Book picks similar to
Prodigies by Apollos Thorne


cultivation
fantasy
dnf
sci-fi-fantasy

Monsters and Legends


Ivan Kal - 2021
    He became a respected leader, a shining example of what it meant to be good. But as the world ended, he had only one thought: to punish the monster that had killed the world long before the Framework ended it. Yet not even with his incredible power was he able to stand against the World Ender. His arrival in the new realty, the Infinite Realm, gives him the chance to grow stronger, to find the monster again—and make it pay.Ryun survived the chaos after the arrival of the Framework by pushing harder than anyone else. He grew in power until he became the most powerful being that had ever walked the planet; but he is hated by the world, called a monster by all others, the World Ender. As the world ends and he steps into a new one, where people stronger than him have lived for centuries, he finds himself lost and without purpose. The only thing that had mattered to him had been lost to him long ago. He truly was the monster that people considered him to be, and he now finds himself wondering if this new reality has a place for someone like him—but he had never been one for lying down and dying without a fight. One world fell to his power, and another might follow.WARNING: This book contains RPG mechanics and tables, cultivation, profanity, gore, mature themes, unconventional morality, and multiple complicated main characters. This story follows several main characters, both male and female, who are introduced into the story at different times. This story is a mix of LitRPG and Xianxia, and it will have Classes as well as Cultivation systems.. It also takes place in two timelines (the past chapters are not the main focus, only an addition).Author's note:This story is the e-book version of my webserial.

The Shadow Sect


Peter Hackshaw - 2021
    There is only one way he can take up the title of cultivator – to Awaken before he comes of age. Time is already running out.When a grand tournament for the magicking arts is announced, bringing old foes to Albion’s shores - rumours of betrayal and war send Falken on a journey in the unknown. There he unearths the mysteries of an ancient, long-forgotten sect – whose secrets offer hope – and the chance for Falken to develop powers that none have seen in an age.But Falken’s newfound powers may not be enough, for nightmare creatures, dark assassins and even the undead stalk the lands of Netherdei.And this is only the beginning…Fans of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher and Avatar: The Last Airbender will enjoy this vivid, masterful tale of magicking, cultivation and fantasy adventure, inspired by the worlds of Xianxia and Wuxia.

Clear Sky


Patrick G. Laplante - 2018
    A simple brush painted all of creation. The Clear Sky Brush vanished for countless ages. And now it’s back… Life for Cha Ming is a daily grind. A rat race where people don’t make any real decisions. When he asks the universe for something more, fate itself answers his prayer. A talisman brush older than time itself sends him to another world, where magic, fortune, and danger await.Now, the world is at his fingertips. He has a new life, a new body, and can wield the five elements. It’s too bad his new home is a place where might makes right, and immortal cultivators and demons fight at the drop of a hat.A game of universal proportions is unfolding. The Clear Sky Brush is at its center. The power to choose comes at a heavy price, and creation itself will pay it.

The Choice of Magic


Michael G. Manning - 2019
    It was the enlightenment that lifted humanity from the squalor of superstition, and the worship of fell spirits and capricious gods, but those days are gone. The shining glory of the sorcerers burned away the subtlety of wisdom, replacing it with easy power, held only in the hands of the elite—a new age built upon the elemental supremacy of aristocrats and the ignorance of the masses.But this will change, for the greatest power comes with knowledge, and the deeper teachings of wizardry have not been utterly lost. The last wizard of the old tradition still survives in solitude, nursing tired grudges and waiting for death.His passing might have gone unnoticed, but for the imposition of a youth too stubborn to accept his refusal to take an apprentice. With a new student comes new hope, and that hope has caused old powers to stir again. That the world will change is inevitable, but the shape of the future is anything but certain.

The Hero of the Valley: Volume 1


Gary Spechko - 2021
    Chosen by the Gods, he is thrust into a world he knows little about and must grow stronger to face powerful invaders from other worlds.

