
by Buddman22
“What if the Multiverse chose the wrong guy on purpose?” Aren Kovacs, a level-3 IT guy forever on a performance plan for being too honest, has been through many corporate shenanigans, mergers, and employer changes. When the Earth undergoes System induction, it feels like another poorly run re-org. After a botched tutorial start, Aren finds himself with powers he doesn’t understand, unhelpful System administrators, a growing cadre of people he didn’t ask for, and even possibly a reality-breaking eldritch sponsor. So, what’s an introverted curmudgeonly Gen-X fellow that genuinely wants to be left alone with his stuff to do? Get strong enough so that people stop bothering him? Maybe even help others get strong too along the way… if he has to. What to Expect: • A curmudgeonly GenX protagonist who treats the apocalypse like another corporate reorganization while following his own weak to strong arc • Light crunch LitRPG progression with a unique soul-based magic system • Found family, slow-burn bonds, and a whole lot of pop-culture deflection • Cozy moments and brutal power strikes, often in the same chapter • Mysteries that pay off across the long game • Initial overarching villainy you’ll recognize from real life: cosmic-scale enshittification • Launching on July 3 with 10 Chapters - then daily drops for two weeks, then regular MWF releases, at 7:00 am EST • Volume 1 is written (50+ chapters) and will continue to be polished while Volume 2 is drafted.
No streak history
Rank updated 14 Aug 2026, 04:15 UTC
Entry forecast updated 14 Aug 2026, 04:15 UTC
Overall Rising Stars shadow rank
deep field · ~#173 of 6,880 · 123 below #50
By genre
beats 99% of similar stories
beats 11% of similar stories
beats 83% 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.
At this conversion, the Comedy Rising Stars bar (≈2 new followers/day) costs about 96 views/day — the story currently gets ~119.
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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