
by A. Vael
Elias Mercer is plagued by a curse. An unseen compulsion gnaws at him, forcing his hand toward action, responsibility, and doing the “right thing” even when it costs him. In the mundane world, it is a slow poison. An invisible leash. But not for the System. When Earth gets integrated in the vast multiverse, and humanity is dragged into a brutal Tutorial, most see it as the greatest catastrophe ever happened. For Elias instead, the Tutorial is not a nightmare. It is an opportunity. Finally, his curse has a name. And more importantly, a way to be free of it. While others struggle to adapt, Elias embrace his new reality, he twists curses into weapons, forces arcane energies to obey through sheer will, and grows at a pace others struggle to comprehend. As allies gather around him and enemies far above his level fall to his might, Elias pushes deeper, faster, and even harder. Power is the only path to freedom, and Elias wants to be free of his curse more than anything else in the world. What to expect: - An OP main character - Tactical combat - A ruthless System that rewards power above anything else - Meaningful side characters with a personality - A varied magic system At least 5 Chapters a week — MTWTF
#6
1/24/2026
Peak #2
29d
#5
1/24/2026
Peak #19
7d
#4
1/24/2026
Peak #17
8d
#3
1/24/2026
Peak #13
11d
#2
1/24/2026
Peak #19
7d
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 2 Oct 2026, 08:18 UTC
Entry forecast updated 2 Oct 2026, 08:18 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
1%
Two or more lists
0%
Likely threshold order: Horror → Action → Fantasy → Adventure → Main.
Leading bundle: Horror (0%).
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
#1007 of 12,176 · 957 below RS #50
By genre
beats 77% of similar stories
beats 48% of similar stories
beats 99% of similar stories
Firing on all cylinders
Traffic and conversion are both strong for a story this size. Readers are finding it and sticking — if Rising Stars is the goal, this is the moment to push.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 150+ chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.