Aleron Kong is the bestselling LitRPG author, with his Chaos Seeds series ­– also known as The Land – having sold over 1m copies. Fans of The Land enjoy the fact that the author, Aleron Kong, combines humour with very detailed RPG mechanics. There are currently eight books in the popular LitRPG series and although the series seems to be on a hiatus after book 8, the story is ongoing and there is scope for many more books.

The Land is a fantasy world, whose laws are those we are familiar with from RPG games. Imagine a realm where as well as the law of gravity, there are Experience Points, which you learn from completing tasks, quest and – above all – from defeating your opponents.

Just like in playing an RPG game, in Aleron Kong’s The Land, characters can gain levels according to how much experience they earn. In the universe of the Chaos Seeds, it is a law that 1,000 experience points are needed to move from Level One to Level Two, another two thousand to reach Level Three, another three thousand to reach Level Four, etc.

In fact, you can put the experience needed to progress as a character in The Land in a table:

And so on, with levels 2-10 requiring an extra 1,000 Experience Points to level compared to the previous goal, 11-20 needing 2,000 more per previous goal, 21-30, 4,000 more per previous goal and 31-40, 8,000 more.

The first book in The Land series by Aleron Kong was published in 2015 and it popularised a new genre: LitRPG. Aleron Kong took the relatively daring step of placing a lot of RPG information into the narrative flow of the book. It worked surprisingly well. Nowadays LitRPG is an established genre with readers used to tables and gaming commands made visible (you can read our list of the best LitRPG here). But at the time The Land: Founding was published, this was still relatively new in the English language (Russian authors had been practicing this style of writing from 2012).

Rather than being put off by such interruptions to the story, readers found it fascinating to see the framework of the fantasy world that the main character, Richter, found himself in and enjoyed his exploitation of the various rules of the game to achieve success. To some extent the books tapped into the same enjoyment that gamers have when watching videos and streams of other people playing and commentating on their game. It’s surprising how addictive can be and in the case of books, shows that traditional notions of plot and character are not all there are to understanding the enjoyment of a good read.  

A summary outline of the Aleron Kong The Land books follows, which inevitably contain a certain amount of spoilers. By concentrating here on the events of the start of each book, there is plenty still to discover for each of them.

A LitRPG saga

The Land: Founding: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 1)

It is 2037 and James, aged 24, is playing an online RPG with his friends. Reaching out to touch a mysterious handprint, he hears a voice: “do you embrace a life of adventure, danger, love and betrayal, power and wonder?” And with the answer of, “Uhhhh, yeah,” James is flung into an entirely new universe, The Land, one governed by the rules of an RPG. Taking the name of Richter and the race Chaos Seed (Human), Richter sets out on his adventures with just a simple short bow, a dull bronze knife and a minor ring of healing.

With a high intensity of game prompts, the book quickly establishes the momentum that a good LitRPG book gives, of wanting to turn the pages to enjoy Richter’s progress as he gains Experience Points and loot. It is very fast paced and the goals of the missions Richter is offered are what drives the plot. After battling with goblins and other mobs, Richter is able to establish Mist Village in the Forest of Nadria as his own ‘Place of Power’ and begins to attract residents.

Having been killed by wolves, Richter discovers that he gets to respawn. While this is a very traumatic experience, it is, of course, a massive boon.

The Land: Founding also establishes the humorous tone of the entire series, with Aleron Kong enjoying a playful relationship with pop culture. The reader and the author share a knowing nod via various music, TV and film references.

The Land: Forging: A LitRPG Saga (Book 2)

The second book in The Land series by Aleron Kong was published in January 2016. In The Land: Forging, Richter continues his journey through this strange world of an RPG universe that he finds himself in. Having increased the numbers of settlers in the Mist Village, disaster strikes and several of the Mist villagers are killed by a Bugbear attack, including a child, Petal, whose death Richter feels responsible for and this troubles him deeply for the rest of the Chaos Seeds series.

