Wretch
Emilsola
Wretch is a Bloodborne-inspired progression fantasy (Royal Road 143223, 590 pages, 4.72/603) where the sacred Flame is a religious-ranked power system granting reality-bending abilities. A insignificant young man in a steampunk stronghold must earn the right to climb the Flame's cruel ranks through eldritch trials, facing hunters and abominations in a city of steam-powered gates. Explicitly tagged progression + grimdark + urban_fantasy, now on Amazon B0HFK4THFM.
Progression: Flame rank progression central and explicit. Mechanism: (1) Sacred Flame blessing hierarchy — Flame bestows reality-bending powers to the worthy on a ranked ladder; protagonist is initially unblessed/insignificant and must 'earn the chance to climb its ranks' as a gated milestone; (2) Worthiness trials — endurance in a fading, hunger-ridden stronghold with hunter vs. abomination conflict gates each rank breakthrough, with cruelty and grisly transformation as the price of advancement; (3) Religious tier advancement — Flame is described as sacred and without mercy/prejudice, implying divine judgment ranks (unblessed → blessed → higher transformations), mirrored in steampunk stronghold factions rivaling for Flame favor; (4) Eldritch power scaling — equal empowerment of horrors and humans creates tiered horror thresholds where higher-ranked Flame users face stronger night creatures. Royal Road explicitly lists 'Progression Fantasy with religious undertones' and 590 pages track climb from insignificance toward Flame mastery.
Royal Road
