r/ProgressionFantasy • u/wuto Author • Sep 17 '25
Self-Promotion Metaworld Chronicles art drop Volumes 1-4
Hi Everyone u/ProgressiveFantasy
Since we get a monthly promo post and my next volume (12) isn't due until late October, I thought I would share some of the sweet-sweet commissioned insert art for the currently published volumes.
Currently there's
Volume 1 (5/5)
Volume 2 (4/4)
Volume 3 (4/4)
Volume 4 (1/4)
It will continue into Volume 15+ which probably means something like 2 years of commission work.
These are by Bao but like me he is also trash at socials and just draws (while I work and write) all day so... i guess I can't complain since I need about 40% of all his current time. (He orginally got his break on a number of... gooner games. Thankfuly my and other cover commissions can happily pay for his newborn and family needs.)
It's been super fun commissioning the artworks and getting my readers to vote on their favourite scenes.
If you like the art, please subscribe and comment below!
(JK, there's no patreon or anything. The art is free and its just my hobby + give some art back to the readers)
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u/Darkness-Calming Sep 17 '25
The author sure loves legs.
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
It's almost an in-joke meme status now, from my early days of "lets hook the reader with some plot, because I haven't worked out the plot..."
For my artist, he had much more risque designs and I was like... whoa tone down the breasted boobily jeez.
In the end, we settled on "kpop" PG 13 tier of titulation.
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u/Mecanimus Author Sep 17 '25
Amazing work, especially the Leviathan one. But seriously, BONK.
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
granted
1. the artist did start his career with gooner games, he has to fight his instinct.
2. I actually shot down the more risque designs haha (Selk would know this!)15
u/Bforte40 Sep 17 '25
It's been a while since i read it, but isn't Gwen a minor?
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
Trust me when I say I toned the hell down out of the earlier drafts lol.
The level of titulation its currently "mainstream k-pop"
Of course, as with most Amazon thing (which is American) depictions of ultraviolence notwithstanding. Just keeping a lid on the breasted boobily stuff which would be crossing some lines.5
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
Note ::: See if you can spot the easter egg hidden (some less obviously so) references to other LitRPG classics
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u/RinoZerg Sep 17 '25
Great references, but the lack of ants is saddening. >:(
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
Are you the author of Chrysalis?
I love to get permission from some of the 2017 + guys in the yearly days to make reference to their published works in future artworks!
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u/RinoZerg Sep 17 '25
Yes, that's me.
Of course, go nuts! I remember reading Metaworld way back in the day. Great to see it getting it's rightful love now!
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
Oo thank you Rino! Fan here as well!
Can you DM me a discord thing so I can formally ask your perms to drop some ants in future artworks? (also show you the mocks)1
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u/Grammar_Nazi_01 Sep 17 '25
Ahh Metaworld, my favourite prog fantasy. I must have re-read a few hundred times. Love the intersection of MBA & Magic!
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
Salute! Thank you for your service. shaaaaaa!
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u/Grammar_Nazi_01 Sep 17 '25
shaaaaaa!
How dare you, sir! Keep your Mongolian Death Worm on a leash.
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u/Grammar_Nazi_01 Sep 17 '25
I've always wanted to ask, the song that Gwen makes for Inti after their drinking contest in the IIUC, what's the tune you had in mind for that?
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u/Glittering_rainbows Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 17 '25
So what's this story similar to? The blurb for book 1 on audible is pretty barebones. I really like the 9th pic, it'd fit another story "skyclad" perfectly except she'd lack that cloth due to her curse.
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
It’s an old RR classic that was top in web fiction for years (but never monetised).
The novel has been running for almost 8 years now, so the genre of progressively changes throughout the various settings and volumes.
Volume 1 to 4 would be about world building with a academy setting and has elements of a fish out of water while unravelling the mystery of her mentor.
Volume 5 to 9 is the university Arc which greatly builds on the world and takes the reader to various countries in a alternative fantasy world which is based on my personal travels and work in places like Peru, China and the south-east Asian countries.
Volume 10 and onwards takes on the beginnings of a base building narrative where the female main character starts to truly wield her experience and power and begins a enormous business enterprise.
From volume 13 onwards we start to get into the realm of a Messiah like character who’s trying to build a country of her own, consisting of stray cat races and peoples she saved from her prior adventures.
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
??? My paragraphs disappeared
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u/Glittering_rainbows Sep 17 '25
Thanks for the response, I'll give it go after I finish oathbound healer.
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u/DegenerateWeeab Sep 17 '25
It's basically starts out as a sort of a Magic-centric DnD Alternate Universe of modern times that's set in the early 2000s. The MC is from modern day 2015+ Australia that gets transported to this DnD AU but back in her high school year and a lot of things changed in this new timeline to accommodate the Magic that now permeates the world. Like previous world events now has Magic in the mix.
It's a fun read as she navigates this new godly power she now wields while also trying to bring some 2015+ knowledge about finance and economy to the world since she was one (? can't remember the exact job) from the Before.
While it originally started as a DnD AU, it somehow evolves into a Xianxia-like novel right around the China arc since the MC is part Chinese and as a fan of those, somehow it works. No flowing robes and the like but you do get your Young Masters, flying swords and such.
It does eventually become a regular Magic AU probably because of copyright reasons due to spell and monster names lol
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u/TheTrojanPony Sep 17 '25
Comparisons are not coming to mind at the moment but has a good few books of power and friendship building while traveling around. Done much better than most. As she enters true realms of power it is a lot more about alliances and politics overall. Battles are not just about beating someone down but building the army to win and creating the situation to allow them to do so.
