The Heart of a Smith - Chapter 16 - Dropped Formalities

Qin Mian opened his eyes and found himself lying in a leaky thatched room. The problem was that he was still in his family’s villa beforehand! What’s more, there was another man lying next to his leg in the quilt!

“You, you, who are you?”

The man sat up quietly, his upper body exposed as looked at Qin Mian for a moment before he carried a worn out bowl with a cracked corner from the low table at the head of the bed. The man said in a muffled voice, “Wife, drink water.”

Qin Mian’s eyes rolled backwards and he passed out.

—
TN:
Title explanation: 勉为其男 [miǎn wéi qí nán] have the same sound as 勉为其难 [miǎn wéi qí nán] which means to do something reluctantly. 勉 [miǎn] is also part of MC’s name: Qin Mian.  Also, 其[qí ] sounds the same as 妻 [qi] means wife. So, there are words plays. Basically, Qin Mian reluctantly becomes someone’s man [wife] after he transmigrated.

I thought being laid off from my job was the greatest of my worries but I just had to wake up in a ship's cockpit after my space game crashed. Now I have no map, no friends and no money.But that's ok, I've started from the bottom before! With my starter ship I will scour through space as a Mercenary and maybe even start up a Mercenary Company while I'm at it! This ain't my first rodeo in space after all!Except... Apparently my crew members are weird?The guy who bumped into me yesterday was found sliced up and floating outside the space station.The girl who tried to honeytrap me was reported missing with only a finger found in an alley.And then that merchant who scammed me had his entire ship blasted into bits by unknown vessels the very next day.Some people say my crewmates were behind it but they must be mistaken, right?I only know one thing for sure...In space, no one can hear you scream...

For the sake of his family, Ren embarked on the popular VRMMORPG, COVENANT, that used real-time in-game currency. But being a mediocre player who only knows how to gather information, he was put in a supporting role.

As the game explodes in popularity and every multibillion-dollar company invested in the game, things have turned for the worse for Ren. Due to the amount of information he gathered, the cheats, secrets, quests, and bugs he discovered, he was silent in fear of selling the information to the other guilds.

But given a second chance, he went back in time when his father was still alive and COVENANT was just in its starting phase.

This time . . . he wouldn’t be that guy on the side who gathered information from day in and day out for ten years.

Equipped with the games knowledge he accumulated, he will become . . . an Alchemist!

Chrono Mage? Djin Master? Summoner? Necromancer?
Chaos Lord?

What good are those?

Sure they’re powerful and rare classes and sought after by guilds, but it’s the alchemist who forged artifacts and concocts rare items and potions that gets the most coins at the end of the day!

It was better than being a blacksmith or a crafter! Plus, he could use all sorts of magic without limit to race and class!

It was the ultimate class! And no one even knows it!

Two centuries after the Great War, peace between humans and werewolves was finally achieved, or so everyone believes. Werewolves reign like gods, and humans remain blissfully unaware of their true place in the new world order.To maintain this fragile balance, each year, a handful of “lucky” humans are selected from various districts to attend Lunaris Academy, a prestigious institution that promises glory, status, and a chance to mingle with the elite. Those chosen are hailed as the lucky few, destined to marry powerful alphas and rise as luna.This year, Violet Purple is among the chosen, much to everyone's surprise. For an orphaned girl adopted by a disgraced prostitute, this is a golden ticket to a better life or so she's told. But Lunaris Academy isn’t the paradise it’s painted to be.Everything Violet and her fellow humans have been taught is a lie. Humans are far from equal; they're pawns in a much larger game. The academy is nothing but a gilded cage, and the students are lambs led to slaughter, playthings for the alphas to toy with in their ruthless games.To make matters worse, Violet catches the attention of the most dangerous players in this game, the Terror Four: the Alpha of the North, Alpha of the South, Alpha of the East, and Alpha of the West. Each one is more dangerous, more twisted, and more powerful than the last. But even among themselves, the alphas are divided, each with their own deadly ambitions.Yet, they all have their eyes on her.They expect Violet to play along, to fall in line like the others who worship at their feet, to break under their games. But Violet isn’t like the others. She refuses to bow. She’ll defy them all.***********With a grin that made her uneasy, he handed the application to her. “Approve this one.”Principal Jameson’s curiosity got the better of her as she took the paper from him, her eyes scanning the text.Almost immediately, her breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening in disbelief. “What the...?”“It’s perfect, isn’t it?” Asher’s voice was almost gleeful.Fucking psychopath!Jameson could hardly believe what she was reading. “Mr. Nightshade, with all due respect, this applicant….this girl just admitted to—”She couldn’t even finish the sentence, still horrified at the explicit nature of the application.Taking a deep breath, she continued, “I’m sorry, but I cannot approve this.”“She’s issued me a challenge,” Archer said, a dark gleam in his eyes.“What?”“‘Wait till you see me in bed,’” he repeated the bold line from the application, his grin widening. “And I can’t wait to find out.”“Mr. Nightshade—”He stood up, cutting off her protest as he fixed her with an intense stare. “Approve the application. I won’t ask again.”Without waiting for her response, Asher strode out of the office, confident she would follow his orders. He always got what he wanted.Archer Nightshade walked down the hall, a spring in his step. For the first time in a long while, he felt alive, his blood pulsing with excitement.The other Cardinal Alphas had no idea what he was up to, but it would soon hit them.He’d just set the game in motion.And the target was Violet Purple.It was game on.