You spent a year recuperating in Liu Family Village.
Your injuries had mostly healed, and once you put on the "Wolverine Claws," your body recovered completely, feeling even lighter and more agile than before.
You tried to control your bones like Wolverine, such as extending the bones in your palms to use them like claws.
Given your current physical strength, your bones could probably serve as weapons.
But there was one small problem.
"Agh! It hurts, it hurts!!"
The pain of bones breaking through your skin was unbearable.
You figured you could only use this trick when adrenaline took over your body.
Of course, there was another option.
"Super Beast Pain Tolerance."
But you reconsidered; you wouldn't waste a valuable equipment slot on a white-tier trait like that anyway.
Once recovered, you didn't rush to leave Liu Family Village.
Instead, you helped Old Man Liu and his family with farm work.
Through observing the villagers' daily lives, you gained some insight into the real world.
The peasants here lived much like those in the Void Realm.
The difference was their extreme poverty.
Starving was common.
They had no clothes to wear.
In many households, a single pair of pants was shared; whoever went out got to wear them.
Most men went shirtless, while women stitched together scraps of cloth into simple garments.
Another notable feature of the village was the absence of able-bodied young men.
There were no young or middle-aged men, not even many teenagers. It was a complete generational gap; the oldest were only in their fifties or sixties.
"Grandpa Liu, where did all the young men go?"
"The Church assigned them work. Same as when I was young—you work until you can't keep up, then you can come back to farm."
The villagers' hardship stemmed from the Winged God Church.
They conscripted the able-bodied, seized grain by force, and women were constantly at risk of assault.
The villagers knew little about cultivators, and from them, you couldn't gauge the Church's true strength.
As for the Old Hag who stole the Ten Thousand Soul Banners and other human-realm artifacts, no one knew anything.
"Old Wan, Lao Hu, and all the loyal ministers of the Spirit Weapon Kingdom—hold on. Your boss will find you."
Besides retrieving the banners and the others, one urgent matter remained.
Why was there no immortal energy here?
Where could you find it?
You couldn't just stop cultivating.
You decided to leave Liu Family Village to find answers.
On the day you planned to depart, a fully armed army stormed into the village.
They wore silver, barrel-like armor that covered them completely.
They rode tall warhorses.
They carried knights' lances, three or four meters long.
Liu Tian told you they belonged to the Church's Guardian Knight Order—each one formidable, far beyond ordinary people's strength.
The knights were not humans; they were Scalefolk, covered in fish scales, with both lungs and gills.
Behind the knights, four white horses pulled an ornate metal carriage.
It was luxuriously decorated, and seated inside was an "Angel."
—It looked human but had a pair of white wings.
Liu Tian said this was a White Priest of the Church, an unapproachable, exalted being.
Looking at the White Priest, you thought: isn't this a Wingfolk?
You'd seen them in the Fifth simulation.
You deduced that the myriad races of the Void Realm, once split across dimensions, were now mixed together in the real world.
Seeing a Wingfolk reminded you of their racial traits.
"Speaking of which, I need to grind those traits off them..."
The White Priest stood on the carriage, arms outstretched.
"Sinners! The time of redemption has come!"
The villagers knelt along the road, heads pressed to the ground, not daring to look up.
You didn't act recklessly.
Without divine sense, you couldn't gauge their strength, nor did you know how vast the Church was.
But you had no intention of kneeling to an alien race.
So you took out the cloth strips you'd wrapped around yourself earlier, bound yourself like a mummy, and lay on the ground pretending to be severely wounded.
Using "Playing Dumb," you suppressed your cultivation aura to its lowest possible level.
The Church came to Liu Family Village for three things.
First: Release people.
Like Liu Tian, those who were old and too worn out were sent back from work sites to farm.
Second: Seize grain.
The Guardian Knights searched every home.
If they found no grain, they took furniture, even scraping paint off the walls.
Third: Recruit people.
All those of suitable age, male or female, were to go to the church grounds for aptitude evaluation. Depending on their cultivation potential, they'd be assigned work, possibly even allowed to join the Church.
The White Priest announced these three things in a sing-song, holy tone.
The villagers knelt numbly, listened numbly, watched numbly as their belongings were looted and their children taken away.
Liu Ying was among them.
"Dad, I don't want to go... I heard some people die there."
Liu Tian sighed.
"Yingzi, if you don't go, you'll die now."
You sat up from the ground.
"Grandpa Liu, I'll go with Yingzi."
You saw this as a chance to engage with the Church, learn about Fortune Star's situation, and find opportunities to fight Wingfolk for their traits.
Liu Tian hesitated. He naturally wanted someone to care for his daughter, but his kind heart didn't want an outsider to take risks for them.
He didn't have to dwell on it long.
The White Priest noticed you.
"So there's an able-bodied young man here—those recruiters last year were sloppy."
He spoke slowly, his eyes half-closed. Though male, he had a distinctly effeminate aura.
After glancing at you, he added,
"You have cultivation? You're not from Liu Family Village, are you?"
You mentally patted yourself on the back for being cautious.
He could detect your cultivation, likely had divine sense, and was definitely at a higher level than you—you were right not to engage him directly.
"Your Grace speaks of my background. I am indeed not from Liu Family Village."
"Which region are you from?"
"I don't remember."
"You don't remember?"
"I was injured and fell into a river. Grandpa Liu and his daughter fished me out. I don't recall anything before the injury."
Seeing your blood-soaked bandages and Liu Tian and Liu Ying corroborating your story, the White Priest asked no further questions.
[The cultivation level you are currently showing is only at the Body-Tempering stage. In his eyes, you are no different from an ordinary person and not worth much attention.]
["Let's go together. The Church will not abandon any sinner. You will be given a suitable job."]
] [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!"
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
