Gu Demon King
100 bonafide bastards get locked in a multiversal dimension to repeatedly hunt each other in a Battle Royale, until the vilest, cruellest, scummiest, and damnest of them all survives to become the Demon King.
Anvelope · Action · 7 ch
Clever Protagonist Web Novels
Web novels tagged Clever Protagonist, sorted by what's popular on NovelCult.
The Rise of the Unbound Sovereign Sect
Ten thousand years ago, the Ascended Masters abandoned this realm, leaving behind a saturated, chaotic wasteland. Now, the remnants—towering, violent giants bloated on stagnant Qi—rule the ruins of the golden age. They don't cultivate. They just exist, trapped in an endless, brutal loop of survival and stagnation. Julian didn't reincarnate with a magical system, a heavenly physique, or a mysterious master. He fell from the void as a hundred-and-twenty-pound mortal with a degree in Ethnobotany, a pocket of stainless steel acupuncture needles, and a terrifying realization: he is the weakest thing in a world of predators. To the giants, he is just a rabbit. A piece of soft meat. To survive, Julian must prove he is a useful tool, but not too useful. He can't fight them, and the tribe only wants to use him, but Julian didn’t dedicate his life to studying the lost arts of cultivation for nothing. Using forgotten mortal medicine to bypass overloaded meridians, he begins to systematically hack the anatomy of the world's monsters to forge his own foundation. But the giants are a dead end. Clinical, selfish, and obsessed with their own survival, they will never see Julian as anything more than an expendable asset. When forced to choose between the familiar cruelty of humanoid masters and the terrifying, toxic unknown of the deep wild, Julian walks into the dark. He chooses the monsters. Stepping into the domain of a dying, Sovereign-tier horror, Julian leaves humanity behind. He won't just hack his way to a foundation; he will engineer his own faction from the ground up. Julian is going to build the Unbound Sovereign Sect, and he won't use a single human to do it. <Author’s Note / Disclaimer:> The medical, anatomical, and acupuncture theories discussed in this novel are based on real-world traditional practices and botanical science. However, they are heavily dramatized for the sake of survival fantasy. Do not attempt to use two-inch surgical steel needles to vent your friend's stagnant Qi, treat snake bites with random ferns, or perform deep-tissue Shenshu point demolition on yourself. It will not give you the physical mass of a giant; it will just put you in the hospital. Read the fiction, leave the needles to the professionals.
Magic · Eastern Fantasy · 107 ch
Simulated Journey To The Top
The Qiao Empire is a place where cultivation separates the remarkable from the forgotten. It's where a bigger fist is the law, and falling behind means staying behind, forever. Du Yuan is behind. On paper. Bamboo spends years underground before it rises faster than anything else in the forest. Du Yuan is a reincarnator. Earth's knowledge has quietly been turned into leverage. He has a seat to take over, a clan to expand. A future already meticulously mapped. Then the Simulator arrived. It made him question the understanding of the world, that took over 16 years to build. It grants cheats and golden fingers from who knows where. It runs possibilities he has lived yet hasn't lived and hands him power drawn from their outcomes. It speaks of other versions of him as casually as one speaks of the weather. He has survived a reincarnation on skepticism and patience. He doesn't plan to change any time soon. Nonetheless, His original plans need some serious modifications. The roots, however, aren't going anywhere.
Acron · Eastern Fantasy · 8 ch
Veil of Ashes
Veil of Ashes is a slow-burn, character-driven novel about survival, growth, and found family in a world rebuilt from ruins. When strangers arrive, Jo must navigate the fragile line between trust and danger, all while learning to love herself in a place that often feels unloving. Every choice carries the weight of life or death. This is a tale of resilience and connection — of fighting to reclaim hope and rebuild a life worth living. For mature readers: adult themes, strong language, and open-door romance.
Mattie Caird · Sci Fi · 11 ch
The Human Beast
In a world where power means authority, everyone strives to become stronger. Wang Han is no different; he shares the same general goal: to grow stronger. But he's not exceptional, merely the nephew of a third-tier clan leader, with talent that wouldn't even be considered average by the standards of a simple empire. He has only one advantage, or perhaps two. He uses his intellect in a world where many think with their muscles, and he disregards the means to achieve his goals. Is it possible for someone like him to reach the top of the world as he hopes? Follow Wang Han's journey to the summit... or the abyss.
The_BestX · Action · 12 ch
The Lord Of Names: How I Became The Satyr God [LitRPG-Dungeon-Comedy]
Richard ends up getting wasted until he passes out and, as almost always, wakes up in an unknown place. The difference is that the unknown place this time came full of monsters, dungeons, and an RPG system. Apparently, he had been hit by the figurative “Truck-kun”; his was drinking himself to death. Promising himself that he would never again put a drop of alcohol in his mouth and deciding to become an adventurer, Richard, now with his Bard class, will wander through this new world. Until one day, everyone will come to know him as: - The Lord of Names: The Satyr God. * * * - DAILY CHAPTERS
Jhonata_R_Jordan · Comedy · 44 ch
Bullet Memory
In 2024, a corrupt America is ruled by gangsters, thugs, and crooked politicians. Amid the chaos, Hunter a bright university fresher with a loving family and girlfriend tries to build a new life. But when shadows from his violent past resurface, he's dragged back into a world of blood, secrets, and survival. His future now hangs in the balance… and the streets don’t forgive.
