Desolate Era - Book 43, Chapter 3 - Meeting Autarch Stonerule

Masaru Ryunosuke is an outcast—a scholarship student in a school of elites, struggling to keep his head down in a world that looks down on him. But when a chance encounter with a vampire attack leaves him at death’s door, he wakes up to a new reality—he's no longer human.Now a ghoul, the lowest rank of undead, Masaru finds himself thrown into a world of ancient bloodlines, deadly supernatural creatures, and secret organizations hunting beings like him. His only guide? Akane Mikazuki, the cold and ruthless noble vampire who saved him, but only for her own mysterious reasons.Armed with the Cape of Dracula, an artifact of legendary power, and an unnatural potential that defies vampire logic, Masaru refuses to accept his fate as a weakling. If the world wants to treat him like a mere undead—then he’ll rise above them all and prove them wrong.As battles erupt between vampires, werewolves, assassins, and monstrous beings, Masaru must claw his way up the supernatural hierarchy before he’s devoured by forces beyond his comprehension. Because in this world, the weak exist only to be devoured.But what happens… when an undead refuses to stay at the bottom?

In the wake of the apocalypse, betrayal doesn't just stab you in the back—it bites. Zorvax learned this the hard way. Abandoned by those he trusted, he didn't just become another number in the legion of the undead. No, his fate was far more peculiar.“I thought death was the end... I was wrong,” Zorvax mutters, his voice a gravelly echo of his former self. He's a zombie, but with a twist—he's got his human mind intact. Trapped in a decaying body with an insatiable hunger, Zorvax finds himself in a gruesome predicament that's just the beginning of his ordeal.Enter the 'Zombolution System,' a mysterious power he awakens that's as cryptic as it is potent. “They wanted a monster? I'll show them the true meaning of terror,”Zorvax boasts, with a smirk only a sentient zombie could muster. This dark gift is his ticket to ascend beyond a mere walking corpse, promising to unlock abilities that could crown him the emperor of the undead.As Zorvax hones his newfound skills, the line between man and monster blurs. Will his human intellect triumph, or will the beast within claim the throne? “This world has no place for the weak,” he arrogantly declares, ready to challenge fate itself.

That year…

Zhou Yang, an honest man who just got his driver’s license, crashed the camera of the Caotai crew. With no money, he could only sell himself to the crew to do odd jobs. I originally thought that if I worked until the film was finished, I would be able to regain my freedom.

However! ! !

When the swindler director ran away with the assistant director, and he was almost regarded as a fraud accomplice by the long-legged beauty investor, the honest Zhou Yang was dumbfounded.

“I’m on top? What do I take on top?”

“God, my major is electronic information technology. I’m just connected to wires. I don’t know anything about making movies…”

“…”

- Description from novelbuddy

With a hideous visage they came to be known as goblins.