Abyssal Awakening - Chapter 1: The Desire To Live

Long ago a great calamity struck the earth, destroying much of it and merging what remained with pieces of other worlds.

With these worlds came Aether, a new form of energy that can allow one to transcend the bounds of normal mortality and human limitations.

In a world where humans absorb the essence of aether beasts to gain power, Aiden Hawke joins the class of humans known as arcanists, people who defeat aether beasts and absorb their essence into cores they forge within themselves, and who infuse themselves with the aether that permeates the world around them to increase the power of their body and mind.

However, unlike most, Aiden will find that he holds a unique gift and that his journey as an arcanist will not be so simple.

Waking up in an unfamiliar world with no memories, I had only one advantage—a mind filled with knowledge of fictional tropes, clichés, and common sense learned from countless novels.At first, I thought I was trapped in a romcom nightmare when I started triggering events like “Helping a Girl on a Rainy Day”, “Damsel in Distress”, and “Tripping Into the Heroine’s Arms.” Naturally, I shut those nonsense down before they could escalate. No forced romances. No misunderstandings. No cringe.But something was clearly off.The world wasn’t just a slice-of-life comedy.Beneath the cliché academy setting, there were whispers of awakening powers, hidden dangers, and a brutal magic academy entrance exam.And every challenge I prevented or manipulated was an opportunity to grow stronger.[Title Earned: Background Character.][Achievement Unlocked: Firm Mind.][New Skill Acquired: Background Character's Aura.][New Ability Acquired: Anti-Narrative Influence.]I may be just a background character, but if fate insists on throwing these events at me, I’ll turn them into stepping stones.Let the protagonists play their scripted roles—I have my own path to power.

Lacking a pocket dimension, lacking a power, lacking a thigh to hug onto and the three life advantages (money, power, and looks), he had been cautiously living in the apocalypse for ten years, getting closer to falling inside the zombie’s mouths. But unexpectedly, he had the terrible luck, to be caught in a fight between two gangs and die, it really left people feeling disappointed.

But when he opened his eyes, he had returned to a decade ago, three months before the apocalypse!

Like before he still lacked an ability, an ordinary person without a pocket dimension, but he did have ten full years of experience living in the apocalypse! Even if he didn’t fight zombies, didn’t hunt monsters, he could still live a carefree farming life in the safe zone.

Find a safe house, utilise all kinds of skills from his previous life to farm in exchange for meat, and if possible, find a person to peacefully spend the rest of his life with; ordinary people had their own ordinary little pieces of happiness.

Originally believing he had picked up a beauty he returned home to prepare a golden house, but on the contrary he was the one being pushed down……someone once said, whether it is people or matters, by no means can you only look at the surface!

- Description from novelupdates

When the Unity Trials first began and Neve was granted a system along with the rest of humanity, she sincerely hoped she would be among the first to die.Death eluded her, though, so, until her time came, she reluctantly settled into the role of a healer. One day, she and a group of players ventured into the realm of the Final Challenge, a strange, otherworldly dungeon that would give humanity a ten-year resting period if they completed it. But, although death eluded her, it found all of her allies.Now, with no one to rely on and a burning desire for revenge, Neve must become stronger if she hopes to avenge them.How exactly can she do so, however, when she is only a healer?A survival GL adventure story!