
by Pelican the Grey
Victor Balogun was supposed to die. Instead, he finds himself in a world where magic is real, monsters roam the wilderness, and power means everything. Branded by an encounter with the Abyss—a realm spoken of only in fear—he quickly finds himself under the scrutiny of nobles, scholars, and warriors who can't decide whether he's an opportunity or a disaster waiting to happen. With no home to return to and a mysterious quest pulling him toward the heart of the kingdom, Victor has little choice but to move forward. Joining the Wardens of Rottsdivir, he throws himself into a life of dangerous missions, relentless training, and hard-won friendships. But the deeper he becomes entangled in this world, the more he realizes that his arrival was no accident. Ancient powers are watching. Old secrets are beginning to stir. And something lurking beyond reality has taken a personal interest in him. To survive, Victor will have to grow stronger, uncover the truth behind his strange abilities, and decide what kind of person he wants to become. Because for the first time in his life, the future is his to choose. What to Expect - Slow-burn progression Fantasy - Dark Fantasy, though there's still humour and lighter moments - Character Growth - Morally Complicated Characters - An occasional sprinkle of cosmic Horror New chapters release twice a week.
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, 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
13%
Two or more lists
8%
Likely threshold order: Mystery → Romance → Action → Fantasy → Adventure → Main.
Leading bundle: Mystery + Romance (5%).
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
#10489 of 12,184 · 10439 below RS #50
By genre
beats 80% of similar stories
not enough data yet
beats 9% 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 20–49 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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