The Villainess is a Marionette - Chapter 26

When humans step into the Galactic Era, the ancient art of cultivation thrives once again.

Ernest Quelt, the alchemist renowned for his unparalleled mastery of alchemy, has perished.But his death wasn't a noble sacrifice in battle, nor the result of a failed expedition—it was a betrayal. The very comrades he trusted most turned on him, driven by envy of his growing power.Yet fate wasn’t entirely cruel. With his final breath, Ernest's gaze fell upon the tube that contained his greatest achievement: a perfect artificial being known as the Homunculus.More than just a vessel resembling a human, this creation harbored the power of a catastrophic beast—one that had once nearly brought the world to ruin.

The newly rebirthed Nora does not want the love of the man she had given her life. What she wants is to reach a position where she could look down at others and take her revenge from those who had hurt her and killed her. Even in her death, they have proved that she was a fake.“I will return everything tenfold!” this time she did not run behind her hero, her sister can have him. She would be wealthy instead.Alric Mccoy had never looked down from where he was, for him life only meant perfection. Yet, he found himself attracted to a woman who made mistakes like breathing. He took a fancy to her but she avoided him.“I am teaching you romance!” he frowned when she did not cooperate with his first kiss.“Ha, i need you to teach me how to take over your business.” her chest heaved with anger but she was sure she felt something strange there too.“Ah, that. It is very simple. Marry me, and be the owner of it.”“.........”

In the year 2090, technology has advanced to the point where Simulation Boxes, (Sim Box for short) are common place, allowing for the user to link up their brain's neural network to a full dive Simulation. While initially used for educational purposes, recently a large gaming company, Averon, released a fully fledged immersive MMORPG simulation where users can become anyone they desire, level up, choose their class, and become a hero or a villain. The name of this simulation is The Shattered World Online.

Eli Winters had no interest in playing it. His father, a jobless bum who spent his entire life playing games in the hope of becoming a famous player or streamer, was able to use the release of The Shattered World Online to gain wealth and fame, quickly becoming the number one player and a household name as the game took the world by storm. He immediately abandoned Eli and his mother in favor of being with someone from his guild, despite his mother having worked two jobs to support them and raise Eli by herself. Eli had nothing but spite for his father and the game.

When Eli's best friend convinces him to try out the game, his father's fame begins to interfere, culminating in him being singled out and shunned by his peers, and his father offering to pay for his university tuition in return for Eli hiding their relationship and quitting the game. Instead of complying with his father's wishes, Eli decides to prove to everyone how useless a guy his father is by challenging him that if Eli is able to surpass him in the game world he must delete his account and quit his streaming career. His father accepts the challenge believing his son to be useless at games - but Eli will soon show him just how ambitious a spiteful person can be.