In Five Years A

Eight years: one verdict, one man who bought it. Ezra Cole walked out of Creston Correctional with no rage, no rush, just a plan so precise it had a heartbeat. Victor Hale built an empire on stolen ground. Now the architect is back, and every debt comes due.

For three years, Ethan Cole was a ghost in his own marriage. ​He was the "pity project" of the Bennett family—a penniless man Sophia married to satisfy a debt of conscience. He spent those years enduring the sting of public insults, the cold silence of his wife’s bed, and the crushing weight of being called a "useless parasite" by the city's elite. ​On their third anniversary, the humiliation reached its peak. Sophia didn’t give him a gift; she gave him divorce papers—and she did it in a ballroom filled with the very people who laughed at his shoes. She chose Ryan Parker, a man with a heavy wallet and a hollow soul. ​But Sophia made one fatal mistake. ​She never asked where Ethan came from before the day she found him broken on the street. ​Ethan Cole isn’t a failure. He is a weapon forged by the most powerful dynasty the world has never seen. He is the hidden heir to the Cole Empire, and for three years, he was simply waiting for the betrayal that would allow him to stop playing human. ​Now, the black card is out. The convoy is waiting. ​As the Bennett family’s world begins to crumble and Ryan Parker’s empire turns to ash, the city realizes too late that they didn't just mock a poor man—they humiliated a King. ​Ethan is back for blood, wealth, and the kind of revenge that leaves no survivors. But as he climbs back onto his throne, he must decide: will he reclaim his humanity, or will he become the monster everyone always accused him of being? ​The world is kneeling. Sophia is breaking. And Ethan? Ethan is just getting started.

They called me a loser. They laughed when I got dumped in the rain. They thought my life was over. They were wrong. My name is Leo Vance. Twenty-four years old, junior analyst, three years of savings thrown away on an engagement ring my ex-girlfriend never wanted. The night she left me for Richard — the arrogant heir of my own company — something inside me broke. Or maybe something finally woke up. An old coin I bought at a flea market years ago cut my palm. Blood met metal. And then I heard it. **[Ding! Omni-Investment System activated.]** Now I see what nobody else can. Above every person, every object, every decision — glowing numbers. Investment return rates. Percentages. Exact outcomes. A beggar on the street? *Invest $50. Return: 10,000%.* A "worthless" painting at auction? *Hidden masterpiece. Return: 4,000%.* A quiet intern everyone ignores? *Key to destroying your enemy. Return: 5,000%.* I started with fifty dollars. Within a week, I had a million. Within a month, Richard was on his knees, his family's empire crumbling because of information only I could see. But money was just the beginning. The deeper I go, the more I realize this system doesn't just show financial returns. It shows martial secrets, ancient techniques, hidden powers buried in this city's underworld. The people who laughed at me? They're about to learn what happens when a nobody sees everything. I don't get angry. I don't beg. I invest. And I always collect.

Riven Kaelen spent three years as the despised live-in son-in-law of the powerful Mercer family. To help his wife, Sloane Mercer, build her business empire, he sacrificed everything—his inheritance, his dreams, and his dignity. While Sloane rose to become the celebrated CEO of Vespera Corp, Riven became nothing more than a joke in the eyes of her family. Mocked by his in-laws, humiliated by strangers, and forced to work as a delivery rider just to pay his mother's medical bills, Riven endured it all in silence. But when his mother falls critically ill and requires a million-dollar surgery, Riven turns to the one person he once trusted—his wife. Instead of helping him, Sloane presents him with divorce papers and a cruel ultimatum. Sign away his remaining shares in her company or watch his mother die. To complete her betrayal, she transfers ownership of a bankrupt company called Veridian Global to him, believing she has finally rid herself of her worthless husband. What she doesn't know is that Veridian Global is far from bankrupt. Hidden beneath years of neglect lies a business empire worth billions. Overnight, the son-in-law everyone looked down on becomes one of the wealthiest men in the country. Now, the Mercer family wants forgiveness. His ex-wife wants him back. His enemies want mercy. But after years of humiliation, Riven has only one answer: They should have treated the son-in-law better when they had the chance.

They burned my mother's name into the dirt and sold my sister to silence. Ten years ago I was a boy who could not stop them. Tonight I walk back into Ironport as a stranger, and nobody in this city knows that the empire whispered about in war rooms and black markets across three continents answers to me. I came back for two things. My sister, locked behind a fence and told for six years that she is broken. And the truth about the night my mother died, a truth this city buried so deep it forgot to check whether her son would ever come digging. They think the past is buried. They are about to learn that I dug it up, and I brought fire. But some of the people I trust most are not who I think they are, and the closer I get to the truth, the more I realize the enemy I came home to destroy might already be sitting at my own table, wearing a familiar face. Every step forward costs me someone I love, and every answer I find only opens a door onto a darker one. And somewhere in the middle of a war I never meant to survive with my heart intact, a woman on the wrong side of this fight is starting to make me forget why I came back cold. I built ten years of armor around myself for exactly this city. I never planned on anyone finding a way through it. They think I am a stranger. They are about to learn I am the storm they built with their own hands, and this time, I am not leaving until every debt is paid in full.

