El juego de Ender (título original Ender's Game, 1985) es la novela más conocida de Orson Scott Card. Obtuvo los dos premios más prestigiosos de la ciencia ficción: el premio Nébula a la mejor novela en 1985 y el premio Hugo a la mejor novela en 1986. La novela se originó como un cuento de ciencia ficción en la revista Analog (1977), cuento que recibió el premio Ignotus de 1994, así como sendas nominaciones al Hugo y Locus de 1978. Está ambientada en un futuro donde la humanidad se enfrenta al exterminio a manos de una agresiva sociedad extraterrestre conocida como los "insectores" (buggers en el original). Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin es reclutado a la edad de seis años para ser adiestrado en la Escuela de Batalla, una estación espacial donde niños superdotados son preparados desde su infancia para dirigir la próxima guerra. El juego de Ender es el primero de un grupo de cinco libros conocidos como la Saga de Ender. En 1999 Card comenzó una serie de novelas paralela a la acción descrita en la Saga de Ender, la Saga de las Sombras, que se compone de otros cinco libros.

At the moment I was walking father down to present the successful tourist attraction that saved his accounts. 
As difficult as I'd thought Orson would be, he surprised me with his response to my request.
After I'd set into what I'd learned from Mathilda was an authoritative position; legs apart, arms crossed behind the back and chest puffed out with absolutely no slouching, I began narrating the basic idea behind my plan and why it needed his contribution, to which he replied;
"So…you need my help?"
"Yes, Orson, I do." 
"For the Duchy right? This doesn't sound personal at all."
I'd been smiling all through but at his mention of my personal interests being intertwined with the events threatened to turn my gentle disarming smile into a wide goofy grin.
"Yes, it's always for the Duchy, for father," I emphasized my loyalty and devotion by fingering the pin on my chest.
Seeing and hearing all my responses, Orson agreed with no further queries or unnecessary obstructions. At first, I was extremely paranoid that he was just going to bail once I left the room, so I had him watched while I was away. 
And my little spy, the young child of a builder, too little to work the fields but grown enough to understand the value of fifty coppers coins, quickly reported back to me that Orson had left the mansion and went off to join Dagena, Oteri and Edward at the roughly completed building at the time I'd told him to.
I still am quite surprised that all it took to get Orson to play ball was clear cut honesty. But at the same time, I found myself relived that I didn't have to worsen our relationship by pulling rank on him.
"I honestly did not think the economic turn in would be this much, Rainald," father said unable to keep the sound of happiness for staining his voice as he flipped through the records Edward had estimated "I am very pleased with this, Rainald, rest assured, that pin will be stuck on your chest for a long time."
Success! I was permanently the Special Advisor of the Duchy of Aville. 
Father slammed the book shut with a chuckle, "I see the grin you try to hide, Rainald." At this, I finally let the stoic professional look fall and a had an excited smile plastered over my face. "But don't get too relaxed, you have a lot more responsibilities to face now, Rainald. By proxy you are my regent when I'm incapacitated or out of the Duchy. That responsibility would have fallen to Desmond since he is chancellor but I'm glad it falls to you now, and it couldn't be any sooner, I'm travelling bright and early tomorrow."
We'd finally gotten to the open house, the candle lights shone brightly and I could hear the crowd awe at our arrival along with the trotting of the guards nearby, but all of this was really just white noise in the background. 
I was still reeling from the thought of being in charge of everything in the Duchy while father was away in Eriow for about a week. Thinking about organizing affairs with the military, the yeomanry, commoners and local nobles had me wanting to back out.
As we were approaching the first of the acts in the open house; Dagena, I shook away my troubling thoughts and put on a cheery smile to hide the bubbling anxiety. 
As we got to her, she was dressed in a humble white flowery dress, not dissimilar to what the peasants wore in their day to day lives. She had an empty teacup held to her lips-she must have gotten tired of drinking actual tea-her seated posture was in impeccable form and the sweat running down her cheeks made her look radiant.
Being the nobility we were, it was with an afterthought that we cut in the line to have tea with a member of the ruling family; our family.
We went in and took seats in front of her, there was a pot of hot tea ready to be poured into cups of good quality. Father smiled sheepishly at Dagena and her face quite soured, I let out a sigh and poured some tea into a cup for myself. 
It had a sweet yet sour taste about it that calmed my nerves and got me thinking rationally once more. Much of the tea I had the maids prepare for Dagena's little tea room was gone. This was part of the reason why the accounts were so high right now. 
The tea, along with Dagena dressed up and propped with a teacup in hand, gave a quiet message to the men and women coming into the room that it was tea time and it would only be proper to join in on tea time with the beautiful noblewoman seated in front of them. 
But tea was not free to the visitors.
Every cup poured was twenty copper coins, cheap, but ultimately a trap as commoners did not have the patience to savour tea. Here Dagena would encourage them to have another, and another, and another. Until they run out of money or their time with her runs out and the next person comes in. 
In a rough estimate, a single bronze coin, capable of buying a night in a rundown inn, could be gotten from a single commoner in a single sitting with Dagena. She made us quite a bit as many men came in to sit with her more than once, and this too cost a fee.
"Rainald! How long do I have to sit her drinking hibiscus!?" Dagena's outburst brought me out of my little pat-on-the-back session, I shook my head and smiled wryly at her.
"It's going to be a while, the line for you hasn't shrunken down one bit, and we still have tea. While you have father and I, why don't you tell us about the characters of any of the local nobles you've sat with?"
"Ah, yes, Dagena, I've been meaning to mention the courting of a certain Lord Rudolf Bastille to you," at this Dagena visibly rolled her eyes and groaned as if being tortured, but father pressed on, unfazed, "He is a prominent member of the Bastille family, they own many baronies across the Kingdom, their influence even reaches the King's court."
The guard at the entrance peeked in to interrupt, "My Lord, My Lady, it's time for the next visitor."
Father nodded, understanding that no special treatment could be given in this as it ultimately helped his matters. He promptly stood up to leave with I following his lead and straightening my clothes, "They are essential Dagena, and they will be guests at Orson's feast, we will talk in detail about your responsibilities for that night, in the meantime, good work."
With his piece said father turned to leave. Dagena had lost all appearances of deviance, now only sunken and defeated. 
I wish I could reassure her. But it just wasn't the same. In my past life and old world, women could be breadwinners with little to no problem. But this world just wasn't ready for such convenience as of yet. Dagena would suffer much if the man she wanted to elope with couldn't provide her with the essentials, and I knew he couldn't, Herbert was as noble as and rich as any of these commoners salivating at the chance to be in the same room with us.
In truth I was no different from these commoners either, I was snuck into this status I somewhat enjoy by my dead mother. I suppose it wouldn't be farfetched to say I should be grateful for her death, her death and father's guilt. For if she had lived I would have been left beside her as father would inevitably cast her aside to preserve his noble image.
But I placed myself a peg above Herbert for a single reason; I had limitless ambition and the will to see it blossom, and blossom it had.
I grasped Dagena's hand firmly and squeezed, reassuring her silently, it was the most I could do. I walked out the door with father, he wanted to see the other revenue-generating strategies I'd spoken of in action. 
I stood aside, my thoughts entirely immersed in plans for potentially usurping father while he was away.

An old, senile and lonely medical doctor dies in the ward of his own hospital. 
Unsatisfied with his "meager" accomplishments, he accepts Death's offer for a new start at life however random his chances are in a world where he is a scorned bastard of a resident Duke.


