Heavenward on Golden Wings is a free Web Serial Novel written by Lupineking. It is currently updated at least twice a week; every Tuesday and Saturday with each chapter consisting of between 2400 and 3500 words. Currently, there are three books in the series, over two dozen poems and two side stories.
Series Synopsis: The world of Verre is a strange and wonderful place filled with strange, bewitching landscapes, hidden planes and daunting dangers. In the midst of this wonder and beauty is a harmonic anarchy. Earth and heaven lie opposed and mankind wars with itself as well as the fearsome beasts they live alongside. It is the right setting for myths and legends. Empires and kingdoms, heroes and villains, all rise and fall. Men, women and daemons compete on this stage seeking godhood, making names for themselves and establishing legacies of their own.
Born into one of these legacies is Valerian Steelborn of the House of Cragsveil. Blessed with keen acumen and remarkable abilities he steps into a world he expects a lot out of and it, him. How far would he go and what legacy would he leave behind?
The series can be read for free on LupineKing.com
, Royal Road (here), and the author's Patreon.
Heavenward on Golden Wings contains examples of:
- Battle Aura: Most tellurians are this. The same is true for arcanists under benedictions or transformations.
- Blue Blood: As the ruling noble house of the Viscounty of Cragsveil Valerian and his entire clan are this. He goes out of his way to make sure people know it when he introduces himself.
- Child Prodigy: Valerian and he knows it too. He actually holds himself to that standard too, up to the point where personal failure is incomprehensible to him.
- Child Mage: Valerian. He begins practising the arcane arts at the age of eight and by the age of fifteen had reached a level of mastery in an arcane field that many fifty-year-olds can't even grasp.
- Elemental Powers: Every cultivator has something called an attribute which is basically a tie to a particular element. For tellurians, this means that they can basically become their element or take on its properties in addition to wielding it. Arcanists, on the other hand, have control over all natural samples of their 'attribute'.
- Functional Magic: The magic system in HoGW has set laws that no one can defy.
- Magic Knight: In a world where 99.99% can only be one or the other, this is one of the traits that make Valerian so special though was that means for him is something he had to discover.
- Might Makes Right: This appears to be one of the underlying rules of Verre to the point where many characters are found quoting a saying, "Verre favours the strong!"
- Power Crystal: To the point where they practically have crystal reliant magitek. The people of Verre use power crystals in the form of crystallized essence energy of the world that they refer to as essence stones to power devices, as currency, to replenish their magic reserves and in their training. As an added bonus, these 'essence stones' sometimes come in elemental varieties as well.
- Power Glows: Valerian to a major extent. Other cultivators are not exempt. It is actually possible to detect when a cultivator activates his powers due to the elemental-themed glow/hue coming from his/her body/equipment.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: This is a major requirement to be or maintain royal/noble status. The Steelborns have their peerage precisely because the previous holders dropped the ball. Understandably, they are constantly seen working their butts off to justify their rule.
- Supernatural Martial Arts: The core principles behind tellurian skills. Being body based they can't just sit there and expect their abilities to work. Thus, there's always a lot of punching, kicking and running involved especially when they are forced to use their powers offensively.
- The Beastmaster: Grandma Clara takes this to a scary level. This is understandable, considering she has a posse of incredibly powerful man-eating daemons at her beck and call. Oh..and she can summon them wherever and whenever.
- The Magnificent: Every single cultivator worth a damn has a title appended to his or her name. These are often references to their specialities or achievements though a few like Tirenael "Brimstone" Reed inherit their titles from their parents or teachers.
- The Magocracy: Verre's political system. If you don't have innate magical abilities then don't even try running for office. This is not only true for humans but also daemons and more common beasts.
- The Stoic: Uncle Jonas for obvious reasons. First being that he can't smile without it looking like it hurts. Second; he rarely says more than one sentence at a time and often doesn't even finish.
- Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Every single cultivator is guilty of this. It is customary in the Kingdom of Bathar and probably all of Verre to use this in all formal introductions. This is usually a combination of I Am X, Son of Y, The Magnificent and of course a Large Ham Title.
