Ace of the Bench - Chapter 8: Quest

Step 1: Inherit a creepy old mansion.Step 2: Unlock a cursed system that makes girls fall dangerously in love with you… just by saying “hi.”Step 3: Learn that if you don’t reject them within 10 texts, something terrible happens.My name’s Ren.And apparently, I’m the “Catalyst for Affection-Based Catastrophes.”(Yeah. That’s literally what it said.)My peaceful new life? Over.Now I’m stuck in a house full of magically unstable girls:A sword-swinging elf.A fire mage with zero personal boundaries.A strict class rep who faints if I so much as look at her.And a witch who cursed the bathroom mirror to spy on me.They’re beautiful.They’re powerful.They’re dangerously obsessed.And if I mess this up, someone’s going to get hurt—maybe me.Reject them too late? Game over.Fall for one of them? Even worse.This isn’t a dating sim.It’s survival of the cutest.Welcome to my life. It's not just a harem. It's a hostage situation.

The age of darkness has arrived.

ExcerptAristia could not help but stare at the platinum blonde a few steps in front of her. She seemed to sparkle with a glow that drew people in around her. Something that only happened to the main character of a novel.[Is that stupid book sure I'm the female lead?] She thought, her jaws almost going slack.At this point, she was sure she was deluding herself— or the book was deluding her.She didn't know why, but she already disliked the girl.[This is definitely not jealousy.]She rubbed her brows, watching how the innocent, naive looking girl exuding female lead aura was being flocked around already by others.“Fuck, I'm in deep shit!”—Excerpt Two“What do you mean this is where I belong?!!!” She asked incredulously.“It is the truth. It might sound extremely absurd and unbelievable, but it is the truth.” He said, his voice tinged with helplessness.“Hell, it is absurd.” She threw her hands up in the air exasperatedly. The seriousness in his eyes told her he wasn't at all joking or messing with her. He was damn serious.“Ugh. What shit am I involved in?” She asked frustratingly to no one in particular at the news she was still trying to wrap her head around.***Aristia Andrews had just come back home from work and prepared to go to sleep, when she was given a novel.Nothing strange about that though, huh?But just after she had completed the novel, she woke up to find herself tossed into a whole new world. Taken from her world and the life she deemed perfect, and tossed into a not-so-ideal world.Now part of royalty, she has to get accustomed to living in a backward world of Kings and Queens, Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts and Barons. Just the titles and hierarchy were enough to make her smart head spin.With beautiful and loving parents and relatives, a cute younger brother, loyal servants and a smart brain, join Aristia as she enjoys eating and making new and delicious cuisines, forms unique friendships, and creates successful businesses.However, she finds all is not as she thought it was; there just might be something bigger than she expected, that the book did not reveal.Now... she has a lot of mysteries surrounding her to unfold, and secrets to uncover, and perhaps she'll find a dash of love along the way.

As demons invade, humans gain the ability to awaken professions, struggling to survive in blood and fire.Fang Zhou awakens the profession of Undead Mage, with almost no path forward, but fortunately, he still has a skeleton clone equipped with an attribute panel.