Literature / The Wandering Inn

A tale of a girl, an inn, and a world full of levels.

The Wandering Inn, by 'pirateaba', is an ongoing LitRPG Web Serial Novel that follows the life of a young woman named Erin Solstice who finds herself in a fantasy world ruled by a leveling system and classes. However, instead of becoming a famous adventurer or hero, she becomes an innkeeper.

The story initially focuses around Erin's attempts to survive in a hostile world where she does not know how to defend herself or even survive. Non-human species are the only people who live in the surrounding area, and Erin quickly finds that monsters and magic are an accepted part of this world. Erin is forced to reconcile herself with making moral choices such as killing in self defense — something which is completely unnatural to a normal girl from our world.

A second protagonist, Ryoka Griffin, is introduced later in the story. She has a different viewpoint and experience of the world than Erin does, and has to contend with her own share of adaptation to this new world. It is soon revealed that she and Erin are in fact only a few inter-dimensional travelers among many and that these events are affecting entire nations as ordinary people become adventurers and start creating waves wherever they appear.

The Wandering Inn began in July 2016 and updates regularly on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The author put out the first volume on Amazon Kindle. Each successive volume is even bigger than its predecessor; in total the web serial exceeds 13 million words as of the end of Volume 9.

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This series provides examples of:

A-M

• 11th-Hour Superpower: Due to the way Levels work and how Skills are gained by context and necessity, protracted sieges or harsh conflicts can lead to widespread leveling on the defenders’ side. This "counter-leveling" usually means huge casualties on the pressured side, but can quickly turn a rout into a bitter war of attrition.

• Action Bomb:
  • Acid Flies use their flesh-dissolving acid to eat carrion. If hit, they explode that acid on their would-be predator.
  • The Goblin Lord uses undead goblins filled with explosives to break enemy lines.

• Adventure-Friendly World: Adventurers are needed to keep monsters in check, and introduce valuable monster parts and artifacts to the economy. They have formal Guild chapters with job requests, taxes, various amenities, and a clearly-defined ranking evaluation system.
  • Bronze are inexperienced, low-level, and have few-to-no magical equipment. Silver are run-of-the-mill, with levels generally below 30 and decent combat capabilities against most monsters. Gold are exceptional, have great equipment and levels, have more obligations to help in case of emergencies, and are required to undergo frequent evaluations under truth-stones to make sure they aren't endangering others or abusing their power. Lastly, Named Adventurers are called that because their names are known across the world, and are generally understood to be some combination of insane, and heroic.

• Always a Bigger Fish: A reoccurring theme. 8.61 in particular has the not-so-Dead Gods (who are all now soul-devouring monsters) become terrified when they see a group of "what should not be" approaching from over the edge of the world.

• Anti-Human Alliance: While Drakes and Gnolls of Southern Izril do fight often, they also have a loose military alliance opposing the humans to the north. Justified by the fact that the humans conquered the land from them several thousand years ago.

• Anti-Magic: Both as a spell as well as an enchantments for weapons.

• Animated Armour: Empty suits of magically animated armor found in Liscor’s dungeon.

• Anyone Can Die: And how! The first warning sign was Klbkch dying to save Erin from goblins, but then came the climax of volume one where nearly all of the 20+ named characters investigating Liscor’s ruins are killed in a disastrous raid wipe. This trend only intensifies as the story continues.

• Apple of Discord: Loot Drama is a common reason for Adventuring Teams to break up. Pyrite "the Golden Goblin" was infamous for throwing treasure at attacking adventurers, often resulting in them turning on each other while his tribe could escape. Ryoka traded a powerful wand that the Horns of Hammerad had recovered, rather than letting it divide the team.

• The Archmage:
  • Traditionally for Wistram, [Archmage] is a high-level class-progression of [Mage], but in recent times it has simply become a title due to no one being able to achieve the actual Class. There are currently six "official" Archmages associated with Wistram who compete in its ruling council for influence.
  • In the entire world, not counting historical and deceased figures, there are several who can be named as the absolute best of all [Mages], outmatching even Wistram's Archmages: Teriarch, Xrn, Az'kerash, Rhisveri Zessoprical, and Silvenia Ettertree.

• Artificial Human: The String-folk were created as golems at some point in the distant past, but are nonetheless a fully sentient independent species.

• Backup Bluff: When confronted by several human guardsmen, Ksmvr claims Diplomatic Impunity, and that arresting him would result in war between their species. Being exiled from his Hive, he had no power to enforce any of this, but they were too terrified of kicking off another Antinium War to question it.
  • Later Played for Laughs when Yellow Splatters unknowingly copies him several Volumes later. He had no backup either.
  • Taken to its Logical Extreme in Volume 7 when Bird attempts to do this to the Walled City of Pallass while on a live, world-wide broadcast. A new Antinium War would have started if they'd attacked him because even the watching Antinium Queens assumed he was speaking for them.

• Badass in a Nice Suit: The Brotherhood of Serendipitous Meetings is a gang in Izril with this motif. Despite most of them coming from poor backgrounds, they are very fashion-conscious, speak overly politely, and have a Code of Honor about only targeting those who can afford it, or who have it coming. Their fancy clothing always comes with a personal hat, both to complete the look, and to serve as a fair warning for when The Hats Come Off.

• Barred from the Afterlife: Most everyone who has died since the gods did lives on as ghosts in the Land of the Dead, Kasigna's domain, since there are no divine afterlives to pass onto anymore. Exceptions seem to include Goblins, Antinium, and anyone evil enough to warrant being sent to Hell; it's later revealed the aforementioned three categories are sent to Hellste, though why the former two is anyone's guess.

• Battle Aura: Powerful people naturally exude a supernatural presence because Awesomeness Is a Force. Individuals can train or gain Skills to manifest their auras in more tangible ways.

• Battle Butler:
  • Lady Magnolia's [Butler] Reynold Ferusdam carries magical items and has the Skills to ward off attackers. It is later revealed that he is, in fact, a [Combat Butler] . Similarly, the rest of Magnolia's staff are trained to be capable in multiple fields by the [Head Maid], Ressa, who is an assassin.
  • Orthenon, [Steward] and Left Hand of the King of Destruction, is a powerful warrior and military commander on the level of the Seven. He spends most of his time managing the kingdom.

• Beast Man: The aptly named Beastkin, of which there are several tribes based on different species. Rabbit, Fox, Squirrel, Jackal, Owl, Cat, and others. These are each considered distinct from the other animal-adjacent races like Gnolls, Lizardfolk, Garuda, and Minotaurs.

• The Beastmaster: [Beast Tamer], and its Class variations, tame and fight alongside various creatures, often forming a psychic bond or shared Skills in the process.

• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Serious injuries, and unpleasant bodily functions are shown with many characters, even attractive women.

• Benevolent Precursors: The Gnomes were these for the Fraerlings, the only species smaller than even them.

• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Erin is very friendly, and hates killing, even when it's necessary to save lives. But when she does decide to fight, she doesn't hold back.
  Erin: I don’t enjoy it. I hope I never will. But I can kill things. Other monsters, or even people. Not just dead people either. If it came down to it, I could kill someone trying to kill me.
  • Inverted with Ryoka, who, despite being an extremely unfriendly character, discovers she doesn't have any killer instinct when she goes Dungeon Crawling.

• Big Badass Battle Sequence:
  • Volume 1: Skinner and its undead horde escape the Liscor dungeon and attack the city, while every relevant character in the area rallies to fight and drive them back.
  • Volume 5: A horde of colossal Face-Eater Moths attack Liscor from the dungeon.
  • Volume 5: The Goblin Lord's forces are forced to attack Liscor by Tyrion's army. The Solstice Goblins, and the Painted Antinium join the defense of Liscor.
  • Volume 6: An adult Creler and its horde ambush the Horns of Hammerad, the Wistram team, and several Silver Rank teams on a routine guard job. When reinforcements finally arrive after an hour, 13 of the adventurers are still alive, the Adult Creler is dead, and The Horns are deemed undeniably Gold-Rank.

• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Many types exist, including the giant Shield Spiders, Face-eater Moths, Rock Crabs, and the dreaded Crelers.

• Bilingual Bonus: Many members of the United Nations Company occasionally speak in their respective native languages.

• Binding Ancient Treaty:
  • Most nations have a magically-binding agreement to send a tithe of troops, money, or supplies to Rhir’s Forever War. This has been in place in one form or another since the Creler Wars, about 6,000 years ago.
  • After what’s implied to have been an attempt at world domination in the distant past, the Minotaurs were exiled to the Isles of Minos, and charged with keeping Sóve’s Island of Goblins in a check. While Minotaurs are generally a Proud Warrior Race who sees this as an honorable duty, some people question exactly which side is really meant to be contained by this Sealed Evil in a Duel.

• Bizarre Alien Biology: Many people in Liscor believe Erin (a human) can spit blood on command after a misunderstanding regarding her asking about buying tampons. The optional "Mating Rituals" Interludes go into the more intimate parts of how species differ.

