MTL - Virtual Evolution - Chapter 17 The last match before the return (below)

I came home from college expecting to deal with my emotionally unavailable father, an empty fridge, and a summer full of boredom.What I didn’t expect was to walk into the kitchen and find a barefoot, stunning woman in my dad’s shirt stirring eggs like she owned the place.Spoiler: She does.Her name is Elena, and apparently, she’s my brand-new stepmother—seven years older than me, way too cheerful, and totally off-limits.But try telling that to my brain when she’s bending over to grab orange juice or accidentally falling on top of me in the laundry room. Try telling that to my heart when she’s laughing at my jokes, defending me at dinner, or wearing my hoodie because “it smells like comfort.”My dad doesn’t see her. Not really.But I do.And that’s the problem.Now I’m stuck in a house full of tension, sarcasm, and slow-burn chaos.She’s married to my father.I’m supposed to be focusing on my future.But somehow, I’m falling for the one woman I absolutely, definitely, 100% should not be falling for.Oops.

The city lights blurred as Evelyn Carter ran—away from the past, away from the voice that had kept her caged for years. Westbridge University was supposed to be her escape, a place where she could disappear, blend into the background, and finally breathe.But then he showed up.Adrian West wasn’t supposed to notice her. Loud, confident, and radiating a warmth she wasn’t used to, he crashed into her quiet world like a storm she never saw coming. And for the first time, silence wasn’t her only option.But the past doesn’t let go so easily.Secrets don’t stay buried forever.And running… running was never the same as being free.She thought she was invisible. He saw her anyway.Are you ready to uncover the truth?It is a slow-burn, heartwarming story about love, healing, and finding the light even in the darkest places.

Can you get used to dying? Not really.

When a particular universe was born, its seven primordial Concepts acquired an ego. Omniscient and omnipotent, they seek since to enrich their home. To do so, they plunder other universes, capture young civilizations and plagiarize ideas. Many monsters, gods, civilizations, and races are competing for the eighth throne.

Eons later, it is Earth's turn to be torn away from its Sun.

Humanity begins its integration by participating in a Tutorial. Priam has the luck and the misfortune to finish the Tutorial first. Luck because his reward is a form of pseudo-immortality. Misfortune, because as the champion of his civilization, he is transported to Elysium, the most dangerous world created by the Concepts. Nine out of ten champions lose their lives there on their first day. Fortunately for Priam, he has many lives.

Collection of short stories.

- Description from Novelupdates