When Arthur Clark, wage slave and bookworm, takes a bat to the head, he assumes his days of dreary counter minding are over. Instead, a dragon who calls herself a goddess gives him an offer he can't refuse. The job is simple on the surface, manage a store in an apocalyptic city and bring her currency to the people there. Upon arrival at his new home, he finds himself with little more than the clothes on his back and the equivalent of a child's lemonade stand.

In just seven days, the world will crumble. The System's Descent will usher in a new era of chaos: wild animals mutating, monstrous creatures emerging, and the cessation of modern technology. Humanity will be left defenseless. Drew Wright knows none of this. At least not until he is rudely ripped from his bed and thrust into a white room to undergo a taser-happy ‘Tutorial’. Turns out, he is one of a thousand randomly selected people to be forewarned of the approaching apocalypse. Now, he faces the delightful task of convincing his wife and mother of the devastation hurtling towards them.

Isaac Thoma lived to see the last handful of survivors defeat the demonic champion. He is now alone, his past in ashes, the last and most powerful human on a blighted Earth. But what if he could go back? Hurled back in time, Isaac has one chance to change it all. A chance to warn humanity of their impending doom. A chance to stop the [System] before shortsightedness and lust for power can render humanity extinct.

I had lain down in my crypt to rest for a few decades, but when I awoke, centuries had passed. My castle is in ruins, my clan is gone, and necromancers are considered just a fairy tale for children. They take me for a healer. That's because the world is sick. And it's time for strong medicine.

It’s Drop Night, the one night every decade when the gods hand out cards to a lucky few. If you get a deck, you’re a deckbearer capable of wondrous feats within the Great Game system. You can control powerful monsters and summon mantles that let you fight alongside your beasts. Ethan Wolfe, top enforcer for the Grimm family mob, has already been overlooked on two previous Drop Nights. People of his ilk seldom receive cards, as the gods tend to favor people who follow their divine mandates, but that doesn’t mean Wolfe can’t hope.

In his world, he was the last remaining alchemist, one of the few survivors living amidst the ruins of a once-great civilization. Refusing to give up on life, but seeing that nothing could save his home, he challenged himself to find a way out of such an inhospitable place. After years of dedicated research, he devised a ritual to transport himself to another world. But the outcome was far from anticipated. Instead of mere displacement, he underwent a rebirth. He ended up in a new body, in a new world, surrounded by new threats lurking around every corner.

Saved by Duke Kinson, Morgan found a new life in the world of Dunnishire. Orphaned as a young teenager, he found himself in a new world where making friends was easy. That all came crashing down the day he turned sixteen and found out he not only had a death affinity, but was also a necromancer. For a time, all necromancers were put down before they could gain levels or power.

Cast into a brutal military camp by his once loving master, Mateo feels like the last six wonderful years of his life have been a lie. With the mysteries surrounding him growing, Mateo knows that his only option is to become one of the supernaturally powerful Duelists and grow in power until he can take his fate into his own hands. That plan is thwarted from the beginning when he gets stuck with the lowest-ranked Root Card against his will, ensuring that his growth as a Duelist will always be excruciatingly slow.

A gunslinger with four affinities is a myth. It's the kind of story whispered in frontier saloons one drink before closing and around campfires in the dead of night. For the heroes and villains in those tales, that impossible power is a boon, a gift. For Mr. Jones, it's a curse. Of course, that's not his real name. He's had many. Changing names is necessary when you possess a power that every lawman and outlaw would kill to obtain. To survive, you keep your head down, kill when you must, and never stay in one place too long.

Maxwell Carter works a maintenance job at a government research facility. The research lab he works at has an accident, more energy coming through the wormhole than anticipated, enough to completely rupture the shields that were supposed to contain it until they finished determining how to convert the energy into electricity. Previously harmless animals are changed to nightmare threats and people are dying, seemingly due to incidents related directly to their interests.

"Congratulations! You are the last survivor of the Hell Games. You have gained back your freedom." Huh? One moment I was running from demons and other competitors trying to do me in. The next, I was thrown back into yet another realm. Before me, some Princess started explaining that she had asked the gods for champions to help save her world in these dire times… and I was one of the chosen heroes. Yeah, right! I had been in Hell long enough to know I shouldn't trust my senses when it all seemed too good to be true.

