Hard Enough - Chapter 209: Diplomacy

After a delirious first night together, Shi Guang found herself waking up to a cruel reality… a breakup initiated by him, ending their relationship! What? Why? How? These were the questions that bugged Shi Guang’s mind in the two years after he left without a trace. Just as she thought that she had finally managed to get over him, Lu Yanchen suddenly appeared before her and before she knew it, she had to get married to this man who had dumped her two years ago?! What? Why? How? These were the questions that Shi Guang was faced with after his mysterious appearance once more. Just what are Young Master Lu’s motives? Why is he always watching out for her even though he was the one that had dumped her? And worst still… What’s with that tsundere attitude of his…?!

The Coinbound System lets him buy spells, skills, and stat boosts like a magical vending machine...But nothing comes free.Every fireball costs gold.Every body enhancement? Taxed.Even getting a suggestion comes with a convenience fee.While nobles train for years to master a single flame spell, he can just buy it off the System. From summoning spirit beasts to crafting forbidden runes, his power grows with every coin he scrapes together… and every unnecessary expense he dodges.But in a world where magic is passed down through noble bloodlines and ancient family grimoires, a broke outsider with a price tag on every spell has no business rising through the ranks.Still, he’s surviving. Thriving, even.So long as he tracks every copper and refuses to overspend on fireballs, he just might make it out alive.They call him cheap.They call him stingy.But one day… they’ll all remember the name:The Frugal Mage.

“They said the world would fall without me.”“They said I was the strongest.”“Then they buried me with honors... and a blade behind my back.”Remiel St. Clair, humanity’s strongest exalt, prince of a once glorious empire, was betrayed and buried.Nine centuries later, he awakens in the body of Lucien Callastre, the second prince of a kingdom descended from his own treacherous bloodline.Stripped of powers, but not of pride, he must rebuild his lost strength and rise to power yet again to fend off the ever-growing threats of the spirits.The maw is growing.The spirits are returning.But so is he.And this time, the Exalted Prince is not dying quietly.

“When I opened my eyes, I found myself as a character in a game. It was bewildering, but I thought it was worth a try. That was until I saw the skill given to me. It was [Opening Eyes], with no abilities whatsoever.”The story starts with the MC playing a game that is “Very Difficult”, so difficult, in fact, that no one has ever managed to kill the last boss. After 18 years of playing and, having the best attempt be at 30% of the last boss’s HP, he decides to try out a character that he never used.This character was the Slit-Eyed character. It had garbage stats and garbage traits. But, since the MC had ran out of options with every other character, he was trying to see if he could find any secrets with this new character. So he puts in his name ‘Zero’ and presses play… Only to find himself inside the game, as the Slit-Eyed character.