"I will hold on to my memories. Memories of failure, I have no doubt will be a marvelous incentive to succeed in my new life. No matter what. I will succeed, one way or another."



***Chapters will be posted twice a week, every three days.

I've made a discord server btw. You can pop in and out offering your critique or praises here;https://discord.gg/YbxrtrU

*****
Need a freelance writer?
https://www.fiverr.com/s2/88989fb0f2?utm_source=com.google.android.apps.docs_Mobile

Matt finished the latest alterations to the program he was working on. With a sigh and a whispered prayer he clicked run and after the integrated development engine verified his code the program executed. He blew out a very big sigh of relief, as this was the first time he had been able to get the program to even initialise. He then plugged in a sentence from the text book and started the encryption sequence.

Matt Hyde was a third year Info-Technology student at University, majoring in quantum encryption and information security, he had been lucky enough to receive a under-graduate posting with the Army, who were paying him a wage and his tuition. After graduation, with an additional 6 months of fitness and Officer's Training, he would be commissioned as a full lieutenant in the Signals Corps, and as he hoped within five years, working in the Intelligence community.

Just as the encryption software he was working on started to output data, the encryption kernel itself began leaking randomised data and eventually the whole software itself came crashing down in I/O errors and then the computer executed an emergency core dump. Matt cursed "Shiesse" knowing full well that no one in his class knew the word.

At that point the lecturer stood up from helping one of the other students and said, "Alright guys, start packing up." Matt looked up and sure enough this Lab session had five minutes left. He removed his secure USB stick and then rebooted the computer making sure that no trace of his work was left. He then put the stick pen into his book pouch and after straightening up his books and stuffing them into his messenger bag, then stood up and signed the tablet computer back into the cart and with a wave to his teacher left the room.

After walking down the hall and talking a left to the walkway that led back to the rest of the IT Faculty, he went down and exited the secure Information section via the stairwell located within the walkway's support structure and shutting the key card only access door he walked on the path through a grassy park like area where the Lit and Philosophy majors met to discuss matters of great import that those of the science faculties were too heathen to hear. With a chuckle at that idea he opened a door and walked through the main hall of the Science and Education faculty, and as he passed the chem honour class was just getting out as well.

He saw his friend Ian Matrovsky, who waved to him and said, "My place 1900hrs, bring drinks". Ian had probably gotten the latest season of Battlestar Galactica and intended on having an all-nighter watching their favourite show. Ian then dashed off to his next class as Matt exited the Faculty building and navigated the main quad to the common area, after 3 hours of stationary programming, he needed something with caffeine in it.

After waiting in line for a while he managed to order, pay for and collect a large moccachino (coffee with chocolate in it) from the Campus Coffee shop. He sat down and retrieved a note book upon which he stated theorising causes for why a data leak would cause a core dump. With a sigh he wrote down the sections of core functionality and then started describing bug traps that he would have to design and insert into the code.

That would most likely take at least a week to construct and a month to get any meaningful results from. But by then he would have the problem isolated almost down to the exact line of code.

As he looked up to grab his cup of coffee, she walked across his peripheral vision and sat down at one of the tables with her friends. Anna Vidalus, blonde, achingly beautiful and for Matt very literally the girl next door. His cup of coffee was forgotten until he saw Anna turn her head and her friends started laughing as he looked slightly to the left as if he had been staring out at space rather then at her.

It was at this moment that her idiot boyfriend, (an Arts Major) doing the easiest degree needed to satisfy the academic requirements of his sports scholarship, chose to make his entrance as he took the seat next to Anna and gave her a rather indecent kiss much to the approval and cooing of her friends.

Scott Dunn, the afore mentioned idiot boyfriend broke off the deep kiss and while he appeared to blush at finally noticing Anna's friends he turned his head and gloated with a unkind grin toward Matt, who decided to leave at that point and started hurriedly putting his things back into his satchel so he could leave. Scott then turned back to Anna and asked her how her day had been, as Matt hurried past their table towards the parking lot.

Jenna snickered and said, "That guy is so pathetic, you'd think after all these years he'd have given up that idiotic crush." Scott's eyes blazed for a moment and Anna after directing a shut up glare toward Jenna turned back to Scott and with a smile said, "I'm in class the rest of the day, what have you got planned?"

Scott leaned back and said, "Nothing much babe, me and the guys are probably going to hang out, and then head to practise around six this evening. So I won't be able to see you again today, we still on for the weekend?" Anna thought for a moment and then nodded, Scott smiled and with a final smooch got up and nodded to his boys.

"Come on lads, let's go." Scott left Anna and after they got around the corner he said in a soft but menacing tone, "I wanna pay that little soldier boy a visit before he leaves." They continued walking to the side of the building and then slipped down a thoroughfare and over the ring road and into the student carpark where they could see Matt was almost to his car.

Scott turned his head slightly so his voice would project backwards and said, "Last week's game winner boys," and Scott and another mate split off right, while a third moved around to encircle Matt from behind. The remaining two approached in plain sight, and appeared non-threatening. The two called, "Matt wait up."

As they got closer, Matt let his guard down a little as the two approached without Scott, as they said, "We wanted to talk to you about a tutoring gig for the multi-strand science units we have to do this semester. We know you and Scott don't get on, anyone you can recommend? We'd pay you a finders fee of course."

The lie they fed him had some truth in it, and like all good lies sprinkled with the truth, this one provoked a guarded, but accepting reaction. They chatted as the rest of the group moved quietly into position, and as the two reached a compromise on a student that would help them, Matt heard a quiet scuff behind his car. Matt might have been a little on the trusting side, but he knew an ambush when he heard one and his training kicked in.

All Army Under-Grad Officer trainee's did portions of their military training during the University holiday breaks, and luckily for his sake last semester's training was all about ambushes. When ambushed by a force of unknown number, the only option is to turn, punch through the first line of contact and flank the rest of the ambushing force. Leaving the rest scrambling after you, instead of them keeping you in their kill zone.

That's exactly what Matt did, and in this case his first point of contact was the two who had distracted him. He pitched forward like he was going to fall while allowing his knees to fold a little and then at the point of no return explosively lept forward while putting his shoulder behind a power punch at the one on the left's solar plexius. As he landed from the spring he just managed to get his legs back under him and dodged Alex's grasping hands.

He took off to the left, crouch running behind cars as the man who had circled behind him ran just out in front of him he stood up and threw his right arm out at the guy's throat, coat hangering him before he took off running down the carpark. Matt was moderately fit, fit enough to pass the Army's entrance physical. But he wasn't an athlete who trained five days a week, including sprinting drills and in short order the rest of the pack pulled him down, and dragged him by the shoulders back to his Car where Scott and Alex's brother Ben who was still down and lay gasping for air.

Scott was furious that Matt had nearly gotten away and laid two of his boys out. And as his two friends forced Matt to his knees infront of Scott, he stepped closer and said, "You're going to wish you hadn't done that." He grabbed Matt by the hair and pulled back his fist and with a downward punch drove his fist into Matt's jaw.

Matt looked up again, tasting blood as he said, "Is that all you've got you gutless bastards. Send your fudge-packing friends to do your dirty work." At this Scott hit Matt in the stomach winding him as his mates dropped him onto the pavement and those who could pounded on him with their fists and feet.

After they'd satisfied themselves that they'd given him a good kicking Scott knelt down beside Matt and said, "She's my girl, it's about time you accept that."

