MTL - Nine Cents Refining - Chapter 121 Hometown

Five years ago, humanity’s strongest Tower Climber was betrayed at the peak of his conquest.Rael Arden, known only by his codename Phantom, was the silent genius who cleared impossible floors, crushed monsters with forbidden magic, and shaped the rules of Tower exploration. No one had ever seen his real face—yet his legend was feared across the world.But at the Tower’s summit, the teammates he carried to glory stabbed him in the back. For power. For godhood. For fear of what he might become.They thought he died.They were wrong.Reincarnated in secret, Rael awakens in a modern world that’s on the edge of collapse. Dungeons bleed into cities. Monsters evolve. The Tower is no longer just a gate—it’s infecting the world. And the very ones who betrayed him now rule from the shadows, hiding behind titles, guilds, and lies.But Rael isn’t alone. His soul split across hidden clone bodies, each designed to infiltrate, gather information, and prepare for war. As each clone reawakens, his power grows—and so does his rage.With him are three women tied to his fate:Selene, the shadow rogue who never betrayed him.Lyra, a curious researcher drawn to the legend of the Phantom.Aeris, the sword saint who still mourns his death… and may not be as loyal to the enemy as she seems.Now, Rael hunts the seven betrayers who destroyed his past.One by one, they will fall.But revenge is just the beginning.Because deep within the Tower, something else is waking—an ancient force that even Rael feared. And this time, the world may not survive unless the Phantom reigns again.

Konoha’s blue beast: “I want to prove that even if you don’t know ninjutsu or illusion, you can become an excellent ninja. This is the whole of my life. This is my way of ninja!”

The Roaring Emperor of Clover*: “I want to prove to everyone that no matter whether you are a poor ghost or an outcast, you can achieve great things!”

Hao Fan: “If there is any relationship between these two other than being equally inspirational, it is that my buddies were unlucky enough to transmigrate and become Rock Lee first. Because of physical defects, they couldn’t control Zach to perform ninjutsu, and then protested to the system. Afterwards, he transmigrated into Asta who couldn’t use magic…”

- Description from novelbuddy

Hunger, poverty, and death are the inevitable fate of those who live within the mist, a territory dominated by monsters where sunlight never reaches. With only one eye and missing an arm, daily suffering was all Lily could expect. In a world where the strong rule over the weak, she faces aggression and abuse every day, learning in the harshest, most painful way that kindness doesn’t exist.However, everything changes when she encounters a sentient metamorph, a nameless monster, wounded and abandoned by its pack. Together, they discover that perhaps they don't have to face this cruel world alone. Now, with a companion willing to risk everything to protect this bond, Lily, the girl who had lost everything, finds a new reason to live and fight.

Ye Xinghui was tricked into another world by an unscrupulous god.Still, he at least has a golden finger.At first, Ye Xinghui planned to rely on his golden finger to become a protagonist in the new world, but… when he saw his parents’ information, he was completely dumbfounded.His father turned out to be the legendary King of Soldiers, and his mother was the legitimate daughter of the first noble family in China.But this was nothing. Ye Xinghui was even more dumbfounded when his brother suddenly woke up and said, “Shouldn’t I be going through the heavenly tribulation? Why am I here… wait… is this Earth?”Ye Xinghui can’t help but think, ‘Didn’t we agree that I would be the protagonist?’