At this point, one of the stewards suddenly seemed to remember something.
"By the way, Steward Andrew, there’s something we’ve been too afraid to tell you..."
"What is it?" Andrew raised an eyebrow slightly.
The stewards exchanged glances, and then one of them whispered:
"Your senior brother, Andre the Archmage, has returned from the Endless Sea. He’s expected to arrive at our Winter Spring Valley in a few days."
In an instant, they noticed a subtle change in Andrew’s expression. His eyes narrowed, glinting with a chilling light.
"Oh?" he said, squinting. "Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?"
The steward wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and stammered, "Well... uh..."
It was precisely because they knew the relationship between the two that they had hesitated to speak up.
These stewards were well aware of the deep-seated animosity between Andrew and his senior brother. Back in the day, they had nearly come to blows over the position of the First Steward.
During their time in Winter Spring Valley, the stewards had witnessed firsthand what it meant for two titans to clash. It was a rivalry that had lasted since childhood.
If your mage tower was an inch taller than mine, I’d make sure mine was a foot taller by tomorrow!
If you mastered one forbidden spell, I’d master two!
If you had one son, I’d have two just to outdo you!
There was even that one time in the bathhouse when they accidentally caught a glimpse of each other and noticed a difference of a few micrometers... and that was enough to spark another round of competition.
In the end, they overused magic potions, which led to... well, let’s just say they both suffered a backlash.
Everything shrank!
They thought that would be the end of it.
But then, just because one of them accidentally noticed that the other was a few micrometers smaller...
They started competing over who could be smaller!
O(╥﹏╥)o.
Just recalling those days made all the stewards feel a wave of phantom pain.
"Steward Andrew, we all know there’s some tension between you and your senior brother, but..."
The surrounding stewards wiped their sweat and continued:
"Now your senior brother holds a different status. He’s the First Bishop of the Sea God’s Temple. This time, he’s surely returning for important discussions with Winter Spring Valley. You really need to tread carefully!"
[The Sea God’s Temple?]
Andrew snorted coldly and said indifferently, "What? Do you think a First Bishop is more prestigious than a First Steward? Do you expect me to kneel and call him ‘Father’?"
"Not at all! Not at all!" The stewards widened their eyes in panic. "Please don’t misinterpret our words! We’re just trying to give you a friendly reminder!"
Andrew flicked his sleeve and turned away, saying calmly, "Enough. I understand what you’re trying to say. Although we’ve never gotten along, that was a hundred years ago. Do you really think I, Andrew the Archmage, am that petty?"
The others trembled.
No!
We definitely don’t think you’re that petty...
But do you really have no self-awareness about your own pettiness?
Their eyes instinctively drifted to the floor in front of his chair, where the marble had slightly sunk from years of being stepped on.
And faintly visible in the depression was what appeared to be a name carved into the stone.
Then, their gazes wandered through the crack in the door to the training dummies outside in the square.
The face of one of the dummies looked eerily familiar.
Whoosh—
A magic arrow struck the dummy right in the forehead.
The stewards shuddered, snapping back to reality, their eyes wide and their throats dry.
Is this what you call being petty, Steward Andrew?
"Enough!" Andrew waved his hand grandly, his beard fluttering as he declared, "This meeting is adjourned. Dismissed!"
...
Several hours later.
In Nanako’s mage tower.
"It’s over, it’s over, it’s over!"
Nanako, dressed in a blue mage robe with her hair tied into two ponytails, paced back and forth, her small hands cupping her chin as she thought deeply. With each step, her long ponytails swished like ribbons.
On a nearby recliner, Lynn’s eyes followed the swaying ponytails, left and right, until his eyelids drooped with boredom.
"Master..." Lynn yawned, his voice drowsy.
"You’ve been pacing for two hours now. I’ve calculated that you’ve walked back and forth twelve thousand one hundred times, covering hundreds of kilometers. Aren’t you bored? In this time, you could’ve run several marathons."
Indeed.
Ever since the stewards’ meeting ended, Nanako had returned home and seemed to be stuck in an endless loop of pacing.
[Is she having a hyperactivity episode→_→? Otherwise, why has she been so restless lately?]
[Master, we’re almost out of gold coins. If your salary doesn’t come in this month, I’ll have to sell your jewelry and clothes!]
[Nanako’s Mage Brand Cloth Armor, petite size, two gold coins each, fair price, no scams~]
[Hahahaha—]
Nanako suddenly turned her head, her gaze locking onto Lynn.
In the reflection of Lynn’s eyes, the petite mage floated over like a ghost and slammed her hands on his shoulders.
Her blue eyes (￣^￣) glared down at him.
Lynn gulped, his eyes wide.
Since he was lying on the recliner, Nanako’s position created a somewhat domineering posture.
Lynn coughed awkwardly and said, "Uh... Master, it’s still noon. There are several hours until nightfall. Maybe..."
"Stupid disciple, stupid disciple, stupid disciple!!!!"
Nanako (〃＞皿＜) shook her head vigorously, her long ponytails whipping Lynn’s face at an unimaginable speed.
Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap—
The rhythmic slapping sounds echoed through the room.
Lynn: "!!!!"
"Stop! Stop! Master, please stop! This really hurts!"
Suddenly, Nanako grabbed his shoulders and pulled him close, her face o(≧口≦)o as she cried:
"Disciple, help me think of something! Andre the Archmage is coming back, and he’s definitely bringing Juejuezi with him. She’s going to come after me, she’s going to bully me!"
Lynn stared in horror at her ponytails.
[No, I have to find a way to cut these ponytails off. They’re too dangerous.]
[This crazy loli has clearly found a new weapon to torment me. I need to nip this habit in the bud!]
[Otherwise, my life will be miserable!]
"Juejuezi?" Lynn asked, startled. "Who’s that?"
Nanako glared, pulling Lynn closer and gritting her teeth. "Someone who’s always picking fights with me!!"
Lynn: "Huh?"
...
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
