Progression Fantasy Glossary

Showing 50 of 50 terms

1. 01

   Structures & premises

   Academy progression

   #

   Progression fantasy in which a school, academy, sect, or other training institution structures a significant part of the character’s development. Lessons, tests, rivalries, mentors, restricted knowledge, and advancement requirements give the growth a visible shape.

   An academy is a setting and story structure, not a power system by itself. A book can combine academy progression with LitRPG mechanics, cultivation, conventional magic, or no numerical system at all.

2. 02

   Ways of describing growth

   Advancement

   #

   A lasting increase in what a character can understand, attempt, survive, or accomplish.

   Advancement may be numeric, as when a character gains a level, or qualitative, as when difficult training makes a once-impossible technique reliable. In progression fantasy, the route usually receives enough attention that the reader understands why the change was earned.

3. 03

   Cultivation vocabulary

   Alchemy

   #

   In many cultivation and xianxia stories, alchemy describes refining plants, minerals, monster materials, or spiritual resources into pills, elixirs, medicines, poisons, and other preparations.

   That fictional usage draws most visibly from ideas associated with external alchemy (wàidān, 外丹), but cultivation fiction also borrows heavily from internal alchemy (nèidān, 内丹), in which the language of furnaces, ingredients, refinement, and elixirs is applied within the practitioner. Fiction frequently combines, literalizes, or reinvents the two.

   Alchemy in a web novel should not be treated as a complete description of historical Chinese alchemy, modern chemistry, or Western alchemical traditions.

4. 04

   Game-like mechanics

   Attribute or stat

   #

   A labeled value representing part of a character’s capability. Familiar examples include strength, intelligence, vitality, agility, perception, or luck.

   The numbers have no universal meaning across books. A strength score of twenty may be extraordinary in one system and almost meaningless in another. The story must establish its own scale.

5. 05

   Cultivation vocabulary

   Bottleneck

   #

   A point at which ordinary effort no longer produces meaningful advancement. In translated cultivation fiction, bottleneck commonly renders píngjǐng (瓶颈).

   It often stands between stages and may require insight, resources, preparation, or a dangerous attempt at breakthrough. The term is also used more broadly for any limit a character cannot cross by simply repeating what already worked.

6. 06

   Cultivation vocabulary

   Breakthrough

   #

   The moment a character crosses a bottleneck and enters a new level of capability. In cultivation translations, breakthrough commonly renders tūpò (突破).

   A breakthrough may unlock a named stage, expand magical capacity, alter the body, reveal a new ability, or make an old technique function at a higher order. Good progression stories make the difference legible: the reader should understand what changed besides the label.

7. 07

   Game-like mechanics

   Build

   #

   The combination of attributes, classes, abilities, equipment, and strategic choices that determines how a character approaches problems.

   A build is more than a list of possessions. It implies tradeoffs. A character who invests in healing, defense, speed, or summoning may become exceptionally capable in one direction while leaving weaknesses elsewhere.

8. 08

   Game-like mechanics

   Class

   #

   A defined role or advancement track that grants related abilities, bonuses, or restrictions.

   Classes may be familiar, such as warrior or healer, or completely original to the setting. Some Systems assign them. Others allow characters to choose, evolve, combine, or reject them.

9. 09

   Cultivation vocabulary

   Closed-door cultivation

   #

   A period of secluded training undertaken to remove distractions and concentrate on difficult advancement. In translated cultivation fiction, the phrase commonly renders bìguān (闭关), literally closing the pass or gate.

   A character may enter seclusion before attempting a breakthrough, stabilizing a new stage, mastering a technique, or recovering from damage. The isolation can last days, years, or far longer depending on the world.

10. 10

    Structures & premises

    Crafting progression

    #

    A form of progression in which increasing mastery of creation is central to the character’s growth.

    The craft may involve smithing, enchanting, alchemy, cooking, engineering, artifact design, or another specialty. Materials, techniques, tools, precision, and knowledge become advancement resources just as experience points might elsewhere.

