I Became a Ruined Character in a Dark Fantasy - Chapter 202

Ronan was just another overworked office drone until a sudden death transported him to a vast, unfamiliar fantasy world—alone, invincible, and armed with absurdly powerful abilities from a game he once played. But reality isn't as simple as a game, and after days of wandering the unending Nim Forest without finding civilization, his optimism begins to fade.Just as isolation threatens to wear him down, he encounters Frieren, a quiet elf girl hiding in the bushes. Their meeting marks the first step on a path neither of them fully understands, in a world that seems empty, yet full of mystery.

Wealthy, powerful and handsome; Gu Jingze is the cream of the crop in the entire country. Every guy wants to be him and every girl wants to be with him. His life is perfect… except that he has one tiny secret that keeps him from getting close to any woman—apparent impotency.

That is, until he wakes up in bed with a total stranger one day. The next thing he knows, he is forced to marry this stranger; a feisty and boisterous woman by the name of Lin Che.

Lin Che is an average girl whose only aim is to become a successful actress. Ostracized by her family and forced to become independent, she cooks up a scheme to attain her goal. But her plan fails and she ends up marrying this cold and seemingly heartless Gu Jingze. Not only that, she must now find her place in high society, where jealous women and devious plots lay abound – all while juggling her new career.

Two strangers under one roof: From the outset, they agree to stay out of each other’s lives, but he somehow always manages to appear during her moments of crisis. Slowly and unwittingly, Lin Che begins to find it difficult to imagine a future without him. Will their relationship grow, or is their marriage destined to remain just a contract?

- Description from Novelupdates

I am currently re-writing the first chapters of this story. They are quite rough and bounce around a lot and I can do better. At some point, I will replace these with the better chapters.Sometime in 2024 Aethon Books will publish the first volume of this story on Amazon, KU, and audible. This will mean the story will be stubbed. I will notify people far in advance of that.In the dystopian world of the future, life is rough when you live at the bottom. Jobs are non-existent. Far too many people live in poverty, crammed into huge buildings called Habitats. With no jobs in the real world, many people can only find work online in VR worlds as servants to the very rich. And it's getting worse. The old internet is unusable and hacked to pieces. The new system needs AI to run things, but all but one of them were destroyed. The last sentient AI is ordered to create a new game world so the rich can have a playground, and the corporations that rule the world can have a new global market place. Everyone wants a piece of the new game. The guilds are competing to be the first to find the dungeons and kill the biggest monster. The corporations are claiming land and putting in their online market places. Ozzy and his friends just want a paycheck.Four friends sign five year contracts as virtual serfs in a small village, and can't go adventuring at all to gain money. They don't have many choices. They can work as a blacksmith, barmaid and shepherd for all those years....or they can cheat and find ways to take advantage of the system and carve out a section of the game world for themselves, and earn a fortune in the real world.When they give you a mop and not a sword, you have to find the loopholes and change the rules.

Austin, a young construction worker, falls from a twenty-story building while working on an incomplete apartment complex.Soon after, he wakes up in the body of a fourth prince who had been poisoned by one of his brothers.As though that wasn’t scary enough, Austin later discovers that he has somehow become entangled in a dangerous political situation where his brothers would do anything to become the next emperor.However, this turned out to be the least of his problems because Austin realizes that, unlike his three older brothers, the fourth prince had never once taken a liking to combat or training, making him the weakest out of the four princes.So, how is Austin expected to survive in a world filled with magic, monsters, barbarians, demons, and an internal battle over the succession of the throne?With a long, depressed sigh, Austin groaned as he lay on his bed and stared sightlessly at the ceiling.“Ugh, what am I going to do now?” he pondered. But there was only one thing he could do if he wanted to live a happy and peaceful life in this fantasy world.He had to train as hard as possible.However, training as an exorcist was extremely hard and stressful. But to his surprise, a personal system completely became bound to him, and a screen suddenly appeared in front of him:[Binding Complete!!][Congratulations!! You have obtained The Affection Leveling System!][Through this system, the host has now acquired a quicker and easier way to level up faster than anyone else around him. All you have to do is raise your wives’ affection towards you and build strong bonds with them, and you’ll unlock new skills that will benefit both you and your wives.]Seeing this, Austin realizes that he has a wedding coming up in a month with two beautiful elves as his future brides. So, instead of spending a lifetime training to become stronger, Austin opted to live a peaceful and fulfilling life with his wives.Now, follow Austin as he tries to live and enjoy a happy and relaxing life with his wives, while also having a legion of evil pumpkin warriors ready to fight and protect him and those he loves.