Twilight67 · Action · 5 ch
Dark in the Dollhouse
In a time under the reign of the 8th King of Anarchy, this story unfolds. Yuliana blazed as her whole body was engulfed in flames. With just a withering mind left, her final option was to force her own death. So she attempts to end her life in an ultimate act of jumping off, only to get caught by a suited and eccentric dollmaker. Evander, who wields a mystical power known as Artistry, finds her fate to be an amusing one and decides to revive her from the clutches of death. Using the Codex of Life, he builds her a new body and identity, allowing her to have a fresh start at life. But the past still lingers. The flames that once burned her, and the mysterious Supreme Oracle rooted deep within her, Yuliana's fate is not yet resolved. She must deduce it, the reason that put her into such a predicament in the first place. Thus begins the tale of Evander and Yuliana, the dollmaker and his doll, the burning girl and her 'saviour'. To what end will they see their fate? What to expect: •🧠🔍 A brain churning mystery that makes the reader think and a plot that keeps on expanding. •🧐🎭 Thoughtful and expressive characters with complex emotions and actions. •🌍📜 A rich world with a long standing history and lore, spanning across 8 Anarchy Eras. •🩸🔪 A dark fantasy with intense imagery and a prose that doesn't cut in the descriptions. •🔮📖 A complex power system known as Artistry which revolves around using ichor to draw archaic sigils in the mind.
Haspberry · Fantasy · 41 ch
Damned world knights.
When a young man wakes up alone, with no memories of who he is or where he comes from. He goes on a journey to discover himself in a world filled with monsters, mysterious and people that messed around with what they should have not. Armor with a sword, knight armor and...a glowing watch?, he travels through dead and destroyed landscapes with the hope to his home...or at least a place he can call home. (This story will be on pause for a while.)
Burnbright · Action · 11 ch
Son of the Celestial Demon
A blood revenge hides deep within Shiro's memory. Who is he?. The day he finds out who he is, Murim will see blood. But all he knows now is that he must get stronger to survive in the everchanging world.
EverSleepless · Martial Arts · 1 ch
The Bells of the Buried World
Some roads lead somewhere. Others should never have existed. When a Bell sounds across the land, Marek expects trouble. He does not expect the roads themselves to stop agreeing with the maps. What begins as a routine journey carrying desperately needed medicine quickly becomes something stranger. Familiar routes lead travelers back to where they started. Forgotten roads return. Ancient markers point toward places that should be days apart. Maps that have been trusted for generations begin contradicting one another. And Marek is one of the few people capable of finding a way through. He is a skilled ranger and navigator, accustomed to reading terrain, judging distance, and noticing when something does not belong. But the world is beginning to behave according to rules no ranger was ever taught. Then Recognition begins changing people. New abilities emerge from what they understand, what they survive, and what they prove themselves capable of doing. Marek is not alone. A formidable warrior, an Elven scholar, healers, travelers, local leaders, and people caught on the wrong side of impossible roads are all beginning to discover pieces of the same mystery. None of them has the whole answer. Every discovery makes the world larger. Every answer creates another problem. And somewhere beneath roads that should not exist, something ancient is beginning to connect places that were never meant to touch. The Bells of the Buried World is a progression fantasy and high-fantasy mystery featuring exploration, meaningful character progression, practical problem-solving, dangerous creatures, archery, magic, ancient infrastructure, multiple fantasy peoples, combat with consequences, and a world whose history may be far stranger than anyone remembers.
Loreforged · Fantasy · 10 ch
Stuck as a Dark Dragon Goddess
Yesterday, twenty-six-year-old Megumi Furukawa had the worst day of her life. Now she has awakened into a mysterious world, one filled with a menagerie of magical creatures hailing her as their Dark Goddess. Even stranger, she’s become an enormous dragon, imbued with power and abilities befitting her divine station. Too bad she can’t seem to use them for herself. She can’t even leave the cave temple she supposedly rules. The details in her mind are sketchy and muddled with memories not her own. Megumi knows her twin brother Hikaru is somehow at fault. He’s the key to her returning home. And he’s nowhere to be found. Updates Sundays at noon PST Author’s note 10-04-26: Welcome to my weekly serialized novel! Please leave comments with your responses after reading. The amazing cover art is hand drawn and painted by JWABeasley. Isn't it fabulous? Go check out his webcomic Etherwood, available on webtoon and comicfury.