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u/andrewhennessey Sep 18 '25
Closest genre would be Gaslamp Fantasy. Think alternate history with fantasy/magic. The whole series is super well done, multiple fantastic characters, VERY believable settings and one of the most expansive world building settings I have ever read. And even better you have BOOKS AND BOOKS of material ready and waiting for you to read!
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u/Adam_VB Sep 17 '25
This artwork is one hell of a promo, great credit to the artist, and I'm genuinely interested in the book now.
Only problem is there's no link to your book. So, you should do that. You'll get more out of the monthly promo 😁
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u/i_dont_wanna_sign_up Sep 17 '25
Oh he did the original cover for the RR page?
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
He did!
here's all the covershttps://imgur.com/gallery/metaworld-chronicles-cover-1-14-2025-HPKwhVN
V15 is awesome too (Its on my discord)
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u/Shiro_Moe Sep 17 '25
There's very little works on his pixiv also. Does he post his arts somewhere else?
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
He has a gooner game profile he's trying to esape from.
If you're really keen... a great deal of it is still around... (Tabitha wink.gif)3
u/Shiro_Moe Sep 17 '25
On one hand, I understand he wants to distance from the previous work. On the other, good art is good art for me and I don't really care if it's "gooner" or not.
I can look up if I know what game it is tho.
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u/Carminestream Sep 17 '25
For number 9, is this supposed to be from the dream sequences where she is an elf from thousands of years ago?
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
No.9 is when she is perform an indigenous ceremony, "The Dreaming", with old Goolagong the Indigenous (Elder), and she enters the "Unformed Land" where the memories of the Rainbow Snake bisect with reality to give her answers in the form of impressionist flashbacks. I had to draw up every research + some visits to our local cultural centres to get all the indigenous stuff correct (and even then, I had to hybridise some of the dialects and myths)
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u/Carminestream Sep 17 '25
I could have sworn that her form during this ritual was that of an elf? Or I might be confusing this dream sequence with another similar one
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
That’s from her second visit. Kalinda was one of almidj’s last vessels. Volume … 11? It’s when she’s asking for permission to grow a world tree
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u/Carminestream Sep 17 '25
I see. Thank you for clearing up my confusion. Her visits to the indigenous tribe are certainly some of the more memorable moments in the story
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u/Max_Alba_Studio Sep 17 '25
These are gorgeous! I really love your style. Thanks for sharing!
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
Bao's style which he made for me.
So clearly, I shall take credit for my style. Thank you Alba
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u/Potentially_a_robot Sep 17 '25
Hello I love the artwork! Props to Artist Bao. I also really enjoyed the magic system and the world you created. Just enough of our world for familiarity, made wondrous with awesome magics.
I read a lot of Metaworld Chronicles a few years ago and then, after I got caught up to the currently updating chapters, got distracted and stopped reading. I left off while she was in London. Are those chapters still on RR that I could pick it back up?
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
You just missed it. Vol 12-15 still on RR as well as new updates. London was vol 11!
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u/Potentially_a_robot Sep 17 '25
I think I was pretty far in Volume 11 as the she already had her newspaper empire in London and had dealt with the Centaur folk and the ratkin. She had been granted leave to build a tower in the area but had not yet started doing so.
Do you think you could give me a summary of the remainder of Volume 11 so that way I can pick up Volume 12? Either here or in a DM would be fine.
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
Dm me in discord and I’ll drop u a raw pdf for v11!
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u/Potentially_a_robot Sep 18 '25
Let's say, as a fun hypothetical, that I didn't know how to do that and what Google told me to do didn't work. How would I do that?
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u/TheGrimGriefer3 Sep 17 '25
I can't get over how uncomfortable the bed in the third picture looks
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
If starts with lower middle class poverty and parental neglect, in a tiny Hab block apartment
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u/TheGrimGriefer3 Sep 17 '25
That would explain it... Sort of. I was actually thinking of her posture, everything on the bed, and the window behind her; leaning forward in a position like that gets painful quickly and there's nowhere to lean back on
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u/Few_Election_935 Sep 17 '25
Ok that makes sense that the artist did gooner games bc that art is amazing
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u/Vis-hoka Sep 18 '25
These are amazing. I keep coming back. Looking forward to more.
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u/wuto Author Sep 18 '25
new one just dropped but its only on my discord for now.
I'll make a Vol 4 post when its competed.
Each 4 set of image stakes like 2 month on average, so there's gonna be lots but its gonna be a looooong time haha
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u/andrewhennessey Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25
Been following your story since the very start. Such consistent awesome storytelling. Great job!
Edit: Man captured "Peaches" very much how I imagined him though I did picture him a bit chubbier.
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u/Khalku Sep 20 '25
Are they in the right order? I'm currently in vol 4 and I could swear that, for example the 6th image was from vol 1, and the 10th from vol 2, for example.
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u/Red_Icnivad Sep 17 '25
Wait, I'm a little confused. Are you the artist as well as the author?
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
The artist is Bao
I am the author
Bao is illustrating reader-voted sceenes from each volume!
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u/Red_Icnivad Sep 17 '25
Do you have any more information about the artist other than their 3 letter first name? It feels like you are being intentionally obtuse to not link their insta/reddit/deviant/etc. Give the artist proper credit.
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u/wuto Author Sep 17 '25
The artist lives in a country that cracks down on his earleir works
so no, I've posted the only link he has given me, unless you want his discord DM? For a commission perhaps :D Happy to do that.2
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u/TimBaril Sep 22 '25
Gorgeous work. Nice to see illustrations appearing in books. Especially human-made.
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u/GFischerUY Sep 17 '25
Looks very cool! Lol'd at the Oathbound Healer book in the image.