Stray Cat Strut - Chapter Twenty-Eight - Stepping Up and Out

Crimson Vale Academy—where reputation is currency, and failure is a stain you wear on your sleeve.Behind gothic walls and spotless uniforms, students aren't just educated—they're measured, ranked, and pitted against each other in a brutal meritocracy. Privileges are earned, not given. The strong rise. The weak vanish.Enter Kairon Vale, a transfer student marked Rank D—the bottom of the bottom. No badge. Just a stitched black fang, branding him as “Obsidian”—a warning to others.In a system where points dictate your value, Obsidian-ranked students claw for every opportunity to ascend into the prestigious Golden or Platinum ranks—where comfort, power, and influence await. But for most, it’s a losing battle.Yet Kairon isn’t here to fit in, impress, or play by their rules. Cold, calculating, and impossible to read, he watches the system… and waits. Because while the academy judges worth by numbers and names—he understands something deeper:Everyone wears a mask. And every mask can be cracked.Let the games begin.

He Zening had always felt that novels depicting the life of a Company President were good for passing time, but insulting to the IQ. Still, having read countless novels of this genre, never did she imagine that someday she would transmigrate into one of them. To make matters worse, the plots were so similar that she could not remember which novel it was. She was left with no choice but to assume the role of a secretary to the President.

The secretaries in novels ran errands for the President, assisted him in pursuing women, helped him keep the flames of love burning, and even took the blame for him if necessary. But a real-life secretary? They were blamed by those in power, sometimes hurt and reprimanded wrongly.

If it were not for the excellent pay and necessity, she would have already bolted out of the door. And like all curious bystanders, He Zening wanted to see the plot happen before her eyes; the President meeting the protagonist! A villain standing between the love of the leads! The side characters!

This is the second life of a level-headed, diligent secretary working hard to achieve a carefree life, whilst being dragged into the plot.

- Description from Novelupdates

Logan Mercer, an orphan barely surviving on his own, awakened the Spending System as a child.But as a broke teenager struggling to even pay his rent, how could he possibly use it?Bullied by his classmates and cast aside by society, Logan’s life changed the day he was suddenly surrounded by men in black suits.“Your father has been missing for over a year. As per his will, you are to inherit all his assets,” they said.To his shock, Logan learns that he was the sole heir of the Mercer family fortune — and with it came control of major businesses, unimaginable wealth... and the constant threat of his father’s competitors.“System, redeem one billion dollars,” Logan said.[Redeeming One Billion USD...][Congratulations! Your E-rank fire affinity has evolved into SSS-rank Phoenix Flame Affinity!]Now blessed with talent and wealth, all that's left is training relentlessly, growing his core, and unlocking even more different affinities within it.Follow along as Logan uses wealth and determination to rewrite his fate and grow stronger than anyone ever imagined.

[Congratulations, Terran survivor #99598, for activating the Universe Assistance System!]Althea, along with the remaining 1% of the population of their home planet, stared at the holographic screen in front of them in confusion.Their galaxy was apparently ending, and suddenly announcements from an alien system appeared in their heads, telling them they would be permanently transferred to another world.The survivors were all very depressed. First, they were forced to survive in a zombie apocalypse, and now they had to survive a new world altogether?It just so happened that Althea was one of the few people who got the Lord Token, the ticket to controlling a territory---a supposed safe haven for her people.Althea looked at her very large stomach and sighed at an unknown future.Would she be able to build a good home for her children and fellowmen?And... would she and her husband find each other again after this disaster?#Apocalypse, #Josei, #Romance, #BeautifulFL, #HandsomeML, #PowerCouple, #Infrastructure, #MagicSpace, #KingdomBuilding, #Adventure, #Pregnancy, #Game Elements, #System #LitRPG