Adrian Johnson, who has been married to his wife for years, planned on surprising her after she closed a big business deal. What happens when he catches her making out with a stranger in her car and she immediately serves him a divorce?

He, who was a great man and did right by everyone, have become nothing more than a washed-up nobody! “What happened!? Where did it all go wrong!?” he’d frequently ask himself, but arrived at the same conclusion, no matter how often he desperately sought a definite answer. He didn’t know! What he did know was that, right now, he was as broke as fu*k! Being the penniless man that he was, as he listlessly gazed into the sky, he contemplated what he could do to get out of his current situation. Even if not for himself, for the five children that were dependent on him. He needed money. He needed money to at least feed those who had the unfortunate luck of following him to his lowest point, even when knowing that his doom was set in stone. That's when he remembered something that was mentioned in the news earlier that day, “Genesis”, a VRMMORPG which created huge waves across the globe, whose story shifted and developed as the players affected the world itself. While that’s great and all, what really got his mind churning was how lucrative that game was and continued to be, as well as the possibilities it could provide him to help claw his way back up from his current circumstances. He, who only ever played games off his PC, decided to jump into the new world of magic and opportunity. But what he didn’t know was that the game would soon descend to reality!! *** Daily one-chapter update~ The cover image doesn't belong to me, leave a message if you want it removed.

It is said that the Dragon is only a fairy tale for the people of Kamandaria because for thousands of years no one has ever seen a Dragon form let alone a Dragon Child who is destined to become a Dragon Warrior to save Bumi Karimun, namely Earth instead of Dragons living side by side with humans. The appearance of the Adventurer named Candaka will change everything from a fairy tale to reality, especially for the people of Kamandaria who have lived in fear for hundreds of years under the rule of a tyrannical and cruel King. Can Candaka, the Blue Dragon Warrior, save and liberate the people of Kamandaria and sit on the Royal Throne? Is it true that dragons exist? Did Candaka manage to find the Book of 9 Dragons which is exalted as the most powerful Silat Book in the entire universe? Please continue to follow Candaka's adventures to find the answer. Arc 1 : Awakening of the Dark Dragon Demon. Arc 2 : Tempest of the Kingdom of Kamandaria.

House Dragonsbane was the greatest of houses in verynia with mages so powerful they could slay dragons with a single spell, they ruled the 5 kingdoms for many years until Salomon of house Caine tamed and rode the dragons and defeated king Arvik Dragonsbane in battle, his son Eylon Dragonsbane became the last of his bloodline and was haunted by Greymon; son of Salomon. Many years after he succeeded in slaying the mage Eylon dragonsbane at the battle of the golden gorge however king Greymon Caine spared Leah; the newborn bastard daughter of Eylon and kept her in his castle imprisoned for 14 years before bringing her into the servitude of his own daughter; the princess Marilyn as a maidservant. But soon after, king Greymon died and Leah escaped with help from Oscar; one of the fiercest warriors in verynia and a former Commander of the spear hounds whom had asked for her hand in marriage earlier on, this prompted the late King's first born son and newly crowned king; Greynor caine to order them brought back and tried. In order to avoid capture oscar and Leah split up, this eventually led Leah to meet Zarr, an ally who she'd been searching for and whom would help her hone her magic whilst oscar was captured by the king's soldiers and brought back for trial where he was then sentenced to death, a verdict he escaped. Eventually the pursuit for Leah and oscar was halted when it turns out that the murder of king Greymon Caine was a declaration of war by joromy dragonsbane; another child of Eylon dragonsbane, a self proclaimed king of verynia and of all mages.

In an alternative universe wars are taking place between humans and ghouls. A thousand years ago, humans built a siege to keep the ghouls trapped inside and stop them from attacking human villages. Fifty years ago, the siege cracked, and ghouls flooded the human world, destroying many cities. They disguise themselves as humans or animals when they infiltrate cities. Then, they reveal their true forms, attack, and burn everything to the ground. Scientists built a barrier system to keep ghouls out, and governments trained warriors to use high-tech devices to fight them. The strongest group of warriors, who fought bravely for the last decade, are called the Knights of Askalan. They fought the battle that took place ten years ago, protecting their city from ghouls, and are now the heroes and protectors of the city. Ali is a 21-year-old fresh graduate. On the day of his graduation, he was having fun with his friends and taking pictures during the ceremony when ghouls attacked from the sea. Somehow they broke the barrier. His friends were killed while trying to escape. He went to check on his family, but two of his brothers had been killed while defending his mother and younger sister, and his father was injured. He tried to get them to safety amid the chaos, but they were trapped. So, he decided to sacrifice himself, leading the ghouls away from his family. The ghouls surrounded him and attacked one by one. Just as he thought he was finished, a system screen appeared, giving him a choice: start over the day with new armor or carry on and die.