Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king - Chapter 158: Hot topics

Synopsis ___________________ Viretta Medlit is a hopeless braggart. One day, she casually boasts to a young man she meets about her unfortunate arranged marriage, only to discover that he is her fiancé. To make matters worse, her exaggerated claims stir something within him. “Are you prepared to face any hardship?” “Of course. If it's for the one I love, I’d even hunt a dragon!” “Then let’s go hunt a dragon. And break off the engagement afterward.” Thus begins Viretta's journey to hunt a dragon… All in the name of breaking off her engagement with a fiancé she actually finds quite agreeable!

Mallory is a self-proclaimed queen of laziness who wakes up one day to find herself in a world overrun by zombies. Fortunately, her apartment seems to have a mind of its own—and it’s evolving. From providing unlimited snacks to generating electricity and even sprouting a dimensional elevator, her cozy haven keeps her safe and comfortable while others struggle to survive outside.But when her evolving apartment drags her into alternate realities, Mallory must reluctantly become the “hero” of bizarre worlds, from candy-coated kingdoms to high-tech dystopias. Armed with her magical Staff of Lazula, which lets her achieve greatness with minimal effort, Mallory stumbles into one comedic escapade after another. Whether she's outsmarting sorceresses or surviving talking gummy bears, Mallory proves that you don’t need to be a go-getter to be a hero—just really, really good at being lazy.Join Mallory and her apartment in an adventure that no one expected!

In the year 2100 humanity was introduced to the revolutionary full dive VR game called 'Omega', however, the game was not a technology made by humans but one granted to humanity by a higher power to prepare them for the first awakening.

It was only a tutorial and a means to smoothly transition the primitive species from thinking that they were alone in the entire universe, to being integrated into the true wide universe.

When the average user level in the game exceeded the predetermined threshold the tutorial finally ended and planet earth underwent a catastrophic event called the 'First Awakening ', as mana started to flow freely in the real world as it did in the virtual world and the real universal stage game called 'Sigma' was unveiled.

'Sigma' was governed by the omnipotent A.I. the universal queen, and was the grand stage where races from all across the universe fought together for territory, resources, and honor.

Set in a universe where fantasy races such as elves, dragons, and vampires are not a myth but real power players, humans quickly found out that they were one of the weakest races to play 'Sigma'.

In such desperate times, humans turned to their best professional players for salvation.

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Max, was a genius in the world of Omega and deemed the hope of mankind after the first awakening. However, an accident crippled his mana veins and caused him to be assessed as a manaless trash in Sigma!

Deemed hopeless and irredeemable, he quickly went from hero to zero, and the world ignored him.

For ten years since the first awakening, he lived the life of a manaless trash and became a bottom feeder in society, slowly losing his pride, his possessions, and eventually his identity.

In the end, he faced a tragic and painful death while failing to save his young nephew and niece from assailants.

However, it was not the end of Max's story but just the beginning as he was reincarnated back in time to the day before the first awakening before his downfall started!

Armed with the knowledge of the future, watch as Max reaches for the apex in his second life and fights against his destiny with grit and tenacity.

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Cover edited by the very talented bird of paradise

Xu Zheyi is a 30 year old actor. Abandoned by his friend after co-signing a loan, he was burdened with a massive debt. Without any foreseeable way out, he was reduced to acting in a gay AV in order to make enough money and pay off the debt.

Ruka is a twenty-some year old popular AV actor. He lost a bet when he was drunk and had to act in a gay AV.

The two men cross paths during filming. Be prepared for a sweet, funny, sexy ride!