Wrongways

Wrongways is Book 1 of Uncharted Skills, a fast, dark progression LitRPG with a hard magic system, a sarcastic system and a morally grey hero who has to walk his own road out of a lost city.

Corin Vale charges double for the honest route. The dishonest route is worse.

He is a Line-Reader. He sees where roads actually go, which in the Wrongways is not where anyone has drawn them. A deer track can shine brighter than a highway if it reaches the right place. A paved road can go dull under his boots because the ground ahead no longer leads anywhere survivable. The system that grades his work is called Verdict. It answers exactly the question it was asked, it volunteers nothing, and it has opinions about his life choices.

The Historical Office is paying him to take three wagons west to an abandoned watch station, where a landslip has uncovered something old. The permit is red-sealed, the fee is good, and a rival salvage crew is already on the road.

Then every route home is lost.

Fifteen people, six mules and three wagons are standing on top of a city that was cut off from the world on purpose, by people who never wrote down why. There is no road out. Corin is going to have to make one, by walking it, under everything the Wrongways can throw at him. Every step will cost something.

The magic has rules. Every road has a price.

Set in the world of Kelvara, with sharper edges.