The Legend of William Oh

The Legend of William Oh #1

by Macronomicon

William Oh is not a legend. Yet.

He’s an orphan whose biggest dream is serving his absentee parents a knuckle-sandwich, but the only way to do that is to climb The Tower, the center of the world through which all magic flows.

A betrayal, a bit of generosity, and a knack for surviving impossible odds sow the seeds of a legend.

The only problem is… As the stories about him grow and take on a life of their own, can the boy outrun the legend he is becoming?

Genres: Litrpg, Fantasy, Audiobook, Adventure

Kindle Edition

First published March 10, 2026

About the author

I could tell you that the author is a middle class, middle age white dude with a generic wife and a generic pet who lives somewhere vaguely rural...but aren't they all?
F%$! that noise! There are Author Bios and then there's Mythos.

Welcome to the Mythos of Macronomicon.

Macronomicon is almost three years old now, hatched on the open-mic writing website Royal Road. The pen name burst from the cocoon of blissful ignorance and deposited his first humble contribution into the world of writing, tired and sticky, yet satisfied. Content in the knowledge his work would be warmly received by thousands of potential fans, and more importantly...friends.

The first comment was, "Can you, I don't know, make the main character less stupid?"

That was sobering.

Macronomicon has no actual weight, because he is a pen name, and while his existence is ephemeral, he does have a presence, often stalking the back-channels of Discord like a novelty vampire, waiting to suck nourishing creativity out of unfortunate* fans.

Macronomicon has a talent for brainstorming and stringing together disparate ideas into a cohesive story. That talent has been strengthened and built upon to form the foundation of his writing career. He once outlined the plot (quality notwithstanding) of an entire book from start to finish in a tiny room with nothing but Cheerios, beef jerky, Pepsi and B.O.**

If you wish to hunt for the elusive Macronomicon, you may find him at Royal Road, where he began, or Patreon, where he works*** at distilling new stories from a raw, chunky slurry of ideas.




*Or fortunate, depending on your point of view. The sucking is consensual.
**Quality of B.O. also notwithstanding.
*** Working is subjective.

Reviews

[William Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Macro has the *good* drugs

It’s the only explanation for how the chaos somehow holds together in a ‘coherent’ narrative. As a bonus, it also explains how each series published has such differences while still having similar elements.

The usual teen MC getting his first powers, incapable of talking to gurls, and winning by surviving. The ‘hype man’ being inexplicably effective is hilarious.

I will be pre-ordering the next book.

[Fat Frog · Rating 1 out of 5]

A lot of stuff makes no sense.

The price change per floor is ridiculous. On floor 1 the price of food is a couple coppers. On floor 2 they are eating street vendor meat that costs 2 gold each. Like what? It is very easy to go between floor 1 and floor 2. This should make the value of money near the same, since trade is constantly happening.

There is no real benefit to living on a high floor. The person selling kebabs on the 2nd floor would have hundreds of thousands of gold, and could just go to the first floor and live like a king. But no, they stay on the 2nd floor and keep selling kebabs....

Lots of plot armor BS. They went to the third floor with no water. A lava/fire floor. LOL. Shit makes no sense. Then it just so happens, while on that floor, they figure out they can use the hoarfrost dagger to create water crystals on enemies to gain drinking water. They used that constantly, WHICH MEANS THEY DIDN'T HAVE WATER. Everything always just sorta "works out" for them.

Lots of modern age references that seem totally out of place. Like putting "F's in the chat" on a gravestone. This is a world without electricity and computers... what the fuck would "F's in the chat" mean in that world. Why would a Twitch reference be in here. This is not the only one, this happens all the time.

There is no feeling of tension. The MC is always chillin'. Even if he is about to die, will crack some jokes and act like this is all a party, and everyone's havin' a great time. While running for his life he will start "musing" about something or other, or start chatting with his friend. The characters just don't behave like any of it is REAL.

Everyone just freely attacks the MC... the MC beats on them, and then the MC is like "you done", and then they are done, and they apologize and then everything is cool. Like what?

"We were just sparring"... No you weren't. In sparring, you TELL THE OTHER PERSON you are sparring BEFORE you start.
"We just cut their escape bridge to mess with them" Uh huh

The MC just immediately forgives everyone. He forgives the guys cutting their bridge. He forgives the guys that attack him out of nowhere. He barely gets mad at his best friend betraying him and trying to kill him for money.

I don't like the gravity effect. He can just choose someone or something to be the center of gravity for him, and he goes zooming towards that person/thing. It makes for really messy fights that can't be visualized easily.

DNF 17%

[Tony Hinde · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun system progression novel. The occasional tall tale created to promote the hero reminded me of stories written about Paul Bunyan. That's my sort of poetry.

