I Was Banished from Heaven, Now I'm the Demon King's Stepdad?! - Chapter 30 – “The Battle Between Pages”

I am currently re-writing the first chapters of this story. They are quite rough and bounce around a lot and I can do better. At some point, I will replace these with the better chapters.Sometime in 2024 Aethon Books will publish the first volume of this story on Amazon, KU, and audible. This will mean the story will be stubbed. I will notify people far in advance of that.In the dystopian world of the future, life is rough when you live at the bottom. Jobs are non-existent. Far too many people live in poverty, crammed into huge buildings called Habitats. With no jobs in the real world, many people can only find work online in VR worlds as servants to the very rich. And it's getting worse. The old internet is unusable and hacked to pieces. The new system needs AI to run things, but all but one of them were destroyed. The last sentient AI is ordered to create a new game world so the rich can have a playground, and the corporations that rule the world can have a new global market place. Everyone wants a piece of the new game. The guilds are competing to be the first to find the dungeons and kill the biggest monster. The corporations are claiming land and putting in their online market places. Ozzy and his friends just want a paycheck.Four friends sign five year contracts as virtual serfs in a small village, and can't go adventuring at all to gain money. They don't have many choices. They can work as a blacksmith, barmaid and shepherd for all those years....or they can cheat and find ways to take advantage of the system and carve out a section of the game world for themselves, and earn a fortune in the real world.When they give you a mop and not a sword, you have to find the loopholes and change the rules.

Calling the old god’s mage, the knight who inherits the bloodline, looking forward to the glory of yesterday;

The noise of steam engines and the roar of cannons indicate the direction of the future;

An Sen, who was living in this world, embarked on a road that had never been imagined;

In the ashes of the old world…he shall be crowned king!

- Description from novelbuddy

What if you could unlock the deepest secrets of the human mind? What if every word, every gesture, every thought could be shaped and bent to your will?Jason Cross was once an ordinary man, trapped in a life he didn’t deserve. His family’s fortune stolen, his dreams shattered, he was left with nothing but bitterness and regret. Forced to work a dead-end job, Jason’s life seemed doomed to mediocrity—until a tragic accident changed everything.Now, Jason has been given a gift. A mysterious system has awakened within him, revealing the hidden language that can influence the mind—Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) at a level beyond human comprehension. With every task completed, Jason unlocks new abilities, gaining the power to manipulate emotions, thoughts, and desires.But power comes with a price.Jason's rise to influence is swift. He becomes a master of persuasion, able to seduce anyone, outwit rivals, and build an empire from the ruins of his former life. His enemies fall one by one, their minds broken before they even know what hit them. But as Jason climbs higher, so do the stakes. Rivals from the shadows, powerful enemies, and his own unchecked ambition threaten to consume him.How far will Jason go to reclaim what is rightfully his? And when the world bends to your will, can you ever trust anyone again?

When the enigmatic and overpowered Kieran Drayke awakens in a foreign magical world after a sudden transmigration, he brings along a system unlike any this realm has ever known. The “Sovereign Architect System” doesn’t just make him invincible—it gives him the tools to build something far greater.But Kieran isn’t interested in world domination. At least, not in the usual way.Disillusioned by the world's surface-level glimmer and the rot beneath it, Kieran sets his sights on the forsaken—those discarded by society, lost in the shadows of nobility and corruption. From slums, war zones, and forgotten ruins, he gathers orphan girls of various races—elves, beastkin, humans, and more—each with untapped potential and pain behind their eyes.He trains them in secret. Guides them. Empowers them. Not as soldiers, but as a family. A hidden organization that operates behind the curtains, shaping the world while appearing as ordinary students at the prestigious Aetherion Magic Academy.Kieran himself? Just a carefree, slightly lazy transfer student with a penchant for sweets, sarcasm, and sneaking naps between classes—on the surface, at least.With a slow-burning plot that weaves magical worldbuilding, deep friendships, training arcs, casual comedy, and a cast of unforgettable girls who grow into queens of the unseen, Chronicles of the Hidden Crown explores what happens when an OP MC doesn’t conquer the world with brute force…But builds a legacy from its forgotten pieces.No betrayal. No forced drama. Just the steady rise of a secret kingdom in the shadows of a crumbling empire.