![The Torch [Progression LitRPG Adventure]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.royalroadcdn.com%2Fpublic%2Fcovers-large%2F69792-the-torch-progression-litrpg-adventure.jpg%3Ftime%3D1694503248&w=640&q=75)
by Rydenius
With debt slavery looming all but inevitable after a catastrophic expedition, Toren learns of an opportunity to join a crown-sponsored colonization of new lands. Lured by the possibility to earn forgiveness for his debts, he gambles away his levels and Profession for a chance to meet the recruitment requirement: a gold-rarity trait. Returned to level 1, can he survive in untamed lands long enough to earn the needed contribution credits? —June 2023 Community Magazine Contest— Writing prompt: “Mirrors can't eat people.” ***Note: This story does have traumatic situations and depictions of violence. I've tried to be vague within the descriptions, but the content is still not age approriate for young children and probably closer to PG13. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 11 Oct 2026, 04:27 UTC
Entry forecast updated 11 Oct 2026, 04:27 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.
Rising Stars history is uncertain, so no precise projection is shown.
beats 1% of similar stories
beats 40% of similar stories
beats 27% of similar stories
Both levers trail the field
Traffic and conversion are both below comparable stories. Cadence is the first lever — stories posting near-daily reached 25 followers 17% of the time; stories posting every few days almost never did. Get the flow going, then re-check conversion.
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 over the recent window.
