Valkyrie's Shadow - Before the Storm: Act 10, Chatper 9

Shinji found himself in the world of Naruto, facing the Tailed Beast Ball of the Nine-Tailed Fox.“Did I reincarnate just to die immediately?!” Shinji thought.“...”[Ding! Multiverse Role-Playing System, able to randomly draw characters/spirits/pets/trash witches from the multiverse...][Option 1: Genshin Impact World - Geo Archon - Rex Lapis - Zhongli][Option 2: One Piece World - Emperor Of the Sea - Clown King - Buggy][Option 3: Pokemon World - Lazy Pokemon - Snorlax]Watching the Tailed Beast Ball roaring towards him, Shinji stretched out his hand,“My title as Zhongli's biggest fan wasn't earned for nothing.”

...[Inside an underground basement]“You are going to die for nothing, hahahaha,” the old man's voice thundered through the room, sending chills down my spine.Step.With a swift and ruthless motion, he lunged forward, his sword slicing through the air and slashing my throat, crimson droplets staining the darkness.“We'll see,” I whispered defiantly, my final words escaping as a mere breath against the impending darkness.Slowly, inexorably, my consciousness slipped away, and I descended into a deep, unfathomable slumber.“Huh!?” My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself seated in a bustling tavern, the air thick with laughter and the clinking of glasses.In front of me stood a captivating lady, her beauty juxtaposed with an angry furrow upon her brow, threatening to shatter the harmony of the jovial scene.“Don't follow me around!” Her words pierced the air like shards of ice, the intensity of her emotions palpable as she cast a resentful glare in my direction, before swiftly departing from the tavern....Am I trapped within the confines of a game? The fragments of my shattered common sense scattered before me, leaving me to question the very fabric of my reality.

The best way to declare war on a spy as an ordinary person is to become a spy as well.As a spy, if you want to go to war with a powerful espionage organization, join an equally powerful espionage organization.If you are unable to join any powerful espionage organization, then establish your own espionage organization and fight until destruction or victory.This is the war of spies, telling the story of how a group of ordinary people achieved extraordinary success.

After years of exile, Marcus is coming back home. A powerful mage with few equals, Marcus lives in a world full of monsters and powerful adepts, many of which have bad histories with him. But he has not come back to pursue vengeance or start a fight. All Marcus wants to do is reconnect with old friends, build himself a house, and maybe train a successor or two.Alas, the world didn’t stop just because Marcus went into exile, and not everyone is content to let go of old grievances. Strange things are happening in the world at large, too, hinting at a looming disaster of unknown nature. Still, where there is a will, there is a way.If nothing else, Marcus has a lot of magical power to throw at problems.+++Zenith of Sorcery is set in its own original setting and isn’t related to Mother of Learning… beyond being written by the same person, of course. This is a more classical fantasy story than my previous one, with a lower level of technology and stuff like elves and dwarves, but it has a lot of worldbuilding effort put into it and its own complex magical system. The story has significant xianxia influences, but isn’t meant to be a xianxia story.For those of you not familiar with my previous work, I write relatively slowly. I intend to publish chapters at the rate of one chapter every three or four weeks, subject to further delays as life intervenes.