"Too bad. I just got my assembly line set up and didn’t even get to enjoy farming essence orbs to my heart's content before it was gone."
Blinking, Ye Chuan stared at the familiar ceiling above him, seemingly lost in thought. He reached out and touched his body—no longer the skeletal form of a monster but restored to his normal human self.
His "little brother" had returned too.
Truly, a man must never lose his roots.
Sitting up, Ye Chuan checked the entrance to the adventure world and found that the game realm had vanished. After all, it was a one-time dungeon—gone the moment he logged out.
But the haul from this run was staggering: millions of essence orbs!
Ye Chuan snapped his fingers and called out into the air, "Lilith."
"......"
"Lilith?"
When there was no response, Ye Chuan grabbed the pendant hanging from his neck and was about to put it in his mouth when a flash of violet light erupted. A small hand materialized from the void and forcefully pushed his face away.
"What are you trying to do?!"
Lilith emerged from the jade pendant, her furious expression more akin to an angry kitten than anything remotely threatening.
Meanwhile, Ye Chuan crossed his arms and casually propped one leg over the other.
"Lilith, massage my legs."
Lilith: "Hah?"
She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.
"I collected a lot of essence orbs," Ye Chuan said with a grin.
"Pfft, just some measly soul energy," Lilith scoffed, unimpressed. Did he really think that was enough to make her serve him? Not a chance.
Of course, Ye Chuan was only joking. He still needed Lilith’s help when the time came to settle the score with the Qingyun Sect.
"Follow me." Ye Chuan got up and headed toward the training room—the only space large enough for what he had in mind.
Though puzzled, Lilith floated after him.
Once inside the spacious training area, Lilith tilted her head. "What’s with the secrecy? You really gathered that many essence orbs?" She doubted it could be anything significant.
"Just a small haul," Ye Chuan said before summoning the essence orbs.
The moment millions of them materialized, a torrent of soul energy swirled around him like a raging river. Even Lilith, with all her experience, was momentarily stunned by the sheer volume.
"Did you... slaughter an entire city?" Lilith frowned. The essence orbs didn’t carry the usual cold, sinister aura of demonic creatures, making their origin suspicious.
"Slaughter a city?" Ye Chuan thought for a moment. "Not really. I don’t know why they dropped so many, but it was definitely legit."
"Legit?"
"Yeah, legit." Ye Chuan nodded.
Very legit.
A horde of skeleton monsters getting farmed by thousands of players, culminating in a revenge-fueled inspirational tale.
What could be more righteous than that?
Lilith’s eyes gleamed as she eagerly began absorbing the essence orbs. The energy surged into her body like a flood, a process that lasted over an hour before the last orb vanished.
When Lilith opened her eyes again, violet light shimmered in her pupils. She took a deep breath, and countless magic circles enveloped her body.
Gradually, her form transformed—her petite figure giving way to a curvaceous, long-legged beauty.
Barefoot, she lightly stepped on the air, her presence now overwhelmingly powerful.
"Heh... my strength has finally returned, at least in part," Lilith murmured, her voice laced with lazy amusement. Her demeanor had shifted entirely, exuding a mature, almost languid confidence.
"So, what do you think?" she asked Ye Chuan.
"Bigger chest."
"......" Lilith rolled her eyes at his shallow response before elegantly crossing her legs as if sitting on an invisible chair.
"Well... Ye Chuan, want a little gift?" Her tone was playful.
"What kind of gift?"
"Guess."
"Last time you gave me a mana-regenerating Holy Grail. How about an infinite-health Holy Grail this time?" Ye Chuan joked.
Lilith felt like he was treating her like a wish-granting dragon, but she didn’t mind. It seemed her temper had mellowed along with her new form.
Rumor had it that temper was inversely proportional to bust size—flat-chested girls with screws for brains were the most volatile.
With a flick of her finger, a glowing orb materialized above her hand.
Ye Chuan recognized it.
"Isn’t that the same orb you used on Ye Yue last time?"
"Similar." Before he could react, the orb merged into his body—
[Item: Root Magic (Peerless)
The power of magic’s origin. Equipping this replaces all magic with [Root Magic].
Each new spell learned enhances [Root] potency.
Root Magic counters all magical attributes and cannot be blocked.
Fundamental Spells: Root Surge, Root Restoration, Root Slash...]
After studying it for a while, Ye Chuan looked up, puzzled. "What’s so special about this? Countering all magic sounds strong, but is it really ‘Peerless’ tier?"
Among the Peerless-tier abilities he knew of, Bai Qianshuang’s Innate Dao Body allowed absurdly rapid cultivation growth, while his own Chaos Immortal Body made him nearly immune to all rule-based spells.
The Holy Grail provided near-infinite mana regeneration, and Ye Yue’s Cognitive Pollution was a game-breaking debuff that could cripple an opponent’s strength by 80% before a fight even began.
But this Root Magic...?
"Mastering Root Magic means comprehending the very essence of magic," Lilith explained, seeing his confusion. "You can cast any spell you imagine—limited only by your creativity and mana reserves."
"Wait, seriously?" Ye Chuan’s eyes lit up with realization.
"Indeed. But given your current level, you won’t be able to wield it fully yet." Lilith yawned. "Absorbing so much soul energy has worn me out. I need some rest."
With that, she pointed at the jade pendant on Ye Chuan’s chest—shattering it instantly.
The fragments hovered in the air before being absorbed by Lilith.
"My soul is strong enough now—I no longer need a vessel," she declared. "Starting today, I’ll be staying in the room you prepared."
"Oh?"
Ye Chuan had no objections.
But just as Lilith was about to leave the training room, she paused mid-step. Without turning back, she spoke softly.
"Ye Chuan."
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
Ye Chuan was taken aback. By the time he turned to look, she was already gone.
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
"You’re welcome."
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
