MTL - Heart of Empire - Chapter 18 Tree of Life, Orion

As a successful villainous BOSS, in addition to having ideas and aspirations, one must also keep in mind three points:First, grow sneakily, don't act rashly (once a villain acts rashly, they basically won't survive past three chapters).Second, you're not a good person, so be ruthless (becoming more evil will make you three times stronger, while redemption weakens you by seven times).Third, remember the two points above. The moment you forget them, your end is probably on its way.

Memories shape who we are—they define us, anchoring us to our pasts. They are like videos, playing endlessly in our minds.But everything changed one day when people began to relive their memories. However, it wasn’t the pleasant ones that resurfaced. Instead, they were forced to experience their worst moments—or even memories that weren’t their own.Those who managed to survive this haunting experience found themselves watched by strange creatures, and in turn, were granted their powers.As if the world weren’t already thrown into chaos, these same bizarre monsters began to manifest on Earth, threatening humanity with the very real prospect of extinction.Amidst this upheaval, a small, seemingly insignificant beast was born. But it quickly rose to power, only to be betrayed and killed in a cruel twist of fate. Or so it seemed—because somehow, the beast found itself reborn in the body of a human.

James, a brilliant mechanical engineer and passionate history enthusiast, loses his life in a tragic house fire—only to find himself in a mysterious world as the ruler of an island nation. Armed with his modern knowledge and unwavering ambition, James embarks on a bold mission to industrialize his kingdom and build an empire on which the sun never sets.

Growing up in poverty, Sunny never expected anything good from life. However, even he did not anticipate being chosen by the Nightmare Spell and becoming one of the Awakened - an elite group of people gifted with supernatural powers. Transported into a ruined magical world, he found himself facing against terrible monsters - and other Awakened - in a deadly battle of survival.
What's worse, the divine power he received happened to possess a small, but potentially fatal side effect...