
by E.M. Dash
Book 1 (200K words) is fully available on Royal Road! Book 2 is being posted now! Weak-to-strong progression story within a slow burn slice-of-life setting. Follow Jack on his journey from scarred scribe to OP blood mage assassin out for vengeance. Jack once believed the quill was mightier than the sword. He was wrong. After twenty years of failure and obsession, the crippled Apprentice Scribe confronted the noble who murdered his family. His revenge ended with a poisoned dagger buried in his gut and the mocking smile of the noble he hated. But when death came, it didn’t take him to the Underworld, it sent him back. Sixteen again, reborn in the body he lost to fire and regret, Jack is given a second chance by the Gods he believed had forsaken him long ago. Now he just wants to protect his family and live a good life, but the Gods have other plans. Armed with forbidden magic, a scribe’s precision, and knowledge of the future, he’ll carve a new path through history, one written in ink, blood, and vengeance. This is a deliberately slow paced, slice of life, weak to strong, progression story building to an OP MC (eventually) coping with PTSD. NOT recommended for impatient readers. What to Expect in Arc 1, Rise of the Blood Mage Assassin:• LitRPG-lite: skills, classes, affinities, and a single stat that decides everything—Class Compatibility• Aetherpunk/steampunk world blending early industrial London with medieval Europe• Advanced magitech alongside sword-wielding adventurers• Greek-style Gods• Character-driven storytelling: PTSD, grief, healing, and found family• Slice-of-life warmth alongside grimdark shadows• Slow-burn power curve• No instant OP protagonist; at least not in arc 1• Occasional brushes with murderhobo• Time-Loop: one loop per arc Future Arcs will Explore:• From weak to strong via multiple time loops• Multiple classes: Scribe, Archer, Assassin, Blood Mage, Time Mage… = OP MC• Academy Arc 2• Dungeons• War• Necromancy Story Info:• Book 1 complete (200,000 words)• Book 2 progress (161,000 words)• 112 chapters written and edited (Sept 1st 2026) • 85,000 words ahead on Patreon• British English spelling Content Warnings:• Mature themes, violence, psychological depth, profanity• Psychologically damaged MC (suffers from PTSD), prone to irrational behaviour• No sex, explicit smut, or harem Web Novel Tags:Original, ONGOING, LitRPG, Reincarnation, Time Loop, Ruling Class, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Tragedy, Dystopia, Grimdark, High Fantasy, Magic, Male Lead, Mythos, Progression, Slice of Life, Soft Sci-fi, Steampunk, Strategy, Strong Lead, Supernatural, Time Travel, Regressor, Action, Academy, Intelligent Lead Note: Blood Mage Assassin: A Regressor’s Tale of Ink and Vengeance is an edited/extended version of The Vengeful Scribe. This version moves faster than the original, though is still slow burn with plenty of slice of life moments. Legal Notice for DMCA PurposesI, David Cameron Law, am the legal copyright holder of the web novel Blood Mage Assassin. Royal Road and Patreon are the only legal sources of my work. All other sources are copyright infringements.Signed: David Cameron Law
#9
4/3/2026
Peak #50
0d
#8
4/3/2026
Peak #49
0d
#7
3/25/2026
Peak #42
8d
#6
3/14/2026
Peak #41
11d
#5
3/13/2026
Peak #50
0d
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 2 Oct 2026, 02:08 UTC
Entry forecast updated 2 Oct 2026, 02:08 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
Coupled 14-day outlook
rs-joint-entry-copula-v1
Any eligible RS entry
3%
Two or more lists
0%
Likely threshold order: Drama → Action → Adventure → Fantasy → Main.
Leading bundle: Drama (3%).
Estimated from one fitted shared story path; category probabilities are not multiplied as if lists were independent.
Separate entry forecast; this probability does not enter the ranking score.
Overall Rising Stars Shadow RS rank
#532 of 12,235 · 482 below RS #50
By genre
beats 34% of similar stories
beats 37% of similar stories
beats 91% of similar stories
Readers arrive, few stick
Traffic is strong, but conversion trails comparable stories. The usual suspects are the blurb, the cover and the opening chapters — fixing the hook multiplies everything the existing traffic brings.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 50–149 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.