Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~ - Chapter 22: awakening

“Mu Yingying,” or the Seventh Young Lady of the Mu family, vividly remembers the cruel past life she endured.Due to the evil schemes of her stepmother and half-sister, the three descendants of the Mu family met tragic ends...The eldest son died dishonorably, the eldest daughter became mentally deranged,And she, the second daughter, was unjustly sentenced to death!Even her own father heartlessly cast his children aside...Now, she has returned once again, to the third year of the Xingping era, when “Mu Yingying” was only 5 years old.She has come back to the starting point of everything!Very well... She will drag the traitors down into the depths of hell.Her return is not for forgiveness... but to reclaim what is rightfully hers and to exact retribution on those who wronged her!“Death is not the end, but the beginning of the regret you will face.”

Year 24XX. With several hundred years of improvements, virtual reality has become more mature. It had gradually become humanity’s second world. Socializing, working, studying and other everyday things could all be done while sleeping.

Along with the rise in virtual reality systems, virtual games also developed successfully. Additionally, with the vigorous support of the government; every season, games continued to be born, be changed, competed with each other, and be reborn.

Ye Cang is a black bellied, underachieving, 2nd year student at a city college. He appears to have been cured of his albinism yet his story is still full of mystery. In the game ‘New Age – Conviction’, he began walking the path of a professional gamer. An all-rounder ranger, dark cooking, with a nasty disposition, willing to do anything. He’s slowly creating his own legend.

“Actually… instead of games, I prefer cooking and dramas” – The White Emperor

- Description from novelupdates

One god, one faith, one world, one mage… I am the only mage in the world.

- Description from Ptwxz (translated)

Aric Valerian was born a curse.The fourth prince of the Valerian Empire. A bastard. A cripple. A forgotten shadow in the court, mocked as a stain on royal blood.But when the gods reached down, healing his body and allowing strength into his veins, Aric tasted hope for the first time. He fought for honor, clawed for recognition—only to be betrayed by the brother he trusted most. Cast into a slaughter pit, abandoned to die.And in the moment when despair and death should have claimed him, the world offered something else.[Would you like to change your fate?]From that line, Aric Valerian was reborn—sent back to the past not as the forgotten prince, but as a weapon. A sovereign forged in agony, guided by a system of relentless ascension:[Ki Circulation Mastered: Strength +10][System Upgrade: Tactical Genius Acquired][Hidden Fortress Constructed: Security +15%]Every scar became a push. Every betrayal, a reason. With blood-soaked hands, Aric began carving a path through enemies, kin, and gods alike. The empire that spat on his name would kneel or burn. The brother who betrayed him would drown in his own crown.Yet with every victory came sacrifice. Every step forward dragged him closer to the abyss, until vengeance and damnation became one.But Aric does not care.Because the cursed prince has only one destiny left:To rise as the sovereign who will shatter gods, break empires, and tear fate itself apart.Or die trying—and take the world with him.