Hello valiant readers! You probably noticed it's been a while since I posted a new chapter of NPC Academy. Here's the update:

What's the deal? Why haven't I been around? There are a number of whiney excuses I could provide, but the reality is I just wasn't enjoying the writing process for this story anymore. This was my first attempt writing a litRPG (I've focused primarily on traditional fantasy and sci fi before this), and thinking about stats and levels and quests constantly became exhausting. Even though I enjoy litRPG as a reader, I'm not sure it's the subgenre of Progression Fantasy for me as a writer.

So what does that mean for the future of NPC Academy? I am genuinely and eternally grateful to all of you who read the almost 100k words of NPC Academy to this point. I still love the story and the vision I have for the direction it will go. At some time in the future, I intend to return to it, and may even continue posting a chapter here and there as a break from writing other things. But in general it will be on an indefinite hiatus.

What's the next project then? I'm currently 30+ chapters into an isekai cultivationesque novel that I plan to publish on RR in the near future. It will be darker than NPC Academy and feature progression much more heavily (think Cradle speed growth). I'm not sure on the release timeline yet, as I want to make sure it's well polished and have a more significant backlog that I did for NPC Academy, but I'm hopeful it will be before the end of the year. I'm having a blast writing it and planning all the twists and epic moments to come. Can't wait to share it with you all.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Here's the blurb:

Scythe & Shadow

Miles is a Reaper.

He is pulled from the real world into the Umbral Plane and forced to slaughter the monstrous souls of his fellow humans to stay alive. He had a fiancé, dreams, a life. The deranged gods who oversee the world took that from him. And they continue to take.

But they went too far.

He's done accepting his fate. He'll gain strength and venture through the seven realms straight to the gates of Hell itself.

Then he'll find the ones who did this to him.

To all the human race.

And when he's done with them, they'll know…

You Reap what you sow.

* * *

If this sounds interesting to you, please stick around as I'll post an additional update here once it launches on RR. In the meantime, I'll keep writing. Also, if anyone has interest in being a beta reader please send me a DM. I'd love some early feedback.

Happy reading, all!