MTL - Dangerous Survival in the Apocalypse - Chapter 168

My past life: Ordinary. Mediocre.

What I want in this life: Riches. Power. Influence.

My goal: To be a prodigal son. A waste youth with riches and power. Maybe even sidekicks.

My name is Ye Lang, I’m an alchemist, and I’m also here to squander as much money as I can.

- Description from novelupdates

Two years ago, Nina married a man she had never met. She didn’t know his name or his age; she knew nothing about this person she was married to. Their marriage was nothing more than a contract with conditions, and one of the clauses was that she should not sleep with another man.

Yet, Nina lost her virginity to a stranger when she knocked at the wrong door one night.

With the compensation she had to pay weighing her down, she decided to draw up a divorce agreement on her own.

When she finally met her husband to hand over the papers, she was shocked to find that her husband was none other than the man she had “cheated” on him with!

A mysterious car accident caused her to be bedridden for three years.

After Ning Qing woke up, she learned two things.

One was that her elder twin sister had died in a car accident three years ago.

The other was that she had already married someone.

Her husband was Nian Lie, the eldest son of the Yan family who owned the biggest conglomerate in Yan City.

He treated her as a substitute for her elder sister. While he put her through torture, he would tell her that he loved her with reddened eyes.

Initially, Ning Qing wanted to divorce him, but later on, she indulged in his ambiguous love.

Until she stood outside the wedding venue where he was about to marry another woman.

Her heart was dead. Nothing was worth holding back anymore.

She wanted to escape, but she was unwilling to let him live the rest of his life peacefully.

Hence, under the reporters’ flashing lights, she stepped onto the bridge and jumped off with her nearly due baby…

Warning This fiction contains:

Graphic Violence Profanity Sensitive Content

Summary – Level 1:

Delve is an isekai litrpg that follows an average guy who just happened to wake up in a forest one day. He wasn’t summoned to defeat the demon lord or to save the world or anything like that, at least as far as he can tell. The only creature there to greet him was a regular old squirrel.

Soon enough, he meets other people, only to discover that he can’t speak the language, and that not everybody immediately trusts random pajama-wearing strangers they met in the middle of the wilderness. Things generally go downhill from there, at least until the blue boxes start appearing.

Delve is a story about finding your way in a new, strange, and dangerous world. It’s about avoiding death, figuring out what the heck is going on, and trying to make some friends along the way. It’s not about getting home, so much as finding a new one.

Did I mention that there will be math?

Summary – Level 2:

Okay, but what are you in for, really?

Well, this story is supposed to be realistic, or at least, as realistic as a fantasy litrpg can be. The main character doesn’t instantly become an all-powerful god and murder-hobo his way across the universe. Delve is, at its heart, a progression fantasy, but that progression is meant to feel earned. The numbers in this story actually mean something. Everything is calculated, and if you find a rounding error, I expect you to tell me about it. That said, if math isn’t your cup of tea, there is plenty more that the story has to offer. Characters are meant to feel real, and progression isn’t only about personal power; it’s also about allies, connections, and above all, knowledge. Figuring out how the system works is a significant theme.

...

What, you want more details? Okay, fine, but this is going to get a bit spoiler-y. Are you sure?

Yes!

Really sure? I mean, this summary is practically half as long as the first chap–

Now!

Okay, okay!

The main character becomes a magic user, but he takes a route that is not very popular in adventurer culture, namely that of a support. There is a full magic system with various spells, skills, and abilities, but our MC decides that aura magic is the way to go, and that the only stat worth investing in is mana regeneration. Most people at the Adventurer’s Guild think that this makes him a bit of a dumbass, but he’s playing the long game. We’ll see how that works out for him, won’t we?

Because of his build, the MC levels up fast, at least compared to normal people. There are no cheats, though, and he is limited in other ways. There are some clear and pretty obvious downsides to his build. That’s what makes it fun, no?

Morals? Our MC has them. Again, we’ll see how that works out for him. Realism, remember? Would you be okay with killing someone and looting their body? I sure hope not.

POV? The focus is on the main character, but there will be occasional varying perspectives from people around him, or involved in the events related to the main plot. It isn’t going to jump all over the place.

Tech is standard medieval stasis. No smartphones, but the MC does have a technical background. Computers and their programming might be involved. There might even be a bit of uplifting down the road, who knows? Anyway, it isn’t the focus. He isn’t going to invent the gun in chapter 1 and change the face of warfare.

Romance is not a major focus. Friendships are more the name of the game, though there will be some characters in romantic relationships.

There is exploration, though not as much of the geographical nature as you might expect. It is more about exploration of the system and the culture.

The pace is slow and detailed, sometimes verging on slice-of-life. The action is meant to be realistic and grounded in the numbers, and it is intended to have meaning beyond simply punching things until they stop moving.

The general tone of the story is grey, and some parts can get quite dark. People die. Sometimes, people with names, but not anywhere near GoT level. There is plenty of light, too, though, to balance the darkness. The world is dangerous, but overcoming that danger is why we’re all here, isn’t it?

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far through the summary, you clearly like words. I hope you enjoy the story!