![Gate to Nowhere [COMPLETED]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.royalroadcdn.com%2Fpublic%2Fcovers-large%2F145350-gate-to-nowhere-completed.jpg%3Ftime%3D1789034187&w=640&q=75)
by TGreen-
-- ABOUT TO BE STUBBED IN OCTOBER, further stubbed in January, and completely deleted in the spring-- No mana. No build. No way out. Peter was supposed to be a mage. Both his parents are, but he was born with practically no mana. That hasn't stopped him from trying, so he's gotten a job at a corporation in the magical underworld that was supposed to get him somewhere. But then he stumbles upon a portal to a demon-infested wasteland, which looks suspiciously like future Earth. No harem-ready catgirls, just monsters that love the smell of low-level entrails in the morning. He also gets access to the System. Finally, a way to get stronger. His plan? Solo level and chill, staying the hell away from the portal. The corporation’s plan? Send Isabella. She’s five feet of highly compressed hatred, has ninety levels on him, and thinks training means stabbing him until he figures out how not to bleed. Since only Peter can pass through the portal, she'll teach him to become useful, or he'll die trying. His life is a sacrifice she’s willing to make. And running away isn’t an alternative, as the best System XP source on Earth is killing other mages. At a single-digit level, Peter is a walking XP bag. Isabella might get him killed, but she's the only one to whom he's more valuable alive than dead. He's just going to have to make it work. This novel is:1) a LitRPG, urban fantasy thriller that's highly grounded in reality and light on the System2) a weak-to-strong progression story that starts at level zero3) narrated in 1st person past tense with almost no PoV switching4) PvP-focused, written in a serious tone with deeply dark themes that come with it The novel is NOT:1) a harem Isekai2) a wish-fulfillment focused power fantasy3) a trauma dump4) for kids Release schedule:About two to three chapters per week.
#16
7/5/2026
Peak #20
29d
#15
7/4/2026
Peak #46
0d
#14
7/2/2026
Peak #50
0d
#13
6/18/2026
Peak #50
0d
#12
6/13/2026
Peak #49
0d
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 2 Oct 2026, 08:38 UTC
Entry forecast updated 2 Oct 2026, 08:38 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
38%
Two or more lists
0%
Likely threshold order: Contemporary → Action → Main → Adventure.
Leading bundle: Contemporary (37%).
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
#5087 of 12,184 · 5037 below RS #50
By genre
beats 4% of similar stories
beats 49% of similar stories
beats 86% 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.
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