How long Matt laid there for, he didn't know. His muscles refused to do anything but scream at him in pain, he was too bloodied and bruised to do anything about it though. He phased in and out of conciousness on the hot blue chip parking lot, almost willing himself to die to escape his battered body, until he heard a gasp and looked up, he wondered for a moment if he had died.

Anna's blonde hair was highlighted with a corona that looked remarkably like a halo in the rays of the dying sun. That sight was the last image he had before he passed out again.

He was released from the hospital a week later, looking considerably the worse for wear. Angry, yet coping with it. The police had wanted to know who had beaten him so badly. But Matt had refused to tell them, explaining simply. "There's no video record, so it'll be my word against theirs. And frankly I won't allow them to see how close to death I came."

Frustrated at his reticence, they had left their card in case he changed his mind. After signing the discharge papers he arranged a lift home Ian and after he reached the sanctity of his home secluded down the backside of the mountainous range, he had shut and locked the front door. As he looked in the full length mirror in his room the mask shattered, the sadness that had been masked by the rage spilling out physically.

People have been arguing over how life began on earth, whether god created man or aliens, or perhaps evolution.

What if the truth was all and yet none of these things. 

Origin is about the story of a group of friends who one day find the last remnant of the great Imperium of Man (no not the 40k one)

Last time on Honor of the Tiger. 

                                                                                  □●□●□●□●□●□●□●□●□●□●□●□●□●□●□●□●□●□

"Don't get sentimental here, you know I don't like that atmosphere" (Amir)

"Yea! Yea! I know! Now we need to search for someone with the Light [Scar] and who are specialized in healing magic" 

"Yes, we need to start today. We have six hours until school ends" 

"Yes, i know... Wait... Why are we even searching for spell mage with the light [Scar] when we have one in our class" (Adam)

"Who? In our class... Do you mean Zia? Compared to the others she's cool and all that but i don't think that she'll accept" (Amir)

"Never mind that, I have a plan!" (Adam)

 ____________________________ ♧ [HotT] ♧ ______________________________

The [Scars], the [Scars] are the tattoos present in the back of everyone's hand. It appeared during the [Onset] and the tattoo is what permits us to use Magic. Everybody in the world has a [Scar], there is no exception.

The design of the tattoo differs depending on the person. There are six different types of designs each representing one natural element. Those elements are Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Light, and Darkness. 

I have the [Scar] of Fire and I can only use skills related to fire. 

When you are able to control your Mana and become a Champion, you will be able to summon two things from the tattoo. They are the [Book of Knowledge]  and the [Card of life].

The [book of knowledge] basically records all the skills you've learned. Whenever you finish learning a new skill it will be recorded in the book of knowledge and sometimes you can have so many skills that you may forget some of them. It's pretty useful.

The [Card of Life] on the other hand shows you your personal information, your rank and the amount of Mana you have. Like I said before to rank up you need to fight demons and when you defeat a demon you will receive Experience points. If you have enough experience points you will be able to rank and every time you rank up the amount of Mana you posses will be multiplied by ten. 

This is what my Card of Life shows: 

---------------------------- ¤ ------------------------------------------- ¤ ------------------------
                                                                                                        
Name: Amir Aldric.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                         
Age: 15.                                                                                           
                                                                
Blood Type: O

Natural Element: Fire

Mana Capacity: 1800/1800.                                  

Rank: E

Exp: 0/10 000

(An/: Never forget that numbers can't explain your strengh. If you have wnough experience or trained harder you could be able to beat Champions qith higher ranks than you. It's like D rank hunter who have been soloing dungeons beating a C rank who always went in group and never really larticipated but got Exp.)

----------------------------- ¤ ------------------------------------------- ¤ ----------------------

E- rank is the maximum that a student can have since they never entered Gates to fight against monsters. The only way we, the students, achieved E-rank is through training. Training can give you Experience points or Exp as everyone calls it, but it can only bring you to E-rank. You won't receive any Exp if you train after achieving that rank. 

Everybody in Class S is an E-rank Champion. That's why we're the only one who participates in the King of the Arena tournament. Only the members of Class S on every school has the right to participate in the tournament. It is a way to see who's the best Champion among all the students in the world. It's also a great chance for the guilds to recruit promising Champions under their ranks. 

The last two tournaments were won by me. I won them back-to-back. I don't know what you (the reader) thought, but I'm not a normal E-ranker, I'm strong!

The other members of my class did well too, this year Adam lost in the semi-finals. Speaking about Adam, yesterday, he failed to recruit Zia. She told us that her mother had already selected a group among their guild members and that she'll be the leader of that group. We can't do anything about that. Forcing her to join is the same thing as declaring war to their family since they already have plans for her. Plus I don't want members that were forced to join!

There is only one week left before the graduation ceremony, today's Saturday, so, we are not going to school. Next week neither, the principal decided to let us stay at home since we won't do anything at school, and we would only disturb the other classes because they have exams to take next week.

So, since we are not going to school for the next week, let's forget about recruiting the students. There many other ways to find group members. After waking up and doing everything I usually do I became bored, so I called Adam and told him to come to my house. Our two houses are not that far from each other, so, he arrived quickly. He came with his butler, his name is Alex, he is a middle-aged man in his forties that stopped being a Champion because of internal injuries. 

Alex can stay fight, though. He was a B+ ranker and is still at that level, the problem is that he doesn't have as much stamina as he used to. He came with Adam and went to talk with Gilles while Adam and I went upstairs to discuss our current situation.

As soon as we settled down and went directly to the point.

"I told you she wouldn't accept. You wasted our whole day!" (Amir)

"Give me some slack man, you've been whining about that since yesterday. Who knew that she wouldn't want a weapon made personally by big sis Raina!" (Adam)

"Technically she wanted it. She just did not want Drama between our families" (Amir)

"Who gives an f*ck about drama?" (Adam)

"We may not, but she clearly does" (Amir) 

"I can't believe you're being more sensitive than me!" (Adam)

"What do you mean? (Amir)

"Nah, forget that! What are we going to do from now on?" (Adam)

"Isn't that what we're here to talk about? But hey what did you mean by more sensitive?" (Amir)

"Just forget that I said that!" (Adam)

"If you tell me to forget it will be stuck in my head more!" (Amir)

"Tsk... What do we do, now?" (Adam)

"So, you're just going to ignore me?" (Amir)

"Basically!" (Adam)

"You know what? Let's just go to the Battle Arena!" (Amir)

"The Battle Arena?" (Adam) 

"Yeah, it's a great place. We can find good fighters there." (Amir)

"You will never see someone with the light [Scar] and who possess healing skills in the Battle Arena fighting one vs one." (Adam) 

"At least we would have tried!" (Amir) when I said, that he looked at me with a funny and said

"Bro, are you desperate?" (Adam) that smug look always makes me want to punch him so bad

"Why are you saying that? And stop with that look it makes me want to hit you!" (Amir) he took his phone and took a picture of my face then he showed it to me. I have kinda an expression that says "I'm going to win"

"I only see this determined expression when you're fighting strong opponents." (Adam) the more I looked at the picture the more embarrassed i became, in the end, i just took his phone, turned it off and got off the desk

"I'm going, if you want to come to follow me." (Amir)

"Yeah! Yeah! I'm coming... Challenge junkie!" (Adam) i sped up and went to the living room where Gilles and Alex were. I was tired of hearing that guy making fun of me.