I used to be the greatest Earth Mage in my world. The head of the entire Order of Architects. But the older you get, the more you come to realize that at some point, you need to retire, so that you can have the chance to enjoy a peaceful life and to cede your place to the young, some of whom have already turned two thousand years old . . .So that's what I did. But I failed to account for one thing: during the course of my long life, I'd accumulated too many enemies, and they had decided to spoil my retirement. So they died along with me. And I hope their deaths were final. But mine was not!

Miles “Shrug” Lindstrom received a quest years ago. He was the only person who could see the window, and in addition to the quest, he could also see a countdown to the end of the world. Part of him was hoping that he was just insane and had been hallucinating when he first started seeing the window. Then again, if the quest was just his imagination, he was going to be massively in debt with a rental full of useless junk. But when the countdown finally stops, what happens is nothing like he could have imagined.

When the cultivators came to Earth, they destroyed our entire civilization in a matter of hours. Armies fell, cities burned, and that was before the moon turned red and filled our world with monsters. Now, over a decade later, what's left of humanity slaves under the heels of our Qi-infused masters. The luckiest of us might even become one of them, they say—if we serve the Dynasty well enough and harness the power of Qi. But I want none of that. I'm sick of serving, and I want nothing to do with their world. Instead, I want them to pay for what they did to mine.

Ever since Arwin was summoned as a child, all he has known is war. And now, to claim the demon queen's life and end the war, he has to sacrifice himself. But, as he deals the final blow, the Hero of Mankind is betrayed. Caught in a magical explosion thought to end him, Arwin awakens a month later to find that everyone has already moved on. His [Hero] class has changed to a unique blacksmith Class called [The Living Forge] that is empowered by consuming magical items, but some of his old passive [Titles] remain, giving him the power to forge his new future exactly the way he wants to.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive - and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet.

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

Two astronomers have detected a strange, pulsing signal from deep space. Within hours, the US government goes into lockdown, restricting airspace and scrubbing scientific data. Was the signal an intercepted communication revealing alarming plans for an enemy’s military strike? Or has humanity at long last found proof of extraterrestrial life?

When Arthur Clark, wage slave and bookworm, takes a bat to the head, he assumes his days of dreary counter minding are over. Instead, a dragon who calls herself a goddess gives him an offer he can't refuse. The job is simple on the surface, manage a store in an apocalyptic city and bring her currency to the people there. Upon arrival at his new home, he finds himself with little more than the clothes on his back and the equivalent of a child's lemonade stand.

Somebody once told a joke. A man ran in place all his life. He worked a job he didn't love for people he couldn't stand. But at the end of the day, the number in his bank account went up. That man got a second chance at life. He woke up in another world, one full of adventures and romances and monsters and gods. And floating above his head, he saw the number "1". So what did he say? "Gosh, I better make the number go up." Not today. Not for this old soul. Reborn as a beast of battle meant to live a short life and die screaming, Garek refuses.

Isolated in the northern wilderness, Hawkin—an adventurer turned hermit—is fulfilled by the small joys of his simple life. He hunts and forages for food, tends to a small garden, maintains his humble cabin, and patrols the meandering trail that leads down to the sea. After celebrating ten years alone in his woods, visitors begin to arrive. First an ancient monster, then a trio of monks with a peculiar set of skills.

Today was the Erodicilee's happiest day-until it wasn't. A cruel monster interrupted his trip, stole his mother and fled, but thankfully, he was born for such an occasion. For him, eating creatures will allow him to evolve new abilities to grow strong enough and find the one he loves!

Magic school isn't cheap. To be a Mage, he must work smart and learn fast.Fate dealt Nox the Alchemist unfavorable cards, but he has learnt to compensate for his shortcomings with scholarly pursuits, tenacity, and sheer grit. Fortunately, for him Woodson University and their scouts are always seeking individuals with his work ethic. The Department of Dungeon Studies sees the value of the mind and its ability to overcome all limitations. After all, they stripped the divine of their titles. The department turned gods into Dungeon Lords and their domains into Dungeons.

