One Piece: The Devil Fruit Collector - Chapter 40: The Wonder of the Body, the ’Black Body’ Style!

The most vulnerable time in a tennis game is when you are leading; even if there is a match point, the game is still possible.

Football is round, tennis is also round.

- Description from novelbuddy

Ethan is a man nearing forty who has squandered his life behind a screen. Since his teenage years, he has poured everything into online games, chasing digital achievements while real life quietly passed him by. Now, with reality finally weighing on him, he realizes how empty his existence has become.Despite decades of obsession, he has only one thing to show for it: the #1 account in the world’s most popular MMORPG, Lost World Online—a fully immersive virtual game operated through neural-link technology. It is an account powerful enough to guarantee fame, sponsorships, and a second chance at life.But overnight… it vanishes.No warnings… No errors… His account simply ceases to exist.Ethan spends the entire night frantically searching for answers, contacting the developers through official forums, only to be told that nothing can be done. Without the account, even streaming or professional contracts are impossible. Exhausted and hollow, he finally gives up and falls asleep, deciding to forget his regret, half hoping everything would be a dream when he wakes up.When Ethan opens his eyes, he finds himself standing before the character creation screen of Lost World Online.It feels like a dream, yet his mind is clear, his body well responsive, not even like a game. Paying little attention, he goes ahead and creates a character and initiates the game.Then, his vision is swallowed by darkness.A violent rush of wind slams into him, and when his senses return, he is standing inside a bustling town from the game. Before he can question the missing opening cutscene—something that should always play after character creation—his attention is seized by the scene around him.The town was celebrating an Annual Festival. This was a festival that only ever occurred once, a festival that marked the first day Lost World Online was launched.Realizing the impossible, Ethan hurriedly calls up his system interface—only to find that there is no options menu, no settings, no log-out button…“This cannot be real.”

A life I didn't ask for..A world I couldn't call my own...I'm Edward Walters. That's what I'll tell anybody if I'm ever asked. Because, that was the name I answered back one Earth.But now, in this new world I reincarnated in— a medieval one of swords and magic— I'm known by many names.. The Undisputed Prodigy, The Anomaly of my generation, The Legend Blank, and... Charles Liam Flameworth.But I didn't ask for any of these.I didn't ask for the titles, the power, the wealth, the sufferings, the wars, and the fame. I.. I just wanted to go back home. But fate pinned me to this world, giving me no way back.Untill I decided— if fate doesn't give me a chance.. I'll make one for myself. I'll shatter this so called fate, and I'll go back to my family.This is the story of the Anomaly that defied Fate. The one who Reincarnated as a Genius Mage.

Aliandra Amariel loved magic, dedicating her academic years to the study of runes and spells, pushing the boundaries of mana's infinite possibilities. Like most Fae, her destiny seemed clear until that fateful day of her Class Trial, when the Blind Lich unleashed an undead apocalypse on her home, the fabled underground city of Dal’mohra, and triggered The Breaking – a cataclysm that forever reshaped the world. Saved by her mother’s legendary time-stasis spell, Ali wakes thousands of years into a dark future. Everything she knew and loved is gone, buried under a mountain, transformed into a twisted dungeon by the malevolent will of the Lich. Now, Ali must confront her deepest fears, mastering the arts of battling monsters and braving a town riddled with corruption. As the Lich's grand design shadows her every move, she scrambles to forge new friendships and unearth ancient knowledge in her fight for survival. Why must she struggle? All she had ever wanted was to curl up in a comfy chair with a few thousand good books. But the immortal Lich is drawn to her unique magic, ever hungry for more power to fuel his cold-hearted ambitions. How will she survive the giant target painted on her back as her advancement slowly reveals the horrifying truth of the Class she chose to save herself? Will she falter, forced into the eternal servitude of undeath, or will she rise against all odds and cast him down, ridding the world of his evil?