• Bizarre Taste in Food: Several species have absolutely no problem eating insects, with dishes containing bees or acid flies being popular in the inn. Bird sometimes likes to let his kills rot a bit before eating them.

• Botanical Abomination: The Blood Fields are a massive region south of Liscor infested with deadly plants that feed on blood, all of which have creative and horrifying ways of collecting it.

• Breather Episode: Occasionally, there's a chapter where nothing major happens and we simply get to see the daily lives of some of the residents of the world.

• Brick Joke: "Is it war?" — The Antinium seem to have developed an in-universe Catchphrase, all thanks to Ksmvr trolling the Celum City Watch. Bird hears about it and assumes it is a perfect "Get Out of Jail Free" Card, unfortunately making his attempt on the Inn-World's equivalent of live television. Escalates even further when some individuals notice the pattern of its usage and try to call their bluff.
  Assassin: Is it war, Antinium?
  Xrniavxxel: Very well, then. It is war.

• Bug War: Antinium did attempt to conquer Izril twice, and most think it's just a matter of time for a Third Antinium War.

• But I Read a Book About It: In Volume 7 it's revealed that the popular book that lists [Lord] Hayvon as only the 5th strongest [Lord] in the world was actually funded by Rhir. The Death of Magic ended up retreating after realizing the trick.

• Calling Your Attacks:
  • Many people call the names of Skills when using them. Many have mastered their Skills to the point where they don't need to. Then there's Erin...
    TABLE FLIP ATTACK!
  • Also a notable trait of the bombastic Relc, who loves to call out attacks like "Relc Punch" or "Relc Headbutt," despite them not being actual Skills. They're sometimes useful as feints in serious fights though.

• Capital Letters Are Magic: Skills, Levels, and Classes have different meaning based on capitalization. All known Spells, Skills, and Classes are capitalized and have square brackets around them.

• The Cavalry: At the climax of Volume 5, with Liscor besieged by the Goblin Lord and the human armies of Tyrion Veltras poised to follow once the city falls to the goblins, the free goblins Erin has befriended over the course of the entire story—the Redfang Five, the Flooded Waters tribe, and the cave goblins—come to her and ask her what she wants them to do. Moved to tears by their self-sacrificing offer, she begs them to save Liscor. And they do so, decisively turning the battle around and saving the city from Tyrion's scheming—all for Erin's sake.

• Cell Phones Are Useless: Heavily averted. Cellphones are quite rare in this world and considered to be extremely valuable artifacts, since a general [Repair] Spell recharges them.

• Chainmail Bikini:
  • Averted. Adventuring and warfare are both very dangerous professions, so armor covers as much as they can.
  • Mars the Illusionist often appears to wear impractical armor like this, but considering how much of her appearance is an illusion at any given time, it's safe to assume it's an affectation.
  • New enslaved [Gladiators] are often stuck in this as Yvlon finds out to her displeasure, but will upgrade as soon as possible.

• Character Level: A mechanic built into the world. Most intelligent beings gain Classes, Levels, and Skills based on what they do, how they do it, and how they are perceived by themselves and others. The fact that Goblins and Demons do level does not stop them from being viewed as monsters, however.

• Charm Person: [Ladies] often specialize in this, while various other Ruler, Diplomat, or Merchant Classes can have Skills enabling it to varying degrees.

• City of Adventure:
  • Lady Magnolia's seat of power, Invrisil, is known by the epithet "City of Adventurers" for its high Adventurer population.
  • Increasingly, the border city of Liscor (where much of the main plot occurs) is gaining a reputation as this.

• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: [Shamans] derive their power from the shared belief and latent magical power of a group, usually a tribe. [Priests]' Miracles are similarly powered.

• Clique Tour: When the series presents the backstory of Pisces and Ceria in the setting's Wizarding School, much of the chapter is taken up with explaining the various political factions of mages within the school, some of which become narratively relevant later on.

• The Constant: At the start of the story, the inn is somehow the one structure standing in a village that was otherwise completely destroyed years prior.

• Continuing is Painful: When an Antinium dies, there is a method to revive them, but at the cost of a great deal of resources, and 10 levels from each of that Antinium's Classes.

• Cooking Duel: Pebblesnatch enters an impromptu one with several other Goblin [Chefs]. Garry the Antinium won.

• Courier: There is a ranking for Runners before they are designated Couriers.
  • "Street Runners" are the lowest rung in the Runner's Guild and deliver things within a city.
  • "City Runners" are considered a step below Courier, delivering more mundane packages between cities.
  • True Couriers are Gold and Named-rank Runners who securely deliver anything anywhere via some combination of Super-Speed, magic, or just being a One-Man Army that cannot be stopped.

• Cosmic Horror Reveal:
  • The story starts as a fairly standard LitRPG Fantasy setting focusing on Slice-of-Life. Early on, it's mentioned that the gods of the world are all dead, hence the lack of any [Clerics], and the common swear "Dead Gods". It turns out that the gods are dead. Some of them are very unhappy with this, and are willing to do anything to be restored. By Volume 8, Erin is trapped in the Land of the Dead, pursued by these undead gods, who are eating the helpless souls of most everyone who has ever lived. The Things that even they fear are crawling their way up from the Last Tide. No wonder the Fey and the rest of The Multiverse has quarantined this universe.
  • The mechanics behind the transportation of Earthers to this world? Its a ritual that runs on the sacrifices of unborn children, and is actively weakening the fabric of reality.

• Cyclops:
  • Gazers are an enigmatic, sapient species that have a variety of arrangements of magical eyes, on a mostly humanoid body plan. Most species find them to appear alien (they may be descended from Eldrich Abominations from beyond the edge of the known world), and they are largely isolationist. Gazi, a half-gazer, is the only one ever shown to the reader until Volume 8. She has a large, magic-augmented eye in the middle of their face and smaller, less clairvoyant ones all around the main one, and for most of the story it could easily be assumed that ALL Gazers had only head-centered eyes.
  • Actual Cyclopes are a type of humanoid monster that is considered a Gold-rank threat.

• Deal with the Devil: The creatures that appear on the Solstice seem very eager to make trades.

• Defeat Means Respect: This a core value of Goblin politics. Unless a defeated Tribe truly believes the winner to be "Not-Goblin" (the gravest insult possible in their society), they will readily accept the authority of a new Chieftain.

• Degraded Boss: As befits a world built around dungeon crawling, though played with. The initial foray by Silver-ranked adventurers into the dungeon near Liscor accidentally unleashes Skinner, a horrific monstrosity that results in a near Total Party Kill and proceeds to escape and lay siege to Liscor itself. Some time later during a different POV we discover that the dungeon has long been breached by the Free Antinium who have been constantly fending off waves of monsters spilling into their own tunnels, of which Skinner is merely one of many such monsters known as Crypt Worms, albeit significantly more ancient and well equipped than the run of the mill ones.

• Disappointed by the Motive: The Half-Seekers to Garen Redfang for why he betrayed them. Their teammates were in the wrong, yes, but he killed them in cold blood. Nothing can excuse that.

• Door Fu:
  • Played with by The Horns of Hammerad in Albez. Yvlon uses a heavily enchanted door as an impromptu shield. When Ksmvr later suggests using it as one from now on, they all tell him that'd be ridiculous.
  • The Half-Troll Durene uses a door as a shield because regular shields are too small.

• Draconic Humanoid: The Drakes are distantly related to dragons. A few of them, titled Oldbloods, have some draconic abilities, either a breath weapon or wings. In extremely rare cases, one will be born with both.

• The Dreaded:
  • Flos the "King of Destruction" conquered his home continent and nearly the world several decades ago. He's considered to be the highest-level ruler in the world, and is specialized entirely in warfare. The mere possibility that he would use his Skills to aid one side in a war saw a coalition of seven nations partially retreat, and three Wistram Arch-Mages panic.
  • Crelers are an Enemy to All Living Things with the oldest examples being noted as capable of fighting dragons.

• Due to the Dead: After Zel Shivertail is slain by the Necromancer at the battle of Invrisil, the Goblin Lord forbids his army from desecrating his body and withdraws, recognizing Zel as a Worthy Opponent.

• Dungeon Bypass: Subverted. Entering a dungeon from an unintended route can bypass dangerous traps, but usually only at the cost of leaving an Adventurer party attacked from multiple sides with no cleared escape route. Disabling, and even selling parts of Durable Deathtraps is highly recommended, however.

• Dungeon Crawling: As expected for an RPG Mechanics 'Verse. A dungeon discovered beneath Liscor kicks off a major part of the plot.

• Dying Moment of Awesome: High-Level people, particularly [Warriors], often keep fighting after taking fatal wounds, or even after technically already being dead.

