
by AbbyLightbringer
Bastian was never particularly strong, intelligent, or intimidating. In fact, he was a loser who tried to pass himself off as a gang member. He talked too much, got himself into trouble, and eventually died in the most ridiculous way possible: first, he was stabbed, and shortly afterward, he was run over by a truck. However, death was not the end. After being chosen as a "Player," Bastian was transmigrated to another world with an RPG system that would allow him to evolve and grow stronger. The problem was that this world felt far too familiar. It was the world of an old dark fantasy novel he had discovered during his high school years. A novel he, unfortunately, never finished reading. And now, he had awakened inside the body of the Hollow King, the ancient ruler of the Ghouls who, according to the little he could remember, should have been dead for centuries. With no army, none of his original powers, and no memories of the Hollow King, Bastian had started out as nothing more than a Level 1 Ghoul. But being a Ghoul came with certain advantages. Devouring everything in his path would grant him power, levels, and abilities. With this power, he would carve his way through this world, both familiar and unknown, ready to conquer it all just as the true Hollow King once did—and along the way, build an army of his own from the world's most savage creatures.
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 24 Oct 2026, 06:48 UTC
Entry forecast updated 24 Oct 2026, 06:48 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 85% of similar stories
not enough data yet
needs about a week of observations
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 10–19 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views lifetime.