Stray Cat Strut - Interlude Lucy - School Days Part Two

Some crowns are forged in blood. Others are drowned beneath it.In a city strangled by smoke and silence, where children are shackled to machines and shadows rule behind gilded masks, Keiran is just another forgotten soul—until the mark appears.Buried beneath the factory’s foundations lies a world long erased from history. Ancient oaths whisper through stone and water, and something older than memory begins to stir. As Keiran is drawn deeper into the abyss, he uncovers a legacy not meant for mortal hands—a crown shattered in defiance, a flood sealed by sacrifice, and a power that demands a price.Hunted by tyrants, haunted by echoes, and bound to secrets he never asked for, Keiran must choose: drown in the tide of what came before, or rise against the current and reclaim what the world was forced to forget.But the deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels…And beneath it all, something still breathes.

I died in my world… and woke up in someone else’s story.But not as the hero. Not as the villain. Not even as a side character who mattered. I’m… an NPC—a nobody, a background observer, invisible to everyone.At first, I thought I was powerless. But then I discovered something strange: I could leave notes, whisper hints, move objects… small nudges that subtly changed the story. Every tiny action rippled through the plot, shaping outcomes, saving lives, and altering the fate of heroines, heroes, and even villains.The catch? The story is alive. It resists interference. Push too hard, and accidents happen. Plot twists turn against me. Minor disasters loom. The more I try to influence, the more the story fights back.So I play carefully. I study. I manipulate quietly. I watch the heroines, heroes, and overlooked side characters, weaving invisible threads that guide them. I don’t fight. I don’t cheat. I survive—and maybe, just maybe, I can change the story from the shadows.From an unnoticed NPC to the hidden hand behind the world, I’ll prove that even a nobody can rewrite the story.

What would you do if your entire world were turned on its head? A Primordial System buzzing in everyone’s heads, displaying strange screens and other displays in their visions. Being thrown into a tutorial before entering your first System Event broadcast across the universe. Returning back to your home after the System Event to realize that it’s been filled with Gates leading to monster-filled domains, a good number of which have already broken and released their monsters into the world. And learning that the abilities every human being has – abilities that have led to the current structure of society – are nothing but the root of their Skill Trees. The very first skill in their Skill Tree out of many. Well, Ashley doesn’t know. She doesn’t remember anything other than some basic common knowledge from before waking up at the start of the tutorial with amnesia. So why should this change anything for her? Other than her finding out about the blood bestowed upon her by a certain primordial and her own Skill Tree. One with just a single skill. A skill to unlock the skill trees of those she kills. To assimilate. What to expect: Skill Trees, LitRPG Apocalypse, Skill Tree Assimilator(the ability to take the skill trees of those the MC kills that she can unlock through Skill Points without getting the skills right away), Livestreamed Dungeons, Livestreamed Public Battles and Events, Chaos Magic, Varied Magic due to Skill Tree Assimilator, and the MC does not start off strong in the start and only grows strong as she assimilates more skills from those she kills, the MC starts out without any memories and few emotions and slowly gains them throughout the series. What not to expect: I do not write romance(for the main protagonist), there will be no harem, there will be no reverse harem, and do not expect a really strong MC at the start of the story as she has to grow into that role.

Without noticing it, a man called Bill passed away, but then he realized that his life wouldn’t end that way and soon he was reborn as Billy in another world. Billy was already satisfied enough that he retained his memories, but the surprises didn’t end there. He was born with a weird power that granted him the chance to convert mana into experience points and transmit it to all sorts of things.

Things were looking pretty good until he noticed that he was born in an impoverished and rustic village that was facing their imminent extinction in the hands of creatures that he had never heard of before and other tribes that had all sorts of abilities. Before he could learn how even to crawl, Billy had to find a way to help his tribe. Otherwise, they will be annihilated before he can even become strong enough to stand.

Billy’s journey will be much different than he had imagined. Much farther away from Earth than he had originally thought, Billy will have to adapt to a new environment where his tribe is at the bottom of the food chain. Will he be able to grow up safely and try to change things for the better for his new family and friends?