11. 11

    Cultivation vocabulary

    Cultivation

    #

    A broad English-language term for disciplined advancement through martial, mystical, spiritual, physical, or energy-based practices.

    Several Chinese terms are translated or discussed as cultivation, including xiūliàn (修炼), training or cultivating through practice; xiūzhēn (修真), often rendered cultivating reality or immortality cultivation; and xiūxiān (修仙), cultivating toward transcendence or immortality. Their meanings overlap in fiction, but they are not perfect synonyms.

    Chinese cultivation fiction frequently involves refining qi, seeking insight, strengthening or transforming body and spirit, extending life, and moving through named stages. English-language progression fantasy also uses cultivation-inspired systems that may substantially change the original cultural, philosophical, or religious framework.

12. 12

    Cultivation vocabulary

    Cultivation realm or stage

    #

    A named band of power within a cultivation system. A realm may contain several smaller levels or layers before the next major breakthrough.

    The names, sequence, number, and meaning of realms vary by story. Familiar translated names do not create a single canonical ladder that applies across cultivation fiction.

13. 13

    Cultivation vocabulary

    Cultivation technique

    #

    A practiced method for gathering, refining, circulating, shaping, or applying energy. Related terms include gōngfǎ (功法), xīnfǎ (心法), and setting-specific names.

    A technique may govern meditation, breathing, bodily reinforcement, combat, healing, movement, or pursuit of a particular Dao. Translations may use method, art, manual, scripture, or technique for concepts that are related without always being identical.

14. 14

    Cultivation vocabulary

    Dao

    #

    Dao (dào, 道) is most commonly rendered in English as the Way, although path, course, or guide may fit particular contexts. It has philosophical and religious meanings far larger than its use in commercial fantasy.

    Within cultivation and xianxia fiction, characters may seek insight into a Dao: a path, principle, or aspect of reality such as the sword, fire, death, time, or causation. Phrases such as the Dao of the Sword are genre constructions shaped by older language and ideas; they are not a complete representation of Daoism or Chinese philosophy.

15. 15

    Cultivation vocabulary

    Dantian

    #

    The dantian (dāntián, 丹田), or Cinnabar Field, is a locus used in Chinese breathing, meditation, and internal-alchemy traditions. Traditional accounts commonly describe three dantian associated with the abdomen, heart or chest, and head or brain. They are parts of a symbolic and practice-based understanding of the body, not ordinary anatomical organs.

    Cultivation fiction usually emphasizes the lower dantian as the place where qi is gathered, refined, stored, or transformed. A damaged, expanded, transformed, or unusual dantian may affect a fictional character’s ability to cultivate, but those consequences belong to the individual story’s system.

16. 16

    Structures & premises

    Dungeon core

    #

    A story centered on a sentient dungeon or an entity that creates, controls, expands, or embodies one.

    Progression may involve constructing rooms, designing traps, managing creatures, attracting resources, surviving invaders, or developing an increasingly complex ecosystem. The viewpoint often belongs to the dungeon rather than the adventurers entering it.

17. 17

    Structures & premises

    Dungeon crawler

    #

    A story focused on exploring dangerous enclosed environments filled with monsters, puzzles, traps, treasure, or staged challenges.

    Dungeons can provide a repeatable progression loop: enter, survive, gain knowledge or resources, improve, and attempt something harder.

18. 18

    Game-like mechanics

    Experience points or XP

    #

    Points awarded for overcoming challenges, completing objectives, defeating enemies, or performing other system-recognized actions.

    When a character crosses a defined threshold, XP may produce a level or another advancement reward. Some LitRPGs display XP precisely. Others mention it without making the arithmetic central.

19. 19

    Cultivation vocabulary

    Foundation Establishment

    #

    Foundation Establishment or Foundation Building commonly translates zhùjī (筑基), literally building or laying the foundation. The phrase has roots in Chinese internal-alchemy language, but cultivation fiction often turns it into a named, concrete advancement realm.

    In many translated xianxia novels, it follows Qi Condensation, Qi Refining, or a similarly named opening stage. That sequence is a familiar convention, not a universal Chinese cultivation ladder. Its requirements and effects change between stories and translations.

