Gardenia's Heart - Chapter 114: What Is a Hero

Ezekiel recognized early in life that he didn't want to follow in his parent's footsteps and spend the rest of his days as a mere farmer. No, his eyes are set on a grander stage, a place where tales of monster hunters, mighty generals, and benevolent heroes hold court — A world of Magic and mysteries.One day, the opportunity he had been waiting for arrives. Without a second thought, Ezekiel throws himself headfirst into the adventure. However, not everything turns out to be as magical as he had dreamt it to be...THIS IS A SLOW BURN FANTASY PROGRESSION LITRPG STORY:Even though you are not going to see blue boxes from chapter one, I guarantee you that this IS a LitRPG story. This is, however, NOT a pure “game world”! Instead, I have tried to integrate the interface elements of a LitRPG into a world with a very thought-out magic & power system, which will be explored over the course of the first book.This world doesn't work like a game, where you can put '5 points in strength' and the body somehow changes magically into a stronger version of itself. It might take a couple of chapters for the world and magic to start to make sense, but I feel like a power system built on solid principles is a lot more rewarding in the long run (...and more IMMERSIVE!).

In this world, a cataclysm has caused the appearance of monsters and other disasters, emerging from dimensional rifts and gradually pushing the world toward its destruction. To face it, some humans having awakened various magical powers are fighting against this apocalypse.

Dora, one of them, has a special “Avatar” class which gives her access to all the other classes, at the cost of great difficulty to level them up. Despite his enormous potential, he chose to appear incompetent to get his team kicked, just so he could live a lazy life with his family, but his habit of fighting and beating the woman's brother the strongest in the Kingdom reveals her talents and she decides to enroll her in the royal academy.

Reluctant at first, his mother gives him the motivation he needs to pursue this past, but little did they know what kind of monster they threw to the world. Dora is not a hero wishing for peace, but a monster getting addicted to the taste of power, wealth, and freedom.

With his strange condition of being not one but many people inside one body, each with a different personality, but the same thirst for more, “they” use a strange system giving them a new vision of the world around them.

Dora pursues an unknown goal until he meets someone who knows more about his true nature than himself and sets him on a path that will nourish his eternal first, to the cost of his humanity, but in a world collapsing, isn't a monster the greatest weapon?

With many personalities in one body, each having a different relationship with different people, a system taking them further and further away from their humanity, and an increasingly hostile world where humans kill each other while monsters slaughter them, could the situation be worse?

Well, it looks like Dora isn't the only one with a system.

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Year 2035. A groundbreaking game—“Glory Lords: Arcane War”—takes the world by storm.With cutting-edge VR immersion, players can feel the pulse of magic, the tremors of battle, and the weight of every decision. But more than just a game, it becomes the ultimate stage for global esports. Elite teams rise, billion-dollar prize pools emerge, and the entire world is swept into the frenzy.But for Ethan Parker, this isn’t just a game. It’s a gamble with fate itself.Las Vegas. Midnight. A secret high-stakes game.On the table lies the world’s only Legendary-tier artifact—the Stone of Glory.Its value? Far beyond a billion dollars. Because hidden within it is a secret—one that can rewrite the very rules of reality.Ethan bets everything. And loses.In that moment, he doesn’t just lose the artifact—he loses his future.Then, the world changes.The game and reality merge.Earth is no longer the world it once was. Society collapses, replaced by a brutal new order where a person’s rank in “Glory Lords: Arcane War” determines their status in real life.The strongest players become kings.The weakest? Slaves.And the one who won the Stone of Glory—Griffin Musk—rises to absolute power, ruling over this new world as its supreme leader.As for Ethan? Once the #1 player in the world, he loses everything—his account, his status, his freedom. Reduced to the lowest class, he suffers, tortured until his final breath.But now—he’s back.Reborn with the memories of his past life, he returns to the moment it all began.This time, he wins the gamble.This time, he won’t let the world fall into Griffin’s hands.But fate has more in store for him…When he logs into the game, he realizes something is off.Not only is he the first player in the world to own private territory, but he also acquires something unheard of—the only Legendary-tier unit in existence: the Green Dragon.And then—something even more shocking.These two Green Dragons aren’t just powerful units. They’re heroes. With growth potential and combat abilities surpassing even top-tier players, they have the power to change the course of the entire game.At that moment, Ethan knows—his path to the top has begun.But the real world isn’t done with him yet.Governments, military forces, corporate giants, secret organizations—and even Griffin himself—are now watching his every move.This time, it’s not just about revenge.This time, he’s taking control of the future.The war of heroes has only just begun…