Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 259: Mistaken

There are Humans. There are Elves. There are Dwarves. There are Orcs. And then there are Demons, and the Demon King.In a world where warriors wield elemental fury, assassins bend shadows, and mages rewrite the laws of reality with a thought… one boy awakens the weakest and funniest ability of all.[Muscle Genesis]… the power to grow and control muscle.The f*ck? No sword aura, no magic affinity, no flashy technique, just raw, brutal power.Born in the wild slums of Arcanum Nexus, orphaned, starving, and forgotten by the system, Kairo Vale has one goal: survive long enough to rise above it all.When his chance finally comes in the form of the prestigious Nexus Academy Entrance Tournament, the world expects him to fail, just another Unranked slum bastard with a useless ability.But the thing about muscles is that… they grow.And so does his pain tolerance, and his strength, and his will to endure.Thrown into trials designed to break him, teamed with nobles who want him gone, and hunted by powers that fear what he might become, Kairo fights back the only way he knows how: one rep, one punch, one brutal threshold at a time.Because in this world, power is everything.And he’s going to build his from the ground up.If they won’t give him a place in their world, he’ll carve one with his fists.

Ai Qian, a street-crazy author who wakes up every day because of her own poverty, is bound by the system!
The system is obedient: Host, you are the daughter of a rich family, you are a billionaire female president, you are a superstar… Are you happy?
Ai Qian: Hehe, I might be happier if there is no hero who can kill me at any time.

- Description from novelbuddy

Branded a scammer, a thief and a con artist, Si-eun became a fugitive following the betrayal of his friend and sworn brother Javier, the one who stole his life's work, his business from him and framed him for its downfall. Hunted by loansharks and enraged investors for months, he wandered from city to city until his luck eventually ran out.At the moment of his pathetic death, a god intrigued by his desperation to live offered him another chance at life—Only for Si-eun to awaken inside a familiar world, the world of an MMORPG game he once played, even worse… he inhabited the body of Azazel Von Astavore, a useless extra destined to die in every playthrough of the game.

Qi Condensation. Foundation Establishment. Core Formation. In the current world, only these three realms are known to be achievable. Nascent Soul is but a legend and the realms above it lost to the the long river of time. The modern era is known as Cultivation Civilization, a balance of power and civility, excess and moderation. While cultivation remains a secret practice, it has long since exposed itself to the mundane world, quietly intertwined with each facet of society. While the world appears to be at peace, what lies underneath is a conflict between human, cultivator, and demon, brewing for ages and waiting to implode. Yet in the wake of humanity’s rapid industrialization, qi—and consequently cultivation—is dying.