A Demon Lord’s Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss - Chapter 43: A Change in State

The year was 2026, and the world wasn't what it used to be. Ever since the Abyss Gates cracked open three years ago, spilling monsters and dungeons across the planet, life had turned into a chaotic mess. Cities were half-ruined, half-rebuilt, and people clung to whatever normalcy they could find. Hunters—those brave or crazy enough to fight the monsters—became the new heroes. Everyone else? Well, they just tried to survive.Fin wasn't a Hunter. He wasn't a hero either.He was just… Fin. A lanky 19-year-old with messy brown hair, a chipped front tooth from a dumb skateboard accident, and a power that everyone called useless. Absorption. Sounds cool, right? Like he could suck up energy or steal someone's strength. Nope. All it did was let him “feel” things he touched a little more than normal. He could tell you the exact texture of a brick wall or how warm a coffee mug was—big whoop. No fireballs, no super strength, no flashy moves. Just a glorified touchy-feely trick.“Fin, you gonna eat that sandwich or just stare at it like it's gonna confess its life story?” Meg's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.He blinked and looked across the rickety table at his best friend. Meg was short, loud, and had a wild mop of dyed purple hair that she swore made her look “intimidating.” It didn't.

A hero must be compassionate, selfless and courageous.But that isn't all. Because a hero must also be powerful.In this world, power is everything. Strength decides who gets to save lives and who's left with community service. That’s why I was nothing — a rank 50 E-Class reject, skating through the streets, saving what little I could while the real heroes battled gods and monsters.Then one day, I died. Almost.Dragged into the abyss, I was given a second chance: the Forever Core. An armor that evolves. A system that never stops adapting. Every battle, every hit, every mistake, I come back stronger.Now, the monsters that once crushed me can’t kill me the same way twice.I must adapt. Evolve. I must grow stronger and fight harder. Because humanity is worth fighting for.Even if I have to burn every villain alive to prove it.

Growing up in a facility that turned children into weapons, Subject 42 never knew freedom; only survival.So when a strange creepy entity offered him a second chance in another world in exchange for one mysterious task, he took it. Even if that meant living in a world that was drenched in curses, ruled by ancient gods, and shaped by powers no mortal should touch.Reborn as a Moon Elf, a being of myth and moonlight, he finally thought he could live the life he was denied.But the task he completed set something in motion. Something that he couldn't outrun.Witness, as his fate twists and turns, as Noctis moves through this strange world in search of a respite...

Liu Xu’er had once hoped that if she were to be reborn, she would be born to old money, and have a rich, handsome and tall husband. That way, she could have a carefree life of luxury!

Then she actually was reborn…. to a family that had been poor for generations, and lost her rich, handsome and tall husband.

Wait, why does this little husband sound so familiar?

Surely it can’t be…. Liu Xu’er helplessly thought – Heaven, must he too be sent here? Would it have been so difficult to have given me a different husband…

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