MTL - Stone Gambler (Orc) - Chapter 72 untitled

He shattered the heavens… and got isekai’d into a crazy desert survival game!Xu Tao cultivated for ten thousand years, defying death and destiny to reach the Divine Heaven Immortal Stage.But just as he touched the heavens—The heavens kicked him into a world based on a full-dive VR game.Now he’s got no Qi. No weapons, no cultivation… and no pants.Just a desert full of monsters, a glitchy “Lost System” that won’t shut up, and knowledge forged from millennia of clawing his way to the top.Enemies? Weaklings.Mystic beasts? Drop garbage loot.Level caps? He’s Xu Tao.He didn’t spend ten millennia chasing immortality just to get wiped by a scorpion in a tutorial-zone!But he’s definitely not here to play. He’s here to ascend—again.Even if this time, he has to grind EXP and punch sand beetles to do it.But wait... That's not all...? He could also... What?!

Warning This fiction contains:

Graphic Violence Profanity Sensitive Content

Summary – Level 1:

Delve is an isekai litrpg that follows an average guy who just happened to wake up in a forest one day. He wasn’t summoned to defeat the demon lord or to save the world or anything like that, at least as far as he can tell. The only creature there to greet him was a regular old squirrel.

Soon enough, he meets other people, only to discover that he can’t speak the language, and that not everybody immediately trusts random pajama-wearing strangers they met in the middle of the wilderness. Things generally go downhill from there, at least until the blue boxes start appearing.

Delve is a story about finding your way in a new, strange, and dangerous world. It’s about avoiding death, figuring out what the heck is going on, and trying to make some friends along the way. It’s not about getting home, so much as finding a new one.

Did I mention that there will be math?

Summary – Level 2:

Okay, but what are you in for, really?

Well, this story is supposed to be realistic, or at least, as realistic as a fantasy litrpg can be. The main character doesn’t instantly become an all-powerful god and murder-hobo his way across the universe. Delve is, at its heart, a progression fantasy, but that progression is meant to feel earned. The numbers in this story actually mean something. Everything is calculated, and if you find a rounding error, I expect you to tell me about it. That said, if math isn’t your cup of tea, there is plenty more that the story has to offer. Characters are meant to feel real, and progression isn’t only about personal power; it’s also about allies, connections, and above all, knowledge. Figuring out how the system works is a significant theme.

...

What, you want more details? Okay, fine, but this is going to get a bit spoiler-y. Are you sure?

Yes!

Really sure? I mean, this summary is practically half as long as the first chap–

Now!

Okay, okay!

The main character becomes a magic user, but he takes a route that is not very popular in adventurer culture, namely that of a support. There is a full magic system with various spells, skills, and abilities, but our MC decides that aura magic is the way to go, and that the only stat worth investing in is mana regeneration. Most people at the Adventurer’s Guild think that this makes him a bit of a dumbass, but he’s playing the long game. We’ll see how that works out for him, won’t we?

Because of his build, the MC levels up fast, at least compared to normal people. There are no cheats, though, and he is limited in other ways. There are some clear and pretty obvious downsides to his build. That’s what makes it fun, no?

Morals? Our MC has them. Again, we’ll see how that works out for him. Realism, remember? Would you be okay with killing someone and looting their body? I sure hope not.

POV? The focus is on the main character, but there will be occasional varying perspectives from people around him, or involved in the events related to the main plot. It isn’t going to jump all over the place.

Tech is standard medieval stasis. No smartphones, but the MC does have a technical background. Computers and their programming might be involved. There might even be a bit of uplifting down the road, who knows? Anyway, it isn’t the focus. He isn’t going to invent the gun in chapter 1 and change the face of warfare.

Romance is not a major focus. Friendships are more the name of the game, though there will be some characters in romantic relationships.

There is exploration, though not as much of the geographical nature as you might expect. It is more about exploration of the system and the culture.

The pace is slow and detailed, sometimes verging on slice-of-life. The action is meant to be realistic and grounded in the numbers, and it is intended to have meaning beyond simply punching things until they stop moving.

The general tone of the story is grey, and some parts can get quite dark. People die. Sometimes, people with names, but not anywhere near GoT level. There is plenty of light, too, though, to balance the darkness. The world is dangerous, but overcoming that danger is why we’re all here, isn’t it?

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far through the summary, you clearly like words. I hope you enjoy the story!

Gradually, he found that he couldn’t leave this adorable kid, as well as his beautiful and stubborn mother.

Xia Xingcheng was about to get engaged to her childhood sweetheart, but her vicious half-sister, the daughter of her stepmother, set a trap for her out of jealousy. After a nightmarish night, her fiancé thought that she had cheated and canceled the engagement. Heartbroken, she chose to go abroad alone for a living.

Five years later, when her father threatened her with her grandmother’s health and forced her to return to attend her sister’s wedding, she had to come back with her four-year-old son. Although the child had been accidentally conceived, he was the only comfort during struggling to survive abroad. Coincidentally, they had run into the child’s father, Mr. Sheng, on the plane. But neither she nor he was able to recognize the other. However, perhaps blood ties were that mysterious, the kid sensed that this handsome and powerful man was his father! Although she had never thought of looking for the child’s father, fate had arranged for him to appear whenever she was about to be harmed by her shameless family. Gradually, he found that he couldn’t leave this adorable kid, as well as his beautiful and stubborn mother.

[Inflict Weakness ─ Lv.1] ◇ Inflict the target with a physical attribute weakness upon contact. [Shop ─ Lv.1] ◇ Consumes points to buy items.