Merchant Crab - Chapter 154: Skittering Through the Night

[Ding!][Welcome to the fantastic world of Aether Babes!!!][Title granted: King of the Cosmos!]In his first life, Nick was an avid gamer. One of the top-ranking players in the gacha game Aether Babes, he never thought in a million years he'd be transmigrated into the world of his favorite game.However, it wasn't everything he imagined it to be. Somehow all the gods were dead, leaving him as the new King of the Cosmos far earlier than his character was supposed to be. More than that, it seemed like his favorite game actually contained the worlds of many different games...And as the King of the Cosmos, it was his duty to conquer every game, obtaining ultimate power.Finding himself in a dangerous plane of existence filled with exotic monsters and demons and even more nightmarish creatures he never dreamed of fighting in real life, Nick has to fight relentlessly just to stay alive. Luckily, he has the help of his favorite waifus!

Zane Thaleward, born into a prestigious family known for their extraordinary magical abilities, struggles to meet the expectations placed upon him. Unlike his relatives, his magic is weak, limited to only the simplest of spells, making him the subject of mockery and ridicule.Despite the constant criticism, he remains determined to become stronger. One day, while searching the family’s library for a way to improve his magic, he stumbles upon a strange, ancient book. Little does he know, this discovery will change his destiny forever.

Kai’s life was small—coffee-stained mornings, cracked recipes, and a system in his head that tweaked toasters and dough like it was nothing. Then the sky shattered. Aliens—Skraiths, jagged and brutal—invaded, tearing his city apart with green-glowing weapons and relentless claws. Superhumans rose to fight back, fire and lightning blazing through the chaos, but Kai’s world crumbled with them.Hiding in his apartment, Kai stumbles on blood—human and alien, smeared on his wall after a superhuman battle. His system, once just a tinker’s tool, awakens, offering him a choice: mimic their powers, temporary and wild, through the blood itself. Desperate, he takes it—stealing pyrokinesis, then electrokinesis, then kinetic energy, each power burning through him, fading fast. But it’s not enough. Armed with a humming Skraith weapon and a body tougher from alien blood, Kai joins a ragtag crew of enhanced fighters—Liv, Rylan, Jace, and Tucker—scraping to survive in a warzone where every shadow hides death.As Skraiths swarm and the city burns, Kai’s system pushes him deeper, analyzing, integrating, crafting minor enhancements—durability, strength, sparks of power that could make him a target or a savior. Government factions, rogue scientists, and the aliens themselves start sniffing around, drawn to his strange tech and blood-stolen abilities. By the time Kai crafts his first super-powered enhancement—an artificial strength boost—he’s no longer just a tinkerer. He’s on the edge of something bigger, something dangerous, where blood and sparks could forge a hero—or break him entirely.In a world unraveling, Kai’s fight for survival becomes a desperate race to master his system, outrun the Skraiths, and confront the truth: the power he’s chasing might destroy him—or remake the world.

Astra woke up in a forest with no recollection of her precious life.The only thing she knew was that she had a system with two parts; one was a Survival System, and the other was a...Wait, what?!A Breeder System?!