Heroes Shed No Tears - Chapter 17: The Cold Aura Of A Sword

Dylan is your average nerd. He works downtown for an architecture firm during the day and enjoys all manner of games and media in his spare time. But while Dylan likes all forms of sci-fi and fantasy, he really likes the genre of superheroes.So when an indie company releases a virtual reality MMO where players choose to play as heroes or villains, Dylan immediately buys into it. He has a specific type of character he really enjoys watching, something that always makes his inner child laugh in delight. The Saturday morning cartoon villain.Yes, those inept, bungling, yet highly dangerous villains found in so many of Dylan's cartoons as a child. He loves how they always come up with strange ways to conquer the world and how they get thwarted every weekend. He remembered laughing at every silly antic, every cliched shout of “Curses! Foiled again!” He loves it so much he decides to take this idea into the MMO.But to grab a playerbase, the company has announced a promotion that players with a high enough reputation can get contacted to become permanent raid bosses in the game. Those chosen will be paid as if employees of the company. Serious players all hoping to live the dream of playing videogames all day rush to purchase copies of World of Supers!What will happen when Dylan, someone playing the game for fun, clashes with these overly serious players?

A man who had emerged from the world’s most secure prison—God of Death Island, known as a super-powered being called the God of Death, had grown tired of the bloody storms abroad and now, like a hidden dragon, he had returned! But due to an accident, he became the contract husband of a beautiful CEO! From then on, he ruled the city, crushed the petty and wicked, and embarked on the tyrannical journey of an urban legend!

What will you do when the gods turn Earth into their playground? Run, hide, and hope for the best? What if it isn’t an option? What if you’re the thing they want to play with? What if they want you to play for their entertainment?That is what the humans had to go through when the gods forced an awakening upon them. Pick classes, slay monsters, and survive being the god’s pet. Surviving an apocalypse can be fun, but a divine apocalypse? It will be fun… but only for the gods. For the rest, it is a test for survival.Maybe not for everyone. What if someone views it as an opportunity to take revenge on everyone who had betrayed him? What if someone doesn’t care about being used by the gods as long as he can use them for his revenge?That’s what Kang YuWon sets out to achieve once calamity strikes. Revenge on everyone, including his family, and even the gods, if they ever cross paths.

In a world where Classes, Stats, and Levels are the everyday norm, Reivyn has a secret.He was unusually aware of his surroundings from an incredibly early age, and Skills and Stats were acquired easily. He was just the son of an ordinary village family, and nothing appeared out of the ordinary on the surface. But below the surface, dreams of another life help shape his mentality and growth. Why does he have some remembrance of a past life, and what is his purpose in this new one?“Soul of the Warrior” is what I call a Semi-Isekai LitRPG. I say “semi,” because Reivyn's past life is remembered like a dream, and very incomplete. It is still Isekai, though, as he remembers enough that it directly shapes his personality and his sense of self.The System that governs the world of “Soul of the Warrior” is a combination of modified versions from Selkie's “Beneath the Dragoneye Moons” and Kosnik4's “Magic Smithing.” I have changed enough of these Systems and combined them in a way that is unique that I'm mostly sure it's fine, but I still have requested permission to use these ideas. They have both graciously granted me permission.Winner of the April Writathon Challenge.