The mechanics of developing Mist Village are explored in depth, with importance placed on attracting non-combatant figures who can provide essential services e.g. as farmers; hunters; blacksmiths; cooks; carpenters; etc. There is even a courtesan, Inara (a Firefly reference). The core building is a forge: the Forge of Heavens, which can gain levels by the successful forging of Masterwork quality gear.

South of Mist Village is Hearth Tree, whose residents are Wood Spirts. From there came Hisako, the master of Heath Tree, who gave Richter his first quest in book one. In book two, we learn that Hisako blessed a Seed Core at Hearth Tree, which she brought to plant in Mist Village. A Seed Core is a very rare and magical seed that can grow into whatever type of tree is needed and which after being planted by Richter in the meadow, gives several crucial settlement bonuses.

Hisako’s son, Sion, is a sprite who thoroughly dislikes humans but over time is won over by Richter and becomes his closest companion.

New features available for Richter in book 2 of The Land series include the option of obtaining Trade Treaties and progression for Richter (via amusing training sessions) in skills like Swordsmanship.

The Land: Alliances: A LitRPG Saga (Book 3)

Published in March 2016, Aleron Kong The Land: Alliances is the third of the Chaos Seeds series. Again the story focuses heavily on Richter’s progression within Mist Village and the wider Forest of Nadria. Among other village-building leads that he follows, Richter discusses Magic Cores, which are clockwork items at the heart of Core Buildings and possession of which will allow Richter new building choices (see the Dragon’s Cauldron in book 4).

Krom, the ribald dwarven Smith of Mist Village (“What would Krom do? Pretty much anything with two legs, HA HA HA!”) draws Richter’s attention to the Quicksilver Collar of Submission that has been overlooked in the armory. This will be a very valuable item, particularly in the Battle of Henakot’s Valley (see book 6). Also discovered (though yet to be significant) in the clearing up of the armory was an axe called Ranock Din.

The main challenge to the Mist Village comes from Kobolds, who once had a sprawling underground empire and whose caves can be reached through the Catacombs under Mist Village (although not directly, it turns out in book 5 that the entrance is in fact a portal). On scouting the Catacombs and discovering the Kobold clans Richter starts on the Power in the Dark series of missions and after discovering a Statis Box containing a Kobold’s egg, the Long Live the King missions.

Richter also has to deal with assassins, who despite successfully killing him, are in trouble once he respawns with vengeance in mind.

Throughout all of this, the characters seem more real, and more mature, and Aleron Kong’s light-hearted banter and cultural humour continues.

The Land: Catacombs: A LitRPG Saga (Book 4)

The fourth book in The Land series by Aleron Kong was published in June 2016. In The Land: Catacombs Richter continues his progress in the Kobold-related quests and gains a new one, Reunite the Dark Khans. This quest arises after Richter finds Dark Khan coins in the loot from the Kobolds guarding an underground crystal garden. By planting his own Focus Crystal in a secret cave behind the waterfall of the meadow, Richter can develop his own crystal garden, although this is fraught with danger due to the presence of a Dark Aberration.

Richter also embarks on Hunters or Hunted 1, which he completes, triggering Hunters or Hunted II, a search for a Rock Giant who is carrying a vendetta against Richter for him having wounded it earlier.

A war party led by Richter encounters Assengai Spiders and their Queen.

We learn about an important new core building for Mist Village: The Dragon’s Cauldron is created after Richter trades for a crucial item, the ‘Blood of Aged Glass Dragon’ which he can combine with a Magic Core in an alchemy set. A pulsing cauldron is at the centre of a building made entirely of glass. This building allows Richter a +10% chance of successfully creating a potion and a +10% chance that a potion will automatically upgrade to a higher quality when complete.

There’s more development of the other characters in this book, and Richter really starts to shine as he learns to care more for the people of Mist Village.

The Land: Swarm: A LitRPG Saga (Book 5)

Aleron Kong The Land: Swarm was published in October 2016 and the fifth book in the series goes into a lot of depth about the future of Mist Village, the technology system, and the creation of the village.

Although The Land series sometimes attracts criticism for there being too many unresolved quests (which, to be fair, is a typical experience of playing most RPG games), here early on, Ritchter wins the restoration of the full hunting grounds for his community by defeating the Rock Giant. Another successful quest resolved in Book 5 of The Land is Lay to Rest, the cleansing of the bones of those killed by the Dark Aberration of Book 4.