Death's Favorite Warlock


Charles Dean - 2021
    Kill them all." It's the first four words Lars usually wakes up to every morning as the voice in his head nags him, telling him she's just giving him a 'quest' that will help him 'level.'But even if he wanted to do it, he can't. They're cultivators -- beings with ancestral bloodlines that have powers he could only dream of and that may as well be gods while he is stuck as a puny human.Even if he could kill them, the people who bullied him, beat him, treated him like a punch-bag pariah for being the 'tailless worthless human' that he was to them, he wouldn't. It just wasn't in Lars's nature.That is, until a vicious group of murderous psychopaths called a 'sect' descend on his village. The vicious group brutally kills everyone he's known his entire life, taking a select few with them as slaves.Lars must now trust he isn't going insane and find a way to complete the voice's quests and level up, so that he can save his mother from her cruel and heartless captors in this cultivation themed LitRPG and Gamelit adventure.

Initialization


From Hell - 2021
    Every person without exception.But this new world with all its opportunities and gifts of wondrous abilities, was a stadium. A deadly arena of an unimaginable scale. And Humanity were to be its latest gladiators. Every man, woman and child was given a weapon and ordered to fight. Stuck in this dimension without a way out, only two options existed for the would be hunters: Fight with monsters to complete the many trials ahead, or perish.Faced with hordes of powerful monsters, thrown into battle with complete strangers at random, the unfair game of survival began. And from the very beginning, billions of lives were extinguished in mere moments. But even within this abyss of despair was a small ray of hope: If even one person were to complete every raid, then humanity would be redeemed and restored back to its former glory.No save points, no revives, no retries. Everyone had just one life to make their way through the gauntlet of raids prepared to test their mettle. Within this marathon of death, one man becomes aware of an exception to the rules of the game.

The First Step


Tao Wong - 2019
    His days were spent studying, planting rice on the family farm and spending time with his friends. Fate, however, has different plans for Wu Ying and when the army arrives at his village, he and many other members of the village are conscripted. Given the opportunity to join the Verdant Green Waters Sect, Wu Ying must decide between his pedestrian, common life and the exciting, blood soaked life of a cultivator.Join Wu Ying as he takes his first step on his Thousand Li journey to become an immortal cultivator.The First Step is the first novel in A Thousand Li series, a book on cultivation, immortals, wondrous martial art styles and spirit beasts and will be loved by wuxia and xianxia fans. The First Step is written by Tao Wong, the bestselling scifi and fantasy LitRPG author of the System Apocalypse, Adventures on Brad and the Hidden Wishes.

Cultivating Chaos


William D. Arand - 2018
    It had its ups and downs, much like anyone else’s. Being a talented martial artist had definitely been an up, while high-school as a whole was a down. His own father not being a great role model, and his uncle being everything he wanted to be. To Ash it felt like a very normal life. Right up until he was literally pulled into a portal that spat him out into another world. One that was full of martial arts. Martial arts that the practitioners of such used magic to employ. To set the very air on fire with a punch, or to turn their skin hard as diamonds. To fly through the air, if they had enough power. A world where the strong ruled, and the weak died. Three years of living his life as one of the citizens, those without power, and Ash has figured out how to survive. With his adoptive family and a lot of persistence. His goals in life have become to give back to those who gave to him. And he’d do whatever he had to, to do that. Except Ash is about to get his life turned around again. Turned around and altered completely. He’s about to discover a treasure from a time long lost. Forgotten. A treasure that is going to change his destiny and give him another direction to go. If he wants it. A Cultivator. This is a VeilVerse novel. Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/a full harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is tactful as a dog at a cat show. Read at your own risk.

Unsouled


Will Wight - 2016
     Lindon is Unsouled, forbidden to learn the sacred arts of his clan. When faced with a looming fate he cannot ignore, he must defy his family's rules...and forge his own Path.

