Rivers of the Night - Chapter 35: Forward

Tame or be Tamed?... How about choosing to Devour the enemy Beasts and Tame the Beast within you?Luel, a 25-year-old guy who suffers from early retirement due to his poor body condition caused by too much working stress at his past jobs, decided to livestream his days of playing the famous VRMMORPG RAIDS ONLINE.It was only supposed to be a pastime, a recreation activity for Luel to gain his confidence to become a part of society once again, and a way to possibly earn some income before his savings reach not just zero but negative as well.However, as Luel became stronger as a player and more popular as a live streamer, he slowly realized and uncovered the truth behind what he thought was just a game.

Anton is a great-grandfather. He is living quite a happy life, despite his advanced age and declining health… until a group of cultivator bandits moves into the area. The nearby guardians of the area, the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, are unable to track them down as they continue to ravage nearby towns. During one desperate winter Anton is out on a hunt when his family- his entire village- is killed or taken as slaves by the bandits. He lacks the strength to fight them, and he wasn’t even present for their arrival to die with his loved ones. At the pit of his despair, he wonders if he ever had any chance to change things. What could he even do? He cannot even pull his best bow, and his eyesight is failing. If he had been a cultivator… perhaps there might have been a chance, but he was decades- perhaps even most of his life- too late.Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge (2022)Notes on cultivation levels:There are five general stages of cultivation, though the fifth is extremely rare. Each cultivation style might have their own name for the stages.1. Body Tempering2. Spirit Building/ occasionally System Creation (Ninety-Nine Stars)3. Constellation Formation (Ninety-Nine Stars)4. Life Transformation/Galaxy Construction (Ninety-Nine Stars)5. Ascension

Demien Walter died on a rain-soaked road in 2025, his career a footnote in football history.A journeyman midfielder whose playing days ended in obscurity. A tactical obsessive whose notebooks gathered dust. A coach whose first opportunity came too late and ended too soon.Until he opened his eyes in 2003, inhabiting the body of Yves Laurent — head coach of AS Monaco.Now, armed with twenty years of football knowledge from a future that hasn't happened yet, Demien faces the ultimate tactical challenge: rewriting history from the touchline.He knows which players will become legends. He remembers which matches change careers. He's witnessed the tactical revolutions that transformed the game.Monaco is just the beginning. With each victory, each tactical masterclass, each deviation from the timeline he remembers, Demien alters football's destiny. From the Champions League's bright lights to World Cup glory, from Milan to Madrid to Manchester, his journey will reshape the beautiful game in ways no one could predict.No cheat codes. No supernatural abilities. No second chances.Just a man with future knowledge in a past world, attempting to build a legacy that even death couldn't erase.Football isn't just played on the pitch. It's won in the mind.And Demien Walter's mind has already lived through everything that's about to happen.

“I am not an ordinary detective, but a NEET detective. Searching the whole world to locate the words of the dead.”

The NEET Detective leading the NEETs who gathered in the dark alley – Alice said that.

The perplexing incident that Ayaka and I were wound into during the winter of my first year at high school, and also the malicious drug ‘Angel Fix’ that corroded the city, the mystery was unraveled by the detective girl Alice who doesn’t take even one step out of her room.

“Knowing the truth might destroy the tranquil life of your past, do you wish to know even so?”

Because of my answer, the NEETs who usually do nothing were mobilized to solve the case!