William Oh himself may turn out to be too simple and direct to support a series. Perhaps his scaley companion is smart enough to take up the slack. I'm keen to find out.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this series over on royalroad
It’s a good but silly and over the top tower climbing adventure. Lots of action and just some silliness.
Got this series in my favorites list.

8/10 pretty good series

[Roberto Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long as you remember this is a comedic author, you should be fine.

[Luis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if the murder hobo had good PR?

Don't ask me which book came first, just know I read Murder hobo first, and liked both of these books.
Having the little Chuck Norris style stories before each chapter, then watching it unfold was great.
There were a lot of pieces that worked really well, and we got more explanations and wod building as we went.
And Lil' Loth is great, love me some crazy Kobold activities.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really think it’s closer to 3.5 but only because the tabs on the phone version of the book were like half the page. Otherwise, I think books by Macronomicon are easy to read and good candy books. Morally dubious main characters with strange powers run around and do stuff. It’s good old fashioned fun.

[Alfie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: [S-] [4.5⭐]

Brilliant. Feels very similar to Wake of The Ravenger but slightly better so far. Absolutely devoured this and looking forward to the rest of the series.

[James Brunson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absurd, ridiculous, and over the top. Also an absolute blast in a just sit back and don't think too hard about it kind of way. I smiled for pretty much the entire read. The best kind of popcorn litrpg.

[Mohamed AlQubaisi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun. Its the perfect book to take a break. 4.5/5

[Петър Стойков · Rating 5 out of 5]

Отново занемявам в благоговение пред гения на Macronomicon и му прощавам тъпия псевдоним, който си е избрал, вероятно на младини. Той отново пише хиляди страници на същата история, която е писал винаги, със същия главен герой и отново написаното е завладяващо и интересно за четене във висша степен.

Не, главния герой не е буквално същия, но е твърде подобен както на протагониста в The Outer Sphere, така и този на Wake of the Ravager, че даже и на Industrial Strength Magic. И трите поредици са супер дълги и много интересни.

Този път Macronomicon малко променя стила и се насочва към "класическото" фентъзи лит-рпг. Колко класически може да бъде един стил на 10 години не знам, но разрастването му за тоя период беше така лавинообразно и произведе такова количество еднотипни произведения, че мисля мога да си позволя тоя израз.

Наистина, повечето лит-рпг книги са като излезли по шаблон и писани от деца - най-вероятно причината е точно, че ги пишат хора с най-силно казано незабележителен писателски талант и ги четат хора в подрастваща възст в лекия спектър на аутизма.

Macronomicon обаче пак показва, че е класи над всички авторчета и дори шаблонното му фентъзи рпг оглавява всякакви класации за тоя вид литература и определено ще остане като един от малкото представители на тоя жанр (сещам се само за Vainqueur the Dragon, Azarinth Healer, Mother of Learning и Worth the Candle), които са четими за човек който не е малолетен аутист.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it. It's funny.

This is definitely for the LitRPG folks out there, as it just jumps in with the usual teenager (14? 16?) leaving the orphanage to attempt some kind of trial with his best friend so he can climb The Tower levels. The explanations are for what they see and what they do, not for all that other basic crap.

There really isn't a lot of emotional stuff here, though, even when something bad happens to him and his friend. So, there's not a lot of personality development unfortunately.

As to the funny: in his world the sun doesn't move. It's only in The Tower that the sun moves. Totally backwards. And this freaks out William Oh. Every now and then the author throws in a little oddity like this that I find amusing.

He off-handedly talks one of his orphan "brothers" to start eating well so he, too, can be a trial runner like William. Oh, and by the way he needs to start hyping up William, and man, does that go badly, or well, depending on who you are. All of a sudden everyone is talking about William Oh, and he hasn't even reached level 2 yet! The reactions are funny. Not hilarious, but it definitely made me smile.

His eventual companions are interesting. You slowly start learning more and more about them. That's good. They aren't just cardboard characters.

The action is good. There is no over the top stuff. It feels like it's hard for them. I found I wanted to know what happens next.

And I definitely want to read the next book in the series.

[Vedant Kokate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seeing this among the highest-rated stories on Royal Road, alongside some of my favorites, was surprising. However, if so many people seem to like it, then I think this story is simply not for me.

**Things I didn't like:**

1. The author seems to be in love with the main character, so he is almost always portrayed in an extremely positive light.
2. The protagonist does not face any serious challenges and easily overcomes almost everything.
3. Everyone seems to view the protagonist as the second coming of God.
4. The plot is weak or nearly nonexistent. The main goal seems to be getting stronger and climbing higher, similar to a mediocre Chinese progression novel.