On travelling to another dimension to choose his Enchanter specialization, Richter learns of the Hyira-kur set of items (staff, gauntlet and crown), which have a chance of converting a slain enemy into a spirit, undead of living dead under his control.

Considerable detail is explained for the enchantment system and we also learn about the War Leader progression, which allows Richter to form parties and gain bonuses for them. Richter also learns a great deal about the lore of Spirtes.Richter once more battles with Assengai spiders, this time overcoming them and gaining valuable loot, including the egg sac of the spider queen. Another boss fight that is an exciting encounter is that with a Goblin Shaman.

One of the first Mist Village recruits, the head alchemist, Tabia, takes charge of the Dragon’s Cauldron where she can attempt to learn to produce new potions and she does succeed in implementing Richter’s goal of being able to produce a luck potion. Her Potion of Selak’s Luck.

The Land: Raiders: A LitRPG Saga (Book 6)

The sixth Aleron Kong The Land book was published in January 2017. Having levelled himself up along with the people and buildings of Mist Village, Richter believes the time has come to take the battle to his enemies. Allied with the sprites of Nadria, the army of Mist Village fights the Battle of Henakot’s Valley against goblins and troll mercenaries. In the course of the battle, Richter uses the Quicksilver Collar of Submission to trap a Mountain Troll.

Richter progresses in his skills as a War Leader, and after rescuing a sprite called Liddle from a band of goblins, encounter the sinister Lugash, an undead creature with its large mouth in the centre of its body and no head.

On the request of Terrod, Captain of the Guard for Mist Village, Richter researches a Barracks for the improvement of the village soldiers and these prove essential in battle with goblins.

The Land: Predators: A LitRPG Saga (Book 7)

In February 2018 the seventh Aleron Kong The Land book was released. The Land: Predators. At this point, day 141 of his experiences in the strange new RPG universe, Richter is level 35, with decent stats: Strength 33; Agility 32; Dexterity 38; Constitution 56; Endurance 35; Intelligence 51; Wisdom 45; Charisma 34 and Luck 22. Richter’s main skills – those 15 or above – are Archery (17); War Leader (15); Light Armor (16); Tracking (15), Air Magic (15); Traps (25); Enchanting (48); Trade (16); Herb Lore (40) and Analyze (15).

Travelling back to the survivors of the Battle of Henakot’s Valley, Richter’s War Party encounter a pack of tusked animals, led by their Alpha, the Dreemar. Another pack of dangerous animals met during the course of Book 7 of The Land are the Koran Tuskers, which live in the forests around Mist Village.

Having unlocked level II enchantments, Ritcher progresses as an Enchanter, completing The Depths of Enchantment I and moving on to the second stage of that chain.

Sakeru is a term for when a pixie is severed from its companion. Richter learns of the Sakeru quest on return to Mist Village and of the very dangerous prospect of the evolution of powerful corrupted creatures if the severed pixies aren’t returned to the village. This quest leads him towards conflict with the Abyssal Gobrit Tree, a monster made from a festering union of pixie and tree.

Other challenges include more goblins, this time coming from the Serrated Mountains; more Kobolds from the Depths and Lich Singh aiming at the destruction of Mist Village.

The Land: Monsters: A LitRPG Saga (Book 8)

Set just a few days after the events of Book 7, Aleron Kong The Land Book 8 is the most current of the series and was published in January 2020, so the series has subsequently stalled.
It opens with Richter alone and recapping the events of Book 7 with an exploration of the consequences for Richter’s character sheet and the position of Mist Village. In particular, his enchanting skills are explored in depth.

The book covers a period of a few days in which Richter is deep underground, where from the second half of the book onwards, we start to get encounters with new monsters. The goal of this book is to portray a weakened Richter as he determinedly and resourcefully fights his way back to the surface but on the whole, readers were disappointed with this book and fans of the bestselling LitRPG saga are very much hoping for a return to form with Book 9.

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