MTL - Hail the King - ~ 1170, before the war

In a world of countless enemies, the right talent is all it takes to thrive. Freddy Stern, a twenty-one-year-old cashier, has lived a plain, albeit harsh life. Having been orphaned—twice—he’s spent the last ten years working and staying out of trouble. His only aspiration is to save enough money to become an archhuman. His dream gets the jump on him when he barely survives a near-death encounter and finds himself with 1% Lifesteal, a bizarre talent with numerous contradictions and just as many uses. With every dead enemy, he becomes a bit stronger, a little wiser, and a lot more ruthless. And no matter how much damage he takes, he can always put himself back together. Physically, at least. But on his path to power, after having to look at the rotting guts of archhuman society again and again, can his talent keep his mind and soul as pristine as his body? Or will that part of him simply remain broken?

It wasn’t until he paid a huge price for giving up emotions that he realized how important they were to practice martial arts.

In his previous life, in order to become a master, he had given up all his emotions and became a ruthless expert. But in the end, he realized that it was meaningless living as a person without any emotions. Before he died, he regretted a lot and made a wish that if he could be reborn, he would never be a heartless person again. He would be a person with feelings, a true person.

He had actually been reborn. In this life, he had adopted seven orphans, and each one was a genius material for cultivation. However, he could not cultivate in the beginning, so he had to keep selling off his family’s assets in order to maintain the children’s education and living needs. When he remembered the memories of his previous life, the time he had spent with his children had made him feel the great power of love even more. Through his experience of emotions, his cultivation progress in this life was incredibly fast. He cultivated together with the children, searching for treasures, and even helped many people succeed in cultivating. In the end, the battle began, and he became the publicly acknowledged strongest expert.

Chi Xiaochi: fourth-rate citizen at birth, three-time award-winning film emperor, second-rate temper, first-class looks. He crawled his way out of hell on hard mode to become a winner at life.

Ever since Arwin was summoned as a child, all he has known is war. And now, to claim the demon queen's life and end the war, he has to kill himself. But, as he deals the final blow to his mortal enemy, the Hero of Mankind is betrayed.Caught in a magical explosion thought to end him, Arwin awakens a month later to find that everyone has already moved on. His [Hero] class has changed to a unique blacksmith class called [The Living Forge] that is empowered by consuming magical items, but some of his old passive [Titles] remain, giving him the power to forge his new future exactly the way he wants to.Arwin isn't going to settle for anything less than completely surpassing the powers he wielded as the Hero.After all, you are what you eat – and Arwin’s diet just became legendary.What to expect: - Item focused crafting story, where a lot of the MC's power comes from his equipment- Mix of crafting & combat as the MC has to get the materials himself. The MC does not spend the whole novel in one room crafting. - No Harem- Strong to Stronger MC- Slow burn revenge with a focus on the MC rebuilding his life and discovering new purpose