MTL - Super Craftsman - Chapter 15 Promising future

Introvert!? Me!? The hell am I an introvert? I stay indoors all day because I am afraid of getting my butt kicked.Until I contract my beast, I won’t be walking freely. This is a promise I made to myself.My name is Ryder, and I am black-marked. The planet where I live is dominated by summoners. If you guessed it, then you are right—we contract beasts from the Astral Shadow Plain and summon them at will after successfully forming a contract.A mark appears on the left shoulder of every human after a period of maturity, a mark given by the beast that chooses you. There are five different types of marks—the brown, the orange, the red, the black, and lastly, the white.Of all the markings, I was marked black. I was chosen by a supreme demon monarch of the Astral Shadow Plain—the Dracogon.There was only a 0.5 percent chance for me to survive the contraction process. However, with a slight twist in the original outcome, contracting a creature from the black-marked plain was nothing compared to the catastrophe I caused shortly after—I opened a link between the beasts of the Astral Shadow Plain and the planet of humans, Terra.Everyone on my planet has been endangered because of me. The fact that no one knows when the link will trigger and cause a breach that pours mindless creatures into my world makes it all the more unsettling.Now, with no other choice, I have to find a way to resolve the mistake I made—alone, just like I caused it.

In her pursuit of saving enough money to return home, Hannah found herself playing the role of the “first-love” character in a beloved novel. Originally, this character was a typical stand-in supporting actress, taking on various substitutes for the female lead as dictated by the male protagonists, such as donating kidneys or sparing road for the female lead, which she all agreed. Eventually, the original character succumbed to the pressure, turning dark and meeting a tragic demise with a disfigured face on the streets after being killed by the male protagonists.Hannah's task was to follow this grim plotline and achieve the tragic story's intended outcome. However, in the eyes of George River, she was merely a substitute he had enlisted—an entity dependent on him. When his true love returned, he callously abandoned the woman who deeply loved him. Later, he regretted his decision, only to discover that the once-begging woman was now surrounded by various exceptional men.The individuals who had previously used her as a shield—the movie king, the ambitious young actor who climbed over her for his ideal goddess, and the president who regretted his actions upon regaining his memory—all found themselves humbly pleading for her affection: “Hannah, the one I love is you.” Confused by the sudden turn of events, Hannah observed her bank account steadily growing and stumbled upon a newfound skill for crafting tragic stories.As the main antagonist who successfully survived until the end of the story, Arnold Simmons was ruthless, dark, and violent. In his eyes, Hannah appeared to be the most naive woman he had ever encountered, her thoughts consumed solely by love. Witnessing her continuous deception by those around her, Arnold eventually reached a breaking point and seized her, declaring, “Stay by my side; let me handle your tasks.”[A seemingly fragile flower with an inner strength, Daughter of the Sea, crosses paths with an obsessed, dark, and sinister antagonist who contemplates disrupting the pond of bred fish every day.]

In the year 2100 humanity was introduced to the revolutionary full dive VR game called 'Omega', however, the game was not a technology made by humans but one granted to humanity by a higher power to prepare them for the first awakening.

It was only a tutorial and a means to smoothly transition the primitive species from thinking that they were alone in the entire universe, to being integrated into the true wide universe.

When the average user level in the game exceeded the predetermined threshold the tutorial finally ended and planet earth underwent a catastrophic event called the 'First Awakening ', as mana started to flow freely in the real world as it did in the virtual world and the real universal stage game called 'Sigma' was unveiled.

'Sigma' was governed by the omnipotent A.I. the universal queen, and was the grand stage where races from all across the universe fought together for territory, resources, and honor.

Set in a universe where fantasy races such as elves, dragons, and vampires are not a myth but real power players, humans quickly found out that they were one of the weakest races to play 'Sigma'.

In such desperate times, humans turned to their best professional players for salvation.

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Max, was a genius in the world of Omega and deemed the hope of mankind after the first awakening. However, an accident crippled his mana veins and caused him to be assessed as a manaless trash in Sigma!

Deemed hopeless and irredeemable, he quickly went from hero to zero, and the world ignored him.

For ten years since the first awakening, he lived the life of a manaless trash and became a bottom feeder in society, slowly losing his pride, his possessions, and eventually his identity.

In the end, he faced a tragic and painful death while failing to save his young nephew and niece from assailants.

However, it was not the end of Max's story but just the beginning as he was reincarnated back in time to the day before the first awakening before his downfall started!

Armed with the knowledge of the future, watch as Max reaches for the apex in his second life and fights against his destiny with grit and tenacity.

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CONTENT WARNING:/This novel contains mature themes, explicit sexual content, strong language, and adult situations. Reader discretion is advised./---She ran from the devil who raised her…And married the one who wore a crown.After her parents’ tragic death, Lydia Andreyevna’s life became a nightmare. Stripped of her name, inheritance, and freedom by her uncle—Lord Alexander—she was treated like property and promised to a Count four times her age.Desperate to escape, she fled into the cold night… and straight into blood.A stranger. Wounded. Beautiful. Terrifying.She should’ve left him.But she didn’t.She touched him once—and fate branded her forever.Her uncle caught her the next morning. Her escape failed. But when she begged Queen Olga for protection, the Queen offered her a deadly bargain:Marry the masked Grand Duke of Zolotaria.The king’s hunting dog. The butcher of the East. The devil in a crown.The man feared by kings.The heir to the throne.The same man she once saved.Ivan Romanov.They say he bathes in blood. That he kills without blinking. That he conquered kingdoms with a smile behind a mask. That no one sees his face—and lives.Some call him the devil. Others call him Death’s favorite son.But behind the mask is the same man she found dying in the dark.The same voice that haunted her dreams.The same hands she once held.Now, he’s her husband.Her jailer.Her obsession.She doesn’t know if she’s his prisoner, or his weakness.Cold and untouchable, Ivan doesn’t share his bed. Doesn’t share his secrets. But she sees it—the hunger in his eyes. The pain in his silence. The way he looks at her like she’s the only thing keeping his demons at bay.She should fear him.She should hate him.But the moment she dares to take off his mask… it’s already too late.Because Ivan wants her—her fire, her body, her heart.And in his world, what he wants, he keeps.Even if it means burning down the kingdom.She thought she was running from hell.She ended up in his bed.And the most dangerous thing of all?She doesn’t want to leave.