Dominion's End - Volume 4, Chapter 5: An Unexpected Encounter, Part One

This is the story of a young man who was reincarnated as a dragon with a near-insatiable curiosity. Initially sparked by questioning his own reincarnation, he quickly gets lost in the endless world of magic, using his deep understanding of advanced sciences to learn the laws and properties of a new type of energy known as mana.However, soon enough, the table would flip, and he would begin using that very same energy to expand his knowledge of science, to the point that he would begin questioning his own understanding of the world.Although not his original intention, with the combination of his intelligence, expanding curiosity, and the 'miracles' that occurred to allow for his existence, he quickly found himself climbing the mountain of strength as if it were a small hill before eventually climbing to a point where it seemed as if he himself was the peak itself.Even if.. that was never the case...There is mild gore, and profanity is 'censored' toward the beginning, but not later in the story.

Waking up again in his seventh reincarnation, prince Jing Beiyuan found himself back in time, when everything had yet to be set in motion. Having been given a second chance, Beiyuan had to survive court and decide whether it was finally time for him to let go of his feelings; all while trying to handle the youthful, innocent force of nature who had suddenly barged into his already complicated life.

- Description from Novelupdates

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.

It’s been 11 years since I’ve lived for others and not for me.

The moment I cried out wanting to get away from my exhausting life, I opened my eyes in the body of some Count’s 20-year-old daughter.

Since this happened, I decided to live my life freely as a single woman.

But…

“I need a lady to act as my fake wife for a certain period of time.”

“A contract marriage?”

“The term is one year. When the time is up, I’ll give you divorce with no strings attached.”

The Duke of the Empire whom I had happened to meet at a ball was hitting on me.

Turns out he’s no other than the Emperor’s beloved brother, Duke Scade!

Hold on, it’s just going to end in a clean divorce with no strings attached?

“You should also give me alimony. Give me one of the best lands of the Ducal household with 10 years’ worth of profit.”

“…..What?”

“If you don’t want to do that, then we cannot get married.”

This time I’m going to live a life taking care of the things I need first!

***

“I’ll escort you since it’s late.”

Where to? My bedroom is just around the corner.

“Tonight, I’ll do my best.”

No, I don’t need you to do that.

“Did you just look at that man?”

Excuse me, Duke, you said it’s for a limited time only, so why do you keep obsessing over me?