
by Black Ink Verse
The world fears what burns in the dark. For centuries, the Kuroenji Clan was feared for a power that was never meant to exist—the Black Flames, a force capable of consuming far more than flesh and stone. Kuroto Kuroenji was only eight years old when that power awakened. In a single night, his clan vanished, leaving him as the sole survivor of a catastrophe he cannot understand. Haunted by fragmented memories and a prophecy that marks him as something far greater—and far more dangerous—Kuroto grows up carrying a power he fears as much as the world fears him. Yet the destruction of his clan was only the beginning. Beyond the mountains stands the Infinite Spire, an ancient tower no one has ever conquered. Its existence is tied to secrets buried long before Kuroto was born—and somehow, those secrets are connected to him. As Kuroto's Black Flames awaken and the mysteries surrounding the Spire begin to surface, he is forced toward a question that could determine the fate of the world: Will he climb the Infinite Spire… or become the force that brings it down?
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 8 Oct 2026, 18:28 UTC
Entry forecast updated 8 Oct 2026, 18:28 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.
Not enough recent follower history to estimate a shadow rank yet.
beats 99% of similar stories
not enough data yet
beats 6% 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 5–9 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views lifetime.