Zero no Tsukaima - Volume 21 Chapter 11

Rael screwed up badly. One reckless gamble later, and his guild's entire emergency fund was gone. With debt collectors ready to harvest his organs, his only hope was a single, desperate gacha pull.Ding![Congratulations! Player: Quarterpounder69 has obtained the (Divine) Grade item, Eye of the Beast!][Divine Grade item obtained! All Stats +250][First Divine Grade item obtained! All Stats +100][New title unlocked! [Heavenly Attraction] (Divine)]With no other choice, he consumed the item—only to be thrown into a situation no player had ever faced before.[To ensure fairness, please select a random number. This will determine which boss monster variation you become.]'Uh, I don't fucking know? 69... hmm, maybe not...'[Confirmed.]'Wait—'[Congratulations! You've chosen the Special-Type Boss Monster Variation: The Pay-to-Win Boss.][Congratulations! You've become a Boss Monster!]Armed with broken perks like [Premium Leveling], [Premium Evolution], and [Premium Shop], Rael was thrust into the world of the VRMMORPG game he had been playing.The issue was, he went back in time, specifically, 150 days before the launch of version 1.0.

Gu Shanhai saw the great world of the heavens, and took the life of the third life.

The gods of the world forged an eternal Utopia with blood and fire.

The Red Dragon King led his knights to inspect the dynasty on which the sun never sets.

Scholars talked and laughed and swung their swords to draw thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, and strange demons opened their eyes and clawed to give birth to ghosts and monsters.

…

“Everyone is a player, you can’t call me abnormal because I don’t have digitization?”

- Description from novelbuddy

For as long as he could remember, life had always been cruel.A young man in his early twenties—his name now lost to the past—was dealt a life filled with misfortunes.A cold, empty apartment, a soul-crushing job, and, finally, a terminal diagnosis.With nothing left to live for, his only comfort had been escaping into the fictional world of Path of the Elemental Sage, a story of heroes, magic, and survival.But fate had other plans.When death finally came for him, he didn’t fade into nothingness.Instead, he awoke in the world he had only read about—a world of chaos and danger where death lurked around every corner.The air smelled of magic, the sky was filled with possibilities.{«[Status Window]»}[Name: Lyrium Blackwood][Age: 16][Rank: D-][Skills: None][Elements: None}At first, confusion filled his mind.Who was Lyrium Blackwood?Why was he here?And why did this body feel so different?But as his memories returned, so did the realization: this wasn’t some blessing or second chance.He wasn’t reincarnated as the protagonist.No destined savior.No cheat abilities.No grand fate.He was just another mob, a face in the crowd meant to exist and die without leaving a mark.But this young man—the one who had left his old name and life behind—wasn’t the kind of person to roll over and accept his fate.“This world is dangerous. The protagonist isn’t the only one fighting for survival here,”he muttered, his red eyes deep and sharp.Unlike the naïve characters in the story, he knew the stakes.He’d read the web novel.He’d seen the carnage, the betrayals, the disasters that wiped out entire cities.And if there was one thing he refused to be, it was a pawn in someone else’s game.“I don’t care about glory. I don’t care about saving the world. All I care about is surviving—no matter what it takes.”Lyrium Blackwood wasn’t planning to live quietly or avoid danger.The only way to survive in this brutal world was to rise to the top.To be strong enough to stand above both heroes and villains.Using his knowledge of the story’s events and his iron will, Lyrium sets out on a relentless path to surpass the protagonist.Whether through clever manipulation, brutal training, or sheer desperation, he’ll climb higher and higher, leaving nothing to chance.But the deeper he gets, the more he realizes that this isn’t just the story he once read.As fate pushes him closer to the heart of the narrative, Lyrium begins to suspect that his reincarnation wasn’t an accident—and the world itself might be watching him.“I don’t care who or what stands in my way. If the story wants to kill me, I’ll rewrite the ending myself.”----------------------------------I apologize for any mistakes in this story, as it’s my first attempt at writing a novel.

What would you do if you were told you only had five years to live?Aster Mistral, suffering from an incurable congenital “disease” that saps life force out of his every breath, decided to fight with all his might. Waking up into the future, 2,500 years later, he embarks on a quest to find a cure for his ailment!“My target! To find the Panacea on the 1,000th floor of the dungeon!”Together with trustworthy allies, he forges a path of blood and corpses, building his foundation and increasing his level! However, he can’t stay in dungeons all the time, as he has a duty to fulfill.“To raise the human DNA average of the world, the government wants my seeds?!”Follow Aster on his laidback journey of fighting monsters, courting girls, escaping adversaries, and discovering secrets about himself!