I Cultivate Passively

Book 2 of the Dragon Lord Series. (Can be read as standalones, but better yet read the first book so you can have a better understanding of the book’s storyline) Everything was taken away from me, my wife, my son, the few people I care about were all stripped away from my grip. I lost them all. I lost everything, my world was turned upside down. Yet my enemies lived, they doubled and craved nothing more than my downfall, my permanent demise. However, I promise to rise once again and regain my strength, assert my dominion and make them all pay. I will take and have back everything that I have lost. My name is Avon Barksdale. They’re going to come back for me, to usurp my dominance, and to cease the existence of my loved ones. I don’t plan on just giving them a hard time, I intend to give them their hardest time. Because, I’m going to protect what is mine, and mop the ground with those that seek to harm them.

A hero must be compassionate, selfless and courageous. But that isn't all. Because a hero must also be powerful. In this world, power is everything. Strength decides who gets to save lives and who's left with community service. That’s why I was nothing — a rank 50 E-Class reject, skating through the streets, saving what little I could while the real heroes battled gods and monsters. Then one day, I died. Almost. Dragged into the abyss, I was given a second chance: the Forever Core. An armor that evolves. A system that never stops adapting. Every battle, every hit, every mistake, I come back stronger. Now, the monsters that once crushed me can’t kill me the same way twice. I must adapt. Evolve. I must grow stronger and fight harder. Because humanity is worth fighting for. Even if I have to burn every villain alive to prove it.

I am a fool in a world I cannot comprehend, but in my world, I am an Ace." ~ Sultan Armstrong. *** EXTRACT: Sultan's own reflection in the water, the Fool, began to animate, mouthing the words he was saying. Huh?! Sultan's eyes widened in disbelief. "What the hell?" Sultan whispered, stepping back from the pool. "W..what are you?" His voice rose, tinged with fear. ...... "I am you. You are me. I am the Fool. You are the Fool. We are the Fool."

There is one thing I have always been sure of. "If you make the wrong choice, then your life will be filled with dark clouds." Slandered, bullied, betrayed, threatened, is the hell that I always feel because I made the wrong choice. Words are "killing machines," and many people don't know that. "One word can destroy someone's life and one word can change someone." I even thought that sleeping is torture and waking up is the worst. In the past, I lost my temper and planned to kill myself. I like walking in an endless tunnel with emptiness and emptiness filling my heart. This is my broken story.

[What was your sin?] "I tried saving them." [What would you gain from doing that?] "I just wanted to remove this scar." [But that scar was never gained from not saving them.] "I know. I just wanted to see if it worked or not." [And the result was?] "The one I saved killed me." The discussion between Desire and Delight took place as he sipped the tea. [What will you do now?] "The stage has been set, and the doors will be opening soon. I also need to do my part." [And what was your part?] "One Last Chance." The room was in silence as Delight looked at Desire and asked, [A sinner or a saint?] "Depends on the way of the viewer."

My name is Peter, and I used to believe the Alliance’s propaganda. I wore their armor, commanded their elite Vanguard, and bled for a peace built on lies. Then, they ordered me to wipe out an entire colony of "discards" innocents whose only crime was resisting corporate rule. I refused. So they branded me a traitor, slaughtered my squad, and left me for dead in the freezing vacuum of deep space. But I didn't die. Now, I’m putting the armor back on. Not for glory, and not for the Alliance. I’ve hijacked their flagship prototype, rallied a crew of desperate rebels, and turned their own weapons against them. They think they can hunt me down, but they forgot one thing: they engineered me to be their ultimate weapon. They wanted a war. I'm going to give them an empire's execution.

She slipped off the engagement ring, her voice cold. “You’ll never be the man I need,” she said, walking out and leaving me broken. Years later, as I stood successful and untouchable, she begged for my help. My heart ached, but I turned away. “You made your choice,” I whispered.

Other people don't know about me, and I don't even know who I am. Before, everything was so unfair, and I only got miserable things. When my father showed up, he told me everything. I was a rich man! Even very rich!

[System + Monster evolution + Weak to strong + Catastrophic class Apex progression] I hatched from an egg in a fantasy world with a system screen. I’m not a hero. I’m not even a person anymore. I’m a Helion - the hatchling form of an apex predator, cursed with a hunger that never stops screaming. In this world, if you don’t level up, you’re just meat. And right now? I’m the smallest, most tempting steak in the forest. The System doesn’t care about my morals. It wants me to kill, to evolve, and to climb the weak-to-strong ladder until I’m the one looking down. But every time I sharpen my claws, I feel the human part of me slipping away. Instinct says devour. My conscience says protect. They call me an Alpha - but they’ve never seen a predator who chooses to stand between the monster and the prey. As Helis, the forgotten energy of creation, begins to burn through my veins, the forest is starting to realize I’m not just another beast to be hunted. I’m the one who’s going to change the rules.

“In a world ruled by monsters, the weak don’t die, they’re forgotten.” I was invisible unless they needed someone to humiliate. They broke my bones. The tyrants of Aegis killed my only friend. But that day, when my blood touched the floor, something inside me awakened. A voice. A system. A power that whispered: “Adapt. Survive. Ascend.” Now I’m not the prey anymore. I’m the beginning of something they can’t control. The government thinks they own the monsters. The hunters think they own the city. Worse, the bullies at Aegis Academy think they have all the power. Big fishes in little ponds.  They are wrong. I will rise to the top, I'll overturn the hierarchy, failures will become alphas. I’ll bring anarchy upon them because I can. Because the real monster… is learning to hunt back. Watch them learn what Apex truly means.