Casual_

What does it mean to be alive? Savior Online was the pinnacle of next-generation full-dive VRMMO entertainment. Or, it was, until a rogue employee and a hacker collective teamed up to trap all of its players in the game. Their only escape was the rogue employee's fail-safe: defeat the Demon King and clear the game. Easy enough - except now, after the hackers' meddling, death in the game meant death in real life. After four years of grueling grinding, planning, and preparation, the best of the game’s high-level players - known as “The Vanguard” - assaulted the Demon King’s fortress at the edge of the world in a bid to free themselves - and lost. Now, five years on, the game’s disparate survivors have forged new lives in the game with the understanding that the Demon King will never fall, and they will never escape. Lucas, one of the few surviving Vanguard members, idles his life away in solitude in his mountain hermitage. His dispassionate life is interrupted one day when a relic of his past returns with news of his old comrade’s passing - and possible proof of the system’s corruption. Now, the once-reckless warrior must confront his painful past and survive the system’s impatient AI that seems to be cleansing the world of the remaining players, all while coming to terms with his eternal entrapment within Savior Online.

Ten years ago, the lost continent of Danet was rediscovered by an ambitious warlord seeking a weapon to conquer the world. He returned wielding awe-inspiring powers, leaving destruction in his wake. Now, a decade after the Red King's conquests, the once-lost Danetian civilization is teeming with scavengers picking through the dangerous ruins in hopes of striking it rich. Ioren is a "Finder," one of the scavengers of Danet living a barebones existence out of the Yasha's Step outpost. After accepting a job from the royal seat itself, Ioren's luck turns south when he is killed in a back alley brawl. After being resurrected by a long-forgotten deity, Ioren must explore his new powers while also navigating the selfish, unforgiving scavenger society, battling the hostile anomalies of Danet, and completing a mission for the king - all without losing his sanity. To complicate things further, his latest excursion team is packed with newcomers, and even worse - nobles. -Original High Fantasy Story. -Focus on characterization. -Mild romance aspects, no harem. -Characters (including villains) act with logical and emotional consistency. -Multiple viewpoints. -Mild gore, violence, substance use. This story is currently being serialized on Royal Road. I will update here going forward as well.

No longer keeping up with this.