other ways. There are some clear and pretty obvious downsides to his build. That’s what makes it fun, no?

Morals? Our MC has them. Again, we’ll see how that works out for him. Realism, remember? Would you be okay with killing someone and looting their body? I sure hope not.

POV? The focus is on the main character, but there will be occasional varying perspectives from people around him, or involved in the events related to the main plot. It isn’t going to jump all over the place.

Tech is standard medieval stasis. No smartphones, but the MC does have a technical background. Computers and their programming might be involved. There might even be a bit of uplifting down the road, who knows? Anyway, it isn’t the focus. He isn’t going to invent the gun in chapter 1 and change the face of warfare.

Romance is not a major focus. Friendships are more the name of the game, though there will be some characters in romantic relationships.

There is exploration, though not as much of the geographical nature as you might expect. It is more about exploration of the system and the culture.

The pace is slow and detailed, sometimes verging on slice-of-life. The action is meant to be realistic and grounded in the numbers, and it is intended to have meaning beyond simply punching things until they stop moving.

The general tone of the story is grey, and some parts can get quite dark. People die. Sometimes, people with names, but not anywhere near GoT level. There is plenty of light, too, though, to balance the darkness. The world is dangerous, but overcoming that danger is why we’re all here, isn’t it?

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far through the summary, you clearly like words. I hope you enjoy the story!

A phoenix is a creature of legends, a wonder of the world, an imagery of life and destruction. This fabled creature signifies the rise of a hero in a virtual world where battles occur for the sake of honor and glory!

Zhang Yang was a professional gamer in the first and most fantastic game that revolutionized the world: God’s Miracle. A game where traditional knowledge in RPGs did not matter anymore, players would have to manually target and evade attacks, giving rise to a significant gap in skill between a professional and an amateur gamer.

Zhang Yang’s downfall came a little too soon. His girlfriend was snatched, his guild was harassed and disbanded, and he was even driven to commit suicide! Jumping off the top floor of a hotel, Zhang Yang seemed as though he was soaring like a phoenix. Little did he know that the end of his life also signified his rise from the ashes.

- Description from novelupdates

In the swamp, mosquitoes danced, and a five-meter long bay crocodile was firmly bound at the snout, its vertical pupils gleaming with ferocity. At that moment, a young man cover in mud was straddling it, and he was very modest in the face of audience’s praise.“I’m Bi Fang, a professional explorer. I have trekked atop the roof of the world and traversed through the Valley of Death, and I’ve even challenged the mysterious Amazon. Even the National Geographic has named me the world’s premier survival expert, the king of the wild at the top of the food chain, but trust me, that’s all an overstatement…”Under the crimson clouds, Bi Fang silently tightened the rope in his hand and, seeing that the bay crocodile beneath him had finally stopped struggling, he pulled out the Hunting Knife and killed it with a single strike to the underside of its jaw.“Today is the second day of survival. I thought I would have to endure another hungry night, but now it seems, dinner has taken care of itself.”

When Li Yu woke up, he found that he had traveled to the game world of “Avenue Eternal”.

At this time, there is still half a year before the player arrives.

The evil demon catastrophe has not yet begun, and the forbidden areas of death such as the rotten swamp, the golden desert, the ghost country of the Yinshan Mountains, and the boundless monster sea are still silent. The whole world is calm.

Li Yu took advantage of his foresight and took advantage of the opportunity to develop wretchedly.

After the game is launched, along the Qingshui River, players often see a senior NPC with a glittering ID fishing.

Whenever the players approached excitedly to chat to see if they could apprentice or trigger tasks—

“What? You want to worship me as your teacher?”

Li Yu shook his head: “Excuse me, your qualifications are too poor. But Pindao once lost a Chilong jade pendant in the zombie cave. If you find this thing, I can teach you a spell.”

“Do you want to learn alchemy?” Li Yu smiled slightly: “There is a group of evil cultivators in the Wugui Cave of Qilao Mountain, as long as you can eliminate the evil for the people, and bring their magical instrument Xinjin and copper bottle to me, How about Pindao passing on your alchemy skills?”

“You want to worship Zixia Sect?”

“Do you want to learn alchemy?”

“It’s all right.”

Li Yu said meaningfully:

“But you have to understand one truth, there is no free lunch in this world!”

…

It was not until hundreds of years later that many top figures fell and disappeared, and the players also changed one after another, but Li Yu was still active in the world of dry ground, and he was even about to rise through calamity.

Many players have to sigh: This NPC is too strong!

- Description from novelbuddy