Essence: A Divine Dungeon Anthology

Infernal or celestial. Young or old. Each has their own path to power.

Delve into the world of the Divine Dungeon with new and old cultivators alike. Discover the Lion Kingdom’s beginning, learn the origin of Odin and his ravens, and take a philosophical approach to cultivation. These stories and more are included in the first short story anthology set in Dakota Krout’s Divine Dungeon universe.

Eight incredible new tales told by eight amazing authors.

Check out this LitRPG and GameLit fantasy anthology today!


Lion Start by Rohan Hublikar

Join Garron and Andros as they flee an oppressive Noble house and begin learning the secrets of cultivation while evading capture. Perhaps their methods will even create a legacy of its own?

Legacy of Thunder by Steven Willden

Learn the origin of Odin and his ravens, back when they were all simple cultivators in Azguardia. How did a child eventually become one of the most powerful and well-known lightning users of all time?

Flight of the Glitterflit by Ryan Ball

Test both the dangers and joys of surpassing your personal limits with Jack, as he learns what it really means to determine your own destiny. A person’s fate is never what you would suspect.

Splat! by Raymond Johnson

A simple Dungeon Goblin has been killed in the same way over and over, constantly revived by the dungeon it has bound itself to. Is there more to the deaths than simply fighting adventurers?

The Spirit Dungeon by Alexis Keane

An infernal cultivator is driven from his home by true necromancers. During his escape, he finds a secret that could allow him to live nearly forever. Will he be able to control it?

Hidden Lantern by James Auwaerter

The Inquisition has arrived. At least, one of the members has. It is up to him to determine if this area is worth saving… or should be purged by fire.

Butcher Boy by Dakota Krout

Follow the saga of Ramset as he learns what it means to be a cultivator in a city where men are only allowed to be mere mortals.

Axiom by Dennis Vanderkerken

What is cultivation? How is it possible? Philosophy to the rescue! When an old man loses everything, he decides that age is not going to be what stops him from rescuing the young ones that have been ‘recruited’ by the raiders that took them.


My Opinion: 248 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited

Like many short story collections there are going to be some stories you love and others you don’t. But I’m always a sucker for a good anthology and over all this is one. It has a few great gems and it really nice to spend more time in the Divine Dungeon universe.

Overall Score: 7.3 out of 10


Individual short story reviews:

Lion Start By: Rohan Hublikar

This is a story about a little dungeon dive to save a friend and clean his core. It’s not a bad dungeon dive and has some likable characters. I especially liked the relationship between the teen characters.

Score: 7.3 out of 10

Legacy of Thunder By: Steven Willden

This is a norse and lightning god themed short story with the cultivating nation of Azguardia having a special festival and competition that gives lightning essence. It’s a cute story but kind of predictable based on the names used for characters.

Score: 7.2 out of 10

Flight of the Glitterflit by Ryan Ball

What happens when a cleric keeps adding fire to his healing? You get many crispy and annoyed people. In this story the main character must rescue a kidnapped Glitterflit and try to fix his essence problem. It's not a bad story but the kind of wand wavy end didn't work for me.

Score: 6 out of 10

Splat! By: Raymond Johnson

Splat is the name of the dungeon goblin that keeps dying by being splatted. It’s a funny story, with a cute funny main character.

Score: 7.6 out of 10

The Spirit Dungeon By: Alexis Keane

I liked the idea of an alcohol producing dungeon but the story had issues. The story itself was just ok but had over long cultivation details for a short story. Where it lost me was with the characters. I never really cared about them, so I never cared if they survived the dungeon or got in trouble and the end was just a bit abrupt to satisfy me.

Score: 6 out of 10

Hidden Lantern By: James Auwaerter

This is a cameo story. It's set in Mountaindale, and lots of the main series characters make brief appearances. The story adds some details to events you've read about before or just little interactions with characters or groups you know. But not much more than that.

Score: 6 out of 10

Butcher Boy By: Dakota Krout

This is a story about a street urchin that gets a chance to better himself, just not the way he expects to. It’s such a good story. It ends way too soon though. I wanted a dozen more chapters.

Score: 8 out of 10

Axiom By: Dennis Vanderkerken

The story starts off with a group of kids get their names in particular ceremony and feels more like a fantasy coming of age story. However, It eventually connects to the Divine Dungeon series, explaining the lore behind the first half. It becomes enjoyable and may be a direct link to an upcoming Divine Dungeon side series.

Score: 7.3 out of 10


Overall there are some good stories here and it was really nice to spend more time in the Divine Dungeon universe

Overall Score: 7.3 out of 10

Essence: A Divine Dungeon Anthology 

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