The Sword and The Shadow - Chapter 24 – Bear Hunting

The royal bastard of House Vasquer, Argrave, changed after his stay studying magic at the Tower of the Gray Owl.

The sickly man's awkward posture and cruel behavior have been replaced with a neat dignity and acerbic wit.

Though once listless, he now strives towards his goals with a life-or-death tenacity.

Most come away thinking he seems to know too many details about too much. Few can claim to know his motives or his goals.

Yet behind that confident appearance, the primary contributor for an open-world RPG's wiki battles existential dread and things far beyond his ken as he struggles to adapt to a grim, gothic fantasy world mirroring his favorite game.

The prospect of fighting against a world-ending calamity loses all of its appeal when it transitions from entertainment to reality.

Argrave is spurred towards unwanted heroism to preserve his life as he struggles desperately to keep this sinking ship afloat.

Anton is a great-grandfather. He is living quite a happy life, despite his advanced age and declining health… until a group of cultivator bandits moves into the area. The nearby guardians of the area, the Order of Ninety-Nine Stars, are unable to track them down as they continue to ravage nearby towns. During one desperate winter Anton is out on a hunt when his family- his entire village- is killed or taken as slaves by the bandits. He lacks the strength to fight them, and he wasn’t even present for their arrival to die with his loved ones. At the pit of his despair, he wonders if he ever had any chance to change things. What could he even do? He cannot even pull his best bow, and his eyesight is failing. If he had been a cultivator… perhaps there might have been a chance, but he was decades- perhaps even most of his life- too late.Participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge (2022)Notes on cultivation levels:There are five general stages of cultivation, though the fifth is extremely rare. Each cultivation style might have their own name for the stages.1. Body Tempering2. Spirit Building/ occasionally System Creation (Ninety-Nine Stars)3. Constellation Formation (Ninety-Nine Stars)4. Life Transformation/Galaxy Construction (Ninety-Nine Stars)5. Ascension

When a glorious old civilization was toppled overnight, a strange purple moon rose and thus began the Purple Moon Era.

Damn it! What kind of ecosystem was this? The evolution was messy. Even rabbit bites and plants were not to be messed with. How can one survive all this? Evolve into a Purple Moon Warrior? What did this have to do with the Purple Moon?

What kind of map was this? The Safety Sector? The Floating Domain? The Darkness Port? The Storm Voyage? The True Capital?

The Horror Lullaby List? The resurrection of the Underground Tribe and the prospering Underground City? The Chaos Black Market that suffused the world? The Bloody Road?

More importantly, one could end up in a bloody slaughter when dreaming and enter the Dream Domain? Fine, this damned era!

- Description from Novelupdates

For half of his life, Qin Qing has been fighting in the entertainment circle. He gained fame and fortune but his body also collapsed.

He was reborn and returned to the age of 18. He just wants to stay away from scumbags, earn some money, read books, enter university, and be a healthy and happy ordinary person.

Who would have thought that not even two months of being an ordinary person he was caught by a film emperor.

……

Qin Qing: Carefully work. Work hard to earn money.

Film Emperor: Do what work. Give you a newly acquired company.

Qin Qing: ……

Qin Qing: Scheming? deceiving people? once again?

Film Emperor: My person, who dares move you?

Qin Qing: ???

Qin Qing: Save money to buy a house.

Film Emperor: Would you like a duplex with a 500 ft rooftop garden? Or river view villa?

Qin Qing: ……

Qin Qing: Carefully study. take the college entrance exam.

Film Emperor: in those days, In the whole city, i was ranked in the top 100 in the college entrance exam. what question is hard, I will teach you.

Qin Qing: I’m only eighteen!

Film emperor: I know. the problem of age difference, I will overcome it myself.

Qin Qing: ……

—-

Su Zhihe was very pleased with his new small assistant, he looked pleasing to the eye and was good everywhere.

Since he liked it a lot, Su Zhihe decided to let his iron tree bloom*. Eighteen years was not considered young , the age difference of a few years was just right.

Not human?

He can be a dog to chase his boyfriend.

- Description from Novelupdates