20. 20

    Genres & traditions

    GameLit

    #

    Fiction set in or shaped by a game-like world without requiring visible statistics to dominate the reading experience.

    Royal Road distinguishes GameLit from LitRPG by noting that GameLit need not focus heavily on visual statistics. The boundary remains porous, and publishers sometimes market both together.

21. 21

    Genres & traditions

    Isekai

    #

    A Japanese genre label for stories in which a protagonist is transported to, summoned into, trapped in, or reincarnated in another world.

    Isekai frequently overlaps with portal fantasy, LitRPG, and progression fantasy, but none of those terms is an exact substitute. Isekai identifies the different-world premise; it does not guarantee a particular method of advancement.

22. 22

    Structures & premises

    Kingdom building

    #

    A story in which creating, expanding, governing, or defending a lasting community becomes a major source of progression.

    What grows might be a kingdom, settlement, guild, sect, business, city, or civilization. Advancement can be collective rather than personal: infrastructure, laws, alliances, knowledge, and population may matter as much as combat ability.

23. 23

    Game-like mechanics

    Level

    #

    A numbered step representing a character’s overall advancement or progress within a particular class, skill, or system.

    Gaining a level usually increases capability or unlocks choices. The emotional weight depends on the system’s scale. One level in a twenty-level structure may matter more than one level in a system containing thousands.

24. 24

    Genres & traditions

    LitRPG

    #

    Fiction that makes role-playing-game mechanics part of the story and reading experience. Common features include levels, classes, attributes, experience points, quests, abilities, notifications, and stat sheets.

    Visible numbers are common, but books differ in how frequently they appear and how much arithmetic the reader is expected to follow. LitRPG and progression fantasy overlap heavily. A LitRPG can lack sustained progression, and progression fantasy does not require game mechanics.

25. 25

    Game-like mechanics

    Mana

    #

    A term frequently used in fantasy and games for a character’s supply of magical energy.

    Mana may function like fuel, capacity, stamina, or a substance that can be stored and refined. There is no universal model. Its source, behavior, recoverability, and relationship to the body must be learned from the individual story.

26. 26

    Cultivation vocabulary

    Meridian

    #

    In cultivation translations, meridian commonly renders jīngmài (经脉), channels or pathways through which qi is understood to circulate within traditional Chinese medical and self-cultivation frameworks.

    Fiction may treat meridians as trainable, blockable, expandable, damageable, or repairable. Those systems borrow terminology with real cultural and medical histories but freely reinvent it. A fantasy glossary is describing genre usage, not offering anatomical or medical guidance.

27. 27

    Structures & premises

    Monster evolution

    #

    Progression in which a nonhuman protagonist becomes stronger by evolving into new forms.

    An evolution may change the protagonist’s species, body, abilities, intelligence, or available advancement paths. The choice between forms often serves the same strategic role as a class or build decision.

28. 28

    Ways of describing growth

    Overpowered protagonist or OP MC

    #

    Reader shorthand for a main character whose abilities are exceptionally strong relative to the opposition or surrounding world.

    The label does not tell you when that advantage begins. One protagonist may start overwhelmingly strong; another may earn that position after a long climb. It also says nothing about whether the story challenges the character through politics, relationships, mysteries, costs, or enemies beyond raw strength.

29. 29

    Genres & traditions

    Portal fantasy

    #

    Fantasy in which a character enters a world different from the one they knew, often through a portal, magical crossing, transportation event, or rupture between realities.

    Portal fantasy is a broad English-language category. Isekai is a related Japanese tradition whose stories may use transportation or reincarnation. The overlap is real, but treating them as perfect synonyms erases meaningful differences in origin and usage.

30. 30

    Ways of describing growth

    Power scaling

    #

    The way a story establishes and compares the capabilities of characters, creatures, ranks, and threats.

    Clear power scaling helps a reader understand why an opponent is dangerous, what a breakthrough changed, and how far the protagonist still has to climb. It can be numeric, titled, demonstrated through outcomes, or deliberately uncertain.

