![Web of Secrets [Modern Cultivation]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.royalroadcdn.com%2Fpublic%2Fcovers-large%2F39108-web-of-secrets-modern-cultivation.jpg%3Ftime%3D1739546575&w=640&q=75)
by David Musk
Books 1–5 are now available on Amazon / Audible! Magic has rules. Akari Zeller plans to find the exploits and rise to the top. She's starting from the very bottom, of course. Akari is a Bronze, born with almost no mana, marked by the badge around her neck, and barred from every school that could change that. She ages out of foster care on her sixteenth birthday, and a Bronze with no power won’t survive long on the streets. But Akari didn't get this far by playing society’s games. In a world built on ancient magic, technology is the one door the Golds forgot to lock. The dark web holds forbidden cultivation techniques, the keys to advancement, and her only chance of survival.
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 4 Oct 2026, 10:38 UTC
Entry forecast updated 4 Oct 2026, 10:38 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.
A confirmed Rising Stars eligibility removal excludes this story from the Shadow queue.
beats 99% of similar stories
beats 84% of similar stories
beats 1% 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 50–149 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views lifetime.
