Aurelia
The city passed by in a wash of color and spelllight, but I barely registered its movement. I sat alone in the back of my private carriage, my gaze fixed on the flickering feed of my communicator. I wasn’t nervous; I was simply… anticipating the encounter.
The device buzzed softly.
[SwordWannabe: You ever get that feeling like something in your real life just glitched?]
My breath hitched. I stared at the message—it was random, pe...
2025-07-26 14:01:44 +0000 UTC
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Daniel
The moment Master Lan Huai’s voice faded, Daniel hit pause.
The soulglass interface dimmed to amber and there was a long silence that filled the lab.
“That guy is… freaking awesome,” Daniel said.
Ethan’s voice stirred inside his mind, dry as dust.
“You finally get it.”
Daniel grinned. “Commanded that room like it owed him money.”
“He made every one of those nobles feel like scared students. Without raisin...
2025-07-23 04:42:04 +0000 UTC
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Master Lan Huai
It seemed like the lecture chamber hadn’t been used in years. Honestly, he hadn't lectured for years and wouldn't be back here if General Li had not specifically asked him.
The room had high windows and let in only slanted morning light. The dust in the rafters caught the glow like smoke from some invisible incense. The walls were lined with books older than most lineages. Not tomes of spells or blade forms—no, these were treatises, medit...
2025-07-22 04:31:41 +0000 UTC
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They lost their parents. Now he’s raising two siblings, hiding his power, and doing everything he can to stay off the radar.
Zane Myles was never supposed to matter. Crestless. Unbound. Just another nameless face in the lower districts of New Liora—until a Rift opened in the heart of the city and forced him to act.
Now the world is watching.
What should have been a tragic anomaly has sparked something far more dangerous. Zane’s impossible stats. His ba...
2025-07-21 13:58:19 +0000 UTC
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2025-07-20 20:41:17 +0000 UTC
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This is where I am going to post to Royal Road once this books first round of edits are done
Aurelia
I closed the classroom door behind me, my posture calm and my expression carefully neutral. On the surface, nothing seemed amiss, despite the way my classmates subtly avoided my gaze, their whispers quickly dying as I passed.
I sighed. I hadn’t looked at him. I hadn’t spoken a single word. I had simply tried to be respectful, to be professional as he called it in our re...
2025-07-20 19:41:24 +0000 UTC
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Zane.
It had been several days since the semester began, several days deep into the rhythm of academy life, and this persistent scrutiny certainly was not what I had intended for my time here. So much for keeping a low profile.
Only three days and I am already stepping in to teach stupid nobles a lesson. I don’t regret stepping in; that new student, barely a kid, had been one spark away from permanent damage, and Korrin, in my opinion, deserved far worse than a mere broken...
2025-07-20 15:31:46 +0000 UTC
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A Quick Favor, Friends
Hey everyone, if you’ve been enjoying Foundation of Smoke and Steel on Royal Road, I’d be incredibly grateful if you could take a moment to leave a review:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/116597/foundation-of-smoke-and-steel-cultivation-isekai
It’s honestly frustrating how often people dism...
2025-07-19 17:20:06 +0000 UTC
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Ethan Zhou The space was not his. It had once been something closer to a personal sanctum—disciplined, sealed, spiritual in form. A place f
Ethan Zhou
The space was not his.
It had once been something closer to a personal sanctum—disciplined, sealed, spiritual in form. A place for breathwork, breakthrough, and internal cultivation. It had angles then. Harmonized planes. A floating core matrix suspended in spiritual balance.
Now?
Now it looked like a me...
2025-07-19 04:57:30 +0000 UTC
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Aurelia
I stood motionless as the crowd thinned, enchanted sunlight catching in the silver strands of my hair. Voices buzzed nearby, reverent, stunned, giddy, but none of it touched me.
My gaze was locked on the space where he’d stood.
The way he moved. That particular stance. The subtle tension in his off-hand as a counterbalance to his blade. I recognized it. I’d felt that brutal elegance before, haunting me ever since he’d bested me.
SwordWannabe.
It cou...