When I arrived in the living room, I told Gilles to buy us some tickets for the Battle Arena. He did it but insisted that Alex, and he would come with us which Adam and I instantly rejected. I don't want to cause an uproar at the Arena!

Imagine this a retired A+ rank champion and a current B+ rank Champion (Adam's butler) accompanying the young masters of the Aldric and Scott family. Wouldn't that cause an uproar? Plus I'm known as the strongest Student and Adam is known as the Third strongest. I'm not boasting though. 

So just to avoid that I refused, but they came anyway even though we showed our displeasure through our expressions. Plus they know that we are not going to denounce them since my sister would tell him that he did a good job, Adam's father would do the same thing too. My sister is a little protective of me but Adam's father is on another level of protectiveness. 

So, they came together but Gilles told us to bring our weapons with us. I don't why but if he says so, it has to be something important.


______________ ♧ In front of the Arena ♧ ______________



When we arrived at the Arena it was bustling with people, we went to the entrance and someone took us to our lounge. It seems like Gilles bought VIP tickets. At least we wouldn't be disturbed by the screaming of the public, so i won't complain about wasting money. 

We went to our lounge, and it was kinda big. It is not as big as my bedroom, but it is still large. And they gave is one of the best places, we can see clearly the Arena without anyone blocking our view. Adam and I started to talk about trivial stuff when suddenly Gilles called us out.

"Amir, Adam listen here. I made some arrangements with the officers of the Arena" (Gilles) I turned around and looked at him.

"What is it?" (Amir) Amir also looked at him curiously

"You will have to fight today, that's why I told you to bring your weapons" (Gilles) when he said that I was surprised even Adam's butler was surprised him didn't know what this old man was talking about

"What do you mean? How are we going to fight? We basically just came here to watch people fight!" (Amir) I asked and Adam nodded

"Yes, I know that, but when I was buying the tickets I also challenged them!" (Amir)

"A challenge? Wait... Don't tell me you..." (Adam) we started to understand what Gilles was saying, but we didn't have time to protest

{Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you today in our Battle Arena where you'll see the most boiling fights in your life} the speaker started to talk

{Today, we have two guests that issued a challenge to us, Do you want to know what the challenge is?} the people in the Arena started boiling, even peoples outside could hear the screams

{That's what I'm talking about! I guess you all know who Gilles is, right} everybody in the Arena answered in unison "YES"

{Gilles aka The Mantis is currently the main butler of the Aldric household and this morning he challenged us} Everybody became curious about what the challenge was

{The young masters of the Aldric and Scott family are here today, as long as you an E or D ranker, if you manage to beat one of them you'll receive the immense sum of HALF A MILLION $!} Everyone cheered louder than before.

{Now, let me introduce you to the two people that issued the challenge. First, we have Adam Scott aka Eagle Kettle because he always leaves us kettled every time he fights. He is the young master of the Great Scott family which has the Strongest Champion in humanity's history (Adam's grandfather). And for us who were at the King of the Arena tournament this year,  we can all testify that he is stronger than most of the D ranker even though he has not entered a gate yet. Make some noise for Adam Scott} 

Not having a choice Adam left the lounge and entered the Arena. When the people saw him they all started to cheer louder some of them even wanted to come inside the fighting area just to receive an autograph from him.

And for what the speaker said, there was an incident in this year's tournament where the teacher of Adam's opponent in the 16th-finals  interfered with the match and got beaten by Adam. That teacher was a middle-level D ranker. After that incident, people started saying that he would be the one to win the tournament, but he lost to Mi-Sook from Littlerock academy (the number one school in the world). 

{It's not over yet. Now, let's welcome our second challenger, the young master of the Aldric family and the little brother of the best BlackSmith and Alchemist in the world. He is known as the best E ranker and the world and is said to be able to fight on equal term against a high-level D ranker when he is serious. Make a round of applause for Amir Aldric aka the Red Tiger!} After the speaker's presentation people started cheering louder than they ever did before.

For me, When I entered the Arena I felt something different from when I was fighting in the tournament. In the tournament, you could feel the eyes of all the elites ready to judge you and your family if you mess up just a little bit. And that can be your downfall. When you're there you always feel like you have to be serious, but here there is a different atmosphere. When I entered the first thing that came to my mind was "I'm going to have fun". 

People come here in this Arena to have fun and test their powers against others. To prove that statement they even placed a barrier around the Arena. The barrier is made of light magic whoever passes through it will get healed instantly, it was made by a high-level healer i don't know who it was, though. Plus whenever the match starts to get bloody the official will interrupt it so that it would not go far, no one shall die in this place.

After that overwhelming moment of realization, I smiled and joined Adam and the speaker in the middle of the Arena. 

{So Ladies and gentlemen if anyone wants to accept the challenge he can come forward...

  Prayer day.

    Three pastors from the Holy Church boarded the high platform to begin the ritual of worship. They began to recite the words of blessings from the book of light. Thousands of words were said in a poetry like manner for the praise of the God of Light. Almost everyone knew by heart the content since every household had a book of light and every year they heard the worship prayers. 

    Even in the old era days such as this were happening as people gathered crowds in support of their religion. 

    People had crossed their fingers as they clasped their hands. They carefully listened to the pious prayer. 

    In the castle.

    Dudian stood in front of the windowsill as he looked at a team of the people gathered in groups in  nearby square in front of the castle. These people were the residents of the bearby town who had come over for the prayer. He was aware that his reputation and status hasn't been passed to the ears of ordinary civilians yet. Today should be regarded as the second day of the last three months and the days that had the worst sales of the newspapers. However his fame should already be spread throughout the top brass of the consortia. 

    After a day all these civilians and second rate nobles would be aware of his name. 

    In many cases money can't buy fame but fame can be converted in wealth, priviliges, convenience and other things. 

    "Master, there is someone looking for you." Nicholas respectfully said as he came to stand behind Dudian. 

    Dudian nodded as he had already seen through the window that an aristocratic carriage had come over. The banner of Scott consortium was plugged on top of the carriage's compartment. It was a clear sign that Scott consortium had the best intelligence which was working more intensively in comparison to the other consortia. 

    He walked downstairs back into the hall. Dudian made a hand gesture for Nicholas to go out and meet the guest. Even if Scott consortium was a large one but right now they weren't able to personally drive him out to meet them at door. It wasn't related to arrogance but majesty and etiquette. 

    After few moments Nicholas led the way while a young woman followed after him into the hall. She was slender and had expensive jewelry on her neck. She looked simple and elegant. 

    Dudian saw and identified her. 

    "Mr Dean, its me Rosie. We meet again." The young woman saw the teenager sitting inside the hall. She took the initiative to move forward to greet him. 

    Dudian smiled and slowly got up. He waited for her to reach out and he gripped her hand in a shallow manner and released afterwards: "Please have a seat." 

    "You have treated me very kindly each time as a guest." Rosie smiled and sat onto the seat opposite to him. Her eyes observed the hall and she looked back at Dudian: "I like the style of your castle. It has a minimalist atmoshpere which is my favorite." 

    Dudian smiled: "Since you like so much then move over to live anytime you want. I have plenty of rooms."

    Rosie was polite but didn't expect Dudian to be so hospitable. Rather than hospitality it could be said that he was too offensive. She quickly responded with a smile: "Well if my husband allows then I will certainly move over. Its just I'm afraid that my temper will cause a headache to you. I wouldn't be able to die in peace if I interfered with your inventions."

