Garden Of Poison - Chapter 225: From pan to fire

Quinn Winter is a young man from another world. One day, he is suddenly chosen to become the new Demon King. But the Demon Kingdom is in big trouble – it's losing a terrible war against the human kingdom called Gran'le.To help his people, Quinn comes up with a risky plan. He will sneak into Gran'le and learn their secrets. But things don’t go as planned. A powerful noble sponsors him, and he ends up joining Heavenward Academy, the top school for training future heroes.At the Academy, there's a big challenge called the Selection. The best students become Paladins – magic knights who fight demons. Quinn doesn’t want to become a Paladin. He is a demon king! But now, he’s stuck in the Selection… and if he wins, he’ll become the very thing he’s supposed to destroy.He started the day badly. Now, things are getting even worse.

In 2173, the world’s first Full-World Virtual MMORPG game ‘Astral Online’ went on sale globally, forever changing the blue planet Asteria!

With its revolutionary Digital Capture System, astonishing graphics and ability to scan yourself into the game with up to 20% beautification, countless defenders rallied to play the game.

Fifty million players logged in on launch. There were no queues or lag on launch, leaving countless critics impressed and willing to try the game. Because the game used a 6-hour play limit a day, it allowed even working adults to keep up with young students and the unemployed.

A resounding success, as more people poured onto the game servers, families and friends alike. Astra Online became a household name overnight.

One month later, the game opened its first RMT system, which made earning a living from the game easier... Thus began the Astral rush!

Professional players formed guilds and factions to increase their profits, but nobody could know this prosperity was a mere joke.

One year later, players fused with their avatars, gaining powerful abilities in the real world, which tipped the power and caused chaos.

Two years later, demons and monsters from inside the game invaded the real world.

Three years later, over 90% of humanity perished, leaving the rest to hide like rats, unable to fight back in fear.

Four years later, this world is no longer ours. The demons march on our last bastions, one by one. They exterminated us.

Zell was an average player who liked to collect beasts in the game and evolve them into humanoids, as they were primarily females.

He spent most of his life working two jobs to make ends meet.

Thanks to the excellent healthcare of his country, there were no crippling debts. There was only emptiness.

When the end came, he was powerless and alone. His only companions were his cute pets and Rika, his cherished Flame Rabbit.

She was the only beast he evolved to a humanoid form after his late start to the game.

He died saving the life of a strange girl with white wings and his pet Rika, the sad eyes of Rika and the girl’s sorrow floating through the air as he slowly passed away.

However, instead of dying, he awoke inside an empty white room with a single computer and a strange, game-like screen that allowed him to edit his IRL avatar and persona.

Who offered him this second chance?

For what reason did they help him?

Can he meet Rika again?

Zell could never know; he only knew his second life’s goal.

Survive!

Chang’an, Jan. 14th of lunar month, Tianbao Year 3 (744AD), Tang Dynasty.

For residents of Imperial City, what awaits them when the city enjoys its dazzling brilliance and joy of the Lantern Festival is an unexpected catastrophe that’ll destroy all. Tujue (a nationality in the north of ancient China), Wolfpack, kidnapping, assassination, rampant flames that scorch all…start the gear for the doom of and the Longest Day in Chang’an.

And the only hope lies in a one-eyed convict sentenced to death and the fleeting Twelve Hours…Will Chang’an, the city of prosperity, survive the longest day ever or will it burn…

Long ago a great calamity struck the earth, destroying much of it and merging what remained with pieces of other worlds.

With these worlds came Aether, a new form of energy that can allow one to transcend the bounds of normal mortality and human limitations.

In a world where humans absorb the essence of aether beasts to gain power, Aiden Hawke joins the class of humans known as arcanists, people who defeat aether beasts and absorb their essence into cores they forge within themselves, and who infuse themselves with the aether that permeates the world around them to increase the power of their body and mind.

However, unlike most, Aiden will find that he holds a unique gift and that his journey as an arcanist will not be so simple.