Gilded Ashes - Chapter 186: Silent Hand

I wrote a book once.It was an unhinged fantasy born from my high-school brain, driven by loneliness and too many hormones.It was a world of beastmen, wild freedom, and the kind of romantic attention I could never get in real life. I poured every impossible desire into it: adventure, danger, and yes… a 'lot' of handsome partners.Before I knew it, I had a thousand chapters of pure escapism and pure thrill.Then on a college camping trip, I fell off a cliff.I expected to wake up in a hospital room but nope. I woke up on a soft field of grass, with air too fresh to belong anywhere on Earth.And then something moved behind me.Sticking out of my tailbone was... A tail.My tail?Yellow and black stripes and very, very real.I touched it. Completely real.My ears? Also gone—well, moved. They were now perched on top of my head like a confused jungle cat. And the outfit? Quite revealing, made of animal hide which matched my tail.What was going on?At first, I thought it was a prank. Or a dream. Or maybe karma is finally cashing in. But the more foreign memories evaded my mind, the clearer my situation became.This wasn't cosplay and it wasn't Earth, either.And—surprise—it wasn't even the world from my own book. Welp.I had been transported into a completely different Beastman world as a beast girl called Arinya.Sounds fun, right?Well… it would be, if I weren't apparently the ugliest duckling in the entire freaking savannah! Rejected by every potential mate I stumbled across and sneered at like a freaking eyesore.This was not how I planned my fantasy to come to reality.Trust me—if this is my fantasy come true, then someone needs to fire the author.But then again, after entering this world, I'm suddenly... Attractive.I mean, there's no change to my face and the freckles are still there, but for some reason, handsome beastmen begin to flock around me, because I smell... Pleasant.What's that all about?

Beatty, a weak squirrel shapeshifter who was born into a lion family. Because of that, I lived my life being ab*sed at my aunt’s house in the Capital. When I told my only friend and fiancé, the Second Prince, that I would leave to achieve my dream, ‘Ritter, you bastard…!’ I died on his fangs. I opened my eyes again to my childhood, the time before I got myself involved with the Second Prince. At times like this, what do you need? Speed. I immediately withdrew my body only and ran away to the territory of my biological father, the Lion Duke. Though I won’t be welcomed, if I possess this one great secret that will only be discovered in the future, I won’t get kicked ou— “Welcome, Young Miss!” “OMG! When did you grow up like this…?” “Young Miss is walking with those two cute feet!” … Huh? Why am I welcomed like this? No way, is that my statue?

To [Player]: This is the mystery of life, the journey of all things.You will become stronger, transform into superheroes, and possibly even touch the power of divinity. However, if you fail, death awaits you.For you have already stepped into the highest Sequence of the Evolution Game!“Isn't this making things difficult for Darwin?” Li Changhe muttered as he watched the [Player] arriving in the distance: “And giving Newton a hard time as well.”Fervent passion flows, don't spread hate if you dislike it

Having spent her childhood confined in chains, Alice was a child who knew neither love nor joy. Scorned by her family while being tortured in the name of the greater good for years, she grew numb to all feeling and thought. That is, until one day, a man in black offered her a chance to escape.There were once rumours widespread of an endless hell, a land of glorious death and dreadful opportunity. Fools went in search of it, and the clever never ventured into it. Only when its baleful mysteries spilled unto the earth did all hear its name — the Abyss.A single drop of its blood could give someone the power to control shadows, move faster than sound, or strength greater than the strongest man. Yet, it all came at a cost; the blood would always make sure those who consumed it became part of the Abyss, with one exception — Alice. Cast away by her own blood, it was her destiny to rot in a gilded cage.But, that fateful day changed everything. Gifted a second chance at life, a chance to turn her life around and claim vengeance against her family, a chance to dive deep into the Abyss and gain the power to govern her own fate, Alice took his hand, unaware of the destiny unfolding before her.