A Valiant Life - Chapter 32: A Dash of Green in the Sun Rays

After years of exile, Marcus is coming back home. A powerful mage with few equals, Marcus lives in a world full of monsters and powerful adepts, many of which have bad histories with him. But he has not come back to pursue vengeance or start a fight. All Marcus wants to do is reconnect with old friends, build himself a house, and maybe train a successor or two.Alas, the world didn’t stop just because Marcus went into exile, and not everyone is content to let go of old grievances. Strange things are happening in the world at large, too, hinting at a looming disaster of unknown nature. Still, where there is a will, there is a way.If nothing else, Marcus has a lot of magical power to throw at problems.+++Zenith of Sorcery is set in its own original setting and isn’t related to Mother of Learning… beyond being written by the same person, of course. This is a more classical fantasy story than my previous one, with a lower level of technology and stuff like elves and dwarves, but it has a lot of worldbuilding effort put into it and its own complex magical system. The story has significant xianxia influences, but isn’t meant to be a xianxia story.For those of you not familiar with my previous work, I write relatively slowly. I intend to publish chapters at the rate of one chapter every three or four weeks, subject to further delays as life intervenes.

Earth is the human civilization’s cradle, but humans cannot possibly live within its cradle for eternity.In 2264, the first deep-space colonization spaceship of human civilization leaves the solar system and enters the boundless darkness…Zhang Yuan, son of the man behind the spaceship’s main control system, is one of the half a million volunteers to embark on the 20 light-year journey to a new planet.Follow Zhang Yuan on his journey of gaining new knowledge, exploring the unknown, and finding out what's the secret behind the intelligence enhancer his father left him.

The MMORPG ’EVR’ was released unexpectedly one day, along with its advanced equipment that allowed players to fully immerse themselves in the game, even though prior VR technology wasn’t nearly as realistic. To prevent people from replacing their real lives with the game, the servers were shut down during the day and on weekends. I was the best at the game, but since I had no friends or family, I could only watch and bet on sports while waiting for the servers to reopen—until the day I died and regressed to a week before the game was released. I know everything that will happen in the game. I know the game is not just realistic; it’s real. And for some reason, I don’t need to log out!

Rhian Locke only wanted strength.To face the monster that slaughtered his parents while he watched, helpless.“I never asked to be your savior. So why should I care?”All he hoped for was to reach a decent rank, hunt that beast down, maybe become a monster hunter, and retire in peace.“I’m not a slave to the gods. I don’t exist to do their bidding.”But the world had made its decision long before he was born.“Patterns are meant to be broken.”------“Boy, I’ve bathed in the blood of your kind. I’ve crushed those stronger than you.”Lightning cracked across the sky. A hammer flew to the hand of a god.“I won’t let a deceiver’s spawn and a whore’s bastard son, stand before me and declare my end.”Rhian stepped forward, blood trailing from his mouth, eyes locked.“I’m not here to declare your end,” he said coldly. “I’m here to fulfill it.”....