• Earn Your Title: World-renowned individuals usually have some sort of unique epithet they're known by. This is considered obligatory for someone being considered Named-Rank.
  • Erin has several depending on who you ask including The Crazy Human of Liscor for the insane stunts she's pulled in the past, the Inkeeper of Liscor, and the Innkeeper of Solstice. To the Antinium she's The sky, or a manifestation of heaven, To the Goblins she is initially known as the Destroyer for killing a Goblin chieftan early on, while it has not yet in occured in the future she is known as The Goblinfriend of Izril.
  • Halrac getting the nickname "the Grim" is seen as a sign he's bordering on becoming a Named-rank Adventurer.
  • Ryoka gets the nickname "Wind Runner of Reizmelt", making many potential clients take notice of her, wondering if she's going to become a Courier soon. In actuality, she just got the nickname from the local kids because she often let them play in her wind, not through any great act. It stuck when she was actually made a Courier though.
  • King Raelt is immediately given the epithet "King of Duels" after surviving a fight with Flos "The King of Destruction". The announcer specifically says that after doing that, he can't be called just a [King] anymore.
  • A more general epithet that still carries a lot of weight is "Hell's Warden". This title, along with a sizable bounty, is given to anyone who kills an Adult Creler like the Horns of Hammerad.

• Eiffel Tower Effect: Erin eventually gains a Skill that literally turns The Wandering Inn into a locally-famous landmark. Even without it, people on other continents know about Erin and her inn.

• Eldritch Abomination:
  • The three strangers who visited Erin's Inn and met Ryoka during the Winter Solstice are revealed to be the Dead Gods themselves. The ones visiting Erin even offered gifts in exchange for her soul, and it is hinted that if even one of them had touched Ryoka she would have been dragged into the darkness forever.
  • Seamwalkers, which are certain... things (implied to be similar to the D&D concept of Aberrations) are said to exist over the edge of the world. A’ctelios Salash is a cursed city built out of one's corpse, and the Empire of Drath is dedicated to fending them off. There is a reason that area is known as "where dragons do not fly".

• Elite Zombie: Draugr, Crypt Lords, Flesh Pits, Skeleton Lords, and many more.

• Evil Laugh:
  • Chapter 1.01C has one. For full effect, make sure your reading device has sound enabled.
  • While less evil, laughter later gets weaponized by Erin using her Witch class.

• Eye Scream: Erin gives one, when she pokes out Gazi's eye.

• Failure Gambit: This was Garen's approach to fighting Rags. He's much stronger than her, but doesn't have the organizational abilities to counter the Goblin Lord. When she manages to "defeat" him, he's then made second-in-command to a tactical prodigy he feels he can control.

• Faint in Shock: When Jelaqua Ivirith, a Selphid, which are basically parasites that inhabit dead bodies, literally opens her stomach to show Erin her true form that is located in that region? Erin faints, when she sees Jelaqua waving to her, inside of...well, Jelaqua.

• The Fair Folk: The annoying little pixies hate Cold Iron and go as far as calling an avalanche to punish whoever dares to show them disrespect.

• Family Theme Naming: With the exception of Shallel who married into the family, House Byres' family members have names that start with the letter 'Y', like Yvlon, Ylawes, Ysara and Yitton. Yderigrisel, Dragon and friend of the Byreses, was another example, though it's not certain whether the naming tradition started because of him or it was before his time.

• Fantastic Caste System:
  • Dullahans have a hierarchy based on the material of their armor, with wood at the bottom, and magical materials such as mithril at the top.
  • String Folk have a system based on what material they are made of, with hemp at the bottom, cotton in the middle and silk on top. Unlike Dullahans however, they cannot change their fundamental material and improve, and their system is noticeably stricter as a result.
  • Antinium have to expand their existing caste system over the course of the story to account for Individuals and 'lesser' forms of Individuals.

• Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: By dint of being another world full of magic, the flora there has grown in strange and supernatural ways.
  • The sweet-tasting Amentus Fruit, which Erin obliviously calls “blue fruit”, is a famed delicacy on Izril, but is difficult to prepare due to a massive, highly toxic seed core within.
  • “Yellats” are spicy, carrot-like vegetables common on Chandrar since they are easy and fast to grow compared to most food crops.

• Fantastic Racism: Drakes and Gnolls don't think highly of humans (or each other), and vice versa. Half-Elves are often either deemed "half-breeds" or seen only for their innate beauty. Drakes dislike Lizardfolk on principle. The Antinium are hated and feared in any place outside of Liscor. Goblins and Demons are seen as monsters.

• Festering Fungus: One of the four quadrants of Liscor’s Dungeon is infested with this.
• Fingore: A fairly common occurrence among Adventurers, as healing potions tend to not restore anything cut off. Ryoka Griffin gets two bitten off, and then several broken later on in an interrogation.

• Fisher King: People with "ruler" Classes often get Skills that can affect their people in ways that reflect themselves. This can range from anything from allowing a village to sleep better, to making every citizen of an empire unable to tell a lie or keep secrets.

• Flaming Sword: [Burning Blades] is a skill that allows this. When Rags gets it, she sees it as near-useless for actual battle, but uses its Mundane Utility to great effect.

• Flat World: While celestial bodies seem to be normal, there is a definite end to the world called the Last Tide. Also known as the seam of the world, it's an Eldritch Location that contains "things that should not be". Later events reveals this is a subversion; the stars are fake, light comes from the sky instead of the sun, it's the same time of day no matter where in the world you are, and the world is round—there's just a massive hole in it where there used to be two additional continents and the world is so large that no one has yet realized it's possible to sail around the hole. It's speculated by those aware that someone or something might have modeled it after Earth's own universe without understanding the workings.

• Food Chain of Evil: The High Passes. Ryoka is attacked by Goblins, who are promptly attacked by Carn Wolves, who accidentally chase her into a herd of Flesh-Eater Goats, who then all stumble into a nest of Gargoyles, who are then all scared away by Teriarch, who is later revealed to be a Dragon.

• Forever War: The continent of Rhir has been locked in one against Demons for millennia. Baleros is in a constant state of warfare between mercenary companies.

• Full-Frontal Assault:
  • Saliss of Lights is a Named-Rank Adventurer infamous for being a nudist.
  • Krshia gets a moment of this when she's woken up at night by the Raskghar attack on Liscor.
  • Later invoked by the Free Hive as a matter of Combat Pragmatism while fighting Belavierr, who can control the threads making up clothes.

• Gambit Pileup:
  • The conclusion of Volume 5: Tyrion Veltras, the Grand Antinium Queen, and Az'Kerash all had a scheme for how they would take control of Liscor once it fell. Then Erin comes out and accidentally sparks an inter-Goblin war trying to make peace.
  • 8.64K: Wistram falls into one. The Earthers in Wistram, the entire Drake Coalition, a Drowned Fleet, the Golems of Wistram, three Archmages, and the Ullsinoi faction are all drawn into one by Trey Atwood. Then the Quarass and Rasea Zecrew turn out to have been involved as well. The ensuing bedlam frees Amerys, and earns Trey the [Chao Schemer] Class.

• Giant Enemy Crab: The Rock Crabs of the surrounding area are large and aggressive predators that hide in plain sight.

• Giant Spider: In the nearby area of Erin's Inn are spiders, which are not just huge, but have armor on their back, giving them the name "Shield Spiders".

• Giving Radio to the Romans: Deconstructed and Played for Drama. Ryoka actually has some knowledge about how a lot of Earth's technology actually works, but she's so afraid that it will fall into the wrong hands that she can't reveal any of it. Not everyone is so concerned, though, and progressively we get things like noblemen eating ice cream and even a millennia-old dragon marveling at a smartphone's game apps.

• Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: All undead have magical glowing flames in their eyes or eye-sockets. Toren’s eyes glow blue, later becoming purple when he absorbs a red magical gem enchanted with [Fear]. King Fetohep's eyes have a golden glow. His fellow Revenants of Khelt exhibit various variations in the colour and size of their eye-lights.

• Good Witch Versus Bad Witch: Regardless of personal morality, [Witches] tend to stand up for each other, as the whole community is often persecuted. Murdering a fellow [Witch] is the only crime not tolerated.

• Götterdämmerung: The gods are dead. This is an undisputed fact known by seemingly everyone in the world. People told any information about the gods seem to collapse, and forget what they've been told. The gods are not happy about this, and some are actively trying to come back.

• Gratuitous Ninja: Averted. The half-Japanese Ryoka jokingly claims she should get a katana to fit the stereotype, and Magnolia notes on several occasions how absurd the idea of ninjas is.

• Green Thumb:
  • Moore of the Halfseekers is a [Green Mage], capable of thorny vines around his hands and body to serve as armor.
  • The [Druid] class fits the bill, able to cause grass and other plants to grow in places they usually don't. Members of this class include Magnolia's gardener Nalthal and then later Mrsha after she reads from the tome of magic Ryoka obtained from Teriarch.

• The Great Wall:
  • The aptly named Walled Cities. The loss of one is considered irreplaceable, and a blow to the entire Drake species.
  • The Blighted King has four magical walls, and is trying to add a fifth. Each one is over twice as tall as the Great Wall of China, and has some of the best magical defenses, and highest-leveled people defending them, but all but the final wall have been breached before.

• Half-Human Hybrid: Ceria is a half-elf. The Half-Seekers are a Gold-Ranked Adventurer Party made up entirely of various hybrids and "undesirable" species. Durene, Laken's lover and [Paladin] is a half-troll. Half-giants are also a thing.

