'I'm the Villain, But the System Made Me OP' - Chapter 16: Stone and Desperation

Reborn into a fantasy world of magic and aura, Rowan is the second son of a ranch family living boringly in a backwater village, with no magic and no inheritance.To avoid rotting away in the countryside, he becomes a mercenary instead. Better to die fighting than waste away.After his first kill, the Black Dream awakens: a power that lets him plunder abilities from everything he defeats.But it's more than that. When he fights alongside others, their techniques become his: a master archer's deadly precision, a hunter's supernatural tracking, an assassin's shadow-step…Every ally becomes his arsenal.Ascension awaits! From the lowly dirt to the throne of the gods.

Before his death, he was the only sword cultivator in the whole world, who dedicated his entire life to the path of sword immortality.

When he opened his eyes again, the world had completely changed. He began to cultivate the path of sword immortality again, slaying the heavenly way, shattering the universe with his will, and achieving the realm of sword immortality!

- Description from Novelupdates

“After every fire, ants survive.”

…

Mysterious anomalous biological metals have polluted the world, and the world has undergone tremendous changes. Metal sickness is like a key that opens the door to evolution. Under the tide of evolution, there are no innocents.

The choice is up to you, do you want to be the surviving ants after the fire, or do you want to risk your life, step on the glorious long steps to the gods, and glimpse the supreme glory of the mother goddess?

…

Touch the totem in your heart, follow the inspiration, and step on the long steps of ascending to God:

[Amphibians] → [Atlantic Glory] → [Ningen]…

[Eight Arms] → [Nightmare in the Sea] → [Deep Divers]…

[Eagle Eye] → [Owl Ghost of the Night] → [Jersey Demon]…

[Living Dead] → [Grave Digger] → [Death Ferryman]…

…

“On that day, the world was polluted, and I was the source of pollution. Human desires are endless, desire is the best food on the way to evolution, and I am the embodiment of desire.”

– Joe Tour.

- Description from novelbuddy

Oliver West never expected his quiet life to turn into a nightmare. The boy who once shared secrets and summer adventures with him has become someone he doesn’t recognize. Keiran Morrison - tall, dangerous, and devastatingly handsome - now uses that same intensity that once made Oliver’s heart flutter to terrorize him instead.Every day at Riverside High is a battle for survival. Every corner could hide a new humiliation. Every moment of peace is just the calm before Keiran’s next storm.But why does Keiran’s hatred burn so bright? What happened to turn childhood love into adult cruelty? And why, despite everything, does Oliver’s heart still race when Keiran gets close - even when he’s terrified?Some mistakes can’t be forgiven. Some wounds run too deep to heal.But sometimes the line between love and hate is thinner than you think.