Leo : The Lion King - Chapter 78: The Battle for Dominance : Leo vs the Mbali Brothers (4)

Uchiha Kai has been cautious since he came to this world. He vowed that he must be cautious and go to the end.

But one day he received a mission – to cover the wave wind team to blow up the Kamabashi Bridge, Uchiha Kai knew that he was going to be unlucky…

- Description from novelbuddy

Sein was only a child when he was abducted from the surface world and forced to join the Black Magic Academy. In the Underworld, strength reigns supreme and the weak struggles to survive. As the death toll of magic initiates continues to rise within the walls of the academy, Sein’s quest for knowledge and power is a constant battle for survival.

Memories of his parents and the starry night sky in the surface world are fading with each passing day in the Underworld.

“Is Magus World the name of the world we live in? Where is my home in the Magus World?” These are the burning questions that Sein has in mind.

Will he be able to rise to the pinnacle of power, discover the truth of the world and ultimately find his way back home?

Official blurb:

He hails from the banished land of the Underworld, bound by a single unforgiving rule—survival of the fittest. He is the seeker of truth, a mage who treads the fine line between sanity and madness. In a world where myths have crumbled and chaos holds sway, it is strength that reigns supreme.

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Deep below the earth's surface, a mystifying subterranean seascape lurks, an archipelago bathed in inky blackness where suspense and horror hold court. Here lie strange islands and even stranger monsters, far beyond the realms of human imagination. In this domain, mankind is far from dominant; instead, madness and death rule supreme.

Pleading for mercy from the unknown creatures of the deep only leads to a slow, tortured existence. The trapped survivors gradually distort, losing what made them human, both physically and mentally, to the gloom as they remain trapped in this eternal obscurity. Their only hope? A perilous expedition into uncharted sea territories.

Fueled by determination, Charles embark on this daunting voyage aboard his steamship, aiming to reclaim humanity's past glory. Together with his crew, they sought a way out of this hidden sea world, a path back to the sunlit world above, where humans once stood tall.

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I read a few comments from Chinese readers that compared this novel with Lord of Mysteries because of similar elements: Lovecraftian, western fantasy, first industrial revolution, and steampunk. However, I have yet to finish reading Lord of Mysteries to do any actual comparison, but I do think those who have enjoyed that novel would enjoy this as well. Also, the author of LotM, Cuttlefish That Loves Diving, also did a shout-out for this novel, so I guess he approves of it too?

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In her last life, Qu Zhi tried her best to be a good wife who was sensible and did not cause trouble, a filial and good daughter who helped her family, and a good mother who accompanied her children. However, Qu Zhi worked hard and suffered all her life. When she was about to die, she realized that in the end, all she got back for her hard work were complaints. Her husband complained that she was an idle, rich wife all day long who wasn’t satisfied with her happiness at home, and that she was a greedy woman.

But after decades of marriage, her husband had a firm, deadly hold on all her money, and she didn’t even have a dime to her name, nor a property to call her own. Every time she asked for money, he would trample all over her self-esteem. Her husband’s cold and sarcastic words made her unable to lift her head, and his friends would demean her while drinking wine, making her tremble with anger. This man had once said he would take care of her, yet he turned a blind eye! Those people focused on her happiness as a topic, and made a joke out of it.

Even her three children resented her for her uneven love towards everyone, and their relationship only became more strained as time passed. She had spent her whole life as a loner, and she had nothing. Lying on the operation table, Qu Zhi thought that if she could do it all over again, she wouldn’t be a housewife. She wouldn’t have given her second daughter away, and she wouldn’t take care of her blood-sucking relatives.

She wouldn’t marry her indifferent, cold husband either! When she next opened her eyes, she was back to twenty years in the past. Her eldest daughter was still in elementary school, and her second daughter had been in her belly for several months…