• Happy Rain: Liscor's area has incredibly dismal rains in the spring, leading to heavy flooding in the valleys and general annoyance for the population. This trope comes into effect after the second defense of Liscor, when a magically summoned rain storm drives off the horde of Face-eater Moths attacking the city, allowing the defenders to celebrate and relax in the rain.

• Harmful Healing: Applying Healing Potions, or most [Healer] Skills to diseases, bad bone breaks, or places where the flesh immediately trying to knit itself back together (regardless of what is or isn't in its way) is not a good idea. Only a Potion of Regeneration and the [Regeneration] spell can reliably subvert this, although both options are nowhere near as common.

• Hate Sink: Perusa is Ryoka's main rival in the Runner's Guild. She is a lazy and cowardly runner that is described as "rat-faced". She abused the Guild's unofficial rules to get her way, then immediately ignored them after she lucked into some good Skills and didn't benefit from them anymore. She's shattered Ryoka's legs, swapped out her health potions before a difficult run, spread rumors about her, held Ivolethe hostage, and has explicitly stated that she wants Ryoka to be raped and then die screaming.

• He Knows Too Much: Saliss invokes this when Ulvama leaves a note called him a 'pretty lady'. Subverted when Teriarch also recognises that Saliss is trans.

• Hidden in Plain Sight: Rock Crabs hide their massive body under a giant shell that looks like a boulder. Since there are no other boulders in the Flood Plains, it makes them really easy to spot...assuming that you know that the giant rock is a monster.

• Hijacked by Ganon: The Necromancer is actually the master of the Goblin Lord.

• Hive Caste System: The Antinium have a caste system. The Queen of the Hive makes them with an explicit purpose in mind, and forms their bodies in a way to make them more efficient in it; a Soldier has, for example, a huge muscular body, while a Worker has a small slender one.

• Hive Mind: The insect-looking Antinium possess a hive mind of sorts, which makes them all mentally connected to each other. However, they are not quite a true hive mind like the True Antinium of Rhir.

• Hive Queen: The gigantic Grand Queen of the Antinium is able to change the memories of the hive mind. When Klbkch died, his memories were still present in all Antinium, but if the Queen had just wished it, no Antinium would have known he had ever existed.

• The Horde: This is historically the natural culmination of Goblin-kind: They are individually weak, but form small tribes of dozens to hundreds, which given time to grow or conquer and absorb other tribes, will lead to armies of thousands under a Goblin Lord. And if a Goblin Lord and their armies are allowed to grow even stronger, they can become a Goblin King commanding hundreds of thousands or even millions of Goblins. These ultimate hordes are so powerful that Goblin Lords are purged whenever found, and the entire world has treaties agreeing to unite against a Goblin King (exceptional in a world almost continually at war).

• Horde of Alien Locusts: Crelers are a particularly nasty form of this. They eat and burrow through anything in their path, reproduce exponentially, and grow exponentially stronger and more intelligent with age. "Juveniles" are considered a high Silver-Rank threat. "Adults" usually require several Gold-Rank Teams to take down. "Elders" are some of the most powerful creatures known to exist. "Ancients" have been known to kill truly ancient dragons.

• Horror Hunger: A condition that can be inflicted by horror ranks. The [Florist] of Esthelm was one such victim; even goblins willing to pick and eat parasites off each other's skulls were perturbed by her eating habits..

• Human Disguise: Used by some goblins, notably Garen Redfang, to sneak into human cities.

• Humans Are Not the Dominant Species: Played with; while Humans are the only species to have a notable presence on every continent, the size of the world and number of species means that no species is truly dominant.

• Humans Are White: Played with then averted. Most Humans in the initial setting are white, having originated from Terandria, a temperate northern continent, before spreading to the continent Izril where the Wandering Inn is located. The humans from Earth, run the full spectrum of ethnicities. In contrast, humans that originate on the desert continent of Chandrar are dark skinned while those who originate on the Drath archipeligo look Asian, Ryoka is actually mistaken for a Drath islander originally.

• Human Sacrifice: The power source behind the transportation of Earthers to this world? It's a ritual that runs on the sacrifices of unborn children, and is actively weakening the fabric of reality.

• I Know Your True Name: Be very careful to whom you reveal your full name, as a scrying spell allows the user to see the whereabouts of the target, wherever it is, as long as he is aware of the full name. Averted for Ryoka since her "true name" (on her birth certificate) is actually written in Kanji, so most people can't visualize the characters for it.

• I Let You Win: Rags calls out Garen for doing this to her after their fight.

• Incredibly Obvious Bug: Repeatedly subverted with the Antinium.
  • Tersk and Dekass are remarkably successful with their Blatant Lies about being regular Soldiers.
  • Ksmvr and Artur manage to be repeatedly overlooked by staying still and quiet while in plain sight.

• Indestructible Edible: Erin finds some of these in the inn, which helps her survive her first several days post-isekai.
  • After this trope is subverted, it returns when Erin gains her Field of Preservation Skill.
  • Much later, Erin creates an Indestructible Edible that nearly nobody and nothing can break.

• Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Half-Elves are described as having unearthly features and a naturally high metabolism.

• Insistent Terminology: Drakes get very angry when you call them lizards.
  • Lyonette insists that others use her full name, not shorten it to Lyon, as befits a [Princess]. Her character arc eventually leads her to accepting the nickname as perfectly fine, and even begins to prefer it in an effort to remain anonymous.
  • In 9.50 Klbkch repeatedly corrects Garry for not refering to him by his title.

• Interspecies Adoption: Hawk, a Rabbit Beastkin, was adopted and raised by Drake parents.
  • Bevussa, a Garuda, was also adopted and raised by Drake parents.
  • Mrsha gets officially adopted by Lyonette.

• Interspecies Romance: It's fairly common for individuals of different species to date or marry. These couples often either adopt, or use specialized fertility spells to have a baby of one of their species. Some species are close enough to produce a hybrid, though this is very rare, and the hybrid is generally an outcast.

• Invisible to Normals: Winter Sprites appear as glowing balls of white light in Winter. They are actually fairies, but only people who have eaten certain chemicals can see them, per Irish folklore. These chemicals are now common in Earth food colorings, meaning some Earthers can see their true form.

• Isekai Bonus: Earthers seem to level faster than Innworld natives. It's unclear whether this is a direct result of what brought them there, or just the Leveling System taking into account their status as Fish out of Water when determining their efforts. During parts where it gets to work after its reveal as the Grand Design of Isthekenous, Earthers are revealed to have the <Outsider> tag, which multiplies their deeds and achievements by the value of π. Not even it knows why the rule is there. As of 9.61G, the Grand Design amended the multiplier down to 1.5 for the sake of fairness.

• It Can Think: Skinner the Flesh Worm, as well as Crelers, especially the grown ones.
  • A horrifying revelation to Erin is when Pisces informs her that her "pet" skeleton Toren had developed true individual consciousness unlike other skeletons—after Erin's inconsiderate but unknowing treatment of Toren as an unthinking servant had already driven him to rebel, and become a violent and uncontrolled killer.
  • Volume 5 has the Raskghar, a primitive offshoot of Gnolls that sacrificed their intelligence and ability to Level millennia ago in return for greater strength. First, they regain sentience in a full moon, immediately becoming a much bigger threat. Then, Liscor realizes almost too late that the moon is still full even in the day. Lastly, it's revealed that they can keep their enhanced strength and intelligence permanently by eating a Gnoll's heart.

• Jackass Genie: Djinn hate being enslaved, and will do anything in their power to get out of their Magically-Binding Contract and wreak havoc.

• Kill It with Water:
  • How the First Antinium War was won; once it was discovered that Antinium can't float, the allied armies started flooding the battlefields, culminating with drowning an entire Hive.
  • Used to great effect against the Face-eater Moths that besiege Liscor in Volume 5; Pisces and the other [Mages] nearby create a massive rain storm that panics the insect swarm, drowning many and forcing them to flee back to the dungeon.
  • Invoked again to defeat Facestealer in Volume 9 (Interlude - Adventurers (Pt. 3)), who was too dense to swim out of a hole that went possibly and literally down out of the world.

• Lack of Empathy: The defining trait of the Lucifen in Volume 8, alongside making deals and eating people. They get along rather well with their Empath counterparts, the Agelum.

• Lilliputians: The Fraerlings are a species of human appearance about six inches tall.

• Literal Surveillance Bug:
  • Antinium Listeners can hear for miles, at least out to the edges of the Floodplains.
  • Pisces uses undead infant Shield Spiders and Face-eater Moths on rare occasions in order to spy on people.

• Little Bit Beastly: Though it doesn’t occur naturally, some Stitch-folk will attach animal parts to themselves.

• Living Statue: Cognita and her sisters are Truestone Golems.

• Lizard Folk: One of the most frequently seen races are the Drakes, which are humanoid lizards descended from dragons, though you should never call them either of those. There are actual Lizard Folk as well, whom the Drakes loathe.