Eric was as shocked as everyone else when the apocalypse struck, but unlike his mother's movie, there were no chosen heroes destined to fight the beast hordes now overrunning the planet. Just people trying desperately to survive. Yet there was a glimmer of hope that humanity could hold on to. A chosen few really could level up in this brave new world, and embrace magic, adventure, and the potential for limitless power!

The aliens didn't conquer Earth. They negotiated exclusive streaming rights instead. Unbeknownst to humanity, the powerful Voltaxians controlled the galaxy, their vast empire fueled by their monopoly on mana. Humanity feared invasion, only to find out the godlike aliens had something far different in mind. The Voltaxians offered a simple deal. Allow them to set up dungeons controlled by living intelligent dungeon cores on Earth to generate mana, and they'd share the wealth.

When Yao Shen, Patriarch of the Heavenly Sky Sect, ascends and regains memories of his past life on Planet Earth, he realizes that he can no longer allow himself to accept the cruel and violent ways of Eliria, the realm of cultivation. So he decides to change it. It was time to found a new sect. One based on the values of honor and equality over senseless violence and discrimination. A sect where all, from the mortal farmer’s son to a sect elder's daughter, were held accountable to the same rules.

When the System Administrators arrived on Earth, they forced those of the younger generation into other worlds to fight for multiversal entertainment. Bored of life on Earth, Noah has trained to become one of the chosen. He even had his class all planned out–a Mounted Monster Tamer. But he was never picked. So he put matters into his own hands and volunteered. Arriving in a world thick with jungle and hotter than the most boiling desert, Noah finds himself face-to-face with a kobold, which he proceeds to beat into submission and turn into a minion.

"Early Adopter" is a collection of short stories from the edge of human progress. Eight stories hold dark mirrors to our own world—experience thought-provoking sci-fi, technologic tragedy, and pulse-pounding thrillers. To Run Again: Dr. Laura Brandie is ready to change the world. She's the lead researcher behind the KSE, a revolutionary cure for paralysis and neurodegenerative conditions. And now, by good fortune, she's found the perfect candidate for her first human trial: a man who suffers from locked-in syndrome.

Nothing in this world is more dangerous than a witch. The epitome of fear and terror, they can summon floods on a whim, conjure balls of fire out of the air, or even destroy entire countries overnight. Incur their wrath, and no one is safe. At least, that's what everyone thinks, and it's the very reason they all want Siasha dead. After yet another violent battle for her life, she teams up with Zig, a mercenary, and they depart for unknown lands to find somewhere she can live in peace. But is the pair any match for the lost magic and vicious monstrosities that lie ahead?

Boba’s on the menu. So far, the Demon World has shown Arthur nothing but love. Now? It’s time for him to reciprocate. Arthur’s finally finding his place in the demon world. He has his own tea shop in a city that accepts him and a family that he’s beginning to call his own. But when Milo’s father sends word that he’s returned from his latest expedition, Arthur is faced with an impossible choice.

Kousuke suddenly wakes up alone in a vast forest that clearly isn't anywhere on Earth. Now he has to find some way to eat, drink, and survive! Luckily, Kousuke also has the power to craft using a special video game menu that allows him to harvest resources and build whatever he can imagine. However, every time he goes to sleep, he's attacked by one of the many non-human races of this world, all of whom despise humankind. Enter Silphy, the beautiful dark elf who lays claim to Kousuke and vows to protect him--after all, she's taken him as her property!

As an anti-social art major perpetually at risk of dropping out, college life wasn't a great fit for Momo. When she wakes up one morning in a dark cavern full of sentient skeletons and oddball introverts who call themselves necromancers, she knows a new era of her life is about to start. Chosen for her meek and harmless personality, she is able to exist under the radar as she completes the Dawn's necromantic missions. Watch her as she gains confidence (and class levels), and reluctantly rises from meager apprentice to self-assured queen of the underworld.

Max was murdered, but now he is mostly over it. Living on earth as a recent college graduate, he can still perfectly recall his past life on the fantasy world of Albion before that. He'd been hailed as the "Hero of the World" after crawling his way up from poverty, eventually enjoying great fame and luxury. But on mana-starved Earth, he's just a guy.