Gate to Nowhere [COMPLETED]
novel
-- ABOUT TO BE STUBBED IN OCTOBER, further stubbed in January, and completely deleted in the spring-- No mana. No build. No way out. Peter was supposed to be a mage. Both his parents are, but he was born with practically no mana. That hasn't stopped him from trying, so he's gotten a job at a corporation in the magical underworld that was supposed to get him somewhere. But then he stumbles upon a portal to a demon-infested wasteland, which looks suspiciously like future Earth. No harem-ready catgirls, just monsters that love the smell of low-level entrails in the morning. He also gets access to the System. Finally, a way to get stronger. His plan? Solo level and chill, staying the hell away from the portal. The corporation’s plan? Send Isabella. She’s five feet of highly compressed hatred, has ninety levels on him, and thinks training means stabbing him until he figures out how not to bleed. Since only Peter can pass through the portal, she'll teach him to become useful, or he'll die trying. His life is a sacrifice she’s willing to make. And running away isn’t an alternative, as the best System XP source on Earth is killing other mages. At a single-digit level, Peter is a walking XP bag. Isabella might get him killed, but she's the only one to whom he's more valuable alive than dead. He's just going to have to make it work. This novel is: 1) a LitRPG, urban fantasy thriller that's highly grounded in reality and light on the System 2) a weak-to-strong progression story that sta