Shadows of the Iron Crown (Shattered World Chronicles Book 1)

Alaric Thorpe was born to privilege — silver spoons, marble halls, and the certainty of a noble future. Until his half-brother Baldric framed him for treason, stripped him of his name, and branded him with a curse that cripples his very ability to grow stronger. Cast into the brutal Marches with nothing but rags and rage, Alaric is thrown into the Goblin Pit — a nightmare mining camp where the weak are consumed and the System itself seems designed to keep him broken. Every experience he gains is cut in half by the slave brand seared into his wrist. Every level is a mountain. Every day is a fight for survival. But Alaric refuses to die in the dark. As he battles goblins, rival miners, and the crushing weight of despair, he discovers something the Iron Crown never anticipated: the brand isn't unbreakable. It's code. And code can be hacked. With each brutal victory, each drop of blood spilled in the mud, the curse weakens by fractions of a percent. In a world where power is everything and the System determines your fate, one man will break every rule to reclaim what was stolen — and burn down the throne that cast him out. For fans of dark progression fantasy, betrayal-driven revenge arcs, and protagonists who fight dirty and win ugly.