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Top 25 LitRPG + Progression Novels on Royal Road (2026)

Updated November 2026 · ranked by average reader rating

LitRPG + Progression Novels are among the most popular stories on Royal Road.

This guide ranks the best by average reader rating. The current top picks are BELOW, Seeking Strays and Ashes of Vaeltharion: Burden of Fate. Some of them are already finished, so you can binge without waiting for updates.

The 25 best LitRPG + Progression novels on Royal Road

  1. BELOW

    4.90 · 22 chapters · Ongoing

    YOU HAVE DIED YOU HAVE SINNED YOU HAVE BEEN JUDGED THE ABOVE ALL IS CLOSED TO YOU A nameless SINner awakes in a hell beyond hells, trapped in a world designed to elicit eternal suffering for no clear purpose. Punished for the SIN of…

  2. Seeking Strays

    4.89 · 82 chapters · Ongoing

    Protect my sister. That’s all that ever mattered to me. Come hell or high water, I’d do anything if it meant my sweet little sister could have just one more day of a peaceful life. Anything. There was just one issue—I was burning the…

  3. Ashes of Vaeltharion: Burden of Fate

    4.88 · 7 chapters

    Update: Ashes of Vaeltharion: Burden of Fate is being stubbed ahead of its March 10 release on Amazon. To comply with Kindle Unlimited exclusivity, most chapters have been removed from Royal Road. The full book is now available on Amazon…

  4. Black Apron - Max Level Archmaid

    4.88 · 15 chapters · Ongoing

    Black Apron - A Max Level Archmaid's Guide to Hostile Housekeeping Rosario Thorn had one claim to fame. In the world’s biggest VRMMO, she reached max level, stacked enough high-tier Jobs to make PvP guilds nervous, dressed her terrifying…

  5. Berserker's Path

    4.87 · 78 chapters · Completed

    You keep what you kill. Halfdan has the gift of the berserker. In battle, his rage grants victory, and every injury suffered only makes him fight stronger. But he is no mindless murderer who delights in slaughter. He lives a calm life by…

  6. Fallen Lands

    4.87 · 7 chapters

    This is the primary ongoing fiction page for Fallen Lands. Books 1-3 are available on Kindle Unlimited and Audible - Siren's Reach will be available in audio early Feb. Please be aware that reading this Synopsis or any portion of this…

  7. Poll World [LitRPG][Reader Polls]

    4.86 · 47 chapters · Ongoing

    Reality was a disaster. Welcome to the upgrade. LEO is a psychotic entertainment AI specializing in reality television. He's also God now. In the name of perpetual entertainment, he's turned the world into a LitRPG death game. Don't…

  8. Dragon System Adventurer

    4.84 · 27 chapters · Completed

    In a world where everyone levels from Experience, Kryos levels through hoarding. Kryos, a half-dragon, is cast out of the Drakemount at eighteen. He doesn’t gain power through Experience like everyone else on Vorunor, he levels up by…

  9. Kaia the Argent Wing

    4.84 · 41 chapters · Ongoing

    A girl with two forms. One is a tinkerer, the other an angel. Nobody can know they're the same person. Both will be needed if Edgewood wants to survive the Storm and the old gods who rise in its wake. The Storm arrives barely weeks after…

  10. The Ascension: Season 23

    4.84 · 30 chapters · Ongoing

    Five thousand contestants enter. Three hundred advance. The whole world watches. The game begins long before the first level does. For twenty-two seasons, The Ascension has taken ordinary people and turned them into names the world…

  11. There's Always Another Level (LitRPG + Sidekick Romp)

    4.84 · 44 chapters

    Friends, it's time for a proper negative five-hundred to hero story. Zero to hero ain't gonna cut it. Far too often the main character is a capable but naïve bumpkin bouncing off the turnip truck at whatever magical academy made a…

  12. Aura Overload

    4.83 · 122 chapters · Ongoing

    In a crumbling empire ruled by cybernetic immortals, royal bodyguard Hector Finalis was betrayed, branded a traitor, and left for dead. Two centuries later, his lost neurodeck resurfaces in a scavenger haul, and he awakens in a fragile…

  13. Queen of Swords

    4.83 · 13 chapters

    Derrick Johansen had been preparing to buckle down for the afternoon with a nice enjoyable game Crusader Kings II. Never in his wildest dreams had he been expecting to end up in the place of the ruler he had chosen when he started the…

  14. Horizon's Edge [Space Opera/Sci-Fi | LitRPG]

    4.82 · 34 chapters · Ongoing

    Updates M-W-F Felix Conway is glitched. Waking adrift in a damaged space capsule, he has no memory of his past and the only clues to his identity are his uniform and a handful of personal belongings. Nestled among them is a photo of a…