Power


Aaron Oster - 2019
    Without the power to channel the Essence of the world, he is weak and defenseless. Adopted into the Shah clan after his parents' deaths, he is forced to do menial labor day after day, all while enduring the ridicule and physical abuse of his supposed family. Weakness is punishable by death in Buryoku and in the Shah clan, there is no one weaker than Roy. But even the weak can rise up, when pushed to the brink…

Lord January


Dakota Krout - 2022
    Time is a Weapon. Time is running out.Grant Leap is an orphaned, mortal farmhand in a world where cultivation methods and Weapons of Power are jealously guarded and only passed down among family. He’s not content with his lot; as a Januarian, someone living in District January, he should be living the good life just like everyone else. Food, parties, food, entertainment, and food are the minimum requirement. As an orphan, specifically a reviled Leap, there’s not even a chance of being treated as a human.When a celestial event pours time magic into his field, coalescing into a lost Weapon of Power, Grant leaps at the opportunity to advance beyond even the scope of standard cultivation. At the first touch of the weapon, the orphan gains everything he’s ever wanted: a Sword and a Name. Also, a pesky mandatory quest with his life as the price of failure. It doesn’t take him long to realize that the best thing for him to do is to sell it and live on borrowed Time.Yet, that would never happen. The blade offers him the first major choice he’s ever had to make: surrender to his desires… or live like a King.

The Last Physicist


Dominic Stal - 2021
    Especially when you’ve witnessed the end of the world and the demise of all you’ve ever loved.As a particle physicist, William Jenkins is as unsuited to survival on an alien world as any normal thirty-something post-doc could be. Thankfully, he’s not alone. With an A.I., magic, scientific curiosity and most improbably, a deity on his side, Will must come to terms with his new reality before otherworldly terrors forever extinguish the light of hope on this new world.Meanwhile, as the forces of darkness amass to invade her home, Effni Naridia, Qaseri Ranger and Guardian of her peoples, must face her own demons. By undertaking a trial, Effni could determine not only the fate of her city, but unravel a mystery aeons in the making.The Last Physicist features elements of progression fantasy and Gamelit, and is perfect for those who enjoy stories by Andrew Rowe, Will Wight and Andy Weir.Warning. This novel contains questionable quantum mechanics, general relativity and magic.Note: this book also features profanity, vivid depictions of violence, pain and gore, along with depictions of mental health issues (including PTSD, generalised anxiety and depression) some readers may find distressing.

Battlefield Reclaimer


David North - 2021
    They require quests and accomplishments that simply don't exist in the world. Some say the World Law itself is broken and that the world is falling apart.In comes Sam Hastern.His family has been cursed by one of these classes for the last fifty years. No one has ever managed to level it, condemning them to the lowest paying jobs and life in a barren village.The class is called Battlefield Reclaimer.There's one more little problem.Sam's about to have it even worse, when a dungeon exploration leaves him looking distinctly non-human.---*In this work, you'll find leveling, crafting, experience-based progression, rare classes, evolving classes, and strange races.The world runs on mana crystals, beast cores, spirit veins, alchemical pills, and enchantments. The environment is hostile and filled with monsters and elemental storms.

Iron Prince


Bryce O'Connor - 2020
    Reidon was born weak, sickly and small. Afflicted with a painful disease and abandoned by his parents because of it, he has had to fight tooth and nail for every minor advantage life has allowed him.His perseverance has not gone unnoticed, however, and when the most powerful artificial intelligence in human history takes an interest in him, things began to change quickly. Granted a CAD—a Combat Assistance Device—with awful specs but an infinite potential for growth, Reidon finds himself at the bottom of his class at the Galens Institute, one of the top military academies in the Collective. Along with his best friend, Viviana Arada, Reidon will have to start his long climb through the school rankings, and on to the combat tournament circuits that have become humanity's greatest source of excitement and entertainment.So begins the rise of a god. So begins the ascent of the Stormweaver.