The Forgotten Pulse of the Bond - Chapter 12: Beneath the River’s Breath

Karl, a young man stuck in a rough patch after losing his job and burning through almost all his savings, wandered through the cold, dark streets of Eldoria. On the damp, silent sidewalks, he stumbled upon something bizarre: an old gacha machine mysteriously appearing at every corner he turned, almost as if it was following him. Driven by a mix of curiosity and the overwhelming weirdness of the situation, Karl finally gave in and used his last bit of money on the machine. From the gacha ball, he pulled out a card with a barcode.Back in his cramped apartment, curiosity finally won over caution, and Karl scanned the barcode. To his shock, an app called “Common Sense Manipulation App” installed itself on his phone, claiming it could alter people's “common sense.”------Support Me By Gifts or Power Stones-----

A wise man once said all roads lead to Rome. He didn’t know how right he was.Ripped away from the battlefield, Tiberius and his six thousand Roman Legionnaires unexpectedly find themselves stranded in a foreign land of magic and witchcraft. With no way home, their path forward is obvious: conquer everything in sight.Much to the chagrin of Marcus—the poor, unsuspecting bard who summoned them.But taking over the world is not so easy. In order to stake their claim, the Legion will need to learn how to navigate the strange magics and abilities this new world has granted them. Abilities which, upon closer inspection, may prove the seed for a legend in the making…The dawn of a new empire looms on the horizon. Rome will rise anew as they seize cities, battle armies, and expand their territory across this strange and fantastical world. All the while, Marcus will need to figure out how to mitigate the force of nature he's unleashed upon his woefully unprepared world. That, or simply enjoy the front row seat to an epic in the making. Someone will need to tell the story, and who better aside from him?The die has been cast. The aqueducts are being built. And Rome will once more see glory.

In humanity’s final war against the Demon Lord, the strongest heroes fell—not by the enemy’s hand, but by their own, twisted into madness by a cruel illusion. Betrayal. Bloodshed. Despair… and then, silence.Only one person remained: Riley—the weakest warrior of them all. Powerless. Ignored. Forgotten.But he saw through the Demon Lord’s deception. The tyrant was on the brink of death—so weak even a fly could’ve finished him off.And Riley did just that, drawing every last ounce of strength to bite off the demon’s head.Victory? Not quite. A final, desperate strike from the Demon Lord pierced him from behind, killing him instantly.But fate wasn’t done with him yet.Riley awoke ten years in the past—when the online game [Apocalypse] was launched. Before demons descended. Before monsters overran the world.And this time, he wasn’t starting from nothing. He had a decade of experience—and a second chance.Even more shocking, he didn’t awaken his old D-rank Strength Boost talent. This time, he received something far more terrifying: an SSS-Rank Gluttony talent!He could now devour anything—monsters, items, talents, even traits—and gain their power.Ding![You have devoured: Iron Fang Wolf][Acquired: +4 Strength, +2 Agility, Skill: Bite (F-rank)][You have devoured: Goblin ShamanAcquired: +8 Intelligence, Skill: Mana Bolt (E-rank), Talent: Minor Spellcasting Efficiency][You have devoured: Flaming Salamander Drake][Acquired: +22 Endurance, Trait: Dragon’s Resilience, Skill: Flame Breath (C-rank)]Now, there is no demon, no god, no monster who will stand in his way. He will devour everything—and save the world.But the power of Gluttony was a double edged sword. If he wasn’t careful… he could be the one getting consumed.

“And if someday you see me, remember to forget my name, or karma will bow.”****For Awuor’s power, her people had done the unthinkable, in the history of werewolves.Her beta and brother, Dom, murdered their mother, the Sicario luna and blamed it on Awuor. In his grief, her father didn't bother to try and find out the truth, instead, for murdering her mother, he gave his daughter the worst punishment any alpha could ever get.He banished her from home, but Awuor’s wasn’t the usual banishment. Her father neither stripped her of the alpha title, nor did he make her a rogue. Instead, Alpha Sicario forced Awuor to be an exiled alpha, a woman so powerful, but with no one to rule over.Her mate, Jer, a power-hungry bastard, stepped up to rule the Sicario pack, since Awuor, the reigning alpha, was away, and Jer never once sought her out. Just like everyone else, he had betrayed her when he claimed a different woman, without rejecting Awuor.As the gates of Sicario closed on her, as her people watched her in disgust and disappointment, the daughter of Sicario had just one thought.A PROMISE of destruction & vengeance; she would ruin them all.***[EXCERPT]“Either you're from the Dawson pack, the Bluemoon pack, or the Sicario pack, because you're definitely not from our Greyson pack. You must have done something really stupid for your alphas to banish you, even though you have no scent of the ferals.“So that could mean you're not a feral, but you're certainly not that important to your people. You seem to have an attitude and reek of power, that's why you don't appreciate anyone talking to you like a regular wolf.“But all of that doesn't matter right now, because you are the unwanted little wolf. The girl without a home, the rejected wolf who can't be claimed by anyone else. You're dressed in banana leaves because you have no clue how to make proper clothing on your own.“— or even check the feral cloth reservoir on the west of this forest. The fact that you have stayed so close to the other three packs is because you don't want to be away from home and are somehow hoping that they'd want you back.“Allow me to spell it out for you and make it easier for your probably useless brain to understand, little wolf, no one wants you. I'm only taking you to my alpha because your presence here is a nuisance to us, and for some reason, the alpha is interested in you.“And before you get any ideas about mates and whatnot, our alpha is already mated. So will you get up on your own, or do we have to take you stripped? Because I for one have no problem doing that. We could just treat you like the rogue that you're not,” Adolf said to Awuor who still had her angry smirk on.