31. 31

    Genres & traditions

    Progression fantasy

    #

    A fantasy subgenre that focuses on characters increasing in power and skill over time.

    The focus is what matters. A protagonist becoming stronger somewhere in the plot is insufficient by itself. Training, choices, thresholds, failures, methods, and consequences of advancement must carry enough narrative weight that removing them would change the identity of the story.

32. 32

    Cultivation vocabulary

    Qi or chi

    #

    Qi (qì, 气 or 氣) is a concept with long and varied histories in Chinese philosophy, medicine, religion, cosmology, and self-cultivation. Depending on context, English sources may render it as breath, vital force, material energy, psychophysical energy, or leave it untranslated. No single English word captures every use.

    Cultivation and Chinese martial-arts fiction commonly treat qi as an energy characters gather, refine, circulate, store, and apply. That is a recognizable genre convention rather than a complete definition outside fiction. Qi reflects modern pinyin romanization; chi remains familiar through older romanization and established English usage.

33. 33

    Game-like mechanics

    Quest

    #

    A defined task that may carry a reward, penalty, deadline, or system-recognized objective.

    Quests can make the next step explicit, but they are not always benevolent instructions. A story may use them to expose the System’s priorities, constrain the protagonist, create moral pressure, or invite exploitation of poorly written rules.

34. 34

    Ways of describing growth

    Rank or tier

    #

    A named or numbered category used to compare capability, danger, rarity, authority, or advancement.

    A rank may apply to people, monsters, skills, equipment, quests, or entire regions. Bronze, S-rank, Tier Five, or Nascent Soul are meaningless outside the hierarchy the story establishes.

35. 35

    Structures & premises

    Reincarnation

    #

    A premise in which a person begins a new life after death.

    The character may retain memories, abilities, personality, or knowledge from the previous life, but retention is not required by the basic term. Reincarnation can place someone in another world, the same world, a different species, or a much earlier era.

36. 36

    Structures & premises

    Regression

    #

    A premise in which a character returns to an earlier point in their own life or timeline while retaining knowledge of what happened before.

    That foreknowledge creates an immediate advantage, but it may also produce grief, isolation, distrust, or attempts to prevent a known disaster. Community usage sometimes overlaps with reincarnation and time loops, although the structures are not identical.

37. 37

    Cultivation vocabulary

    Sect

    #

    In cultivation and martial-arts translations, sect commonly describes an organized school, lineage, or institution devoted to particular teachings and practices. Depending on the source text, translators may also use school, clan, or order; those words are not automatically interchangeable.

    Sects often provide teachers, techniques, resources, protection, identity, and institutional conflict. Their hierarchies may include outer, inner, and core disciples, but those divisions are conventions rather than universal requirements. The English word sect should not be assumed to mean every fictional organization functions like a Western religious sect.

38. 38

    Game-like mechanics

    Skill

    #

    A learned or granted capability that a character can use and potentially improve.

    In LitRPG, a skill may have a name, rank, level, cooldown, cost, or explicit effect. Outside LitRPG, the same word may simply describe a practiced ability. Capitalization often signals formal System meaning.

39. 39

    Game-like mechanics

    Skill tree

    #

    A branching structure that shows which abilities can be learned and what prerequisites lead to later options.

    A skill tree turns progression into strategy. Choosing one branch may strengthen a specialty, unlock a combination, or permanently close another route. Some stories display the tree; others describe its logic without a visual interface.

40. 40

    Game-like mechanics

    Stat sheet or status screen

    #

    A visible summary of a character’s attributes, levels, classes, skills, conditions, equipment, or other system-recognized information.

    Frequent stat sheets are a strong LitRPG signal, but they are a presentation method rather than proof of quality or meaningful progression. The numbers still need consequences the reader can feel outside the table.

41. 41

    Game-like mechanics

    System

    #

    A rule-bearing force or interface that defines, measures, awards, or communicates progression.

    A System may produce notifications, classes, levels, quests, skills, inventories, or penalties. It can be treated as natural law, technology, magic, governance, an intelligence, or a mystery. Capitalizing System usually marks it as a specific entity or structure within the setting.

