The Soul Keeper - Chapter 52: Who We Were

After years of exile, Marcus is coming back home. A powerful mage with few equals, Marcus lives in a world full of monsters and powerful adepts, many of which have bad histories with him. But he has not come back to pursue vengeance or start a fight. All Marcus wants to do is reconnect with old friends, build himself a house, and maybe train a successor or two.Alas, the world didn’t stop just because Marcus went into exile, and not everyone is content to let go of old grievances. Strange things are happening in the world at large, too, hinting at a looming disaster of unknown nature. Still, where there is a will, there is a way.If nothing else, Marcus has a lot of magical power to throw at problems.+++Zenith of Sorcery is set in its own original setting and isn’t related to Mother of Learning… beyond being written by the same person, of course. This is a more classical fantasy story than my previous one, with a lower level of technology and stuff like elves and dwarves, but it has a lot of worldbuilding effort put into it and its own complex magical system. The story has significant xianxia influences, but isn’t meant to be a xianxia story.For those of you not familiar with my previous work, I write relatively slowly. I intend to publish chapters at the rate of one chapter every three or four weeks, subject to further delays as life intervenes.

Xia Wei transmigrated as the prettiest woman in a book, but she was merely the evil cannon-fodder female supporting character. This was a novel about showbiz. In the novel, Xia Wei was the female lead's best friend. Due to Xia We's beauty, the female lead had always been secretly envious of her, but Xia Wei also kept her guard up against the female lead.Although she knew she was pretty, any man who came into contact with the female lead would eventually fall in love with her instead. Hence, Xia Wei began to keep her distance from the female lead. After that, she capitalized on her looks to get into showbiz. She also started a relationship with her boss.Just as she thought she'd finally moved away from the female lead's shadow, she suddenly discovered that the female lead had also become an artist at her boyfriend's company. Moreover, the female lead had a romantic relationship with her boyfriend.Xia Wei was triggered and began to go against the female lead. She wanted the female lead to know her place and back off by leaving the company and her boyfriend. However, not only did Xia Wei fail, but her boyfriend also dumped her, and her reputation in showbiz plummeted. Xia Wei finally panicked. She went on a dating show with her ex-boyfriend and the female lead to salvage their relationship and her own reputation.However, several male participants on the show were Xia Wei's ex-boyfriends. They all befriended Xia Wei's ex-boyfriend, who had just dumped her, and the female lead. The only guy remaining was a bigshot actor with countless resources but was deemed cold and unapproachable in showbiz.Xia Wei, who transmigrated into the novel, knew he was way out of her league. Hence, she began to do as she pleased on the show. She waited for the male and female lead to hold each other's hands so that the show would end and she could retire from showbiz.However, to her surprise, the storyline went in a different direction. The other male participants all came to confess their feelings for her. Unfortunately for them, Xia Wei wasn't interested in any of them.Later, the actor, who was way out of her league, posted a photo of them on his social media account. “I'm yours, @XiaWei.”Xia Wei responded with her own post. “Please maintain your image as a cold and unapproachable person!”

A single question has been on every fighter’s mind since the dawn of the world—which weapon is the mightiest?

The answer to that question came in an unexpected form.

Martial Online—a game that was going to revolutionize the world and its future generations was created. It was said to be so realistic that it was near impossible to tell the difference between it and reality.

Jesse Kraham, a youth from Nocklund, had been suffering from an incurable disease since he was a child. Because of the disease, he couldn't live a normal life, and he'd been living a lonely life.

However, the universe was on his side, and he received one stroke of luck that changed the course of his life and the world entirely.

……………………………………………………………

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“Now you see?” she shouted in a mix of annoyance and disappointment. “You can't outsmart Scrients! They're the most intelligent beings across the two realms.”“You're right,” I muttered, averting my gaze with a heavy sigh. “I made a mistake. I was too arrogant to think that a mere human like me could fool them.”—BOOM!!“Heik! Wh-What was that?”“Hmm? I'm not sure. Maybe you should go and ask the most intelligent beings across the two realms. Oh wait, you can't. I killed them all.”______My name is Samael Kaizer Theosbane.On the last day of high school, I got into a fight with a kid I used to bully.It was a stupid, pointless scuffle, and in the middle of it, I tripped and hit my head on a rock.That’s when the memories came flooding in - the memories of another life, of a different world.Suddenly, everything made a twisted kind of sense. I realized two things.First, I was in a game I used to play in my past life.Second, I was a villain. A villain!Not the cool and mysterious kind, either.No, my destiny was to be manipulated and die a dog's death!I was the worst type of cliché: an ungrateful, privileged, insufferable young master. The sort you'd find in those poorly written fantasy stories.The kind everyone hates — a snobby brat from a powerful noble family who thinks he owns the world just because he was born with a silver spoon lodged in his mouth.You know the type. The one the hero beats to a pulp to prove his worth.Yeah, I was that guy.And the hero? The hero was the kid I’d been bullying all this time. The same one I got into a fight with.He was the supposed savior of this damned world.A world teetering on the edge of destruction, beset by wars, calamities, and a grim future that only I knew.And at the end of it all, the final antagonist of the game, the undefeatable boss… the Spirit King, was waiting.But could I even make it to the end?Could I conquer a game where defeat was the only certainty?A game that was now my reality!“Ah, fuck it.”I had no idea if I could, but I sure as hell was going to try.Extorting extras, manipulating main characters, twisting the story to my advantage, stealing the hero’s cheat items, killing villains before they could become threats - nothing was beneath me.Would the main characters be affected? Who cares!Would the story change? Even better!All I cared about was me—my survival, my life, my choices.“I will live this life with no regrets.”…But as I soon discovered, fate was not easily changed.And the price of altering one's destiny was steep.