From Idler to Tech Tycoon: Earth - Chapter 46: Trap

[Your shadow is alive.][Feed your shadow, devour souls, level up, gain skills, complete quests, and grow stronger.][Do you wish to view your current stats?]In the magical world of Aetherus, Damon Grey is the weakest student at Aether Academy, relentlessly bullied and ridiculed for his lack of power and defiant personality. Yet, he endures the torment, clinging to his scholarship—the only thing providing him with the funds to keep his sick sister alive.After a brutal attack leaves him near death, Damon encounters a dark viscous entity in the forest that fuses with his shadow, awakening the Living Shadow System. This strange power grants him unimaginable abilities but comes with a grim cost—a relentless hunger for souls and flesh to feed his shadow.Now, with his shadow alive and insatiable, Damon faces a terrible choice: feed it to grow stronger or starve it and die with it.In a world ruled by ruthless nobles, deadly monsters, and power-hungry demons, Damon must decide if his newfound power is a curse or the only way to survive. With the Living Shadow System, his fate is clear: devour or be devoured.

...[Inside an underground basement]“You are going to die for nothing, hahahaha,” the old man's voice thundered through the room, sending chills down my spine.Step.With a swift and ruthless motion, he lunged forward, his sword slicing through the air and slashing my throat, crimson droplets staining the darkness.“We'll see,” I whispered defiantly, my final words escaping as a mere breath against the impending darkness.Slowly, inexorably, my consciousness slipped away, and I descended into a deep, unfathomable slumber.“Huh!?” My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself seated in a bustling tavern, the air thick with laughter and the clinking of glasses.In front of me stood a captivating lady, her beauty juxtaposed with an angry furrow upon her brow, threatening to shatter the harmony of the jovial scene.“Don't follow me around!” Her words pierced the air like shards of ice, the intensity of her emotions palpable as she cast a resentful glare in my direction, before swiftly departing from the tavern....Am I trapped within the confines of a game? The fragments of my shattered common sense scattered before me, leaving me to question the very fabric of my reality.

In the 30th century, Tyler Rustel is an eccentric and visionary genius, renowned as a brilliant inventor. His life, however, comes to an abrupt end when a small experimental nuclear reactor explodes in a series of unforeseen events. Yet, death is not the end for Tyler. He awakens in a body that feels both familiar and foreign—a parallel version of himself in a completely different universe.This is not a world of technological progress or orderly civilization. Here, twisted gods roam the cosmos, shaping realities according to their cruel whims. The moral laws that governed his previous world do not exist. This is a magical universe, one marked by brutal betrayals, interdimensional wars, and endless massacres. The balance between the forces that rule this cosmos is fragile, and Tyler finds himself at the center of schemes involving powerful entities and boundless ambitions.However, Tyler is no longer an ordinary man. Upon awakening in this new world, he discovers that a fragment of his technology has survived with him: an advanced artificial intelligence system capable of analyzing, adapting, and enhancing anything, provided it has the necessary data. From magical weapons and arcane spells to alchemical techniques and enchanted jewelry, everything can be optimized under his supervision.Armed with this technological advantage in a universe dominated by magic, Tyler quickly realizes the potential of his unique position. While others struggle to survive, he schemes to conquer. Driven by his sharp intellect and a questionable sense of morality, Tyler embarks on a ruthless campaign to achieve magical supremacy and subjugate all worlds around him. He seeks neither redemption nor alliances. His ambition is clear: to rule everything and everyone as a tyrant, to amass an immense harem of women, and to father one million children to establish his legacy across all realms.

The six prefectures of Zhongbo were offered to foreign enemies on a silver platter, and Shen Zechuan was taken into custody in the capital, reduced to a drowning dog—loathed and condemned by all.Xiao Chiye followed the scent of the furor and made his way over. But instead of setting others on him, he kicked Shen Zechuan with his very own leg, rendering the latter an invalid. Who would expect this invalid to turn around and bite him in a counterattack until he was all drenched in blood?That was the start of an epic feud between both men who tore at each other every time they come face-to-face with one another.“Fate wants to bind me here for life, but this is not the path I choose. The yellow dust submerged my brothers deep under. I have no wish to bow in submission to an illusory fate. The imperial edict can’t save my troops, and the imperial court can’t fill the stomachs of my mounts. I’m no longer willing to lay down my life for this purpose. I want to surmount that mountain. I am going to fight for myself.”Note: A ‘drowning dog’ is someone who is down and out, having lost favor or power.