Desolate Era - Book 5, Chapter 24 - The Stone Room Within the Mine

Eric Langley, an eighteen-year-old boy whose parents passed away three years ago, had no known relatives and was left to fend for himself. To support himself, he worked in a bakery, using his earnings to cover his daily needs and indulge in his favorite pastime—reading chapters of the novel “Humanity's Strongest Mage,” which had recently gone on hiatus.Eric had a love-hate relationship with the novel. While he was captivated by its world, he despised the Protagonist, Alex Whiteheart. Alex had it all from the start: strength, fame, money, and of course, a harem. He never faced any real challenges, effortlessly overcoming every obstacle, which made the story lack something Eric craved....... Chaos.One evening, while taking a walk with his headphones on, Eric was lost in thought. The music drowned out the world around him, and he failed to notice a car losing control and speeding toward him. The last thing he heard was a screech before everything went dark.When Eric woke up, memories flooded his mind, and he quickly realized something was wrong. He wasn't in his own world anymore; he had somehow ended up in the world of “Humanity's Strongest Mage.” To his shock, he found himself in the body of Arin Vale, an insignificant character never mentioned in the novel—a true extra.Now, armed with the knowledge of future events and driven by a desire for chaos, Arin had one goal: to disrupt the smooth journey of Alex Whiteheart, the Protagonist. He was determined to introduce Chaos into the story, making it far more interesting than it ever was, and in the process, he'll also find out that there's more to his character than just being an Extra.Let the Chaos begin!

“Not even the gods can stop me from finding my family!”Max only wanted to reunite with his parents and sister. But for that, he had to awaken a class.With no high expectations, Max would’ve been satisfied with a C or D rank.But fate had other plans. He unlocked a legendary SSS-Rank class.[Dimensional Keeper]This class changed everything.Max mastered every skill to perfection and grasped the Concepts of Space and Time while his peers were playing around with swords.In no time, he ascended to become the Keeper of the Universe. Armed with unimaginable power, Max’s journey to find his family had begun.Nothing could stop him now—not fate, not enemies, not even the mighty gods!

Every “Diver” gets 96 hours on Earth before Thirstfall drags them back. Most return broken. Some don't return at all.Dryden Sands survived that loop for ten years—until he reached Rank-A... and got killed by the person he trusted most.But the Sacred Codex he'd found had other plans—it reset everything to Day One.Now Dryden remembers everything—hidden dungeons, broken rules, future disasters.But the System remembers him...And in Thirstfall, anomalies don't just struggle—they get purged.--------------

In this world, orphans or just anyone without any hope for this world can apply to become a “walking target”. Their sole purpose is to be a practicing dummy for the students of the sect who train to become “Demon Hunters”. These students need “walking targets” to test their training on living, walking beings of flesh and blood.
In exchange, they will be provided with food & shelter.
Their existence value is lower than a slave, but if they manage to survive a few years they can receive a life long pension.

Xiao Han is such a “walking target”. One time he witnessed a powerful Demon Hunter disposing a demon. When the demon died, a fragment of the demon that managed to escape entered Xiao Han’s heart. No one saw that, and even Xiao Han himself only felt some discomfort for an instant.

But that thing in his heart soon gave Xiao Han visions, and the first one is of a cultivation method which allows Xiao Han to absorb damage to enhance his body. A perfect cultivation method for a “walking target”.

- Description from Novelupdates