The Veil of Darkness - Chapter 23: The Monsters

Follow Tristan Hale on his journey to become the G.O.A.T. in football. After a life-changing car accident, Tristan is transported back to his youth, where he seizes a second chance at greatness.

“I am the rot in your foundation. I will crawl back from hell and bury this world.”Those were Red’s final words as his classmates—the people he once sought validation from—watched him dissolve. They stole his life force to fuel their own ascensions, becoming Paladins, Sages, and Kings. They threw his empty husk into the Abyss, satisfied the 'Terrorist's Son' was finally gone.But death was not the end. While his body lay broken in the abyss, his soul drifted to the sanctuary of a Forgotten God.Awakening the forbidden SSS-Rank Talent [Exponential Divinity - 100x Growth], Red realizes that in this world, power isn't given—it's built. He doesn't need heroes; he needs monsters.From the chitin of hyper-evolved insects to dragons, from eldritch horrors to the nightmares sleeping in the dark, he begins to construct a civilization that defies the natural order. Under his hand, the weak do not just survive—they evolve into calamities.The Heroes are leveling up in their golden towers. The Gods are watching from their thrones.But in the shadows, Red’s Strongest Civilization is already preparing for war.[Betrayed and sacrificed, I awakened an SSS-Rank Talent. While others struggle to build a village, my civilization grows 100x faster.]

Kai of the Sorcerer’s Tower is one of the last mages left, barely surviving in a world ruled by creatures of the dark — where the era of mages ended, and most of the lands got contaminated with dead mana. To save his world and fulfil his master’s last wish, he put himself through a forbidden ritual, risking his soul being ripped into pieces to make his way into the past. In an era with abundant mana — an era yet to enter the Golden Era of Magic. Things go wrong, of course, as they always do, and he finds himself thousands of years before the world fell to mana contamination — in the body of a young lord, Arzan. All is not well, though, as the young lord was murdered by someone right at the cusp of a beast wave threatening the territory, while larger threats loom on the horizon. There was a lot to do for Kai to regain his former strength in this time of primitive technology, but then again, he might just be able to change that.

The Red Dragon came from the vast wild wastes, coveting all the strength in the world. It once had countless titles: Mountain's Wrathful Flame, Infernal Calamity, Crimson Emperor, Ashen Dragon......The world trembled under the shadow of the giant dragons. He stirred up the craze of the magic industrial revolution; in the empire he established, Wyverns roared, artillery fired in unison, and steel beasts appeared in the sky and on the land, while disasters from another world rampaged everywhere.“Submit, or die.”Cassius spread his wings, blotting out the sun, and gazed down at the trembling humans, elves, and dwarves below, saying thus.......It is a story about a Red Dragon with a player template conquering, ruling, and transforming an alternate world.(Pseudo of DnD, The Fourth Calamity, Red Dragon)