**Things I liked:**

1. The beginning was good and managed to hook me into the story.

**Things I am neutral about:**

1. The grammar was okay. It was not bad enough to draw attention to itself, nor was it good enough for me to particularly notice it.
2. The writing style, specifically the use of a quote at the beginning of each chapter, is something I have seen in many good stories. However, here it loses its value because the quotes are almost always praising the protagonist. Over time, this makes them feel repetitive rather than adding depth to the world or the story.
3. The character writing is average at best

Overall, I can see why some readers enjoy this story, especially if they like overpowered protagonists and straightforward progression. Unfortunately, the story's strengths were not enough to outweigh its weaknesses for me.

[Aniconomics · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its a good story.

The protagonist having a hype man that is raising his reputation in the background is a nice premise.

I do have one tiny nitpick about the story. I generally prefer protagonists who min-max, assuming five stat points is the max you could get from a single sacrifice. That would mean the protagonist is losing out on three stat points per level. You could have shaped the story in such a way that he received the max amount of stats.

What if the backpack leather he sacrificed was a gift from his caregiver from the orphanage. Who I recall was once the 12th ranked climber. Just make the leather come from a very powerful goat monster that originates from the upper floors. As for sacrificing his arm, that was a creative choice.

Again you could have justified the five stat points by stating he was a child that was conceived by two of the strongest climbers in the tower so his constitution and genes are better than the average human.

If a wealthy lord can get his hands on Uru Drake, then what makes the protagonist unique in comparison to all these other people who possess greater resources than him? People who can provide their children the strongest sacrifices in the best possible combinations.

If you are going to have a hype man, at least provide your protagonist the necessary foundations to live up to that hype.

[Lester Covax · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a fan of 95% is Macronomicon's work (with a large portion attributed to how well Stephen Campbell pairs as a narrator for their works), and this book is something special (but far too short IMO).

This special sauce comes from the fact it will appeal to fans of their more kookier books, while also following some unknown recipe to make it universally appealable, to fans of the genre or newcomers. I think it stems from never taking itself too seriously, teetering on the edge of grimdark / adult while never committing, and having a plethora of characters that don't make you regret learning how to read.

Sadly that last hurdle is a high bar these days with authors being so socially unaware / inept that they don't realize how annoying, cringeworthy, 1-dimensional, unlikable, mentally impaired their MC is even after four books worth of reviews with people pointing it out. It's like the authors are reading the 'Thomas Covenant: The Unbeliever' series and trying to replicate Stephen R. Donaldson's miracle of combining the protagonist and antagonist into a single character.

My armchair critic rant aside, listen to the audiobook; it's great. If you liked this, I highly recommend checking out "Apocalypse: Generic System" [audiobook] and its sequels. It takes a bit to get going, but expect absurdity with an open mind and it won't disappoint.

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I write this, I've read the first three books and am working my way through the fourth. This is in my top 3 favorite LitRPG series of all time. It's just a wonderfully-written set of books. It is not the same as Dungeon Crawler Carl, but I definitely get DCC vibes when reading it, in terms of the humor and snark.

The first book starts off a little slow, but eventually finds its footing, which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. The series really hits its stride, however, in books 2 and 3 and, spoiler alert - I gave both 5 stars, which is pretty rare for me.

The MC uses his brain, more than brawn and his strength is in his variability. That's one aspect that makes the book so interesting. Some will claim he's OP - I would instead claim he's just smarter and more creative.

The RPG mechanics are also moderately innovative and something I haven't seen a lot of in other series. There's some familiarity for sure, but also a lot that's different, in an interesting way.

Just really well-written overall and thoroughly fun and enjoyable to read.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

And So The Legend Begans

I had read and been recommended William Oh enough times to check it out but held back because I wasn’t looking for a comedic story at the time. Now that I have tried it I would say the comedy is definitely not the focus…not entirely anyways. It has its funny moments and the entire story is ludicrous enough to be funny without even trying too hard. William Oh is very witty in situations you would expect a normal person to fail, he is tenacious as hell. Action is good, usage of abilities is ever changing, and the exploration of the tower is superb. There are certain dark themes in the book so don’t expect it to be entirely comedy William oh happy go lucky. I loved the camaraderie he has with his party and most of all, I love his legends.

Give it a try and be refreshed, 10/10

[Mafaz Kattih · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

Enjoyable popcorn read with a few issues that held it back. The story itself leans towards the absurd, never taking itself too seriously which allowed the wacky situations to flourish as we follow the travels of William Oh. William himself is decently likeable with some flaws, being a bit rash in his actions. We meet a cast of side characters throughout the book that are...serviceable. Some are better than others but overall only Loth was really interesting. My biggest gripes with the book are definitely the world building and scenic descriptions. Both are lacking making it difficult to imagine the world and the scenes where the actions themselves are taking place. Overall still a fun read and will continue.

