Building an Empire in Game of Thrones (REWORKED VERSION) - Chapter 25: Foundations of an Empire

Ernest Quelt, the alchemist renowned for his unparalleled mastery of alchemy, has perished.But his death wasn't a noble sacrifice in battle, nor the result of a failed expedition—it was a betrayal. The very comrades he trusted most turned on him, driven by envy of his growing power.Yet fate wasn’t entirely cruel. With his final breath, Ernest's gaze fell upon the tube that contained his greatest achievement: a perfect artificial being known as the Homunculus.More than just a vessel resembling a human, this creation harbored the power of a catastrophic beast—one that had once nearly brought the world to ruin.

For better or for worse, till death do us part. That was their vows at the altar, but he broke them first..He claims an open marriage is the solution to their childless marriage and that it's to protect her own interests. But all Braelyn sees is a prison built from guilt and lies.One heartbroken night, she stumbles into a karaoke bar and into the arms of Lucien. A man shrouded in mystery, rebellion and danger. His very presence tells her to run but it also gives her the solace she craved.She never expected to see him again after she ran, forgetting his sinful existence, but life wasn't done making a joke out of her.Lucien isn't just any man, but one who can destroy everything she believes in. The man she was never meant to meet. Her husband's uncleThe black sheep of the Volkov dynasty. A man whose desire will ruin her. Lucien knows she can't be his, but he was never a man who respected social norms. He doesn't care about anything but her every sin and touch.All he wants… is her, no matter how sinful it gets.

In the year 2090, technology has advanced to the point where Simulation Boxes, (Sim Box for short) are common place, allowing for the user to link up their brain's neural network to a full dive Simulation. While initially used for educational purposes, recently a large gaming company, Averon, released a fully fledged immersive MMORPG simulation where users can become anyone they desire, level up, choose their class, and become a hero or a villain. The name of this simulation is The Shattered World Online.

Eli Winters had no interest in playing it. His father, a jobless bum who spent his entire life playing games in the hope of becoming a famous player or streamer, was able to use the release of The Shattered World Online to gain wealth and fame, quickly becoming the number one player and a household name as the game took the world by storm. He immediately abandoned Eli and his mother in favor of being with someone from his guild, despite his mother having worked two jobs to support them and raise Eli by herself. Eli had nothing but spite for his father and the game.

When Eli's best friend convinces him to try out the game, his father's fame begins to interfere, culminating in him being singled out and shunned by his peers, and his father offering to pay for his university tuition in return for Eli hiding their relationship and quitting the game. Instead of complying with his father's wishes, Eli decides to prove to everyone how useless a guy his father is by challenging him that if Eli is able to surpass him in the game world he must delete his account and quit his streaming career. His father accepts the challenge believing his son to be useless at games - but Eli will soon show him just how ambitious a spiteful person can be.

Our straight (?) bottom woke up ten years into the future and found himself on the bed of his childhood friend… At the start, the bottom was shocked to his very bones, but he soon quickly accepted this premise and found the whole situation to be rather amusing. Precisely then, the bottom once again went back to his timeline — back to when he and the top were just platonic childhood friends.

Landmines include but are not limited to: Sweet & naive bottom, a president story, logic is dead, slow-progressing romance, the protagonist’s name has too many character strokes, the names are hard to pronounce, too many gay characters…

- Description from novelupdates