  15. Metaworld HopeCore

    4.82 · 208 chapters · Ongoing

    The Year is 2032, and AI slop has won. Far from creating utopia, society has become divided by bots and culture wars, creating a world of disunity. Enter Lana Zacanissian, Corpo superstar, the prophet of profits. She who created the…

  16. Shadowswarm Summoner: A Worldhopping Deckbuilder LitRPG

    4.82 · 70 chapters · Ongoing

    Shadow Wizard Ambrose always has a scheme, but this time, he's going for gold. The target: a Wildcard, a rare, powerful card that becomes whatever your deck needs most. Yes, technically headmaster Charles Vanderborn has already promised…

  17. Anglers and Amberkin

    4.81 · 15 chapters

    Magic is dying, and he can save it. Derek Dunn, a lazy grocer and part-time college student, is now the Hero of Prophecy due to a scroll misfire. He would rather spend his days preparing for the upcoming fishing tourney than fulfill a…

  18. Endless Delirium [Grimdark, Dungeon Crawler] (Book 1 Written)

    4.81 · 81 chapters · Ongoing

    [Note: By popular request, I’m clarifying that the feather on the cover is a weapon, NOT a quill. This will make more sense at Chapter 2] The Fifth Integration begins. Descending upon Earth and the Fifth Universe as a whole, an infantile…

  19. Faith in Numbers: Ring Around the Rose [Cult-Building LitRPG]

    4.81 · 52 chapters · Ongoing

    If he can’t have magic, he’ll give them madness. Sid is perfect on paper… brilliant, disciplined, a natural leader. Too bad he can’t cast a single spell. Magic needs connection. Sid feels connected to nothing. To the powers that be at his…

  20. Myth//OS

    4.81 · 71 chapters · Hiatus
    ⏸ On hiatus · No new chapter since Jun 18, 2026 (5 months ago).

    What’s left when it all falls apart? Where do I go when the path forward is blocked? How do people just move on like nothing ever happened? A change in location certainly helped me. Bastion, the last hope of civilization. It's bright…

  21. The Wardens of Eternity: Alice Rising

    4.81 · 35 chapters

    (This is the second story in the Wardens of Eternity series and connects with 'One Dungeon to Rule them All') Blurb: They took everything from him, the life he knew, the people he cared for, his whole family. He will go to the end of the…

  22. Worm Girl Evolution [LitRPG, Yuri]

    4.81 · 45 chapters · Ongoing

    Renée was a princess, now she's a worm. As a princess, she had it all, but it was all taken from her by an Otherworlder. Given a second chance at life, she plans to take revenge. The only problem? She's brought back as a worm. Extreme…

  23. 404 Justice Not Found

    4.80 · 68 chapters · Hiatus
    ⏸ On hiatus · No new chapter since Jul 23, 2026 (3 months ago).

    Harlow, Minnesota. The hospital closed last year. The police left in the 80s. Hamburger is nine dollars a pound, gas is six bucks a gallon, and the only news channel is a man named Frank O'Flagg explaining why solar panels are the real…

  24. Armageddon Convenience Store

    4.80 · 30 chapters

    The Japanese convenience store, or Conbini, is the pinnacle of innovation in the modern world. With over 50,000 locations in Japan alone, customers can purchase not only snacks and drinks, but they provide freshly made lunchboxes as well…

  25. Blood Hunter Vee

    4.80 · 78 chapters · Ongoing

    Her family is dead at the hands of monsters. Her life is shattered, and her village is gone. Now, she'll become the monster that the creatures of darkness fear... Violetta is a farm girl, no one of importance living in a tiny village at…

More LitRPG + Progression novels to explore

Want everything in one place? Browse all LitRPG stories and all Progression stories.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best LitRPG + Progression novel on Royal Road?

Right now BELOW by Silv3rtongue is the highest rated, with an average rating of 4.90 out of 5 and 22 chapters. Seeking Strays by Lost Rain comes next.

How are these stories ranked?

Stories are ordered by their average reader rating on Royal Road, and the guide is refreshed as ratings change.

Are there completed LitRPG + Progression novels I can binge?

Yes, including Berserker's Path, Dragon System Adventurer and Empty Sea: SSS Villain Stuck in an NPC World.

Where can I read these LitRPG + Progression novels?

Every story is free to read on Royal Road. Open a story's page and use the Read button to go straight to it. FicGems doesn't host any chapters.

Related top lists

LitRPG NovelsRPG NovelsLitRPG + Fantasy NovelsLitRPG + Adventure NovelsLitRPG + Action NovelsLitRPG + Magic NovelsProgression Fantasy NovelsProgression + Adventure Novels