Pokemon: The Gameboy Effect - Chapter 226: Abilities

An AI calling itself Schema has assimilated earth into its system. As a consequence, everyone gained access to status screens, power-ups, and skills. This AI turned these concepts from fiction to fact. It's easy to become intoxicated with leveling up and becoming stronger. To some, it's too good to be true like living out a dream.

For Daniel, however, it's closer to a nightmare.

He's in a bit of a predicament. Cracks in our dimensional fabric have unleashed terrifying beasts from dark, abyssal places. Schema organizes these cracks into dungeons, giving the native species of the planet a chance to fight back. Daniel finds himself trapped in one of these dungeons. Not long after, he discovers there's only one way out.

Layton just wanted a weekend alone in the wilderness. Instead, he woke up in a nightmare.Earth has been inducted into a multiversal system, and survival is no longer guaranteed. Forced into a brutal wave dungeon with no warning, no tutorial, and no gear, Layton accidentally locks himself into the weakest class—Healer.That’s when things start feeling… off.He’s leveling way too fast. His so-called “support” class? Feels anything but weak. And his only ally? A too-intelligent, bloodthirsty predator that might be more than just an animal.Something is wrong with this system. Layton just has to survive long enough to figure out what.

“Before the towers fell, before everything was consumed by darkness...”Leo Astralis whispered to himself while traversing through the rubble of the ancient structure.His body bore the scars of survival, bite marks that throbbed against the coarse, blood-stiffened fabric of his clothing.“..I wonder what the world was like.”After humanity failed to complete the Tower almost 700 years ago in time, it exploded, spreading monsters all over the word.Even the system, which blessed humans with power, had abandoned them. Or did it?[Run]A singular message urged Leo to escape, yet it was short lived as was he was caught like an animal in a trap.And just like an animal he lashed out until the very end, taking one of the captors to the grave with him.But as darkness closed in, the system spoke again.[One time Regression activated][Congratulations. You've activated the Heart of the System]

[COMPLETE] Can a royal Romeo and Juliet find their happy ending?

Ayleth, Princess of Zenithra, is secretly trained in hand-to-hand combat, and collects swear words she doesn't know how to use. During the Festival of Peace, in which every royal son on the continent will be at the castle for a month, she is instructed by her parents to find a husband. Yet, Ayleth has never even been kissed—until the very first ball, when she meets the man in the Lion mask.

Etan is a seasoned warrior, and the Prince of Summitras. He attends the Festival hoping to find a powerful wife who will help him conquer the dark sorcery of their bloodsworn enemies, the Kingdom of Zenithra. But at the very first ball, he discovers the masked woman who captures his heart is the Heir to the evil empire.

Ayleth and Etan face an impossible battle. Will their love survive? Or will their parents' dark dealings keep them apart forever?

[Mature content. No sexual violence.]

******

“You…” She stepped back. Then back again, her mouth dropped open. “You… You cannot be…”

“I am,” Etan said, and his hair raked back as he pushed his mask off his handsome face. So handsome her heart raced.

His hair was ebony black, his skin a warm brown that threatened to fade in in the winter months. He stared at her with glittering green eyes, over high cheekbones and a noble nose, his jaw tight and shadowed this late in the day. His chin was high over the pillar of his neck that she’d just touched with its hard lines and steel strength, so different to her own. And his chest... She gasped and covered her eyes. She’d humiliated herself revealing her stupid, childish curiosity.

“No, Ayleth. This changes nothing.”

“How can you say that? It changes everything!” She was horrified to realize she was crying.

“Ayleth, please.” His voice cracked on the plea and she stared at him, shoving her mask up and off, despite how it would pull her hair out of the beautiful twist the maid had managed for her.

His eyes locked on hers and she couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe.

She had met her One. And he was the son of her bloodsworn enemy.

She stared at him as he stepped forward again, offering both hands, palm up. “Touch me,” he whispered. “Hold my hands. This is real, Ayleth. I don’t know how it happened, but this is real. Please don’t deny it.”

She couldn’t resist. She raised a trembling hand to his cheek, letting her palm catch on the scruff of his jaw. He blew out a breath and put his hand over hers, and that jolt that happened whenever they touched shivered through her again.

“Please, Ayleth.”

“I cannot deny it,” she whispered.