    Dudian smiled: "Miss Rosie shouldn't have come today to look at my castle. Did you?"

    Rosie giggled: "There are two different reasons. But the main one is to congratulate you for promotion to senior architect. As far as I know you are the youngest senior architect in the last 150 years of history of the Temple. Tracy was the senior architect at age nine years ago. If not for her then you would be the record holder. Even if you don't do anything for the rest of your life, your name will be engraved with big letters in the Temple's history."

    Dudian nodded as he was no stranger to the name Tracy. Although it has happened hundred and fifty years ago but the girl was a geniune child prodigy. She had produced two pieces of four star item at the age of nine and was appointed as a senior architect. Unfortunately she was suffering from a rare disease and had died at the age of ten and couldn't be rescued. 

    Whenever her name was mentioned people would sigh. Some think that if the girl didn't die she would have become a master by the age of 20! 

    "Mr Dean, would you be willing to sell your lightning rod to Scott consortium? " Rosie looked at Dudian.

    Dudian pretended to be hesitant as he looked back at her. 

    Rosie's eyes lit up as she continued: "Scott consortium is willing to offer the price of a five star item. Moreover half the net profits from the new textile machine would be given to you too. If there is anything else that you would need then let me know and I'll do my best for you. We are old friends, aren't we?"

    Dudian replied: "I've heard that your consortium and the Mellon consortium have been competigin in the mineral industry in the recent times. I presume that your consortium has infiltrated deeply into Mellon?"

    There was a trace of awakening in Rosie's eyes: "Oh, I almost forgot. The Mellon consortium had tried to frame you for several times. Now as your reputation is this high then they would worry for your revenge. You can rest assured that our Scott consortium will support your to overcome the insidious ways used by Mellon consortium to harm you. Directly they can't even touch your hair but they may use covert ways for an attack. I'll make sure that our consortia will pay high attention to the internal actions of Mellon against you. Moreover we will message you to inform about any updates."

    Dudian nodded slightly: "Alright, we will talk about the deal when I get the news. "

    Rosie was confused: "Mr Dean, what do you mean?"

    "Ms Rosie is smart so you should have grasped the meaning behind my words." Dudian calmly said.

    "Mr Dean, don't you trust us? Do you mean that we have to wait until Mellon consortium makes a move?"

    "I trust you, but business is business. We have to act according to the rules of the business. The payment is made when the goods are delivered." Dudian faintly smiled: "Today the message of my promotion and invention will be known to all and Mellon consortium will act. If you provide effective news for the three times then you get the deal. I'll sell the rights for the lightning rod even if I have to wait for the next year''s rainy season. You can rest assured that I'll keep my word and won't be involved in talks with other consortia." 

    Rosie was startled as her face became stiff. She could barely laugh: "Mr Dean if you sell the lightning rod to us now then we will begin to spread the information about it to the three areas beginning tomorrow. We will use this month to promote the role of lightning rod and produce it. If we wait until the rainy season then I'm afraid..."

    "I believe in the intelligence gathering capabilities of your consortium. " Dudian said.

    Rosie wryly smiled as she saw that there wasn't a place for further negotiations. She sighed: "Alright, I hope that Mr Dean can keep your promise and decline the offers of other consortia." 

    "I will." Dudian smiled.

    Rosie saw his smile and thought that it was not a practical deal. But she knew that she couldn't anger Dudian or else she would be having a headache back at home. She thought for some time and slowly breathed. There was a trace of smile on her face as she said: "I'll believe in you, Mr Dean. Since it is like this then I wish for a happy cooperation." She stretched out her slender hand for a handshake. 

    Dudian lightly held her hand: "For the cooperation."

    Rosie continued as they loosened their hands: "I should have agreed last time for a four star price. Because of this I'm getting scolded back at home." She looked back at Dudian.

    Dudian calmly replied: "If you had agreed at that time then I assume you would be scolded back then. "

    Rosie sighed: "In the end its my eyes that are not fit for the evaluation. Mr Dean don't take offense as I'm not underestimating you but I didn't think that your abilities would be so amazing. "

    Dudian waved: "I don't care about trivial things."

    Rosie smiled: "Mr Dean I would like to pre-order your next invention for Scott consortium. No matter what you make we are willing to pay the price of superior grade four-star item's right now."

    Dudian saw the cunning move by the Scott consortium. They didn't care much about money and deliberately used such an offer to get him signed with them. It was a business move which was more than money and wealth. It was about the face that they would get in eyes of wealthy businessmen and public. 

    "It is too low of a price." Dudian shook his head and refused.

    Rosie's eyes lit up as she saw the determinated with which Dudian refused the offer. It was a proof that there was a new idea for the invention and he was very confident about the result. She deliberately took a deep breath to make it look like she was thinking through his reply: "That being the case then we can increase the offer to five star item's price. What do you think?"

    "You seem to be willing to spend money." Dudian couldn't help but sigh. Five-star item meant millions of gold coins. It could support the whole slums for more than three decades. If the money was used for construction then the slums could be remade into the same degree as residential district. Moreover, the Scott consortium was willing to pay such a big fee without knowing what the next invention would be. 

    This was the wealth that architects could earn! 

    This was the fame and influence that was brought with the word "genius." 

    However this money can be made only by the upper level of the commercial district. There was a serious imbalance of wealth within the giant wall. A casual business men in commercial district was an emperor in slums. However it wasn't possible to make money in the slums which made the cheap labor force in the slums. Moreover the businessmen didn't want to move in slums. The fish would suffocate in stagnant waters. 

    "It's still." Dudian slowly shook his head: "too low."

    Rosie was confused.

    Not enough?

    Still too low?

    She couldn't help but look at Dudian's eyes. Even with her restraint she couldn't help but reveal what was going in her heart. Does he want price of a superior grade five star item? 

    Dudian shrugged his shoulders as he naturally read through her: "I'll give you opportunity only this time only if you want to pre-order the invention. Pay me the price of a superior grade five star item."

    Rosie almost choked out blood. Superior grade five star? Also only this time? She was going crazy and wanted to beat the kid's head. She was aware that the kid had invented three high quality products so she controlled her anger. If it was someone else then she would hesitate to chop their head. 

    "You ... " Rosie swallowed back the unsightly words that were going to come out of her mouth. She calmed her mind and controlled her temper. She slowly continued: "You... The price you mentioned is too high. Don't be offended but the price is a bit... "

    Dudian said: "Is it the official refusal by the representative? "

    I'm refusing to become a madman! She wanted to shout out but there was a smile on her face: "It is not a refusal but the money involved is too much. Its not something that we can get." 

    "It seems that you wouldn't be able to afford it since your consortium is so poor." Dudian shrugged his shoulders: "The opportunity is gone so don't tell that I didn't intend to sell it to you. "

    Rosie's eyelids and mouth twitched at the same time. She couldn't control the murderous intent so she bowed her head not to look at Dudian. She feared that she would spin out of control: "Mr Dean, I'll leave now. The next time I come over I'll bring the news from Mellon consortium." 

    "Take care! See the visitor."

    Nicholas who was standing closeby approached immediately and left the hall with Rosie. 

   It wasn't long before Rosie was gone that the representatives from the Huasheng consortium came over with lots of gifts. 

    Dudian allowed Nicholas to accept the expensive herbs and watches brought by them. He politely declined Huasheng consortium but didn't directly refuse their offer and left a chance for future negotiations. 