• Loads and Loads of Races: Antinium, Beastkin, Centaurs, Demons, Dragons, Drakes, Drowned Folk, Dullahans, Dwarves, Faeries, Fraerlings, Garuda, Gnolls, Goblins, Griffins, Half-Giants, Half-Elves, Humans, Lizardfolk, Minotaurs, Selphids, String Folk, and Vampires. For the mostly historical races, there's Agelum, Dryads, (sentient) Elementals, Griffins, Halflings, Harpies, Lucifen, Merfolk, Satyrs, Spiderfolk, Titans, Unicorns, and Wyrms. And that's not getting into the unnamed sci-fi aliens seen in Avalon!

• MacGyvering: Rag's Goblins are able to make a functional trebuchet within a day of seeing one in the distance firing on them. Conventional wisdom says you need a specialized team of [Engineers] over the course of months.

• The Magic Goes Away:
  • There may have been a few "wonders" in our world long ago, but the Winter Fae claim there isn't any anymore.
  • Somehow, magic itself was actually broken in the Innworld at some point. While this lasted for centuries, it eventually got better. In 8.81, the culprit makes his appearance in the Deadlands who is, according to a Gnoll [Mage], The Mage of Magic's End, [Mage] Level 93.

• Magic A Is Magic A: Discussed. The series at first introduces [Mages] who define magic as a science, while Classes adjacent to it at least use mana, if in different methods. In a conversation with Ryoka at a party for Erin, Xrn, a [Thaumaturge], compares Skill-based magic to boxes; magic can be cast by filling these boxes, but said magic is limited to those boxes in the end. Those who can perform magic unconventionally are the closest to knowing what real magic is, like Barelle the Bard using colored strings that arouse pure emotion or Witches gathering abstract ideas for their craft. It's later revealed that there are religious Classes that don't use mana, and that the magic Faeries use that appear to manipulate reality, if not fate itself.

• Man-Eating Plant: The Bloodfields have plenty of plants that would kill for blood, most prominent being Watchertrees, which have long root systems that stick close to the surface to surge up, impale their victims and drain them of blood.

• Master Swordsman: Of course a medieval fantasy world would have [Swordsmen]. While there are plenty who use the sword with skill, there are those who are noted to take it further:
  • Occupying the skilled section (though not necessarily equals) are Klbkch, Shorthilt, Redscar, Thomast Veniral, Raelt Leysars, Deniusth the Duelist of Strings, "Maestro" Linvios Reiscale, Az'kerash, Ksmvr when he inherits the [Silver Illusion] Sword School, and Teriarch as the simulacra Eldavin^note when Real!Eldavin appeared at 9.30's tournament still holding onto some of the Dragon's memories, he was judged to have skills outmatching nearly every other participant.
  • The usual hallmark of swordmasters amongst swordmasters is the ability to bend reality with just their swords:
    • Greydath of Blades was a Goblin Lord once appointed as Velan's master of arms, showing mastery with a greatsword outstripping a majority of the opponents he faces in the present. To wit, he first revealed part of this skill in his duel against the outperformed Thomast, slashed through rock to Garen's shock in a test of the latter's skills, and blew apart Bird’s tower (and Bird himself) with just a throw of his sword. The greatest extent of his swordsmanship gets displayed as a One-Man Army against the Bloodtear Pirates of Volume 9: slaughtered [Pirates] by slipping his sword through floorboards; killed a [Geomancer] captain within seconds, twice, were it not for a Skill that forced other [Pirates] to substitute their lives (the first deathblow being a Sword Beam); continuously slicing apart almost every spell being sent from nations all over the world without any indication of a special power or Skills, which is how he struck down Visophecin’s grandfather…
    • The [Dragonbane Swordlegend] of the Village of the Dead was a swordmaster who, in his time, earned nine [Blademaster] emblems each from a Walled City that certified his mastery, on top of a Skill, [Thou Art Cut], which even sliced through the Skill name itself along with all but one of the Gold-rank Lifwail Blades. Similarly, [Blademistress of Ancients] Zeladona Ischen traveled all over the world learning the art of every blade in every culture, and began her entrance into the Trial of Blades by making a slash that reached into the Free Hive’s tunnels and parted clouds in the sky for miles.
    • Taletevirion the Unicorn is a special case in that he has no Levels and yet is beseeched, if not begged by Zeladona to fight as a hint to his skill, but when he does demonstrate it against Tolveilouka in their Sword Fight, the onlookers immediately back off while barely keeping track of the duel.
  • The full-blooded Elf Sprigaena takes the cake for being a swordfighter who existed before the Grand Design, and yet was the progenitor for the Design's highest-level sword Skills.

• Medieval Stasis: Discussed. Since Classes and Magic can do everything, why advance?

• Missing Floor: Played for laughs when Erin forgets that she asked for her new inn to be built with a basement. Lyonette discovers the 'secret' basement later.

• Mistaken for Granite: There's an entire room full of these within Liscor's dungeon.

• Monster Lord:
  • Some Goblins (widely regarded as the weakest monsters) can "evolve" like this. A high-level Goblin can become a Hobgoblin and/or Chieftain, who can become a Goblin Lord, who can become a continent-ending Goblin King.
  • The Crypt Lords, and Bone Horrors can develop from large enough groups of more mundane undead.
  • Gargoyles are eventually revealed to be another monster species capable of evolving into smarter and more dangerous forms.

• Mook Horror Show: Many fights told from Goblin perspectives play out like this.

• Muggles Do It Better: There are specialized spells and even a sub-class of [Mage] for seizing a city. In Volume 5 however, Liscor isn't worried about the approaching Goblin and Human armies until finding out they have trebuchets. Of course, using magic on the projectiles only make it more devastating.

• Mutual Envy: Erin and Ryoka are this to each other. Erin wishes she were more athletic and had Ryoka's adventure-filled lifestyle as opposed to her "merely" running an inn. Ryoka wishes she had Erin's way with people and, while she still adamantly refuses to level up, is rather put out that Erin is actually more combat-effective than she is.

• Mystical Plague:
  • Diseases that are magical in nature are not too uncommon, with Typhenous, "The Plague Mage" being a fairly moral practitioner of disease magic.
  • "Yellow Rivers" is a recent disease to come out of Baleros, and a main focus of the "D" storyline. STD Immunity is not in play here.

• My Brain Is Big: Played straight with the original Antinium Queens on Rhir; the majority of their body mass was brain tissue. In a subversion the current crop merely gorges on food, imitating the mass and volume of their predecessors without much of the brain.

• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Rags and Garen are both this… of sorts… for Goblins. They do try to be more civilized than regular Goblins and form bonds with humans (Garen was even part of an Adventuring team, which was unheard of)… but Rags goes on to become a Goblin Chieftain and Garen killed his partners to become chieftain of a large murderous tribe.

N-Z

• The Necrocracy: Khelt is a utopian kingdom where all manual labour is performed by undead ruled by a revenant. The citizens are all living, and the only limits placed on them are that they cannot reproduce without permission, and their bodies are used by the nation following their death

• The Need for Mead: Erin manages an inn and serves and drinks alcohol very regularly, though she still has a relatively small selection.

• Never Recycle a Building: Justified when Erin found the inn, since it was believed that the area was harboring a horrible disease plague from a decade ago. It was only after Erin was found inhabiting the inn and distinctly not dead that the area was declared safe.

• Nice to the Waiter: Lady Magnolia treats her servants very well, refusing to make them form a traditional greeting line in poor weather, and finding jobs for those too injured to complete their former duties. Meanwhile Lord Tyrion's [Majordomo] (whose family has served his for six generations) is terrified of being fired for a minor mistake when we first meet him.

• No Name Given: The Necromancer who devastated Liscor years back is mostly known only as The Necromancer. "The Thief" is also all that Lyonette was known as until she gets to the Inn, many chapters after her introduction.
  • The Goblin Lord, underscoring his nature as a mere slave to the Necromancer, unlike Garen and Rags who are individualized. After the battle of Invrisil, Zel gives the Goblin Lord the name of Reiss, perhaps as a sign of respect to a Worthy Opponent and a fellow enemy of the Necromancer.

• Nobody Here but Us Statues: The method Calruz and the Raskghar use to avoid being killed by Facestealer.

• Non-Voyage Party: Klbkch gets one in Mating Rituals 2, even asking if he's being fired. Later inverted when Klbkch gets a going away party and then delays leaving for another two months.

• Non-Human Undead: The undead that populate Liscor’s dungeon are all Drakes. Additionally, crypt horrors are made up of several corpses and Pisces uses bear skeletons to fight where the use of Human, Drake, or Gnoll corpses is outlawed. Az’Kerash creates many types of undead, including Kerash, the draugr of a Gnoll hero.

• The Nose Knows: Nothing gets past the Gnolls' nose, whether you recently killed somebody, or… sexually relieved yourself.

• No True Scotsman: The worst insult a Goblin can give another is to call them or their actions "Not-Goblin".

