City of Sin - Book 9, Chapter 136

One rule: Survive. Everything else is optional.Reika Kagetsu doesn’t want to be a hero. She just wants to feel—pain, fear, adrenaline—anything to remind her she’s still alive.Tenshiko Academy promised her that.What she got instead? Brutal training. No rest. No second chances. And monsters—inside and out.Now she’s fighting the Shikiban: creatures born from blood, madness, and buried secrets. But the deeper she goes, the more she begins to wonder...What if she’s one of them?Power always comes with a price. And Reika is about to pay it in full.

Long Chen, a crippled youth who cannot cultivate, is constantly targeted and bullied by his fellow noble heirs. After a particularly vicious beating, he wakes up and realizes a Pill God’s soul has somehow merged with him, giving him some additional memories. Within those memories is the mysterious Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, a cultivation technique that even he can train in, but whose secrets and origin are still a mystery to him. Relying on his improved instincts as he finally begins to cultivate, he realizes a huge conspiracy is underfoot within the Phoenix Cry Empire, one involving his father, members of the imperial family, and even the Emperor himself.

In order to solve the mysteries around him, he must rely on his new alchemy techniques and the powerful but baffling Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. Countless enemies block him as he attempts to climb to the peak of the cultivation world.

Fate destined him to be only a chess piece, but he would not bow to the will of the Heavens.

The Fake Life of a Villainess: Reincarnated as a villainous noblewoman, you become an experience bag for the protagonist on their journey. You are the target of the maid’s revenge, your half-sister takes away everything that belongs to you, and the grand princess who cared for you for many years finally loses hope and abandons you. The Real Life of a Villainess: You clean up the mess left behind by the protagonist when they disappear. And in their place, you teach her that as a maid, she shouldn’t always be thinking about…

On Terra, everyone has a 58% chance to “Awaken” as a Traveler—a chosen few who can access mystical portals called Flumes, allowing them to travel to Genovia, a world filled with unimaginable power, chaos, and danger. But not everyone gets to be a hero.Born into a struggling family with nothing but ragged clothes and a bleak future, Aoni Thurston, a total nobody with a humiliating One-Star Potential and G- stats across the board, knows his only chance at survival hinges on unlocking his hidden ability, something which all Traveler’s are gifted “Attributes.”But Aoni’s Attribute, “Progression,” holds a secret—a power to bend the rules of his ruthless reality. Each small victory, every step forward, earns him mysterious Progress Points, enabling him to transform his weaknesses into strength. Surviving the unforgiving snows of his desolate Territory, he faces isolation, despair, and near-death, all while unraveling the potential of his Attribute.In a world where power is everything, can Aoni claw his way from obscurity to greatness, or will the system grind him into dust? His future is uncertain, but one thing is clear—everything in his world can change through his Attribute: Progression.