    Huasheng consortium was very disappointed but played the same game as Rosie had done. They wanted to pre-order Dudian's next invention. Dudian gave them the same price. 

    The person in change heard the price and asked second time to confirm that he hadn't heard wrongly. He was stonned but declined. He bid farewell and left. 

    After the people form Huasheng consortium left the visitors from Krylov and Green consortium came over. In total five out of six consortia came to visit him. Although the Krylov consortium used to smear Dudian's reputation because of bailing out Sergei but the problem wasn't deep so that it couldn't be overcome. Their main aim was to come for apology. They were aware that it would be impossible to buy the rights from Dudian so they didn't even went for negotiations.


Catastrophe erupted, it was the end of the world.
Survivors were surrounded by the impregnable wall, a new order was established...
The desire for power, faith, and darkness pervaded each other, layer upon layer of brands imprinted in every corner of the heart.
The virus wreaked havoc, were these humans' true colors?
"I unexpectedly survive, I want to live." –Du Dian

So has we've established so far I've said farewell John and I've returned home to find out my mother is a witch and im a witch myself.
My mom asks me to follow her to a different part of the house this room i didnt even no was there it was hidden behind a hidden door that was disguised as a full wall mirror, I've never seen my mother in the mirror before as I've had no reason to but standing by this mirror i saw my mother looking alot older with full head of grey hair and wearing different clothes than what she was actually wearing she was in a lovely black gown with bell cuffs and long flowing trail with grey and black lace detail she looked amazing.
So we enter through the mirror door into this what can only be described as a cave with candlesticks and lit candles dotted around the place they don't even look like they're burning down in the middle of the room is a big table with all kinds of things on there.
Looking at the table i see there's a goblet, a wand that looks like something out of harry potter,  a mini sword, an array of unlit candles, a big cauldron, and a deck of cards which i start to look at and question my mother " mom what are these here" with that she replied "they're tarot cards bill these will be part of your learning" i also see a big crystal ball on a stand made with ornamental skulls i hope so and not real human skulls.
As i look around the cave more and more i notice all different things 3 big bookcases full of books on witchcraft, spells, tarot, runes, crystals and brooms hanging on the walls and plants hanging "mom why are these plants dead and hanging with no soil ?" Iasked my mom 
"they're not plants Bill, They're herbs drying to use in my spells this one here is a special one this is sage which i need to make into a bundle today and ill then use it to cleanse the home and clear the negative" mom replied. "have you never noticed when you've come home how the house feels and smells different that it normally does ?" she asked me.
I replied "yes mom it does actually and is that what that does".
Looking around even further in the east side of the cave was a big leather bound A5 size book very nice looking with a pentagram on the front and decorated with sticks and moss and all things nature 
"Oh Bill becareful with that that book has been passed down from your grandmother and hers before that" mom said.
"And what is this book a heirloom or a nursery rhyme book" i replied.
"Oi Bill its not a joke that is the book of shadows where all spells and everything u need to no is in there all sections are for different things quick reference stuff the main stuff is in all these books you see around you".
"Sorry mom i wont make fun again, promise".
So i go on another explore of the cave thats the only way i can describe this room as theres no windows and the walls like they're decorated with rocks and moss and everything you'd find in a cave, there's even a little pond of water west side of the cave i only no the directions of these things as there's a compass engraved on the floor so im guessing this is correct.
"Mom when do we get into the stuff of doing spells and making magic" I asked
"You best get doing your first bit of learning heres a book please read it and study it and take this deck of cards and study those aswell".
"Ok mom but why have i got to read this book wicca by Scott Cunningham".
"Because Bill this book will tell you everything as a beginner into opening yourself up into the wiccan religion and being a witch" She replied.

We then leave the cave room the same way we came in and i look at my mom and smile widely i look back in the mirror at my mom and shes still wearing the same clothes and looks the same but without the mirror she has brown hair and is wearing normal casual clothes jeans, jumper and slippers so to me this is really spinning my head and confusing me but i didnt question it as the mirror image my mother is nearly an old lady.
So i head to my room and start reading the book as im really intrigued and what to no more about it but then i get distracted by the tarot cards ive been ask to learn and study so i pick a card and look at it this first card i pick is wheel of fortune at first glance i don't have any clue or anything but then something inside my head clicks and its telling me this is about someones fortune turning for the better i don't no if it's supposed to be upside down but im able to study it and hear in my head that they're fortune is going to get better and things will come out better than they have been.
It's getting late and I've got school tomorrow so I'm going have to stop studying the homework my mother has set for me and return to it tomorrow after school.

Well that was too close.

Giving up on school I go home with Erika's stuff before changing into something cleaner. I'll visit Erika first just to make sure she's okay before I go and scare the crap out of Mr. Myer.

As I enter the hospital, I approach the 20 something year old blonde haired, blue eyed female nurse. She's cute in the I want to pet you kind of way.

"Excuse me"

She looks up and finds me leaning on the counter, a little too close her than she was expecting. A bit flustered she nearly falls from her chair before composing herself. 

"How can I help you, sir" She says in her calming slightly Canadian  tone. Seems like she just moved to Beacon hills.

"I'm here to visit an Erika Reyes. Can you tell me what room she is in?"

A few seconds later she gives me the room number before I turn and head in the direction she speaks up again, "I get off at 6. There's a bar near here"

In a half smile, "I don't drink. Miss Brouchard" Pointing at her nametag which explains how I know her. Seeing her depressed sigh at the rejection I can't help but add further "I'm only 16." 

"You're ….16?" She asks a little stunned, a little unsure how to react

"Yep. Anyway I got to meet my friend. See you around" I wave making my way over to Erika's room.

Erika's parents are standing outside looking just so broken and depressed. The fact that they can't do anything for their baby girl must be torture. But hey, I bet they'll be ecstatic in the future when 
Erika get's her miracle cure (and homicidal werewolf tendencies)

"Hey Mr and Mrs Reyes, is Erika up for visitors?" I do my best polite teen impression, although it rarely fools anyone. I hold up her bag, "I brought her things from school for her."

"And you are?" Mr Reyes glares at me as if I was the one who caused this.

"Uhm, sorry sir. Stiles. Stiles Stilinksi," at the mention of my surname I can see him relax.

"Noah's kid…. Hmmm I can see the resemblance. You look more like your mother though." He says before giving his wife another hug and vanishes into Erika's room. I can hear her audible surprise when she hears I'm here but tells him to let me in. "Okay but five minutes and no upsetting her," He warns. 

I raise my hands in faux surrender as I slip into her room promising to be good.

"Yo Erika," I saunter up to her bed, she's a mess. She looks exhausted, her hair is bedraggeled and even birds wouldn't nest in it. But she's alive and that's good enough. 

"I brought your things for you"

"Thank you," her voice is meek and she won't quite look at me.
 
Screw it, I drag a chair over and plonk myself down by her bedside, glancing around I find a conversation point, "So TV's bust then, or aren't you allowed to watch this close to recovering from an attack, 'coz I know when Scott has an asthma attack we have to do special stuff for him 'til his body can bounce back.  Though for him it's more sit quietly and keep breathing so TV's kind a good choice for that, hey you could totally read a book, but maybe that strains your eyes, sorry I don't know anything about how epilepsy works, so maybe you could get talking books, you know listen to a book.  It'll give you something to do while you recover and you won't get so bored, because laying in a bed for hours without anything to do?  Urgh hell…"

I babble on in silence before she laughs. "Relax Stilinski… I'm just a girl in a hospital. I'm not senile!"

