[Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge - April 2024]

A young orphan works hard every single day, trying to single-handedly keep his parents' business alive, all the while tortured by a terrible curse.

Then came the day that a wizard became his mentor - and he learned that his entire life was a lie… His parents didn't just die, they were brutally murdered; he was not cursed at all; his uncle was not in fact his uncle; and he could channel magic! Struggling to rise above the tragedy of his horrific past, he is now thrown into an entirely new world.

Day by day he must push himself to catch up with his new peers, learning the secrets of this vast new world, while studying the arts of combat, weapons, and magic!

Where do his strengths lie? What are his talents? Is he strong enough to overcome the obstacles in his way?

And why is he considered so unique?

The secrets of the academy, of the missing ambassador, of the hidden dragons, and of the empires and kingdoms marching to war in the east - all have been hurled into an abyss so deep that they should never be found.

Yet Yaric grew up in the abyss, and watching his new world get dragged down by the secrets, Yaric is forced to plunge right back in. But as Yaric already knows, staring into the abyss is easy. Falling in is effortless. Rising back out however, that may not be possible at all!

Only for those who want more than a brief synopsis...What to expect:

The mc is kind of overpowered, but not in a typical way. And definitely not in an obvious way. He does get more overpowered as the story develops though. Again, not in a normal way.

Yaric is central, but many side characters are very important. The world doesn't revolve around him.

There will not be any training montages. Power is gained through effort, and training and learning is part of the journey. Some will likely consider the story 'slow burn' – the mc is discovered to have magical potential, and then spends many years studying. Lore is revealed as the mc learns. The journey is the story.

The mc's journey will include training missions, fulfilling appeals (effectively 'adventuring'), diplomatic missions, small scale skirmishes and large-scale wars encompassing multiple nations. Mysteries and crimes will have to be solved along the way. There will be monsters, creatures hiding in the dark, and apocalyptic behemoths. Oh, and there will be dragons. Very important dragons. They're coming!

There will be combat, martial arts, different kinds of magic, and various forms of crafting. Different nations have different cultures; politics, trade, and wars between them are important. Battles aren't just groups of soldiers slugging it out. Ok, sometimes they are...

It might take a while to get there, but there are overarching plots over and above the minor plots and story arcs. The main plot starts right from the beginning.

The world:

It's less medieval and more Roman Empire/Ancient China, if they both had magic and thousands of years of extra development. Just like they had occupations such as administrators, secretaries, lawyers, architects, acrobats, firemen and accountants, so too does Malvec and the surrounding nations. The sapient population includes humans, elves, dwarves, draugr and lichs. Wildlife includes deer, bears, rabbits blah blah blah... ogres and vardøgers, trolls and gnolls, hellcats and nightwing bats. And much more!

Technology is more advanced, mostly due to the 2 main differences between those empires and nations like MalvecTime: Civilization has been around longer - by thousands of years. Mass production is common. Assembly lines have been developed. Various forms of schools and education are widespread. The jump to steam power, internal combustion engines and electricity (and everything linked to them) is practically the only thing missing. Essentially power generation and storage.Food: Mages drastically enhance food production, making populations both larger and more diverse. Everyone can be fed with far fewer farmers, so a much larger percentage of the population are free to take up other occupations.

I'm the furthest thing from an experienced author on RoyalRoad - any feedback or suggestions would be highly appreciated! The story is already planned out VERY far into the future, but plot suggestions or pointing out of plot holes would be extremely helpful as well! I hope to develop my writing abilities over time, aiming to get significantly better over the next few months. Thank you to anyone who bares with me!

The dialogue in some chapters may also include profanity on occasion. There are no harems or anything along those lines.

Chapters on Saturday to start.