2025-07-18 20:23:48 +0000 UTC
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Aurelia
I was trying to ignore Swordwannabe. I was successufl for the most part during the first few days of classes. I wasn’t trying to be cruel or anything. Its just that I’m damn near a princess—I couldn’t come across as too eager. That wouldn’t be very noble-like.
But I couldn’t help but think about it. It pissed me off.
He did flirt with me. He did look at my legs.
And no it wasn't in in a creepy way or even in a way that was unwelcom...
2025-07-18 20:22:28 +0000 UTC
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Zane
My friends and I slowly made our way through the line of the Arcane Emporium. There was a palpable ruckus, a clamor of excitement as people received unique class designations and potential build paths for their future. It was all smoke and mirrors, though; while almost anyone could learn anything in this world, some still chose to believe that specific, regulated "paths" dictated an entire direction in life. I found such rigidity stifling.
Kael nudged me, pulling me from my ...
2025-07-18 20:11:00 +0000 UTC
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Zane
I looked down at my message crystal.
Princess Flyer.
I wondered if she was going to argue with the decision to keep things separate. She definitely struck me as the type.
I didn’t know her personally, but she was obviously from one of the noble houses. How high or prestigious? No idea. But she carried herself with an incredibly thick sense of decorum. Her sword technique was flawless—disciplined and efficient—and even though she was u...
2025-07-18 02:25:59 +0000 UTC
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Aurelia Vael Taranis
I set the Message Interface (MIF) down harder than I meant to. What a jerk!
The MIF pulsed once—dim and innocent on the lacquered edge of the floating study desk—before going quiet. I was in one of the upper-class lounges. It was actually my private lounge, the one Mother insisted I have. "So you can focus," she had said with that infuriating smile of hers, knowing perfectly well that "focus" meant "not be bothered by the peasantry."
I folde...
2025-07-17 15:39:02 +0000 UTC
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Zane
“I am a normal college student. Normal college student. I am not going to stand out. I am not going to stand out.”
My thoughts hiccuped as I walked through the grounds of the Academy. What a manifgnact place. And this was just the landing area, where kids got dropped off and picked up. Groups of students were already moving together as upper classmen directed freshman to various places, dorms, orientation halls, student aid. It was a mess of exictement yelling a...
2025-07-17 15:37:10 +0000 UTC
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Zane
The morning sun cast a pale glow over the worn rooftops of the Lower Verge, where the city's hum was a constant backdrop to daily life. I stepped out of our modest apartment, the door creaking softly behind me. The scent of brewed herbs and toasted bread wafted from the neighboring windows, mingling with the crisp air.
"Zane!" Elara, my childhood friend, called out from across the street, waving as she tended to her family's shop.
I offered a brief smile and a nod, my m...
2025-07-17 14:22:53 +0000 UTC
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Zane Myles
"Zane Myles," I muttered, the words barely audible over the frantic drumbeat of my heart. I wasn't entirely sure what I was thinking when I told Lila and Jordan to run. It wasn't like we really had anywhere to go, and it wasn't like I could face an adventurer of Anya Kael's caliber, even if he was injured from whatever hell he'd just stumbled out of. All I knew was that I needed to get my siblings away from him, find a way to make a stand, to try to stop him.
“We do...
2025-07-17 14:20:56 +0000 UTC
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As you’ve probably noticed, I’m currently neck-deep in the full-scale rewrite of Threads of Fire and Starlight. I even took the entire week off to focus solely on this project. For those of you who’ve been with the series since the beginning… you know it’s grown a lot. And let’s be honest—those early chapters? Yeah. They needed some love.
The new version will be rolling out in serial format on Royal Road, and once it's finalized, I’ll be releasing the eBook excl...
2025-07-15 22:48:34 +0000 UTC
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Zane Myles
He pointed a knife at me, his mana flaring with raw, untamed emotion. "You conniving little bastard!" Anya Kael snarled, his face a mask of pure rage. The blade glinted, aimed straight for my chest, promising a quick, ugly death. I felt Lila and Jordan behind me, small, terrified presences, clinging to my back. He was going to kill us. All of us.
My world shattered in that moment, but I couldn’t stop. Couldn't delay. That world was going to end abruptly.