SmilingWorg · Shoujo · 5 ch
The Smiling Sword
Diversity is humanity’s greatest weapon. A million minds, a million ways to survive, a million ways to die. But in the face of death, everyone unifies. Everyone begs the dark for a God. My name is Sword. It wasn’t always, but I now can’t remember what it was before the Facility took it. I was kidnapped from a normal life and thrown into a place built to grind people into weapons: trials, monsters, human hunters, and choices that rot your morals. Survive, and you earn another day. Fail, and you vanish. Now I’m a soldier with one purpose: war and slaughter. This is my story. (Dark Sci-fi Progression Fantasy)
IchorX · Action · 12 ch
The Intern He Hates
Luca West has everything: the fame, the fans, the flawless image Fisher Group built for him. What nobody knows is the price he's still paying for it — and he intends to keep it that way. Then his manager brings in an intern. Noelle Auclair isn't here for the glamour. She's spent years quietly obsessed with one question: how does a man like Luca West get made? Her thesis depends on getting close enough to find out. She just never planned on him deciding, the moment he sees her, that she's a spy sent to destroy him. He wants her gone. She needs to stay. And neither of them expected the two of them figuring out the truth about the other would feel like anything but war. A slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance set behind the glass walls of the entertainment industry's most ruthless empire — where every smile is a performance, and the one person who sees through his isn't supposed to be looking at all.
ccmaker · Romance · 14 ch
Reborn as The Sect Leader's Husband
Lin Xiaoyu died smashed on a Shanghai street, phone still in hand. He wakes up in the body of a minor cultivation world side character, the sect leader's husband, three months married, and roughly one insult away from being discarded to save face. The problem: nobody actually likes this marriage. Not the sect elders, who think their leader married beneath his cultivation. Not the leader's insufferable "senior brother" and one-true-love-that-never-was, who's very publicly still around. And especially not the original Lin Xiaoyu, who apparently spent three months crying in the west courtyard instead of doing anything useful. New Xiaoyu has zero interest in crying. He has modern day pettiness, a business degree, and absolutely nothing to lose. If the sect wants a trophy husband, they're getting one who slaps faces, flips tables, and much to everyone's alarm, including his own, slowly make the terrifying, emotionally constipated Sect Leader Jiang Heng fall in love with the husband he married for political convenience.
WenSun · Yaoi · 1 ch
The Chemistry of Healing
Olivia Hartwell is a scientist, not a hero. After a mysterious catastrophe tears her from modern England and strands her in the kingdom of Eldenoor, Olivia finds herself trapped in a world of magic, prophecy, and looming civil war. The first problem is survival. The second is finding a way home. Neither should involve treating wounded soldiers, arguing with healers, or questioning centuries of accepted medical knowledge. Yet as Olivia searches for answers, she discovers that healing magic can close wounds and mend broken bones while people still die from infection, disease, and poor care. For a scientist trained to look for causes rather than symptoms, the inconsistencies are impossible to ignore. Travelling with a company raising support for a prince seeking to reclaim his stolen kingdom, Olivia becomes entangled in a conflict she never wanted. Along the way she finds friendship, purpose, and reasons to care about a world she never intended to stay in. But some wounds leave scars no magic can erase. ________________________________________ A character-driven portal fantasy featuring medicine, magic, political intrigue, slow-burn romance, and the collision of scientific thinking with a world shaped by magic.
Dr_MSC · Drama · 29 ch
A Fallen Angel
In a world ruled by magic, a scientist must survive without any. Axure Saint Avante was a genius Scientist who created an invention that revolutionised humanity. Then without warning, he found himself in a world of magic, monsters and mystery. Entangled with a royal family and caught between religious wars and false prophets, he must turn to the one thing this world doesn’t understand: science. Forced to build weapons of destruction just to survive, he begins to unravel the twisted history of this world. And the truth behind his arrival. He doesn’t belong here. He never wanted to stay here. All he wanted was to go home.
SidzWrites · Fantasy · 47 ch
Stillore: Shard and Canvas
"Yes, of course I'm scared. I don't know what to expect from tomorrow." Lance Klint is eighteen, a caring delivery guy, and a brother searching for a sister who disappeared without a trace. During a failed delivery, he will find himself torn between his old world and the new reality built by horrors beyond comprehension, a forgotten pantheon, and the very madness that consumed the archipelago he once called his home. Lance will understand that nothing is quite what it really is and that his family tragedy was something far greater than what he thought it had been. ------------------------------ Schedule: Currently striving to translate my OWN work (non native eng. speaker). Since the chapters are pretty heavy and deserve thorough translation, this novel will strive to offer its readers at least two chapters per week. Disclaimer: This Novel has a romance subplot (No harem) - Mature themes and graphic depictions - No system or cultivation - Longer chapters than usual.
Ludwika · Urban Fantasy · 131 ch
The Life of Modret
The tool, Maz, spends his days as a normal kid in the Underworld until, one day, he meets a mysterious person and comes to realize that he's connected to a much larger social and political scheme, built on warring factions, forgotten truths, and conspiracies hidden within the shadows. And, throughout it all, the tool, Maz, must walk the blurry line between fact and fiction, love and hatred, virtue and villany, if there was ever a line at all. Above all else, Maz must navigate the line between his self and his purpose as a tool. ************************************************* You can also read on Novellek or Royal Road My progress on Novellek is slower but I am trying to migrate the novel onto those platforms as well. All available chapter are already released on Royal Road.
TheFantasticODD · Mystery · 32 ch