Loopshard

Book 1: Completed and rewritten Book 2: Completed Book 3: Completed  Book 4: Ongoing Adam is no one special. He’s just an accountant standing in line at a bakery one early Saturday morning, because his craving for Jameson’s croissants finally broke him. Unfortunately, fate has other plans for him, as the black cubes show up before he can get his pastries. The cubes are the heralds and guides of the Trials of Defiance. They’ve decided that Adam, along with every other able-bodied human adult, is to become a Player in their game. Humanity’s future is at stake and it’s all but inevitable that Adam is going to die. After all, he’s no one special. Despite it all, he overcomes the first Stage. He attains some measure of power and then discovers a way to kill the black cube following him around. The only problem is that killing the cube takes him down with it. Oh, and it also gives him the power to go back in time when he dies. What to expect: - Infrequent timeloops (but no two loops the same) - Slowburn narrative - Minor romance subplots - Weak-to-strong protagonist - Clear progression - Roguelite-inspired GameLit (meta upgrades, etc.) - The existential horror inherent to time-travelling - Huge build variety (Relics, Weapon Types, Divine Boons, etc.) - Meta upgrades and recurring characters New chapters every Monday, Wednesday, & Friday (7pm JST) Bonus chapters at every 500-follower milestone Patreon is 25+ chapters ahead. Inspired by Korean SysApocs like ‘Master Hunter K’, and by Action Roguelite games such as ‘Hades’ and ‘The Binding of Isaac’ Cover art by Nick_Superhero I have a Discord group where you can connect with other readers of my stories. This story has only been made available on RoyalRoad and Patreon with my permission. If you find this story anywhere else, that is someone impersonating me.