Epic of Caterpillar - Chapter 7: Dark Empress...?!

The world was cruel.....Especially for those who had lost their chances to shine.Aether was one of them....Aether, an individual born with a silver spoon, found himself discarded like a defective product. He had longed for love and tenderness, but what others showed him was nothing but pain.Even in the face of that pain, he smiled not because he wanted to, but because he had no other choice. Despite the heartbreak, he entered into a hell called society with a beautiful smile.....“Can't you do a single thing!!”“...”“You are fired!!!”“....W-Wh..”“I am sorry, Sir, but you need at least a bachelor's degree to enter our company!!”“....I-I am...”“I am sorry, Sir, but we cannot provide a loan for your ideas without reassurance!!”“....W-Why?”“I heard your father is a politician.... So, You know....”“...”After a long struggle, he finally got a job, but his brother's words rang in his ears:“Yeah, yeah… I know you got the job thanks to me, of course. So, don't ever contact me or even MY parents” his brother declared.“...Heh...”Just as he believed he had earned society's recognition, an unforeseen event claimed his pathetic, seemingly worthless life....“HONK!! HONK!!”Yet, amidst the cruelty of society, he defiantly cried,“I JUST WANT TO LIVE!!!!!”Witnessing his heartfelt cry and desire to live in the hellish place called society, he was granted a second chance.~Ding!~However, even in this new life, his situation remained unchanged. He continued to struggle not only to live and eat but also..... seduction.“HOW DARE YOU SEDUCE THE PRINCESS!!”“.....he..he... B-But I didn't seduce her!!”“HOW DARE YOU SEDUCE MY MOTHER!!”“...Hehe”“YOU HAVE SOME NERVE TO SEDUCE MY WIFE, DON'T YOU?”“HEHEHEHEHEE.....”

Mesmerizing female moonlight priest, a beauty of the darkness who captivates the soul of others… They all flood to his side!

“Hey, Yoshi-kun. I think you’re——”

Hearing that voice for the first time stopped me in my tracks. On my way home from school. On the playing field of our junior high, and at the bookshop in front of the station. And then in the empty lot where the white cat slept. Shiina Yuki, the strange girl who somehow knew all about me, always approached me like that.

We laughed, cried, got angry, held hands. Again and again, we repeated those disappearing memories and ephemeral promises. That’s why I never knew. I never knew the value of Yuki’s smiles or the meaning of her tears. Nor even the singular sentiment behind her many ‘Nice to meet you’s.

This is a captivating, heartrending tale of meetings and partings.

In a world where Classes, Stats, and Levels are the everyday norm, Reivyn has a secret.He was unusually aware of his surroundings from an incredibly early age, and Skills and Stats were acquired easily. He was just the son of an ordinary village family, and nothing appeared out of the ordinary on the surface. But below the surface, dreams of another life help shape his mentality and growth. Why does he have some remembrance of a past life, and what is his purpose in this new one?“Soul of the Warrior” is what I call a Semi-Isekai LitRPG. I say “semi,” because Reivyn's past life is remembered like a dream, and very incomplete. It is still Isekai, though, as he remembers enough that it directly shapes his personality and his sense of self.The System that governs the world of “Soul of the Warrior” is a combination of modified versions from Selkie's “Beneath the Dragoneye Moons” and Kosnik4's “Magic Smithing.” I have changed enough of these Systems and combined them in a way that is unique that I'm mostly sure it's fine, but I still have requested permission to use these ideas. They have both graciously granted me permission.Winner of the April Writathon Challenge.