Advent of Ascension (New System, Who Dis? Book 1)
New System, Who Dis? • Book 1
by Ryan DeBruyn
Why You'll Love This
The system promised Brodie a new life — what it actually delivered is a corpse, a demon, and a conspiracy nobody warned him about.
- Great if you want: LitRPG that interrogates its own power-fantasy tropes head-on
- The experience: fast-moving but layered — rewards readers who notice the cracks
- The writing: DeBruyn builds tension through what the system isn't telling you
- Skip if: you prefer clean progression loops without moral complications
About This Book
When the world changed and superhumans emerged, society built a comfortable mythology around it — heroic Hunters, high-stakes awakening tests, and the promise that the right Skill could transform an ordinary life. Brodie believed enough of that myth to hope. What he got instead was power wrapped in consequences: a dead body he's still rationalizing, a literal demon attached to his newfound abilities, and the creeping suspicion that everything the public has been told about how ascension works is carefully constructed fiction. DeBruyn uses that gap between myth and reality as the engine driving this story, making Brodie's journey feel less like wish fulfillment and more like a reckoning.
What distinguishes this book within the LitRPG and progression fantasy space is DeBruyn's willingness to let the system feel genuinely threatening rather than purely rewarding. The mechanics are crisp and satisfying without overwhelming the narrative, and Brodie's voice carries a dry, grounded skepticism that keeps the pages moving. The prose is efficient without being spare, and the plotting builds steadily toward revelations that reframe what came before. Readers who find the genre's power fantasies too frictionless will find this a more honest, more engaging version of the premise.