[tester · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was entertaining but didn't grab me the same way the authors other works have done. I feel like every mc this author does is the same personality wise, the plot is almost nonexistant, previous series had a larger overarching plot, though the author also hasn't finished some of those other series...the ending twist I predicted within the first few chapters, authors becoming predictable

Lots of banter and quips, strong world building and decent characters work, the author likes to reuse alot of the same tropes in all their series.

Overall I'd say it's worth reading for most, though if you find yourself annoyed in the first 10 chapters, that will not go away, the author has a style and leans into it.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yeah buddy!

Macronomicon is just getting better and better. A true gem in our beloved genre that often feels like interminably trawling a turgid morass while waiting for your favorites to release their next supply drop.

He always has had a great attention to detail and crafting fun and interesting systems with protagonists that survive through pluck and ability with meaningful build choices rather than plot juggernauts with depressingly underutilized god skills.

This has been yet another refinement in prosidy, storytelling, and character building. Really excited to see where this yarn goes. Hats off!

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down!

Overall this book was very well written and enjoyable to read. I very much enjoyed this author's previous series so no surprise there.
I especially love that this MC is the intellectual opposite of the MC from the unrelated Industrial Magic series. This one is a relatable idiot, that reminds me of Ash Ketchum: just another 13 year old sent out into a world of dangerous adventure to make friends and be the Best Like No One Ever Was.
Also, each chapter starts with an exaggerated tall tale about the MC reminiscent of Paul Bunyan and/or Chuck Norris jokes.
I will definitely be picking up the next book ASAP.

[Matt Hatch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow he did it again!!

I always worry when an author has an amazing series that it was a one off situation. Now I can safely say that is NOT the case! The Legend if William Oh already has me addicted to the characters. Interesting magic and abilities with creative applications and action that leaves you begging for more. And all done with a great sense of humor and dialogue that will cure your loneliness! If you want more amazing books to read, definitely check this one out as well as his other series Industrial Strength Magic. It's just *chefs kiss*

[Mr. Tumbles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can I have the next one please!!!!🙏

This book was really fun! Definitely a series you will not want to miss. William Oh is no mere man! He is a legend of astronomical might wit and charm!

In reality William is a poor boy on the bottom of a slay the spire esque tower and He wants to conquer the whole thing. He’s got a plan and when it goes wrong he is left 1 armed and the only person who wants to be his companion is a kobold. They become fast friends!

The fun and whacky power system is really interesting and the synergies are very cool.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun action-adventure LitRPG tower climb. This is able to avoid a lot of the pitfalls of most LitRPGs that get bogged down in numbers that don't matter. While this book has some numbers that do matter.

The action is really good, and I like how Will is a natural fighter/adventurer/climber. He feels like a classic shonen protagonist, where he isn't very smart but he can fight really good and has good instincts.

There is a fair bit of comedy throughout the book, and it was more hit than miss for me. But I could easily see it annoying someone into not liking book.

[Kevin · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

Been hearing about this story for a while now. The author is usually a hit, so let's see how this goes.

There really is a great difference between a good story and a meh or okay one.
This story flew past like butter on a piping hot surface.
I just looked at progress and realised that I passed 90%. I expected a couple more hours of reading at least.

The story was attention grabbing, and is making me seriously consider continuing on Royal Road when this book is done.

Another fun read by Macronomicon.

3.5/5 Stars

[Clinton Stanturf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable listening experience overall, with the narration team at Sound Booth delivering excellent work. Regarding the story itself, it was both unique and engaging. I particularly appreciated the world-building, character development, and skill integration. The plot kept me guessing about what would happen next, which was a refreshing surprise, as I typically tend to predict outcomes. Overallall, a must read you will not regret it.

[Darrin Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a 7 Star Review but only people that have met William Oh can see the additional stars.

Chuck Norris was William Oh's worst combat student and greatest disappointment.

William Oh invented a new type of laugh for people reading books which automatically goes viral and improves the mood of entire neighborhoods.

William Oh taught Taylor Swift how to sing and song write.

Need I say more?

[Cory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good banter, likeable berries, really enjoyed

This is slightly different portal fantasy. It acknowledged the game mechanics and Earth specific terms "like Latin" but no one is from "our world" feels like portal fantasy Before the outsider arrives.
Good dialogue and diverse types of characters that go beyond the white and black hats.

[Robert Baucom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh another so very good book by Macromicon

Looking forward to book book. As usual he takes us to a new rich world with lore and history and rules.
The legend of William Oh and how the stories about him get started are hilarious. Great dialog, funny and insightful characters, intelligent people trying to plan surprises on the others. Like I said can't wait for book two.

[Elio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly fun and fast paced. This should be a new standard for LitRPG. The voice acting is superb as usual, SBT team does an incredible job here. The story starts off immediately and never throttles back, always getting momentum and craziness. The characters are pretty lovable, especially the main 2. And I'm very curious on what happens next, I genuinely can't wait.

Amazing book overall!!