Zenith of Sorcery - Chapter 9. Shadows of the Ancients

Novie entered the confession cubicle and kneel down, she wanted to tell someone about her feelings, the pain and confusion that’s been tormenting her heart.
Minutes later, the opposite cubicle opened and Novie saw a man in a priest clothing sat down and folded his hands.
“Father I am here to confess my sin” she started and lowered her head.
“What is your sin?” The priest asked.
Novie sighed, “Five years ago, I hurt a man, I left him the next day he proposed” her voice cracked down, remembering the past
“Whoa! That was harsh!” the priest murmured silently, but she heard it.
Before the priest could give his response, she speaks up.
“I was also hurt but I know that if I stay with him, my family will suffer, so I left. For five years Father I carried the guilt of leaving and hurting him. I mean what I did was right, right? it’s for my family” she blurted out without letting the priest talk.
“I think -”
“It’s not like I have a choice or anything” she continued and interrupted him.
“We all have a choice, I don’t know your reason for leaving him but there must be a reason why after five years you decided to come and confess”
Novie gulped by his words, unsure of what to say next.
“Well?” the priest asked, waiting for her answer.
“What made you confess now, you said you left him five years ago, why now?”
Novie’s eyes went round while her heart palpitate.
“Because...” she shut her eyes and exhaled.
“Hmm?” the priest waited for her response.
“Because my ex-fiance is moving next door, and I don’t know what to do!, my parents didn’t know that I was engaged to him before”
“Are you here to confess your sin or to ask for advice?” the priest asked.
Novie, with her eyes closed, twitched her lips.
“What’s the difference, father?”
The priest cleared his throat and replied.
“Well, relationship coach get paid per hour while us, we accept donation” Novie’s face flattened by his response.
She wanted to continue, but the priest stood up and opens the door.
“states some prayer and I will pray for you. Good luck!” the priest said and closed the door.
Novie was speechless. “I need to donate?” she widened her eyes when she thought of the priest. “What did just happened?” she asked herself with disbelief.
Novie has decided to leave, she’s still confused and nervous. She took her umbrella and walks to the door. She was about to open her umbrella when she saw Ken waving at her.
Seeing his smile, she remembered the dinner last night.

Ke Jin transmigrated into an era where gaming was in utter chaos. Everyone here deeply believed in the notion of buying happiness with money, as game companies ran wild with various schemes to trick and force players to spend.As a game enthusiast from his past life, Ke Jin felt like he was in a world without sunlight. Luckily, he obtained the Free Game Production System!Players could get the ultimate reward of the “Complete Collection of All Game Design Schemes” without spending a single cent!Not spending money? How hard could that be? Heap on the benefits!Give away 50 consecutive draws during the summer heatwave! Give away 100 draws on the second day after the server opens! Due to the game reaching 50 daily active users, we are issuing a cool skin set originally priced at 999! The planner's niece just turned 17 years and three months plus 7 days old, so we're giving away 50,000 crystals!My sincerity is almost flooding the players. Surely nobody will spend now, right?Secretary: Mr. Ke, good news! Our newly launched game has just reached over a hundred million in daily transaction volume on its first day!Ke Jin: Huh? How is that good news... No, what about the other game? The one where we give full 100-99 discount vouchers upon starting, isn't its sales terrible?Looking puzzled, the secretary said while anticipating the boss's reaction: They've been shouting things like 'what a conscientious company' and 'if we don't spend, they'll go bankrupt,' so they just topped up. That game sold a whopping one hundred million copies globally. Congratulations on making a billion!“......”At 3:30 a.m., lying in bed, Ke Jin was wide awake, unable to sleep. He posted a status: Please, I beg you, stop spending. You guys are really making it hard for me...Player: Understood, Mr. Ke is hinting life is hard, brothers, let's step up! Charge it!

“Only by enduring 2¹⁴ trials can one awaken the ancient power sleeping within the Key of the Star Prison, and become the most powerful being in the universe.”Timothy, the youngest Demon Lord in the history of his race, saw these words emerge after he touched the Key of the Star Prison, the most powerful artifact of the demon race, handed to him just before the old Demon Lord's death.According to the demon race's records, no Demon Lord had ever achieved this.However, over a span of a hundred thousand years, Timothy had easily passed 16,383 trials.Now, once again, he turned the Key of the Star Prison, and an unknown force mistakenly sent him to a brand new world, transforming him into an unknown and seemingly worthless demonic cultivator disciple.And the formidable opponent he was about to face in this world was the powerful Goddess Sylvia.When Goddess Sylvia received the challenge Timothy handed her, her cheeks flushed...“My dear Sylvia, I want you to know how deeply I love you. My heart belongs to you, now and forever.”

It was just like any other day, or so I thought at least. The birds were chirping up on trees, clouds were rolling by the bright blue sky and Elves were dumpster diving in the alleyway.

Okay, one of those three didn’t sound right...

I had a boring life once. Recently though, it has become less boring... to put it one way.

Finding a random Elf in the dumpster? Heh, must be a Monday.

A normal person would have walked by. A normal person would have ignored it.

I must be a pretty weird guy, then.

Now I have this Elf swearing her allegiance to me. What’s next, vampires?