The Regressed Mercenary's Machinations - Chapter 16: We Need A Variable (1)

I Will Live as an Actor is a heartwarming story of a young man who grows up poor as the son of a widowed fishmonger.Fueled by a passion for acting, he neglects his mother and her sacrifices, only to regret it when she passes away.In a twist of fate, he is reincarnated back to his youth, just before he went down the wrong path.Determined to live a better life and honor his mother’s memory, he embarks on a journey to become a successful actor while also being a filial son.

Xiao Chen, “the waste” of Xiao clan, had his engagement to the Young Lady of the Yang clan renounced.

And when he arrived at the sect that sympathized with him and took him in, he found corpses strewn all over the place and a mist of blood in the air. The sect was exterminated by a mysterious group that was looking for the ‘Wind Spirit Jade’.

He himself was left behind only half-dead for ‘wastes do not deserve to die by their hand’. Humiliated once more and on the verge of death, in the surroundings strangeness happened. A whirlpool sucked up the blood mist and diverted it into Xiao Chen’s forehead, transforming and enhancing his body.

- Description from Novelupdates

Five years ago, humanity’s strongest Tower Climber was betrayed at the peak of his conquest.Rael Arden, known only by his codename Phantom, was the silent genius who cleared impossible floors, crushed monsters with forbidden magic, and shaped the rules of Tower exploration. No one had ever seen his real face—yet his legend was feared across the world.But at the Tower’s summit, the teammates he carried to glory stabbed him in the back. For power. For godhood. For fear of what he might become.They thought he died.They were wrong.Reincarnated in secret, Rael awakens in a modern world that’s on the edge of collapse. Dungeons bleed into cities. Monsters evolve. The Tower is no longer just a gate—it’s infecting the world. And the very ones who betrayed him now rule from the shadows, hiding behind titles, guilds, and lies.But Rael isn’t alone. His soul split across hidden clone bodies, each designed to infiltrate, gather information, and prepare for war. As each clone reawakens, his power grows—and so does his rage.With him are three women tied to his fate:Selene, the shadow rogue who never betrayed him.Lyra, a curious researcher drawn to the legend of the Phantom.Aeris, the sword saint who still mourns his death… and may not be as loyal to the enemy as she seems.Now, Rael hunts the seven betrayers who destroyed his past.One by one, they will fall.But revenge is just the beginning.Because deep within the Tower, something else is waking—an ancient force that even Rael feared. And this time, the world may not survive unless the Phantom reigns again.

Life is unpredictable. Her husband loved her stepsister, deposed her as Empress and even forced her son to death. In that Cold Palace, she was forced to drink poisonous wine. So in the next lifetime, she made a promise to never do good deeds and help others, to never step into the palace and to never become the Empress!