Mother of Learning by Domagoj Kurmaić.
I'm not done with it yet, but the main characters starts below average and progresses through a very detailed and intricate magic system.
It's like Harry Potter (the school bits) + Groundhog Day + detailed and deep magic system and worldbuilding
Mother of Learning defines it as a difference of magical tradition.
Witches are more like midwives who can do their job anywhere and have a good knowledge of home remedies vs Mages who are more like OBGYNs: years of school, licensure, and relies on tools that require tons of infrastructure to produce.
Also the Witches in that series are matrilineal and believe magic only passes through the womb. Boys can’t pass on the bloodline.
Mother of learning was recently offered on the kindle unlimited, and its one of the best series I've ever read, far better than even the top end of published fare.
I'll always recommend Mother of Learning
It's also available on Royal Road, and it's complete. The link above is for the edited version for publication instead of it being a web serial. There's also an audio book releasing in about 2 weeks for the first book which is around 26 chapters.
going to neither confirm nor deny if there's more easter eggs 😁
BUT I am going to shamelessly plug the book here, available on Kindle as of yesterday!
thanks for the enthusiasm!!
$4.99 on U.S. Amazon.
The audio book, narrated by Jack Voraces, will be out soon (not available for pre-order on Audible yet, so I don't know when exactly but I seem to remember someone saying it would be on or around December 6th. Take that with a grain of salt though).
HPMOR has been on my hitlist for a while now, but let's face it I'm much more likely to consume it as an audiobook than a webnovel.
Jack sometimes does narrations gratis as a form of tribute to stuff he loves. I was really impressed with his performance in Vainqueur the Dragon.
He also had Mother of Learning up in podcast form as kind of the same format, but I'm pretty sure that's gone now as they prep to release the novel on Amazon and Audible.
Ah, I've got a magic-school tag you can use to filter the things I've read and reviewed over here.
But, so you don't have to leave the site (though you should, I spent ages on the styling for my site haha), here are magic school books I've read not on your list:
Not great matches but I think you'd enjoy them:
The best time loop story I read is a completed original called Mother of Learning https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning
If you want to support the author it’s available on Amazon as an audiobook as well https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Learning-ARC-1-nobody103-ebook/dp/B09M2R6QLF
So Mother of Learning had a Kickstarter run by Wraithmarked, is it still a web serial/self-pub or is it now published by an indie publisher? Amazon's page says published by Wraithmarked, but only 1 part (out of an eventual 4, the last part will be split into 2) is published by them so far, the rest is only available as a web serial still.
FWIW if it were up to me I'd say it's no longer self-pub but I'd be sad about it cos I really want to include it on my list haha.
time loop stories are rather similar, altho i dont know many, especially translated ones.
a western one that i loved & thats popular is called 'mother of learning' by nobody103 & you can find it on royal road and kindle unlimited. the MC repeats the same few weeks for probably hundreds of times, and while he doesnt have nearly as much regression depression as YJH, he has plenty lol
Looks like one of those Royal Road writings, but it was quite enjoyable.
US: https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Learning-ARC-1-nobody103-ebook/dp/B09M2R6QLF
UK: https://www.amazon.co/uk/Mother-Learning-ARC-1-nobody103-ebook/dp/B09M2R6QLF
ALL OTHER REGIONS: https://books2read.com/u/mBzvgy
BLURB:
As the months in the time loop seem to add up without end, Zorian forms alliances with acquaintances old and new in an effort to solve the mystery of the loop and save his city—maybe even the world—from destruction.
But while his mage skills develop and he pursues more advanced and unusual forms of magic, Zorian must battle necromancers, fanatical cultists, and vicious creatures—all while avoiding the attention of the lich who could kill him...
Permanently.
I've been writing up reviews and ranking all the progression fantasy and LitRPG books I've read, you can find them here.
To not dump a massive list on you though, here are my top seven series, (I've removed Cradle because its at the top and you've read it).
In addition to /u/ASIC_SP's recommendations, for school setting, also add to the list:
Alright, brace yourself, here's the list of reviews I've built up over my journey through Progression Fantasy and LitRPG. They are ranked in how much I liked them, so obviously its subjective.
For Cultivation specific ones, there's A Thousand Li and Forge of Destiny, though for more exploration-focused books there's Mage Errant, and for a focus on crafting/smart protags see Mother of Learning and Arcane Ascension.
Anywhere, here's the list:
There was a similar post yesterday which you might want to check out that's also filled with recommendations. I have a comment there as, but I'll copy/paste it below for simplicity.
With Mage Errant just getting a release date for the next book, now seems a great time to start that series too. Anyway, for "fundamental" recommendations, ie things that took off and are regularly recommended:
If you want more reviews / alternatives to read, I've got far more things in order of my enjoyment here.
I normally have a big old list of recommendations, but if you've done those four, I'd say give one of these ones a crack. The bottom two are LitRPG titles, the others are standard progression fantasy.
Okay, so a mix of LitRPG, progression fantasy, and normal fantasy that ticks many of the boxes.
