The Spire Farm Fiasco
By @john1208
When I tripped over my own boots and fell face-first into the S-Rank Malagro Catacombs during my very public, very embarrassing Vetrano Hunters' Academy expulsion ceremony, everyone assumed I was dead. Instead, I found out the subterranean soil down in the abyss is absolutely sublime. So, I did what any reasonable guy with the 'Telluric Breath' soil-aeration skill would do: I started a vegetable garden. Now, my giant bloodthirsty Sanguine Dread-Lupine, Brambol, fetches the bones of fallen monsters like sticks, and the terrifying undead dungeon boss, Morzanto the Ashen, pays me rent in legendary artifacts just so I'll keep feeding him my magical cabbages. But my peaceful agricultural life is under threat. My hyper-healing lettuce has accidentally crashed the outside world's potion economy, sparking massive underground black markets. Worse, the Guildmaster keeps sending elite hit-squads to trample my crops for a surprisingly heartbreaking reason! Will I be able to harvest my impenetrable shield-pumpkins before the overzealous hunters ruin my farm, or will I have to unleash my golden-retriever-brained hellhound to defend my plot?
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Warmth for the Winter Prodigy
By @john1208
The story opens at a bleak funeral, where Branya and her little brother are taken in by a benevolent priest. But Branya knows the truth of this world: she is trapped in a tragic novel, and her trusted benefactor has just assigned her to spy on Mirovan, an ostracized magical prodigy destined to become a world-ending monster. Sent to his freezing, isolated tower, Branya plays the role of a bumbling, relentlessly cheerful maid. Secretly sharp, she discreetly intercepts his poisoned meals and spends every copper of her wages on soothing salves and heavy wool coats to ease his painful magical backlash. Told in alternating perspectives, the story reveals a melancholic truth: Mirovan is bewildered by her care, slowly abandoning his grand plans to slaughter his tormentors because he only wishes to live quietly by her side. But as their bittersweet, unspoken love deepens, Branya discovers her revered benefactor is the true mastermind orchestrating Mirovan’s impending execution. With her little brother held hostage, can a supposedly foolish maid outwit a saint to save the doomed boy she loves?
1
Shattering the Sovereign's Script
By @john1208
Oksana Vrobel's perfectly scheduled Tuesday morning is ruined when her bathroom mirror unexpectedly drags her into the multiverse. Her forced mission? Ensure the 'Original Plot' of various tragic worlds survives. Her reality? The original protagonists - a pair of glowing, tyrannical royals - are absolute pests, while the so-empathically-dubbed 'world-ending villain', Dragomir, is just a lonely outcast trying to build a family of stray chimeras. Disgusted by the glaring injustice and rolling her eyes at the hackneyed script, the fiercely proud Oksana refuses to play along. Instead of offering Dragomir soft, weeping sympathies, she shoves forbidden blueprints into his hands and orders him to build a siege engine. As she ruthlessly dismantles the royal regime and prepares to jump to the next dimension, Oksana expects some well-deserved peace. But what happens when the broken souls she arms refuse to be left behind, tearing through the fabric of reality to follow their prickly savior, and dragging her infuriatingly handsome rival along for the ride?
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