by Rhys Redford
Blacksmith Max Abelman does not believe in gods. Imagine his surprise when he dies and discovers that not only are they real, they want him dead. Again. Just, not before he provides some entertainment. The Olympians want a show. Max only wants to get back home to his dog and his forge. Instead, he gets a snarky system narrator named Momus, a fledgling bird named Ash, and a crew of misfits. As Max navigates escalating challenges, he’s drawn into a moral battlefield where his pragmatic sense of right and wrong clashes with the difficult choices required to survive and protect those who depend on him. The book is complete, but I'm doing a slight edit. Drops will continue soon.
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 21 Oct 2026, 09:18 UTC
Entry forecast updated 21 Oct 2026, 09:18 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 25% of similar stories
not enough data yet
beats 60% of similar stories
Mid-pack, room on both levers
Traffic and conversion both sit mid-field for a story this size. Growth here compounds from consistency: steady cadence feeds traffic, and a sharper hook lifts what each view is worth.
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 over the recent window.
