Level Up

“One hundred players. Ten deadly zones. Only one survivor.” Broke and desperate, Kade Rivers accepts an invitation to a mysterious game with a $50 million prize. But when players start dying for real, he realizes this is no ordinary competition. Armed with a hidden system only he can see, Kade must fight, strategize, and eliminate every rival to escape alive. “Win or die. There is no other option.”

Samuel Gray is no one special. Just another forgotten soul in the lower levels of Novus City a place where dreams are traded for survival and even hope comes with a price. Each day blurs into the next as he delivers packages to people who don’t see him, eats food that barely tastes like anything, and falls asleep wondering if this is all life has to offer. But everything changes the night he tries to help a stranger and bleeds out in an alley. On the edge of death, a voice echoes in the darkness. > “Vitality Critical. Initializing Ascension Protocol. Do you accept?” In that moment, Samuel awakens something unimaginable: a system interface that turns the laws of life into a game complete with stats, quests, abilities, and something far more dangerous purpose. Now marked by a power that shouldn’t exist, Samuel must navigate a world where reality bends, imagination has weight, and forgotten dreams can become weapons. But the Ascension System didn’t choose him at random. There’s a reason he was chosen. There’s a cost to rising. And someone or something is watching.

Aleric died once already. Pushed off a rooftop by the same people who made his life a living hell. He thought that was the end. But then he woke up in Jusavia. He was in a new world, in a new infant body and a fresh chance to start all over again. He made himself one promise: never again would he be hopeless and weak. Never at the mercy of people who saw him as nothing. At fifteen, everyone in Jusavia awakens their Class. It's everything. Your power, your future, your entire worth as a person. Fire mages who burn through armies. Healers who pull people back from death itself. Aleric's Awakening Ceremony was supposed to change his life. It did. Just not the way anyone expected. While everyone else got their shiny new Class, fire this, sword that, holy whatever, Aleric got a blank screen and a room full of whispers. Classless. His father looked at him like he'd just dragged garbage into the house. His fiancée laughed in his face and tore up their engagement contract in front of the whole academy. The nobles who used to bow to his family name? They walked past him like he didn't exist. The academy sent a letter the same day. "We regret to inform you that your enrollment has been revoked." And so, they exiled him and shipped him off to the Frontier Training Grounds, a glorified dumping ground for failures and corpses. Aleric figured he'd die in the first dungeon. Just like he died on that rooftop. But this time, he wasn't going down without a fight. Then he killed his first monster, and something changed. Absorption activated: Skill acquired. He had gotten a skill that was going to change his life in ways he couldn't dare to fathom.

On the night of Kael Draven’s birth, the skies split in two. The moon turned blood-red, the Veil of Aegis—the sacred barrier protecting the kingdom of Eryndor—shattered, and demons poured into the realm, slaughtering thousands. His mother died in childbirth, and the High Hierophant Malrick, leader of the Sanctum of Luminar, declared the newborn child the source of the calamity. From that moment, Kael was branded the “cursed child,” a walking omen of doom. His noble family disowned him, his name erased from their records, while his younger brother Aelric was exalted as the chosen heir. Kael grew up in chains, spat upon by peasants and nobles alike, humiliated in public festivals, and treated as less than a dog. His only friend was Fang, a scarred stray dog who shared his pain. Yet fate had other plans. During the grand trial, where Kael was condemned to die by being devoured by a monstrous beast in the royal arena, the curse mark on his body ignited. A fading celestial spirit, Elyndra, bonded with him, and his soul unlocked the Eclipse Codex, a divine system hidden within the mark. What the world called a curse revealed itself as a path to power. Despised by all, betrayed by blood, and hunted by the temple, Kael will rise from scorned trash to savior of Eryndor. The curse they fear is the only hope of salvation against Umbraxis, the Eternal Hunger—the primordial evil sealed at Kael’s birth, now stirring once again.