42. 42

    Structures & premises

    System invasion

    #

    A premise in which a game-like System arrives in an existing world, often bringing magic, monsters, levels, social collapse, or radical changes to ordinary life.

    Royal Road currently uses System Invasion as a platform tag, making it a useful generic label. Other communities may use different names. The System Apocalypse is the proper title of Tao Wong’s series, so this glossary reserves that wording for the series rather than using it as the preferred generic category.

43. 43

    Structures & premises

    Time loop

    #

    A structure in which a character repeatedly experiences the same period of time.

    The world may reset while knowledge, skill, memory, or selected resources remain. This makes repetition itself a progression engine: failure produces information, practice accumulates, and the character attempts increasingly difficult changes.

44. 44

    Structures & premises

    Tower climb

    #

    A story centered on ascending a tower or similarly ordered sequence of increasingly difficult stages.

    Floors commonly contain trials, monsters, environments, rewards, communities, or separate rules. The tower gives progression a physical direction: upward.

45. 45

    Ways of describing growth

    Training arc

    #

    A sustained portion of a story devoted to acquiring or improving capability.

    An effective training arc contains more than repeated effort. It gives the character a problem, a method, resistance, feedback, adaptation, and a result that changes what becomes possible afterward.

46. 46

    Cultivation vocabulary

    Tribulation

    #

    In xianxia and cultivation fiction, a heavenly tribulation commonly translates tiānjié (天劫): a dangerous trial associated with advancement, ascension, or defiance of Heaven’s order.

    It frequently takes the form of supernatural lightning, although individual stories may use physical, spiritual, karmic, or moral tests. Not every cultivation system contains tribulations, and no single interpretation applies across the genre.

47. 47

    Ways of describing growth

    Weak-to-strong

    #

    A reader-facing description for a story in which the protagonist begins comparatively vulnerable and becomes substantially more capable.

    It describes the direction of the power curve, not the mechanics. A weak-to-strong story can be LitRPG, cultivation, academy fantasy, portal fantasy, or something else entirely.

48. 48

    Genres & traditions

    Wuxia

    #

    Wuxia (wǔxiá, 武侠) is a Chinese literary and media tradition commonly rendered martial heroes or martial chivalry. The xia is not merely a strong fighter; the term carries traditions of chivalric conduct, justice, loyalty, resistance, obligation, and life within or around the martial world often called jianghu (江湖).

    Wuxia characters may use internal power and perform extraordinary feats, but the genre generally centers human martial heroes rather than the pursuit of immortal transcendence that characterizes much xianxia. The boundary is not absolute, and wuxia should not be reduced to cultivation fantasy with less magic.

49. 49

    Genres & traditions

    Xianxia

    #

    Xianxia (xiānxiá, 仙侠) is a Chinese fantasy tradition whose name is conventionally rendered immortal heroes. It combines the xia or chivalric hero with immortals, transcendence, magic, spirits, demons, Chinese mythology, and concepts reworked from Daoist, Buddhist, medical, alchemical, and folk traditions.

    Many xianxia protagonists cultivate toward longevity, immortality, spiritual transformation, or extraordinary power. Not every xianxia story uses the same cultivation ladder, and not every work that uses cultivation mechanics is culturally interchangeable with Chinese xianxia.

50. 50

    Genres & traditions

    Xuanhuan

    #

    Xuanhuan (xuánhuàn, 玄幻) is a broad and evolving Chinese fantasy category commonly rendered mysterious fantasy.

    Earlier English explanations often described it as Chinese mythology or cultivation mixed with foreign settings and influences. That remains true of some works, but current Chinese web-fiction usage is wider. Major platforms use xuanhuan as an expansive category for secondary-world, high-powered, system-driven, Eastern-style, and other fantasy that does not fit cleanly into xianxia, wuxia, science fiction, or Western-fantasy classifications.

    Xuanhuan can contain cultivation and Daoist-influenced ideas, but neither is required. It is better understood as a flexible publishing and reader category than as xianxia without enough Daoism.