• Obsessed with Food: While typically portrayed as inhumanly serious, the Antinium adore food. A magical ring that prevents food-poisoning (allowing one to overcome an Antinium Worker's gluten allergy) is treated with the same reverence as a ring of water-breathing that counters their Super Drowning Skills.

• Obfuscating Stupidity: Though Erin is genuinely air-headed and scatterbrained at times, she does knowingly play it up to throw off others and get them to underestimate her. Her entire core staff have all cited her as an inspiration for their own manipulations at one point or another.
  • The Goblin Greybeard, is initially presented as old and feeble, but eventually reveals himself to be the former Goblin Lord Greydath, who served the last Goblin King and remains supremely capable in battle.

• Older Than They Look: Past a certain point, half-Elves age about three times slower—and more gracefully—than Humans.
  • Goblins are both this and Younger Than They Look. They age relatively rapidly, a Goblin is mostly grown within a year of birth, and a full adult by age 3. However, once grown, they age slowly. It's just most Goblins are killed before reaching age 10. Goblin Lords, such as Greydath and Izikere, can be hundreds of years old. Goblins on the Isle of Goblins have very similar villages to half-Elves

• The Older Immortal: Although both are "immortals" and they acknowledge each other as beings of a similar standing, Az'Kerash is shown to only be about two centuries old and have only died and been revived once — by contrast to the Witch Belavierr, who is a bona fide Time Abyss who had a personal hand in the creation of one of the sentient races of the setting (the String-People).
  • Meanwhile Teriarch is closing in on 60,000 years old and Klbkch has claimed to be over 40,000 years old.

• Only Known by Their Nickname: The most terrifying Necromancer the world has ever seen is known almost exclusively as "The Necromancer".
  • Klbkch and Xrn are both very rarely called by their full names, even amongst their own species.

• Opposite Sex Identical Twins: Trey and Teres Atwood.

• Our Centaurs Are Different: A race native to Baleros that resembles a humanoid torso on a horse's body. They are prideful, have an odd but strict concept of honor, and make up almost all land-based Runners on Baleros. They revere mothers due to their species' difficult births, and refuse to kill women outside of battle. Someone touching their tail or riding on them is seen as extremely intimate.

• Our Demons Are Different: Demons are various sentient species that have been corrupted by some unknown force. This results in odd combinations of horns, hooves, skin colors, and other mutations, and an apparent desire to kill all non-Demon life in service to their mysterious Demon King. The continent of Rhir has been locked in a Forever War against them for millennia.

• Our Dragons Are Different: Sapient, very large European-style beings, with extremely powerful magic.

• Our Elves Are Different:
  • Elves were functionally immortal, undisputed masters of magic, and better than Humans in every conceivable way. They're all gone however.
  • Half-Elves, the Elves' Half-Human Hybrid descendants, are more skilled and magical than Humans, but are the victim of severe Fantastic Racism from the significantly larger populations of other species.

• Our Fairies Are Different: Faeries are usually only seen in the world when winter comes, as it is their duty to bring it to the world. Most citizen of the world only perceive the faeries as a blue blur, making them generally considered a natural phenomenon instead of a sentient race.

• Our Ghouls Are Creepier: Ghouls are especially strong and fast undead, with sharp claws and gaping jaws. They can also be living humans who gained [Horror Ranks] by committing cannibalism.

• Our Goblins Are Different: The Goblins in this story are small, green, and pointy-eared. They also have two rows of shark-like teeth. Due to being a barbaric, uncivilized and outright man-eating lot, Goblins get a lot of Fantastic Racism, which Erin insists is quite unjustified.

• Our Liches Are Different: They're basically Elite Zombie who can cast spells. Not weak by any stretch, but Ryoka internally notes that they fall far short of the typical trope's gravitas.

• Our Minotaurs Are Different: Minotaurs are a Proud Warrior Race native to the Isle of Minos. Minotaurs must prove themselves to be honorable and capable in order to be allowed off of their home island.

• Our Vampires Are Different: The comparatively few Vampires in the modern era generally act as part of a community without revealing their true nature so as to avoid Van Helsing Hate Crimes. They are living, and able to have (Vampire) children, but are apparently unable to gain Levels or Classes. They quickly tan, and get sunburned in direct sunlight, are allergic to garlic and silver, and they Cast No Shadow. Some can uses crude mind-control through a hypnotic gaze, but that varies greatly in power from person to person.

• Our Zombies Are Different: Zombies are generally just the shambling dead. If there are enough around though, then ghouls and crypt lords start to crop up.

• Plaguemaster:
  • "The Putrid One" is was an infamous [Necromancer] specialized in this. In Volume 8, it's revealed he was a half-Elf who destroyed several kingdoms in plague, had multiple crusades fought against him, and had a truly horrific true form. A simple touch from him was incurable even for a high-level Paladin.
  • Typhenous of Griffon Hunt earned his title as "the Plague Mage" for having spells to create magical plagues, seeing use in infecting the Raskghar of Liscor's dungeon and becoming the main reason why they were driven out of there. He also once developed a disease that brought down an entire flock of Griffons in the earlier days of the team... which also affected an innocent city or two by accident, giving the team infamy that the old [Mage] swore to make amends for.

• Plot Armor: Averted. Adventuring is a hazardous business and even developed characters with hanging plot threads can meet an untimely fate.

• Possessing a Dead Body: The Selphids, a race of body-snatchers, were reduced to only possessing corpses after a Selphid Empire almost conquered the world.

• Prefers Raw Meat: Gnolls prefer their meat raw or very rare.

• Proud Warrior Race: Drakes, Minotaurs, and Centaurs are all known for being very prideful, and having a strong warrior tradition.

• Puppet King: While he has some power in day-to-day issues, King Itorin of Ailendamus is this to "the King's brother" (actually a Wyrm) Rhisival and the court of other immortals who actually run the Kingdom. This secret cabal is fairly benevolent towards the nation's citizens, but Rhisival in particular pushes the country to agressively expand.

• Quest Giver: As of Volume 9, Erin, along with every [Innkeeper] around the world, gain the ability to issue Quests. Interlude – Levels of Volume 9 eventually has the Grand Design allow the [Ruler] and [Guildleader] categories of Classes to do the same, though [Rulers] notably have [Post: Royal Quests].

• Quirky Town: Liscor is largely seen as this due to willingly becoming home to an Antinium Hive and being on the border between Drake and Human lands. As of Volume 6, this and their other "oddities" have become a source of civic pride for many of them.

• Race-Name Basis: Thanks to Fantastic Racism this is invoked many times by many different characters.

• Rainbow Speak: Certain events, creatures, or situations will be depicted by colored text. Everything the frost faeries say is pale blue, the words of a Charm Person using Skills can be pink, a Ruler's words when giving commands can be gold, etc.

• Rank Scales with Asskicking:
  • The Prognugators and Revalantors of the Antinium are the equivalents to ministers and commanders of the armies in their Hives. Each one is a powerful fighter in their own right.
  • The Captain of the Watch of Liscor, Zevara is one of "the Oldbloods", who can breathe fire in addition to being a skilled swordswoman.
  • "The Seven" of the King of Destruction are the commanders of his armies, and each one is an expert specialized in a certain field.
  • Many of the Lords, Ladies, and Kings possess abilities that put them above the rest of the people. Some Skills are combat-oriented while others simply give them the power to give absolute orders, although the effectiveness varies with the level of the user.

• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Goblins, some kinds of undead, Skinner, and various monsters all have glowing red eyes. A Minotaur's eyes suddenly turning red is a sign of great anger.

• Religion is Magic: Since the gods are all dead, miracles (considered separate from mage magic) no longer exist. Pawn and his followers get around this by worshipping the nebulous idea of "Heaven" and rejecting any concept of deities, although Erin is worshipped as a representation of the "Sky" and her inn viewed as a holy place.

• The Right of a Superior Species: Some Half-Giants believe this about themselves, namely the Nomads of the Sky who currently serve Flos.

• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Towards the end of Volume 7, members of the Liscor Army, several Gold-Rank adventurers, insubordinate elements of the Antinium, and thousands of regular citizens all band together to attack the Hectval Alliance over the death of Erin Solstice. It backfires when the undisciplined mob ignored orders for restraint and overextended into a trap.

