Peculiar Soul
TMarkos
Not everyone gets a soul. The rise of industry and mechanization has sent the world's population booming upward, striving relentlessly for the fixed handful of souls that level armies and steer the fate of nations. The remnants of a crumbled empire fight in a grinding, bloody war against their ancient enemy. Michael Baumgart, scion of a lord, has spent five years failing to tempt a freed soul - for the soulless cannot hold title - until one more opportunity comes: a soul quite unlike any other. A completed 132-chapter Royal Road serial (2021) by TMarkos, rated 4.61, recommended on r/ProgressionFantasy for its interesting progression system and character building. (Synopsis from verified Royal Road fiction description.)
Progression: Soul-based power advancement. Souls are a fixed, scarce resource that 'level armies and steer the fate of nations'; the soulless cannot hold lordly title. Protagonist Michael Baumgart spends five years failing to attract a freed soul, then bonds an unusual one. The in-world hierarchy is tiered: the Ardan children's rhyme in chapter 1 names the 'Eight' as 'Eight above the souls of man' (Smoke, Sibyl, Sever, Spark, Stellar, Sustain, Sobriquet, Stanza), i.e., eight great souls tiered above ordinary human souls - a structured weak-to-strong ladder expressed through soul acquisition and mastery rather than cultivation realms or game levels.
Royal Road
