UnderVerse
Jez Cajiao
Jax is an ordinary man who fights creatures from the UnderVerse in his sleep — until his brother vanishes and he is kidnapped and given a choice: travel to the UnderVerse, the ruined realm at the center of existence, and open a portal for the Noble Houses to return home... or die. To survive he must fight in the arena, gather allies among dwarves, elves, wisps and outcasts, and build his own power in a realm ruled by gods, demons and the Dark Legion.
Progression: Dark Fantasy LitRPG (publisher/Goodreads classification; Goodreads "Litrpg" genre tag). Jax advances via an explicit game-like framework: learning new skills, leveling professions, earning experience from combat ("a hell of a lot of experience available"), looting, arena advancement, and in the later saga binding divine fragments that tear him apart and rebuild him stronger on the path of ascension to godhood ("Godslayer" arc). Power tiers span mortal adventurer, Imperial Scion with a crown, to godhood contender gathering ten divine fragments.
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