• Rock Monster: The Gargoyles which inhabit the high passes are stone monsters that can launch sharp rocks from their mouths at lethal speed.
• Rogue Drone: Typically, "Aberration" Antinium who begin to think of themselves as individuals Go Mad from the Revelation. However, the Free Antinium Hive actively tries to produce sane "Individuals" capable of leveling and critical thinking. This starts to become a point of frustration to elder Antinium, since they can now disobey orders.
  • The Antinium Crusader 57 is a special case, as he became an Aberration, but is still loyal to Liscor's Army, if not the Hive itself. His comrades are very protective of him when Antinium leaders reflexively try to put him down.
• RPG Mechanics 'Verse: Subverted. It seems to be the case at first, with people getting higher "Levels" within their "Class" after they perform various tasks. However, it turns out to only superficially resemble the video game mechanics and turns into a nice bit of Worldbuilding with how it actually works:
  • Classes represent passions and jobs, giving you more of the associated Skills as the Class grows with Levels. However, this is dependent on mentality; Erin is a master chess player for one, which could have granted her Levels in [Tactician] like it does Olesm, but it doesn't because Erin considers chess as only a game. Moreover, Levels need the individual to not only learn knowledge and skills related to their Class but also go through personal hardship and achievement. As Richard Davenport puts it in the first group chat, "you can't grind".
  • It is possible for someone to lose their Class if their actions go against its definition, like [Guardsmen] who break laws.
  • You can have multiple Classes, but the more overall Levels one has, the more difficult it becomes to Level. This is often solved on its own by the system merging and/or removing Classes to create a new one.
  • Skills work more or less like they do in video games, being abilities that each have effects and cooldowns specific to the Skill. However:
    • Skills are based on the person's needs and desires, so someone who survived a fight by enduring with their body may gain a Skill that helps with that, like [Stoneskin].
    • Besides Skills that can be "obtained", it also possible to "learn" Skills original to the bearer, such as Erin's [Immortal Moment]. These are highlighted in green and become available in the system's list of Skills to be learned by others eligible for it.
    • "Capstone Skills" are often assigned at increments of 10, which tend to become standouts amongst anyone's Skill repertoire.
    • Said effects and cooldowns improve the higher the person's Level.
    • It is not always a requirement to say a Skill name out loud to activate it; just thinking it is enough. Those aware of this can exploit it as a feint by shouting a Skill without activating it.
  • The most common way to receive Level-ups is to sleep and hear the system assign them. However, those who are undead or have <Faith> Classes are exempt from this condition and Level immediately. Another way is "Counter-leveling", which happens when a lower-level person goes up against a higher-level foe, letting them Level in the middle of combat.
  • Levelless people, also known as "Rulebreakers", are simply those who do not have Levels and thus exist outside of the Level system. Though they're weak against direct-target Skills, it lets them resist indirect Skill-based powers such as Auras. This is important for Ryoka (who rejected Levels) and Nanette (who temporarily put aside her [Witch] Class), who are able to view Nerry's information that would have been filtered by the Grand Design where not even the Levelless Teriarch could remember or perceive anything about the issue of the Sariant Lambs.
  • The events of Volume 8 give this system a name, the "Grand Design of Isthekenous", a creation of the gods that replicate the capabilities and feats of those it has ever recorded as Levels and Skills, which are then assigned to people who match it in terms of Class-associated deeds and personal hardship. Volume 9 expands further on the fact that the system has several features such as Quests and Titles that were disabled at first before the Design activated them, and Classes related to <Faith>, including Royal Classes, are given greater power than normal ones for reasons even the Design doesn't know, meaning that the Levelling system has flaws (at least the ones it determines) rectified in real time. The Design also appears to be semi-sentient, constantly debating on the fairness of the Levels and Skills it gives out, and getting annoyed by Mrsha's neglect of her old Classes.
• Rule of Seven: King Flos had a famous group of extremely powerful, fanatically loyal people known as "The Seven". There's actually no real cultural significance to this, it's just that only seven people were qualified enough at the time.

• Sacred Hospitality: The Faeries, who basically live for annoying and tricking people, stop their mischievousness all together when being bound by rules of hospitality.

• Sacrificial Lion: The original Horns of Hammerad and the other Silver-rank Adventurers who first brave the Liscor dungeon crypt: despite growing close with protagonists Erin and Ryoka throughout Volume 1, all of them except Ceria and Yvlon are slaughtered in the dungeon by Skinner, demonstrating just how dangerous the dungeon is.

• Samaritan Relationship Starter: In Volume 7, Ryoka and Tyrion enter into a cycle of gratitude and perceived debts towards each other after she helps save his sons from the Assassin's Guild.

• The Shadow Knows: Vampires cast no shadow, and many invisibility or transformation spells tend to leave the shadow of the original form behind.

• Schmuck Bait: Dungeons in general, arguably, and several dungeon traps specifically.
  • The warning poem in Liscor's crypt was read and whole-heartedly ignored. The exact same thing happened within the true dungeon when Toren found the inner city.

• Secret Room: Erin's [Garden of Sanctuary] is initally so secret that even she doesn't know where it is. Culminates in a chapter where Mrsha accidentally finds a way in and kicks off a hunt by the rest of the staff and guests to find her.
  • Further invoked when Erin finds out that there are even more Gardens she can access and at least one of those Gardens has its own secret room hidden within it.

• Secret Underground Passage: The Antinium construct one of these from the Free Hive to The Wandering Inn's basement. Initially discovered by Mrsha after Bird uses it as a hiding spot in a game of hide and seek, the Free Hive later gives up on keeping it a secret.

• Shout-Out:
  • Yvlon Byres' original team "The Silver Spears" shares the name of a "Good"-aligned Mercenary Group in the web-serial A Practical Guide to Evil.
  • Chaldion, the [Grand Strategist of Victory] of Pallass has a Skill called [Path to Victory]. This is the same name as Contessa's superpower in the web-serial Worm.
  • The Named Adventurer featured in a popular in-world book is a [Thief] powerful enough to steal bolts of lightning. The Lightning Thief is the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
  • Someone who never takes off their helmet has made a name for themselves by wiping out dozens of Goblin Tribes overnight. He’s only known to the populace as the Goblin Slayer. It’s actually Rabbiteater, a disguised Hobgoblin. He’s secretly rescuing Goblins, and sending them back to Goblinhome, where they’ll be safer.
  • When transported in a prison wagon in Volume 8, Yvlon is treated to Skyrim's infamous opening scene almost word for word.
  • In 8.11E, Erin's got this to think about the Dead Gods.
    If someone told her the gods were bastards, she would get behind that statement.

• Sinister Scythe:
  • In 8.19 H: The wraiths of the Village of the Dead wield enchanted scythes as part of their Grim Reaper aesthetic. These black blades can cut straight through the defenses of Eldertuin the Fortress, a Named Adventurer famous for his shields. Lampshaded by Yvlon, who points out just how impractical wielding a farming tool in combat is, and that they only get away with it due to their Intangibility, which her silversteel arms counter.
  • In 8.47H: Played straight with the feared Loquea Dree Tribe. Being Garuda, they can make full use of a scythe's reach in midair combat, and can use the curved blades to effectively pin other fliers midair. Flying enemies are forced to either try to evade the scythe blade wrapped around them, or get into close quarters combat, which the Loquea Dree also excel at.

• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: The country of Roshal is specialized in turning people into [Slaves]. This is More than Mind Control in that the leveling system and their cruel indoctrination practices often transform captives into completely loyal beings that are happy with their situation. Everyone from the Named-rank servant to the King of Distruction Gazi Pathseeker, to the unapologetically child-murdering [Trapmaster Assassin] Ferin all view Roshal with fear.

• Smart People Play Chess: Subverted in the story where it is revealed that Erin is a chess prodigy, despite being generally clueless about many other facets of life. Played straight in that many powerful and intelligent [Tacticians] and [Strategists]—most notably Niers Astoragon, the most famous [Strategist] in the world—are fans of the game, because a proper chess challenge can allow them to level up away from the trials and dangers of a real battle.

• Spell Levels: Spells are tiered from 0 to a theoretical 9. Tier 0–1 are basically cantrips and usually utility spells or slightly harmful attacks. Tier 3–4 are potent spells like [Fireball], [Ice Lance], or [Invisibility]. The higher the level, the exponentially more difficult it is to learn. Gold-level [Mages] can spam lower-tier spells and usually have at least one Tier 5 spell. Az’kerash is suspected to be able to cast Tier 8 spells…

• Spirited Competitor: Pomle is a small country in Chandrar made up entirely of these. The country was formed a few decades ago by a group of people who just wanted to be left alone to train in neutral territory. The threat they pose to anyone who breaks their peace is enough to keep entire armies from trying to intrude.

• Squishy Wizard: [Mages] tend towards this, but Grimalkin the [Sinew Magus] of Pallass actively subverts it. He trains his students mercilessly and specializes in "Physical Magic", leading to ridicule from the more traditional [Mages]. However, he is able to hold his own against an Archmage in a duel, and his students are considered superior to Wistram graduates, if only because of the superior adaptability and physical capabilities that come from their Training from Hell.

• Staging the Eavesdrop: Erin invokes this against the inn's spies with the help of the Lischelle-Drakles and Xesci.

• Stat Sticks: Largely averted. Magical items tend to interfere with one another, so even most high-level Adventurers only have a few on them at any time.

• Stereotype Reaction Gag: The Silver Swords member Dawil is offended by the assumption that all Dwarves are knowledgeable about metalworking. Anytime someone brings up blacksmithing however, he goes on a tirade about the minutia of it that other races all apparently get wrong.

• Summon Everyman Hero: The people from Earth were teleported here by such a spell. Something apparently went wrong however, as people from Earth were teleported all over the world, and not just at the intended location.