Completely done:
Several books in series:
So, socialism was created in the 19th century to serve as a justification for russian imperialism ?
By allowing ... *check notes* ... a revolution that ended the Russian Empire ?
All of that so that later after the fall of the Soviet Union a capitalist named Putin could use not socialism but anti nazism as an excuse to invade Ukraine ?
That's why I don't like most time travel stories, almost every time the plot lines ends up becoming totally incoherent by the end. /s
(joke aside, if someone wants to read a complete Fantasy story focused on a time loop, I recommand "Mother of Learning", available for free at https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning, but arc 1 is also available on amazon if you want to support the author: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M2R6QLF)
Alright, given I was tagged in here, forgive me for repeating some information that /u/LtMigs shared. This is definitely not exhaustive, these are just things I personally have read recently–I don't feel too comfortable recommending things which I haven't even read, but there are plenty of amazing works outside what I've managed to find the time to read.
Completely done:
Several books in series:
Forge of Destiny (review, amazon): Interesting but slow and school focused. If you liked A Thousand Li you'll probably like this.
Arcane Ascension (review, amazon): Great world, detailed magic, intelligent characters, extraordinarily fun.
Dungeon Crawler Carl (review, amazon): Carl and Princess Donut are the real power couple I never knew I needed.
Mage Errant (review, amazon): A struggling protagonist gets dragged into adventure.
Divine Dungeon (review, amazon): Great premise. Great start. Less than great ending.
Completionist Chronicles (review, amazon): Fun read with an interesting cast. Ignore the weird opening.
The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound (review, amazon): The System takes over Earth, and Randidly becomes a Heretic.
The Path of Ascension (review, RoyalRoad): It's not often we see wuxia in space. It's not common we see it done well, either.
He Who Fights With Monsters (review, amazon): Humerous isekai with a big-mouthed protagonist.
Awaken Online (review, amazon): Book one is excellent, so give it a shot and ignore the hate.
Rogue Dungeon (review, amazon): Not Dungeon Core despite the name, but a fun dungeon-based LitRPG.
Ah okay, so that fun of learning/combining/mastering new skills is a staple of the genre, so here's literally my entire "I've read and review this in the last year" list. I've removed a few things (The Dao of Magic, Chaos Seeds, etc) because I don't think they're high enough quality to recommend.
Progression:
Cultivation style:
LitRPG:
Ranked in order of antagonist smartness and their ability to rationally solve problems:
Dude, how could you forget.
Mother of Learning:
https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Learning-ARC-1-nobody103-ebook/dp/B09M2R6QLF
Mother of Learning is completed and free on Royalroad also has 1 volume on amazon.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning
https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Learning-ARC-1-nobody103-ebook/dp/B09M2R6QLF
​
Lord of the Mysteries is an online web novel and also completed.
The downside is you need to pay to view the chapter, but there are alternatives where you can read it free, by going to a site that pirates it, and they are many sites like that.
https://www.webnovel.com/book/lord-of-mysteries_11022733006234505
​
The Zombie Knight Saga is an ongoing series that is currently on hiatus, but the author will return, he just does take a break every now and then, you can read it free on royalroad also and on the official sites of the series.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/28307/the-zombie-knight-saga
https://thezombieknight.blogspot.com/2013/04/page-1.html
​
Starts with Mother of Learning since it's one of the most recommended series in this sub.
<strong>Mother of Learning:</strong> ARC 1 by Domagoj Kurmaic
Limiting recommendations to those I've read recently:
Progression Fantasy / Cultivation
Dip your toes into LitRPG:
Heres an ordered list based of some of the titles I've read in the past year which I'd recommend if you liked Cradle and Iron Prince.
As normal, just my opinions here and I'm sure other people would sort them different and have read different titles. I have more on the list here, but I've removed several titles (ie the things I wasn't a massive fan of).
Disclosure, these are only my personal thoughts, and I've sorted these based upon both my thoughts of the series as a whole and "Cradle + likes LitRPG". If you want to give any more info on what you do or don't like, or what LitRPG series you liked the most, I can reorder commendations. For now I'll remove LitRPG titles under the assumption you might have read them and stitch to ProgressionFantasy directly.
Another caveat, these are restricted books I've read. There are tons of amazing works I haven't got around to yet, so please don't restrict yourself to anything on the list.
Are you okay with Web Novel series?
​
Mother of Learning by Nobody103
https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Learning-ARC-1-nobody103-ebook/dp/B09M2R6QLF.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning
​
The Zombie Knight Saga by George M. Frost
https://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Knight-Saga-Elegy-Immortal-ebook/dp/B00N6REYRY
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/28307/the-zombie-knight-saga
​
Lord of the Mysteries by Cuttlefish that Loves Diving
https://www.webnovel.com/book/lord-of-mysteries_11022733006234505
Alright, got some recommendations heading your way if you want to keep to Progression Fantasy / LitRPG. If you're after something that feels more like KKC, let me know and I can add to the titles below.
Hopefully this works! Mother of Learning: ARC 1 https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B09M2R6QLF/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_HD3X4QPZ9QMVRY2C20GE