
by Exiled from Earth
Twelve years ago, Emperor Gelmidas Atheneum unleashed the Rusting onto the Universe.It is a deadly curse that has corroded nearly all metal. Many species have suffered because of it, but the pacifist Machinists most of all. For their metal bodies, it means extinction. One of the few survivors, Smith, has found themself locked into a human body, and now wonders if their continued survival will depend on abandoning their peaceful ways. The Scorched Archer, Nadeden, is an argument for the fact that this might be the case. Born in blood and fire, she has spent her whole life fighting. Her relentless quest to kill Emperor Atheneum is the one reason her heart still beats. Gelmidas Atheneum himself is currently living a comfortable life with his son, Adamus, a spoiled brat with a mysterious parentage and an equally mysterious power. To President Vanessa Soryu, the Atheneums are the ultimate enemy. She will do anything to seize power from them and place humanity under her flag, even if it means turning her withdrawn stepdaughter, Cassandra, into a pawn in her cruel game. In this universe of dying metal, bloody arrows, heavy crowns, and pointed daggers, which one of these wandering souls will dare to claim that “Life is Precious”? What to expect: A large, revolving cast with minimal plot armor and complex character dynamics. Grimdark and fantasy elements with a pinch of cosmic horror and political intrigue. Long-form character-driven storytelling with actions that have wide-reaching narrative consequences. This story updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 2 Oct 2026, 05:28 UTC
Entry forecast updated 2 Oct 2026, 05:28 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
5%
Two or more lists
3%
Likely threshold order: Psychological → Sci-fi → Drama → Romance → Fantasy → Main.
Leading bundle: Psychological + Sci-fi + Drama + Romance (1%).
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
#11565 of 12,145 · 11515 below RS #50
By genre
beats 74% of similar stories
not enough data yet
beats 3% of similar stories
Hidden gem — exposure is the bottleneck
Readers who find this story follow it at a high rate; there just aren't enough of them. In our cohort data, near-daily posting lifted the odds of reaching 25 followers from ~0% to 17% — more chapters, shoutout swaps and ads buy the eyeballs this conversion deserves.
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.