Tree of Aeons - Hot water

The latest offering from the pen of the creator of “My Military Branches Can Evolve Infinitely”, Bimo Zhijian.---------------------------------------------The world has experienced a radical transformation. Source Qi has awakened and the apocalypse has descended.This is a catastrophe and also the beginning of a new epoch.Tang Yu somehow obtained a domain system, and while summoning warriors, producing equipment, developing his domain, drafting rules...as he looked back, he discovered that he was already standing at the apex of the era.

Thousands of years ago, humankind left the Old World. We enter a new age where science and magic are no longer opposing concepts.

With these new opportunities came danger in the form of the Dark Races and the ones that named themselves Gods.

However, if there was one thing humans were good at was their ability to destroy. Humankind fought and carved a bloody path into the new world.

Cain’s luck had never been good, but his destiny changed forever once he decided to harden his heart and face the world without fear or hesitation.

Vainqueur Knightsbane is your average dragon: a giant, fire-breathing lizard who loves to take naps on his golden hoard, kidnap princesses for fun, and make the life of adventurers miserable. Vainqueur's only pleasure in life is to watch his treasure get bigger, one coin at a time.

So when a would-be thief turned unwilling minion tells him about "classes," "levels," and "quests," Vainqueur wonders if maybe, just maybe, he should consider a career change.

After all, why bother hunting monsters for free when you can get paid for it?

After being torn from the only life she knew, 16-year-old Margo is forced into a new home with strangers who call themselves her parents. Haunted by memories of her past and consumed by feelings of isolation, she struggles to adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings. School offers little relief—until she meets Lucien, a mysterious boy who appears just when she needs a friend the most.Gabriel is everything Margo needs: kind, attentive, and always ready to whisk her away from her troubles. Each night, he invites her to secret places—an abandoned playground, a fog-choked garden, a crumbling train station at the edge of town—each more unsettling than the last. Yet with every chilling rendezvous, Margo feels more alive... more seen.But something isn’t right. Gabriel never comes to school during the day. Her adoptive parents never see him. And when they catch her talking to thin air, their concern deepens into fear. They say Gabriel isn't real—that he’s a figment of her imagination. Margo wants to believe them, but Gabriel feels real. More real than anything else in her life.As the nights grow colder and more twisted, Gabriel’s true nature begins to surface. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Time warps in his presence. And the places they visit seem to echo with whispers from another world. Margo is forced to ask herself: Who—or what—is Gabriel? Why does he only want her? And what will happen on the final night he asks her to come with him?As the line between reality and delusion begins to crumble, Margo must make an impossible choice: stay in a world where she feels loved, or return to one that barely feels real.But one thing is certain—some friendships never let go.