Rejected

[Warning: Rated 18+] Adams and his two best friends were once among the greatest legends of Crimson Online, the world's most immersive VR game. Famous for conquering impossible quests, breaking countless records, and seducing the game's most desirable women, they had everything players dreamed of within the game. Outside the game, they were nothing more than three frail, unpopular high school students who couldn't even get a girl's attention. Constantly mocked, rejected, and bullied, reality was far crueler than the fantasy they escaped into every day. Everything changed when Adams finally decided to fight back against his school bullies. The confrontation ended in disaster, and while trying to escape, he was struck by a speeding truck. Death, however, was only the beginning. Adams was reincarnated into the world of Crimson Online by the Goddess of Lust under one condition: he must defeat the Demon Lord, a Supreme Being who was on the verge of destroying the world and wiping out every race except the demons. However, because women make up 98% of the world's population while men account for only 2%, Adams decided to take advantage of the opportunity to do what he never could with girls in his past life. But instead of simply enjoying the fantasy world he had always dreamed of, he discovered that his mysterious system constantly glitched because he had accidentally inherited the blessings of two goddesses: the Goddess of Lust and the Goddess of Steel. Now trapped in a world filled with monsters, dungeons, beautiful heroines, ruthless enemies, and deadly quests, Adams must rise to the top and complete the mission entrusted to him by the two goddesses in exchange for an unimaginable reward.

In the kingdom of Valthera, power belongs to the crown, magic belongs to the nobility, and the truth belongs to those ruthless enough to bury it. Nineteen-year-old Prince Elian Vaelthorne has spent his life seeking the approval of a father who has never shown him love. Raised within the glittering walls of the royal palace, Elian believes loyalty and honor are enough to protect him. But when his trusted mentor accuses him of treason, everything he knows collapses. Stripped of his authority, imprisoned, and abandoned by the king, Elian discovers a hidden message suggesting that his mother, Queen Seraphine, did not die as the kingdom was told. Before he can uncover its meaning, an assassination attempt forces him to flee into the dangerous streets of Luminis. There, Elian witnesses the suffering concealed beneath Valthera's magnificent towers. While powerful nobles flourish through corruption, ordinary citizens struggle beneath the brutal rule of the Silver Circle. But Elian carries a secret more dangerous than his royal blood: a forbidden violet magic that awakens whenever he approaches the mysteries surrounding his mother. Its power could save his life—or destroy him before he understands it. With a conflicted royal captain and a mysterious young woman as his unlikely allies, Elian begins searching for records the crown has desperately tried to erase. Every discovery brings him closer to a conspiracy stretching far beyond his imprisonment. Hunted as a traitor, feared for his growing power, and betrayed by those he once trusted, Elian must decide whether to reclaim the throne that rejected him or challenge the kingdom that created him. Because the greatest threat to Valthera may not be the rebellion rising beyond its walls. It may be the truth buried beneath its crown.

Everyone said Michael Stone was born broken. At the Ranking Ceremony that decides every awakener's future, Michael's hand touches the Classification Crystal and the numbers that come back are unlike anything the stadium has ever seen: zero offense, zero defense, zero combat potential. RANK: ZERO. While his classmates walk away with S-Rank offers and guild banners waiting to claim them, Michael walks home alone, laughed out of the one ceremony that was supposed to define his worth. His only skill, Command Aura, barely raises an eyebrow — a "negligible" passive that nudges the coordination of people standing nearby. Not a weapon. Not a shield. Nothing a guild would ever pay for. Desperate for any kind of foothold, Michael takes the only work a Zero can get: carrying supplies for a low-tier expedition crew. But when a hunter almost dies in a monster ambush, it's Michael's shouted warning — not her own reflexes — that saves her life. No one gives him credit. But that night, his status window reveals something no one has ever seen before: Command Aura has a hidden evolution condition, one that requires him to successfully lead someone stronger than himself. Rejected by every guild in the city, Michael finds his chance in Ryan Cole — a burned-out B-Rank hunter whose unstable offensive skill has made him unhireable. Michael offers him something no guild ever did: someone who watches the whole fight instead of just his fist. Slowly, painfully, trust is built one dungeon at a time — until the night Michael throws his own unarmed, zero-rated body between Ryan and a monster's claw, and Ryan finally acknowledges him as commander. What happens next breaks every rule Michael thought he understood about power.