Death Progress Bar - Chapter 12 - “Nightlight”

“From today onwards you are no longer my son. Get out” Being born into a noble family that is aiming to become the ‘strongest’, at his aptitude ceremony held on his 12th birthday it was discovered that Igni could only use fireballs. Igni who can only use beginner level magic was kicked out of his house.

With no where to go and without much magical ability, Igni is scraping by through life. However, one day he has miraculous reunion. “What? Is that Igni there?” “Gr-grandpa!?” It was a reunion with his grandfather, the man who was once called the strongest [Kyokuten] but was banished from his noble family because of his excessive womanizing…! “Grandpa! You said strong men are popular, but I can’t be strong!!” “Igni, listen carefully. Strong men are popular but, hard-working men are even more popular!!” “Grandpa! I’ll try my best!!!” Igni whose parents who banished Igni from the house, didn’t yet know of his obsession with being popular under the guidance of the strongest [Kyokuten] magician…!

“Igni that magic!” “This? It’s a fireball” “With this you can aim for [Kyokuten]! Come back here!!” “Nobility isn’t popular” “What are you saying?” This is a story where a young magician becomes the strongest by honing his skills all in order to become popular.

*Slow Burn Historical Fantasy Novel*

Elise had about to change into the dress that was lying on the corner of her bed when she heard a knock lightly calling from her door. Curious, she turned the door knob only to have a tall man towering in front of her.

“Master Ian!” She called.

Ian smiled with the usual mischievous smirk that he always used. His crimson eyes trailing a little over her room and spotted the black dress over her bed and shifted his eyes over to the woman in front of him. He stepped forward and spoke. “Where did you acquire that dress?”

“Mr. Harland gave it to me.” Elise replied and strained her neck to see Ian’s brows knitted in its elegance.

“Do you know why a man would love to give a woman a dress?” He gave the riddle that she always had to think twice before replying. But this time, she found no answer and instead shook her head. “I don’t know.”

His grin grew bewitching as though something had stirred deep inside the scarlet eyes that he had. He slowly slid his hand over the collar of her dress, sending a cold shiver that startled her for a moment due to its freezing temperature. After unbuttoning the first two buttons on her collar, he tilted his head down, whispering to her ears. “Because they want to be the one to undress the cloth.”

He paused and kissed her neck, turning the pale skin to red before retracting his move to fix his eyes on her and leisurely replied. “Unfortunately, you can’t wear the dress over there with this.” He chuckled and passed a box over to her hand. “And the fortunate news is I prepared a dress for you.”

Elise was a cursed little girl who could see ghosts. Her family hated her and threw her from one adoptive family to another. However, misfortune didn't act alone. When she was brought up by her aunt, she was sold as a slave. When she had thought she would become nothing but a sacrifice to the sorcerer, she was saved by a man whose identity was far different than a normal mythical being.

Su Mingyuan has become a villain in the world of urban novels. As long as he plays well according to the villain’s setting and completes the plot, he can get villain points, and he can return to earth if he saves enough 100,000.

Unexpectedly, Su Mingyuan, who had saved enough money, unfortunately, encountered a turbulent flow in time and space when he crossed back to Earth, and the time went back to his first day as a villain.

Everything has to start again.

“It’s merely a matter of starting over; the required villain value is less than half what it was the last time, and my acting abilities have improved significantly since the last time. I’m able to deliver stronger performances and am able to acquire a greater number of villain values more quickly…”

Su Mingyuan is optimistic and confident.

“Let see, I will do my best to taunt the male and female protagonists to hate me and then be punched in the face by them!”

“See if I don’t do my best to ridicule, make the male and female protagonists hate me, and then hit me crazily in the face and step on me.”

“When it comes to acting as a villain, I’m a professional!”

To begin, the first step is to attempt to harass the male protagonist’s sister, so that the two create an intense dislike for me.

Hey, what’s wrong with you heroine?

Not only do you not resist, why do you seem to… enjoy it?

Can you be serious!?

I’m a villain!

Wait… wait!

Why, apart from you, the way other female protagonists look at me seems to be wrong?

They came up one by one as if they were going to… eat me?

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.