The Masked Virtuoso - Chapter 17: Shadows of Chaos and Training Trials

Elijah is dying.Afflicted with terminal cancer, his days are limited. So, after deciding to spend his remaining time with family, he boards a plane and sets off for the Pacific Northwest to be with his sister. However, along the way, Earth is transformed by the touch of the World Tree, injecting it with magical Ethera and connecting it to a much larger universe via the System. More importantly for Elijah, though, it also causes his plane to crash, stranding him on a deserted island. But all is not lost, and through the System, he gains the Druid archetype that may be enough to allow him to survive a hostile environment filled with powerful monsters as well as more mundane threats like starvation and the elements. Meanwhile, his sister, Alyssa, must survive the collapse of civilization as she knows it while trying to keep her family safe. Follow them as they try to navigate an apocalyptic world full of game-like stats, classes, and threats aplenty. Current Release Schedule is one chapter a day (7 days a week) at 11AM CST. Patreon is currently 70 chapters ahead, with an extra chapter (for 8) each week.

On their wedding night, she gnashed her teeth, yelling, “Your Highness, that’s shameless!”

Set off by the flickering light of red candles, he curved the corner of his mouth into a wicked grin, “Actually, I can be more shameless…”

…

When they met for the first time, he was the young prince who lived in his day of brilliance, while she was the pampered princess of the adjacent state.

When they met again, he became the crippled underdog suffering from frustration, while she became the lackluster hostage stranded in an alien land.

In his mid-life, he was defeated in the fight and had his legs broken; his wife passed away and he didn’t have anything left except his father’s detestation… After constant blows took the edge off his spirit, all he wanted was nothing but serenity.

In her teen-age, her state perished and her home lost; she lapsed into an awkward situation after being abandoned and having her marriage annulled… As endless hardships isolated her from happiness, everything she wished for was no more than peace.

…

“Lu Zhishan, when I first met you, I didn’t think I’d marry you…too old,” after years passed by, one day, she lay on his laps mumbling, with a kind of hazy beauty on her boozy face, “and lame.”

“Mu Nanzhi, you have the wrong memory. At our first meeting, I’m neither old nor limp.”

“…When was that?”

“When people were celebrating your first birthday,” that man assumed all gentleness and joy crept on his eyes and brows, “On that day, you were ‘drawing lots’ in the rear hall. I also sneaked there to have a look. But, out of my expectation, you directly grabbed my true-love knot.”

…

How vivid the red love pea is embedded in the exquisitely carved dice,

Just as my feelings for you deep in my bones.

- Description from Novelupdates

Riding out the apocalypse on a tropical island isn't exactly a vacation. When mana arrives on Earth, Coop finds himself isolated in paradise with only one real option to survive. He needs to claim a civilization shard and level up. Coop maximizes his chances by carefully selecting a class and committing to progression. He’ll need to grind thousands of monsters to compete on the system's leaderboards while upgrading his settlement to represent the factionless.