The Heart System - Chapter 31

A conversation with a handsome stranger leaves Ariane chained in a cellar with a strange affliction. She soon discovers that the darkness of the nineteenth century’s Deep South hides many dangers. Mages, wolf shifters and the humans who hunt them play a risky game where to stumble is to die, all under the amused gaze of the apex predators of the supernatural world: vampires.

It is never healthy to attract the gaze of the aristocracy of the night. It takes much to survive in this merciless world, but Ariane will not let that deter her. The southern belle has a bite, and she is willing to learn and to grow in this hostile new world. She will use whatever means necessary to reclaim her freedom, be it guile, charm, or those intriguing new instincts that make blood so delectable.

This is a story of vampires as I believe they should be, with their strengths and weaknesses, with their remnants of humanity and the beast inside. Updates every Friday. Mind the tags.

Cover by Antti Hakosaari: https://www.artstation.com/haco

Special thanks to Svensonsen for getting me started, as well as Omi Nya, Hesketh, Rhaegar, Yaksher, Selkie and Raven for proofreading my stuff. Thanks to my patrons and you dear readers, for the support. I could not do it without you.

Journey is on Amazon, both in ebooks and audio. here is a link to the first one:

https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B08DK6G8Y8

The story probably exists in your local marketplace as well of I can tempt you.

For the crimes he commited, Theo was executed by the exile to the outlands, beyond the limits of human civilization, where the S-rank monsters reigned supreme.Yet, rather than feeling despair, guilt or anything else... Theo was excited.He had no memory of comitting any of the crimes he was sentenced for. Or, to be more precise, he had no memory of doing anything in this world other than sitting in the prison-coach as it drove to the edge of the civilization.And how could he not, with the system prompt hanging out in the corner of his vision, promising to activate only once he set foot in the outlands?Turn the world into blocks... and mine them out. Craft whatever your heart desire. Construct, automate, explore and exploit!But when you hear the boss music kick in...Do you run, or do you stand your ground and fight?!And what if, while you play minecraft... Others play game of thrones?

After announcing it will be discontinuing all service, the internet game ‘Yggdrasil’ shut down… That was the plan, but for some reason, the player character did not log out some time after the server was closed. NPCs start to become sentient. A normal youth who loves gaming in the real world seemed to have been transported into an alternate world along with his guild, becoming the strongest mage with the appearance of a skeleton, Momonga. He leads his guild ‘Ainz Ooal Gown’ towards an unprecedented legendary fantasy adventure!

When Xu Ying woke up in the post-apocalyptic world, she found herself back at eighteen years old in her previous life!Luckily, her portable space was filled with spoils from raiding supermarkets, including clothing, food, shelter, and various weapons and medicines.This made Xu Ying ecstatic.In an era of scarce resources and poverty, she had enough to ensure her family lived a good life.While other families favored sons over daughters, Xu's family had always cherished Xu Ying as their precious jewel. Having squandered a good hand in her previous life, she was determined to do better this time by kicking scumbags to the curb and tearing down the 'green tea' women, all while protecting her family and incidentally snagging the toughest man in the village!Huo Chen had a solitary nature and fearsome appearance, causing children to cry at the sight of him, but Xu Ying, who had honed her skills during the apocalypse, was not afraid of the notoriously fierce man at all.Xu Ying: What do you want to do? We're just partners.Huo Chen: You think you can seduce me and then run? No way.