Thre...
2025-07-15 22:02:21 +0000 UTC
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The July 4th promtion was so great I wanted to do it again with some modificaitons.
As a special thank-you—and to help you explore more of my work—I’m offering a limited-time bundle featuring the first book in every series I’ve written.
This one includes Foundation of Smoke and Steel.
Get 5 First-in-Series Books for Just $5
Includes:
Bonus chapters coming; thank you everyone.
2025-07-10 18:55:48 +0000 UTC
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Daniel
Daniel shut the lab door and turned the latch with a solid click. He set the simple seal on the space he’d poured himself.
No one else entered here. Not General Li. Not the aides who brought food and stopped asking questions. Not even the scribes who used to linger near the glass to steal glimpses of his workings. For the most part, people lost interest. This was his space alone for him to work and plan. Those plans were finally coming to fruition;...
2025-07-10 18:14:56 +0000 UTC
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Daniel By the time Daniel made it back to the Li estate, the sun was already up, and he felt like he’d been hit by a truck. Scratch that—he
Daniel
By the time Daniel made it back to the Li estate, the sun was already up, and he felt like he’d been hit by a truck.
Scratch that—he felt like he’d been hit by three trucks, one after the other, and then dragged behind a ceremonial chariot just for good measure.
His body ached. His mind buzzed. And...
2025-07-10 18:03:31 +0000 UTC
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Daniel So Daniel couldn’t exactly say that his first Gala was a success. “Maybe you shouldn’t be so coy next time.” Ethan offered the amusem
Daniel
So Daniel couldn’t exactly say that his first Gala was a success.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be so coy next time.” Ethan offered the amusement evident in his voice.
Daniel rolled his eyes. “You’re an idiot.”
After the drama of the actual gala, the Empress’s stewards actually...
2025-07-10 17:34:15 +0000 UTC
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Sophie Sophie Virelyn yanked the veil from her head with enough force to tear the silk and probably chunks of her golden blonde hair. It bun
Sophie
Sophie Virelyn yanked the veil from her head with enough force to tear the silk and probably chunks of her golden blonde hair. It bunched across the dressing table, threads shimmering with broken glyphwork—each strand meant to symbolize poise, devotion, the ceremonial restraint of the Empire’s highest-born daughter...
2025-07-10 15:47:22 +0000 UTC
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All right, friends—I think I need your help.
I didn’t realize people get so worked up about AI, and now I’m wondering if I should add an AI-assisted tag. A lot of you have noticed some of the stylistic quirks in Foundation of Smoke and Steel, and I figured I should give some context.
I started writing this maybe three months ago after binge-watching a bunch of Chinese dramas and not sleeping well due to an injury. I think I’ve mentioned that before. When I started writing,...
2025-07-10 14:51:42 +0000 UTC
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Vivian The recording stone lay warm in her palm, though she had not touched the activation glyph in several minutes. It was unnecessary. The
Vivian
The recording stone lay warm in her palm, though she had not touched the activation glyph in several minutes. It was unnecessary. The stream played continuously, linked directly to the Path Icon relay her mother had installed during the last Imperial tournament. The Li family had several of these people as staff, so sh...
2025-07-10 13:16:01 +0000 UTC
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Daniel “Break her engagement?” Ethan said, bewildered. “Why would you want to break her engagement? It’s no secret that Dathan is a broken,
Daniel
“Break her engagement?” Ethan said, bewildered. “Why would you want to break her engagement? It’s no secret that Dathan is a broken, incompetent asshat, but why would you want to get the Princess out of her engagement?”
Daniel tried to remain calm. "I have no...
2025-07-10 12:26:59 +0000 UTC
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Daniel There was a theory Daniel had once heard—half joke, half metaphysical assertion—that the universe didn't punish arrogance. It punishe
Daniel
There was a theory Daniel had once heard—half joke, half metaphysical assertion—that the universe didn't punish arrogance.
It punished momentum.
And apparently, he had accumulated too much of it.
Because for one brief, shining moment, everything had actually been going… well.
Shen Minhua was b...
2025-07-10 11:50:19 +0000 UTC
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