MTL - Tomb Raider: Storytelling and Writing, The Mystic Nine is Confused - Chapter 242

William was once a gamer ranked in top 20 worldwide. After his death, he found himself in the body of an insignificant NPC in the game “God's Apocalypse.” This NPC was doomed to die early in the game, filling William with dread because he knew he had only three months to live.The game world of “God's Apocalypse” was rich with many different fantasy races, from elves to dwarves, each offering unique opportunities for him to make use of, as well as challenges to home oneself.William was terrified because he had the knowledge of the game's future but lacked the power to change his fate.However, he was not without options. He retained his game panel and the unique talent “[Jack of All Trades],” which allowed him to learn skills from various professions.William realized that when the game's beta opened, players would arrive. As an NPC, he could assign quests to them and use his knowledge of the game's future to manipulate them to do his bidding.He began to leverage the abilities of the players to alter his fate and grow stronger.William made alliances with various races, gaining their trust and learning their secrets. This enabled him to transcend the boundaries of his initial condition and steadily increase his power.As William's power grew, players in the game started to complain: “This boss is impossibly strong and keeps getting stronger, we demand a nerf!” They were frustrated by his rapid progression and the unique challenges he posed.In contrast, the elves venerated him: “Lord William is the ultimate chosen one, bringing an unparalleled peace to our realm.” They saw him as a savior who brought stability and hope.The mages revered him as well: “He is the trailblazer of magic, our protector. His name, William Cain, is synonymous with the god of the arcane.” They admired his innovative approach to magic and his role in advancing their knowledge.When asked how he managed to achieve such feats, William simply responded, “Knowledge is power, and it's the one thing I don't lack.”

I don’t want to die. I want to be free. To that end, I shall….reconcile myself to the fate of becoming a “monster”.

A strange disease that racks one’s entire body with intense never-ending pain, until the person slowly withers away and eventually dies. After a few years of braving through the pain, the boy is in no luxury to even feel despair. With nary a soul to tend to him, he breathes his last.

The next time he opened his eyes, the boy had become an “Undead” of the lowest rank through the power of an evil Necromancer.

The boy rejoices at having his earnest desire fulfilled, which is a body that will never feel pain. However, he realizes that he is still under someone’s control and how it was no different from when he was cooped up in the hospital ward.

But the world would not leave alone the boy who only wished for peace.

The Necromancer who revives the boy from the dead, names him “End” and attempts to gain control over him.

The Undead Knights, lay their lives on the line to persistently chase after and annihilate the beings of the darkness.

With countless monsters under their command, the Demon Lords rule over their own lands while they all contend for ultimate supremacy.

The motivation being survival and freedom. The requirements being caution and power.

This is the tale of the cowardly King of the Undead. In his pursuit for freedom, he heads into battle and turns tail at times. He knows when to fear his opponents and when to waver in his decisions.

The Age of Gods has long since ended, their voices no longer heard on the continent of Douluo. Humanity, standing on the shoulders of legends from its history, advanced soul technology to inconceivable heights. The humans of Douluo invented weapons of mass destruction, mechanized armor, and living metals. With these advancements, they went on to conquer the oceans and discovered two new continents. To fuel these new technologies, humanity hunted the soul beasts to the very brink of extinction.

Once the dominant force of Douluo, the few surviving soul beasts now hide in the darkest recesses of their last sanctuary. The weakest have all been hunted, leaving only the strongest to scheme in the heart of the forest. The soul beasts, not willing to fade away, plot an uprising for their survival. In the midst of this, a god from a long forgotten era awakens in the depths of the Great Star Dou Forest to seek vengeance for the soul beasts.

As darkness encroaches from the abyss, hope is found in a young boy who holds a power beyond divinity within himself—Tang Wulin! Hope for both humanity and the soul beasts, as the bridge between the two. He finds his way into the fabled halls of Shrek Academy, where he learns to wield his prodigious powers, makes friends and finds allies, eventually rising to become a towering leader.

As he learns to harness his strength, danger lurks within the shadows as the various factions of humanity maneuver and plot to usurp Shrek Academy. Tang Wulin discovers the threat to the only world he knows as he sinks deeper into the intrigue. Meanwhile, camouflaged by the chaos and unbeknownst to the humans, the soul beasts’ plot continues to steadily advance.

To defend what he loves and reclaim what was lost, Tang Wulin must seek out the legacies of legends past and unlock the full might of the Golden Dragon King!

Aliandra Amariel loved magic, dedicating her academic years to the study of runes and spells, pushing the boundaries of mana's infinite possibilities. Like most Fae, her destiny seemed clear until that fateful day of her Class Trial, when the Blind Lich unleashed an undead apocalypse on her home, the fabled underground city of Dal’mohra, and triggered The Breaking – a cataclysm that forever reshaped the world. Saved by her mother’s legendary time-stasis spell, Ali wakes thousands of years into a dark future. Everything she knew and loved is gone, buried under a mountain, transformed into a twisted dungeon by the malevolent will of the Lich. Now, Ali must confront her deepest fears, mastering the arts of battling monsters and braving a town riddled with corruption. As the Lich's grand design shadows her every move, she scrambles to forge new friendships and unearth ancient knowledge in her fight for survival. Why must she struggle? All she had ever wanted was to curl up in a comfy chair with a few thousand good books. But the immortal Lich is drawn to her unique magic, ever hungry for more power to fuel his cold-hearted ambitions. How will she survive the giant target painted on her back as her advancement slowly reveals the horrifying truth of the Class she chose to save herself? Will she falter, forced into the eternal servitude of undeath, or will she rise against all odds and cast him down, ridding the world of his evil?