Staring at my face with a deep frown she takes a breath and asks what's on he mind, "What's your deal, Stilinski? Why are you so nice to me all of a sudden, and saying hi to me every time you get the chance? Since when? You've never done it before"

"Uhm… Fan service"

She looks at me confused

"You've had a crush on me since middle school right. Since eighth grade if i'm correct"

Erika inhales sharply, looking awkward, "How .. did you know"

Pushing my chair closer, I lean in .. "I'll tell you but only if you're good at keeping secrets. You are right?"

She squints, "You could say that, yeah. What am I keeping secret though?"

Leaning back, I make myself comfortable as I prepare to answer

"Time-Travel. You told me in the future"

"Yeah right. Are you supposed to be Marty Mcfly?"

"A better looking Marty. Erica. A better looking one"

"Are you going to tell me or not?" 

"Okay, Okay... I am..."

"You are…"
 

Stiles Stilinski was forced powerlessly to watch his friends, loved ones... and soulmate die.

Years have passed and in pursuit of strength, he has somehow become the strongest being supernatural or otherwise. 

After decades of fighting his last 'hope' proves to be false. In the end, he chose to settle his matters once and for all. Slaughtering all of his enemies, having them die by his hand. 

Killing them does not however provide him with any satisfaction. Screaming into the dead of the night, he decides to reunite with those he lost, ending his life by his own terms.

Fate, intervenes. And doesn't allow for his story to end just yet. Instead, he awoke moments later to find that he had reincarnated into his past-self. Armed with his experience and knowledge of future events, he sets out to live his life anew. 

And this time he will SAVE THEM ALL.

*Inspired by the Teen Wolf Series and GoldenPetal13's fan fiction on AOOO (I got his permission btw:) To save them all (Not really a fan of BL though, so this will be my own take)

*All rights to Cover belong to GingerDemon

Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=15839221

Professor Jien Wang came to Korea to participate in a symposium. After he completed his schedule, he came straight to GH Mobile in Jiksan Town with Attorney Young-Jin Kim from Kim & Jeong Law Firm. They didn't even stop by a rest area on the way.
"I like this factory. It looks very well built."
After they looked around at the factory yard, they walked up to the second floor where the president's office was located. Gun-Ho was so happy to see them.
"Hey, Jien Wang!"
"Gun-Ho Goo! It's really good to see you, friend."
"Long time no see, Attorney Kim. Have a seat."
After having a handshake, the three men finally sat on chairs.
"So, you are done with the symposium?"
"Yes, I came straight here to see you, Gun-Ho, after the symposium."
"I know Attorney Kim came here once when we had the building dedication ceremony, but this must be your first time here, right, Jien Wang?"
"I took a quick glance of the factory on the way up to your office. I know I came here before, but the factory looks different somehow."
"You haven't been to the production field yet, have you?"
"No, I haven't yet."
"Maybe you can have a tour of the factory first before we leave to play golf."
Gun-Ho made a call to Jong-Suk Park and asked him to come to his office.
Jong-Suk Park soon came to Gun-Ho's office. He was wearing the GH Mobile uniform.
"This is our plant manager."
"Oh, Chang Zhang (factory manager)!"
Jien Wang extended his hand to Jong-Suk for a handshake.
"I think I have seen this person before."
"Probably so, since he is a very good friend of mine. He is like a brother to me. Jong-Suk, please give my two friends here on a tour of our factory."
 
Jong-Suk took Professor Jien Wang and Attorney Young-Jin Kim to his daily workplace—the production field.
When the workers in the production field saw two men in a business suit coming to the worksite while following their plant manager, they thought Professor Wang and Attorney Kim were the investigators from a buyer company to check their factory. And they got busy cleaning the worksite by organizing incomplete products and moving the defective products somewhere that wasn't so obvious.
After observing the products pouring out of extruding machines and molding machines, Jien Wang nodded his head.
"Gun-Ho Goo is indeed an incredible man."
The machines in the factory were being maintained extremely clean; thanks to My Machine program. The machines were placed in a very well organized way, and the factory overall was neat and clean.
"I can't believe this factory maintains the cleanliness to this level. I haven't seen a factory this clean in China."
Attorney Young-Jin Kim was interpreting for Professor Jien Wang. Whenever Jong-Suk Park explained about the production system, Attorney Kim interpreted it into Chinese for Professor Wang. The production workers, who were paying attention to the visitors, were wondering as they saw them speaking in English.
"They are speaking in English. They are not the investigators from our customer companies then. Are they Korean Americans?"
"It seems like."
The workers were interested in the visitors to their worksite.
Jien Wang took out his smartphone to take some pictures of the factory when Jong-Suk stopped him.
"Taking a picture is not allowed in our factory. I am sorry about it. If you really need to do so, you need to get permission from President Goo first."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that."
Professor Jien Wang put his smartphone back to his pocket.
After taking a tour of the production field, they went back to the second floor to Gun-Ho's office.
"How was it?"
"Wow. I couldn't believe what I saw. It was so clean. I think I need to send some of the Chinese factory owners here to learn."
"I am sure Chinese factories are clean enough too."
"I'm serious. I was very impressed. The business owners in China should learn from you."
"Shall we head to the country club now?"
"Sounds good."
 
Gun-Ho took Jien Wang and Young-Jin Kim to Sangrok Country Club. It was located very close to his GH Mobile factory in Jiksan Town.
"So, this is the country club that is operated by the National Pension Service of Korea, huh?"
When Jien Wang recalled what he heard from Gun-Ho about Sangrok Country Club, Attorney Young-Jin Kim was surprised.
"Jien Wang! You seem to know more about things in Korea than me."
"Nah. Gun-Ho Goo told me the other day."
While Gun-Ho and Young-Jin brought their own golf clubs, Jien Wang had to borrow a full set of golf gear including golf gloves and golf shoes. Gun-Ho paid for everything with a credit card, including a golf cart and golf caddies.
"Gun-Ho Goo, you are spending money again for us."
"That's okay. I'm using my company credit card."
Gun-Ho waved the credit card as he said so.
"This is what I like about a businessman. Many professors are not so cool when it comes to payment for anything."
The golf course was not busy at all since it was a weekday.
Attorney Young-Jin Kim was very good at golfing as expected while Gun-Ho Goo and Jien-Wang made frequent mistakes in hitting the golf ball. They often made over par.
"Let's take a break. It has been a while since the last time I played golf. I feel tired already. Why don't we take a rest at the Shade House over there?"
"Sure."
The Shade House in the forest had a great view of the golf course. The three men had fruit beverages while looking at the view.
"Attorney Kim, are you playing golf like everyday? You can't be this good otherwise."
"Haha. I just started playing golf at an early age when I was in school. I used to play golf with my dad when I was little."
"I see. No wonder why people from a wealthy family usually play golf very well."
"Aren't you from a wealthy family too, Jien Wang? You studied in the U.S. at Yale University. It must cost a lot to travel from China to the U.S. and study there. I thought you could do so because of your family's stable financial support."
"Not necessarily. My father is a college professor just like me. I could study abroad because the Zhejiang government granted me a scholarship. We shouldn't talk about who has more money in front of Gun-Ho Goo. He is the richest among us. The god of wealth seems to be attached to Gun-Ho only."
Gun-Ho was thinking while having his beverage.
'That's right. I am the man with ShinWangJaeWang fate.'
 
