Here are my favorite progression fantasy series that I’ve read so far:

• Cradle by Will Wight
• Mage Errant by John Bierce
• Arcane Ascension and Weapons and Wielders by Andrew Rowe
• Bastion by Phil Tucker
• The Weirkey Chronicles and Street Cultivation by Sarah Lin
• Soul Relic by Samuel Hinton
• The Umbral Storm by Alec Hutson
• Super Powereds by Drew Hayes
• Portal to Nova Roma by J.R. Mathews
• The Eldest Throne by Bernie Anés Paz
• Jekua by Travis M. Riddle
• The Enchanter by Tobias Begley
• Eight by Samer Rabadi
• Morcster Chef by Actus
• Ascendant by Michael R Miller
• God of Gnomes by Demi Harper
• Heaven Fall by Leo Petracci
• The Mage of Shimmer Mountain by Adam Sampson

Note that some of these have stats, but all of them take place on a real world. I consider LitRPG to be only those that take place inside a virtual reality game.

John Bierce’s Mage Errant is another highly regarded ProgFantasy series - that has recently published its last book in the ‘initial series’. I fully expect other works in the same setting though.

Personally I’m also a big fan of Sarah Lin’s work in general specifically Street Cultivation and Weirkey Chronicles.

Tao Wong is another very prolific writer in this space - his non LitRPG series, and IMO his best work is the series A Thousand Li - which is a more traditional Chinese Cultivation setting - but without being a Translated Novel. Some ProgFantasy fans find the Progression in this slow.

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Millennial Mage is really good, a mix of progression, slice of life, and action. Despite the name sounding like it’s some sort of “magic in the modern world setting”, it’s actually a totally unique world and with unique magic and doesn’t really have much to do with millennials other than some vague notions of being burdened by debt and dealing with a world that their education didn’t prepare them for.

I enjoyed Beware of Chicken a hell of a lot more than I thought I would! Fun series with the first two volumes on Kindle and the rest on Royal Road. I didn’t think much of it given the title but it really snuck up on me.