Humanity's world is advancing at a breakneck pace. All citizens are housed in a city named Gaia Union, which serves as a residential center. A machine malfunction occurred at the time, resulting in the emergence of various portals. The monsters sprang forth from the portal. They are going to annihilate humans. Humans have been looking for ways to survive ever since. The study's findings yielded a substance known as acid rank, which can cause humans to improve their abilities. Humans can advance to the next level by combining a level indicator bracelet. Humans have taken turns hunting monsters since then. The hunters banded together to form a guild. The dungeon is under the control of the government in order to maintain order. Transactions took place gradually, until the majority of the dungeons were controlled by private parties. The hunters were required to pay a fee to the dungeon owner as well as fees. Hunters' activities gradually came under the control of large corporations. The hunters were completely controlled by capital owners, who gradually gained control of nearly half of the government system. Decades have gone by. The world has been rearranged. Influential people are becoming wealthier, while the poor are becoming oppressed. Farn, alias Paran, is a member of the oppressed. His mother was detained by the employer for some reason. Farn had to pay the price for his mother. That's why he was forced to join the hunt. He wants to be a warrior class. He became a member of a small guild. Unfortunately, the acid ratings are uneven, thus the class is not perfect. He also appears to have entered the healer class. Can he save his mother? Or did he die first when he entered the dungeon? Or did he become the king of hunters?

🏆 ["Sliver Medal" in System Category of "Meganovel Annual Writing Contest 2022"] 🏆 ‘Perhaps being stuck in a game isn’t so bad!’, Kyle thought moments before he was mistaken for a hidden boss by a rather dim, but quite powerful knight. That was the moment he learned what immediate regret meant. Kyle was an ordinary student at an insignificant university. Being the pinnacle of ‘average’, his life was as mundane as it could get, that is, until he found himself unable to log out of the full dive game that had recently released. Life in a game wasn’t too bad, that is if one’s not hunted day and night by the players, who mistook him for a special hidden boss with near human level A.I. And no amount of trying to convince them that he was, in fact, human helped. He survived a while until a knight kicked him though a boss door in a dungeon. Usually, facing a lich at such a low level would be a death sentence. By all means, it should have been. But lady luck smiled on him for once in his absolutely mundane life, and he found himself in the possession of said lich. About as confused as he can get, Kyle’s new life took a rather awkward and bizarre turn. And as such, his life of adventure fille with colourful and quirky characters, ferocious monsters and downright terrifying encounters began!

Ryker Vale lives a life small enough to be ignored. Eighteen. Lanky. Quiet. A boy people overlook before deciding he doesn’t matter. At home, he endures an abusive father. At school, he is mocked and erased. In the city, he is replaceable. When his mother is murdered and his sister disappears, Ryker is pushed past survival and into desperation. He submits to human testing at Clark Industries to keep himself and his sister alive—only to be declared dormant and thrown away. That should have been the end. Instead, a system awakens inside him. Power answers his will. And something ancient begins to stir. Ryker does not know he was once Theros, a god of war erased from history. He does not know the system was built to cage him. But as Clark Industries tightens its grip and the truth bleeds through his memories, Ryker begins to understand one thing clearly: They tried to erase him. They failed. And now, he's going to control everything.

Chandler Logan, a skilled employee at New Leaf Corporation in Nebula, is unexpectedly fired after being implicated in a scandal involving his wife, Jannica. As he works to clear his name, Chandler discovers a hidden RPG-like system embedded in his reality where his choices are affecting his stats like Reputation, Charisma, and Moral Points. Determined to keep his life together, Chandler decides to take advantage of the system. As he progresses, gaining new skills and getting trusting allies, he will start looking to the truth behind his demise and the conspiracies that led to his downfall. Armed with his newfound abilities, Chandler is now determined to destroy and exact revenge on those who betrayed him. But as he uncovers hidden alliances and face more dangerous enemies, he should create a balance between his growing power and the risk of losing himself.

On his 18th birthday, Rivan Aster witnessed his family being murdered. Trapped in an endless cycle of death, Rivan lost control of himself. Even after being saved by Nathan Loence, a member of the Aegis Division, Rivan had to accept the bitter reality that he could no longer live with his family. That is what led Rivan to accept Nathan's offer to go to the Aegis Academy. A place where he found friends and the meaning of his strength.

After suffering from a tragic accident, Theo gets transmigrated into a new world of magic. He must now triumph over other geniuses and rise to the peak. . . . I retain copyright to the book cover