Dawn over Hohenheim

A note before you begin:

The main story and the side story are both complete.

The main story and side story are essentially two separate stories. The main story is Western fantasy plus Fourth Calamity; the side story is traditional Western fantasy. They can be read independently.

I plan to print the Fire Thief side story as a book to give to a friend. It's now in the final stages of revision and proofreading. During this time, I'll be making frequent changes to the side story, so please forgive any inconvenience.

The author's lazy version of the blurb:

The usual online game protagonist: Have fun playing, create chaos with gusto, and one day I'll become a big shot.

The real female lead: Even in a Fourth Calamity, there are quiet majority players like me. Even the most obedient players have a desire to take out the game developers.

The usual hardworking System: Diligent, responsible, hardworking, obedient. Striving to become the number one all-around System employee.

The real System employee: I just don't have any experience being a System, and I'm a bit cryptic, okay? Please stop thinking about cooking me every day!

The usual System owner: Conquer the world, starting with a game.

The real male lead: Before that, I need to stay alive...

And that guy upstairs who's planning something, I'm really not an NPC...

The proper blurb is here:

Zhou Qian thought that after choosing to leave the world of science behind and inherit her family's porcelain kiln, her life would become ordinary, quiet, and uneventful.

That was until she unexpectedly got a beta key for the full-immersion game Lost Continent Online and chose to join. Only then did she realize that her future held limitless possibilities.

This was a world where magic had advanced to its peak. She could use what she had learned to open an entirely new chapter for this world.

She thought she liked it here.

When poison coursed through his body and he was forced to inherit a territory, facing the bitter cold, Randall Merlin thought his life was about to end.

That was until he bound himself to a "game System" and saw another possible future.

That was until a young woman took his hand without hesitation and led him into a completely new, unknown world.

The aurora blazed across the sky. He closed his eyes and realized he had found the summer that belonged only to him.

The dimensional wall cannot keep you and me from meeting.

I make you glorious, and I become your salvation.

Author's notes:

· This is Western fantasy, world-building, and Fourth Calamity, with many player-perspective chapters. Warning: this Fourth Calamity story may not feel much like a typical Fourth Calamity novel.

· The pairing is a protagonist game developer NPC x player, set against a Fourth Calamity backdrop. It's inconvenient to change the blurb, so please see the author's note in Chapter 1 for more specific content warnings.

· The author is obsessive about background details. Historical references, myths, legends, and original lore are flying everywhere. The main plot focuses on uncovering the world's mysteries, and the "game" will be decoded later in the story.

· This isn't a traditional ensemble Fourth Calamity power fantasy. The story's later direction and plot differ considerably. The Fourth Calamity is only one part of the novel, not the main plot.

· To avoid spoilers, details about the world's background will be organized and released gradually after the novel is complete.

Theme: Never give up hope, no matter what.