• Supernatural Fear Inducer: Skinner's eyes serve as this. They strike such fear into those in range that most are paralyzed or flee uncontrollably. Later revealed to be two rubies with a [Terror] spell enchanted to them. Becomes a case of Hoist by Their Own Petard, as Skinner realizes too late that fear only makes Goblins fight harder.

• Supernaturally-Validated Trans Person: Immediately upon meeting them, Teriarch (as Eldavin) asks Saliss of Lights why they "hide their true form".

• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Invoked several times by Antinium due to them being bad liars. One of the better attempts was Klbkch trying to very carefully choose his words to not reveal Teriarch's existence, which backfired when Krshia pressured him for a direct denial and Klbkch said nothing instead of tripping the various truth-detecting Skills other people present had.

• The Symbiote: Selphids are a friendly example of parasitic symbiotes (who, by international law, only possess corpses instead of living beings).

• Symbiotic Possession: After her back is broken, Geneva enters into this with the Selphid Okasha, who she'd saved a few days before.

• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: There is a general level threshold needed to be able to safely know the names of the dead gods. Since gods gain power simply by people knowing about them, the Antinium impossed an information lockdown and restricted knowledge of what their true enemy is to Queens, Centenium, and Prognugators.

• Thirsty Desert: Much of Chandrar is some variation of arid, but the continent-dividing Zeikhal Desert is by far the worst part. It gets so hot that even on the its edges the sand frequently melts into glass, resulting in several Crystalline Creature monsters.

• Time Abyss: A reoccurring theme is just how old things are. Certain races like half-Elves, Dwarves, and Goblins are pretty Long-Lived, but there are beings far, far older. The world itself is old enough that the past 6,000 years since the Creler Wars are considered "modern" history.
  • The Quarass of Ger has a form of Born-Again Immortality where whoever takes up her Class gains all their predecessors' memories. She killed dragons back when they ruled Chandrar, is older than most countries, and offhandedly mentions that 87 of her previous lives were spent running away from responsibilities. All in the body of a prepubescent girl.
  • Belavierre the Stitch Witch has peddled her dark deals for so long she's lost much of herself to The Fog of Ages. She was old when the first String-People were created.
  • Teriarch, the Dragon Lord of Flames is one of the very few old Dragons left. He served as the champion for species that no longer exist, and has met elves. In Volume 9, he is confirmed to be 58,000 years old.
  • Klbkch was created before Antinium started keeping track of time but he claims to be multiple times older than Khelt, which would make him over 40,000 years old.

• Total Party Kill: Several Silver Ranked adventurer parties team up to enter the new dungeon near Liscor. It doesn't go well. Averted for the Horns of Hammerad since Ceria and Olesm survive.

• Tournament Arc: "The Titan's Game" involves hundreds of aspiring [Strategists] competing in a near life-or-death struggle against literal armies in a game of... Hide And Go Seek.

• Tragic Monster: The [Florist] of Esthelm. In general, this can happen to any levelling species that gains horror ranks.

• Trapped in Another World: Erin Solstice, Ryoka Griffin, and many others. The story could actually be seen as a Deconstruction of the Isekai light-novel genre.

• Treants: They fled the land long ago and now live underwater as massive moving coral reefs.

• True-Breeding Hybrid:
  • Half-Elves have this trait so long as the mother is a half-Elf. Half-Giants have some of this, but the giant blood is thinning.
  • Goblins subvert this: so long as at least one parent is a Goblin, the resulting child will always be a Goblin.

• Undead Abomination: Crypt horrors fill this role as massive monsters made up of several corpses. The Necromancer has perfected the art of creating these, with his latest design involving whale corpses.

• Undead Laborers: Erin, the Innkeeper, owns an undead skeleton of unmatched intelligence and durability. She has him do chores for her.
  • The Kingdom of Khelt in Chandar is a Egypt-like Necrocracy built off of this trope. The living citizens pursue art and their passions while legions of their dead ancestors do all menial tasks for them. Meanwhile, benevolent undead rulers who retain Levels and memories from their life command potentially millions of undead to deter neighbors from attacking.

• Undying Loyalty: The Seven never stopped being loyal to Flos, the King of Destruction, even when he lost all motivation, and for ten years just sat in front of his throne, letting his kingdom slowly waste away.

• Unequal Rites: [Mages] and their various specializations generally look down on all other magic Classes. [Shamans] use the collective magic of their tribe to perform large-scale, if inefficient magic. [Hedge Witches] and [Sorcerers] are magic-users with little or no formal training. [Druids] are very dangerous users of nature magic. [Witches] are a Class that relies on Ritual Magic, emotions, and their chosen "craft" to practice their strange magics.

• Unreliable Narrator: The "Antinium Wars" chapters follow the in-universe history books written by Krsysl Wordsmith. Unfortunately, the fame from his first book corrupted him. His book on the second war is a Rose-Tinted Narrative filled with Purple Prose that the various readers frequently cut away from to give their personal accounts of what really happened.

• Unskilled, but Strong: As of Volume 8, Fierre. Now cured of silver poisoning, she has the strength of a true Vampire, but basically no combat training in how to use it, and barely wins a fight against two low-level muggers.

• Vampires Are Rich: Played with. The Lischelle-Drakle family is well-off, but mostly because the once-Human mother was part of a well-respected [Herder] family. While she likes to wear a nice dress, play up her accent, and refer to their castle as their "ancestral estates”, they actually all work full-time managing their herds.
  • Vegetarian Vampire: Most Vampires don't drink human blood, even though they can do so without turning them, and instead drink animal blood (regular food being optional).

• Van Helsing Hate Crimes:
  • Goblins are universally despised and attacked on sight, despite being a sentient species.
  • The few remaining Vampires are in hiding to avoid this.

• Verbal Tic: Hrm... Gnolls, yes?

• Water Source Tampering: The reason Vampires are so bad off is that the Byres Family started secretly putting silver powder in various water sources across Izril, giving them the magical equivalent of chronic lead poisoning, and keeping them from gaining Classes and Levels.

• We Have Reserves: The Antinium as a whole, with the biological castes every Antinium belongs to defining what kind of reserve they belong to. Prognugators, Individuals, Centinium, and Queens are considered less expendable to varying degrees.

• Weaponized Landmark: The Walled Cities of Izril and Liscor have wall Spells that let them attack using the city walls.
  • Taken even further with A’ctelios Salash, which is trying to revive and make its way to Rhir.

• Wham Episode: Chapter 7.61. Erin is killed.

• When Trees Attack:
  • The Krakk trees near Liscor have bark that explodes at the slightest disturbance. They go dormant when sufficiently frozen, though...until warmed back up.
  • The Watcher Trees of the Blood Fields are actively predatory. They stab anything that comes close with their roots, and often leave corpses sitting out to attract more prey.

• White Wolves Are Special: A Gnoll's fur will turn white if their tribe is wiped out. The poor Gnoll and it's decendants are then shunned as a Bad Luck Charm.
  • Defied by Rags. When offered a white Carn Wolf as a mount, she refused, saying that such a unique coloration would only make her a target in battle.

• Wife-Basher Basher: This is the chosen craft of [Witches] who take the name "Hedag." They are implied to have once been abused children that decided to meet eye-for-an-eye justice on those who harm family.

• Wizarding School: Wistram Academy, is renowned as the best magic school. It’s also a sociopolitical force to be reckoned with.

• Worthless Yellow Rocks: Goblins have little concept of money. Pyrite, the "Golden Goblin" mined gems and shiny metal as a hobby, giving them to children in his tribe to play with, or using it as "Adventurer Bait".

• Wound That Will Not Heal: Weapons enchanted with [Evercut] deal wounds that continuously cut deeper if not removed. [Bloodletter's Curse] and attacks from ghosts seem to deal wounds immune to healing potions.

• Wrong Context Magic: Or rather, original-context magic. In a world where the Gods are Dead, Pawn rediscovers Miracles after gaining the [Priest] Class. While the abilities seem rather tame at first, it soon becomes clear that Faith is the System's natural counter to Mage-style Magic.

• You All Meet in an Inn: Generally played straight, as the inn is a place for most characters to meet Erin — which is Justified by the story being generally about (and named after) Erin's inn. Averted in the first chapter where Erin finds an inn and stumbles into it hoping to find people, only to realize it has long been abandoned.

• Your Vampires Suck: Done with goblins for once. A tribe of the InnWorld's usually nomadic, warlike Goblins with their own specific culture settled down into an underground mountain city ruled by an obese Hobgoblin, where they mimic Human society (having adopted the English tongue and a habit of eating off of plates, for instance). Sound familiar? When some of the regular Goblins visit, they recognize the tribe's power but disdainfully say among themselves that they are "not Goblin".

• Zerg Rush: A well-tested tactic of the Antinium; one of their bynames during the Antinium Wars was The Black Tide. Goblins often use similar tactics, lacking individual strength but explosive numbers.

• Zombie Apocalypse: Since zombies arise naturally on their own if people remain unburied for too long, this is a constant, low-level possibility. Considering the types of undead that arise become exponentially nastier the more corpses there are, battlefields are a big concern. Because of this, sometimes entire companies are tasked with disposal of the dead between battles.

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