"I wish Seukang Li is here with us today."
"Yeah. Oh, Seukang Li asked me how you are doing. He said he wants to meet you, Gun-Ho."
"Me? Why?"
"As you know, Seukang Li is in charge of the bureau of cultural affairs and media. His office is hosting a book exhibition in Shanghai, and he said a lot of publishing companies from other countries participated in it, and that helped his work a lot. He heard that you, President Goo, have a publishing company called GH Media. He wants you to come and join him in the book exhibition."
"GH Media usually publishes American or Japanese books after translating into the Korean language. I don't think we have any books we can participate in the book exhibition in Shanghai with."
"What about you publishing Chinese books?"
"President Jeong-Sook Park of GH Media said she doesn't do Chinese books because they are not very popular."
"I see. That makes sense. I was told that they stopped printing out my book after the second edition. Chinese books are not very fun to read, even for me. But I want to help Seukang Li in some way…"
Gun-Ho recalled the fact that Seukang Li helped GH Parts Company's business by introducing a window manufacturing company to Min-Hyeok Kim. And that increased the company's sales revenue. Gun-Ho wanted to help Seukang Li as well.
"Well, I guess I can still participate in his book exhibition."
"Seukang Li will be very happy if you can just participate."

This is the story of a poor young man whose poverty even shreds apart their family willing to climb his way through society and into the top. A very realistic novel that moves away from fantasy and sci-fi and focuses solely on the issues of society and life.

The next few days came and went in a breeze. Belle was constantly in a daze. She kept remising back to the time spent with Jay. She constantly was thinking about Jay. Belle didn't know if it was a rebound love or what she was truly feeling for Jay. Little did she know that what she felt was going to last forever.

Jay was in a world of his own. Humming to himself happily, he was glad he found Belle, he was glad he had another chance at love. For 10 years he was single, devastated and had given up on love. 

****************************
Flashback to 10 years ago. 
****************************
Noelle, the first and last girl Jay called girlfriend. They met when they were in the last year of their university. It was in a library. They both were reaching for the same book when their hands met. Since then, they were always together. 

It was a joyous and great time for both of them. They spent every moment they had together. Jay really thought Noelle was the love of his life and was ready to make her his wife. They even opened a shared bank account and Jay bought them a house to live in. Although Jay contributed 100% to the account, he never minded as she was the love of his life.

After graduation, Noelle found a job as a marketing executive in a local firm and Jay went on to help his parents. As both were busy with their new jobs, they spent lesser time with each other. But whenever Jay met up with Noelle, his heart grew founder of her.

Jay understood as a new employee, they would have to strive and put in a lot of efforts. As usual, Jay gave Noelle a call and hand delivered her favourite Lobster Roll with Truffles for dinner as she was working late. After delivering dinner to Noelle, he decided to hang out with Shiela as she just got back from her Around-The-World Holiday. 

They both met up at Ice Bar and sat in their favourite booth. As they were catching up with each other, they could hear a group of girls giggling in another booth behind them. As the seats were high, the neighbours were not visible to each other. 

There were 4 voices but one was particularly familiar. It was Noelle's. Jay was stunned and decided to double check if she was still at work. So he sent her a message, "Babe, are you still at work? It's getting late. Do you need me to pick you up?" 

Noelle replied, "Hey darling, I'm still at work and I have a conference call in 10 minutes. No, you don't have to pick me. I drove to work today. Ttyl, gtg. Meeting starting soon". 

A crease drew across Jay's forehead. Shiela could tell what was going on and immediately took out a pen and wrote on the napkin and signalled Jay not to say anything. They were going to listen to the girls conversation.

First Girl, Jane: Noelle, your boyfriend is so caring. It's so late and he is checking up on you. (Giggling sarcastically)
Second Girl, Iva: Yeah, he's like a puppy dog following you everywhere. You got him tied up within your hands.
Third Girl, Janice: Have you fallen in love with him?
Noelle: Girls, girls girls. The only thing that I have fallen in love is his money. Oh well, you know I also had to put in a lot of efforts getting him to notice me. Else how would I easily get my student loan paid up, a house and even USD 3 million in my bank account. Now all I need is to get him to marry me. Oh did you know his mother has this ring, which is a 5 carat pink diamond. I have my eyes set on that. Once I have us legally bonded together, I can divorce him and officially have half of his family wealth. I'll be set for life. Me and Scott then can spend the rest of our lives together.

Jay had a shock and couldn't say anything. Scott was his assistant. His family paid for his education and offered Scott a job. He realised that Noelle and Scott had made a fool out of him. Shiela was so angry that she wanted to whack the life out of Noelle but Jay stopped her. Instead, he planned to take everything back from her. 

He returned to his parents house and informed them of what happened. His parents and sister had a shock as they thought she was a nice girl. His father was so angry that he wanted to fire Scott and Noelle on the spot. 

Noelle didn't know that the company she was working in was one of the subsidiaries of the Pierre group.

The next day, Noelle went to work not knowing a storm was coming. 

First thing Jay did was to transfer back the house to his name and close down the bank account. Although the sum wasn't large to him but he did not want the gold digger to have a single cent of his.

Then he called the cleaning crew to pack up Noelle's stuff and placed it at the condo's reception area. Later in the evening, Scott was fired under the pretence of selling company information (which was true). 

Meanwhile, Noelle, was out for tea with some colleagues. As they frequent this bakery near their office, Noelle was trying to swipe her card but it kept getting declined. So she kept calling Jay but he didn't pick up. She sent him a text message and the reply she got was "When you get back later, pass it back to me and I'll look into it". She shrugged it off and paid in cash. 

But when she got to the office, she was called in by the HR and told to pack up her stuff and leave. Apparently, she claimed salary for working overtime but she was never physically there. She abused the system and was fired for it. 

Feeling devastated, she headed back to their place but at the entrance, she was not allowed to head up to the condo. Angrily, she said to the guard and receptionist, "Do you know who I am? I can end your life with just a snap of my fingers! I am the daughter in law to the Pierre family!"

As she was kicking up a scene downstairs, the receptionist called for Jay. 

Shiela was with Jay as she knew how he was feeling. Jay headed down with Shiela and they heard Noelle proclaiming herself to be the future daughter in law of the Pierre Group. 

"Ms. Noelle Schumers, since when did you become my fiancée or even the future daughter in law of the Pierre group?"

Noelle was stunned at what Jay said. "Darling, what's going on? Why won't they let me up. I am tired. I just lost my job. It was unfair dismissal. You need to seek revenge for me. And now I can't enter our home?" 

"Ms. Schumers, first and foremost, it was not unfair dismissal. You cheated the company of working over time but in actual fact, you were out partying or spending time with Scott. Secondly, you no longer live here. Your stuff has been cleared out and packed here. Only the stuff you came here with is returned to you. The rest of the stuff, I purchased with my money so it will be donated and auctioned away. Thirdly, you are no longer affiliated with me. I'm not an ATM machine that allows you to load money off me. "

"Mr. Guard and Miss Receptionist, if Ms. Schumers doesn't leave this place in 10 minutes, please feel free to call the police."

Jay never looked back and walked away. Not only was his love life a mess but he also took away a life he once provided for. He never looked at relationships the same way again. He could never fall in love again.

Belle once loved a guy for 7 years but he cheated on her. Will she ever able to love again?

Jay, a billion dollar businessman has his eyes set on Belle. Tries numerous times to woo Belle but there are always obstacles.

Will these two survive challenges and ever be together?

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