Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 42: Deeper

The suicide of a high school girl following the rejection of her crush whom she confessed to roused the soul of a Scorpio* Marshal from her 200 million years of slumber — she reincarnated into the body of Xuan Mo. And so, she decided to live on Earth on behalf of the girl! However, it was quite the miserable situation for an alien to own two different sets of memories. She had to use her peculiar mental power to peep into the previous owner’s memories regarding everyday, mundane matters while trying to rein in her cutting aura pretending to be a normal human…

But her shocking performance during military training definitely must have floored everyone. Okay fine, her incredible finesse aside, what’s with the consecutive bullseye for every single round during their shooting competition? Was this something a normal female student is able to achieve? Shouldn’t you explain yourself a little damnit! And what’s with the multiple grade jumps, and being contended for by the various prestigious universities? What kinda havoc you try’na wreck with your low-key flaunting? I mean it’s a good thing she’s caught the eye of a special organisation and was entrusted with important tasks, but what’s with all aloof rule-breaking gameplay? She’s practically the walking definition of “hated by even the gods”.

What’s even stranger was that Xuan Mo’s only ever interested in warring matters and battling; she’ll only ever pay her ferociously blooming blossom luck as much heed as she minds the passing cloud with the mindset of crossing the bridge when she reaches it (wipes sweat) and can you be less insensitive when handling the various Earthlings’ endless crushing and eye-candying you?!

This all screeches to a halt however when she discovers the existence of someone else from her home-planet, so she’ll be needing a raincheck with the getting a “spouse” part of mortal life on the Blue Planet. Of course, we’re discussing this on the premise that she wanted to return home…

* T/N: 天蝎星 = scorpio; may be referring to the star sign “Scorpio” or the planet called “Scorpio Planet” (to be determined later in the story)

In a world of endless star fields and interdimensional wars, the wizards' floating city conquered one world after another.At the wizard academy, through blood-stained exams, the towering wizard tower sent wizards batch after batch.Becoming an apprentice wizard, Richard activated the miracle furnace deep within his soul, where constant refining of materials granted him knowledge and skills...The veteran's weapon could be refined into legendary martial arts techniques.The ancient wizard's encrypted notes could be refined into lost knowledge.The remains of brutal monsters could be refined into monster bloodlines.In this era of great voyages in the wizarding world, Richard was destined to become a leader of his time.

The journey to the martial peak is a lonely, solitary and long one. In the face of adversity, you must survive and remain unyielding. Only then can you break through and continue on your journey to become the strongest. Sky Tower tests its disciples in the harshest ways to prepare them for this journey. One day the lowly sweeper Kai Yang managed to obtain a black book, setting him on the road to the peak of the martials world.

Yukima Azuma—charismatic, confident, and utterly unforgettable. He was the man every girl wanted but could never truly keep. One by one, they fell for him, only to be left with memories they couldn’t erase.Kasumigaoka Utaha: “I was his first, the one who taught him love… only for him to use it on other women.”Sawamura Eriri: “If I hadn’t been such a tsundere, maybe things would have been different.”Yukinoshita Yukino: “He was my light in the darkness, the only one who ever truly saw me.”Yukinoshita Haruno: “That bastard ran away after taking everything from me.”Hoshino Ai: “My only true love. The one I can never replace.”And when asked about their relationship with him?“Ex-girlfriend.”But to the women still in his life?Sora Ginko, Kato Megumi, Sagiri, Bocchi, Shinomiya Kaguya, Kirisu Mafuyu, Suou Yuki, Alya—“Thieving cats.”Because no matter how much time passed, no matter how far he went—one truth remained: Yukima Azuma was the one man they could never forget.