Ponder the Orb

Book 1 is available on Amazon and KU! When Mark is ripped from Earth and dropped into a realm of wizard towers and magic, he is taken in by an unlikely group of hermits who spend their days smoking halflings’ leaf, arguing over spell theory, and quietly pondering glowing orbs. They call themselves the Blue Wizards. The powerful White Tower sect calls them a disgrace. But as Mark begins training with them, he realizes something unsettling: Their strange “orb pondering” might actually be a lost path to real power. As he learns to cultivate mana, unlock spells, and navigate a mysterious inner world that shouldn’t exist, Mark is pulled deeper into a system that clearly has plans for him. Unfortunately, those plans involve overflowing rifts, undead hordes, and a rapidly escalating necromancer problem that’s beginning to threaten the entire Middle Realm. It turns out slowing down, smoking pipeweed, and contemplating the universe is a lot more dangerous than it looks. [On hiatus] Cover art by Harry Bui. WHAT TO EXPECT: - Weak-to-strong wizard MC - A tower of slightly unhinged wizard mentors - Xianxia inspired mana cultivation - Daily wizard life with bursts of high-stakes magic and conflict - Spell evolutions, staff crafting, potion brewing, and inner-world cultivation - Fishing, pipe smoking, magical mushrooms… and, of course, pondering that orb! TL;DR: Lord of the Rings meets Cultivation in a LitRPG world.