grimes we appreciate power

In 1976, nine-time world chess champion Mac Sullivan goes to the countryside with his wife and daughter. While foraging for wild vegetables, he stumbles upon two mysterious sages playing an otherworldly game of chess.Mesmerized by their match, Mac steps in to play a few moves, completely losing track of time. When the game finally ends, he discovers that 49 years have passed in the mortal world. To compensate for the lost time, one of the sages gifts him a mystical peach of immortality, but its supernatural power is too strong, and Mac is rejuvenated into a ten-year-old child, now possessing decades of chess mastery in a young boy’s body.

Cast out by his parents' old friend, Sean White awakens as an SSS-Rank Insect Tamer, yet is scorned by all as worthless. His engagement is broken, his inheritance seized, leaving him with only a withered mantis. However, when the system activates and the insect nest descends, his forces multiply by one every minute! On the trial grounds, his endless swarm crushes former prodigies.Before his family's gates, void-borne insects tear through space itself. Only when the entire Clark family is shrouded in the shadow of his swarm do they realize in terror: this so-called "waste" has long held the power to overturn the world.

Leroy was the concubine's son — the one the family never truly accepted. Banished to the graveyard, he became the apprentice of Madam Gibson, the Grave Keeper. At the Martial Arts Tournament, Leroy's brilliance finally blazed forth, only to draw the ire of Fairy Ember, Elder of the Ebonveil Sect. When despair swallowed all hope, Madam Gibson revealed a power that shook the heavens. With a single sweep of her hand, she silenced the crowd, her sword aimed at the sky: "In all this world, who dares to harm my disciple?" And so began a battle that would span the Three Realms—a clash of fate, pride, and divine power.

Leroy was the concubine's son — the one the family never truly accepted. Banished to the graveyard, he became the apprentice of Madam Gibson, the Grave Keeper. At the Martial Arts Tournament, Leroy's brilliance finally blazed forth, only to draw the ire of Fairy Ember, Elder of the Ebonveil Sect. When despair swallowed all hope, Madam Gibson revealed a power that shook the heavens.With a single sweep of her hand, she silenced the crowd, her sword aimed at the sky: "In all this world, who dares to harm my disciple?" And so began a battle that would span the Three Realms—a clash of fate, pride, and divine power.

I go into business with my childhood friend, Ian Ziegler. The business is a success, earning 1.2 million dollars in profit. Ian gives me my share—a whopping 5,000 dollars. Noticing my dissatisfaction, Ian puts his arm around my girlfriend, Nina Foster, and tosses the keys to his Bentley onto the table. "What, is five grand too little for you? Fine. Since you're so broke, I'll give you a chance to turn things around for yourself. There's going to be a soccer game tonight. We're both going to place our bets. If you win, you can get all 1.2 million, plus my car. "But if you lose, your girlfriend's mine. You'll also have to get on your knees and lick my shoes right here in front of everyone." Everyone else in the room cackles gleefully, eager to watch me humiliate myself. Smirking, I nod. "Sure. I'll take that bet." These people have no idea that five years ago, I'd single-handedly taken down the Northwest Aravian illegal soccer betting circuit. I'd set a trap for a match-fixing syndicate, beating the crooks at their own game. I'd walked away from that life after that. But now, Ian has seriously decided to challenge me to a soccer bet?

Former gambling legend Ryker Miller, weary of the bloodshed and intrigue of the casino world, retreats from the underworld to live an ordinary life. Years later, Ironbriar Group chairman Bryan Taylor leverages an old favor to finally convince Ryker to emerge from retirement and help resolve a crisis threatening the corporation's survival. However, Ryker doesn't know that behind the Taylor family's glamorous facade, Bryan's son Jason Taylor is brutally tormenting his pregnant daughter-in-law, Carmen. Her suffering and despair are quietly brewing a storm powerful enough to overturn the entire Taylor family, and Ryker's return will inadvertently pull him into this vortex of family and power struggles.

When Sophie Reed empties her every resource into a spirit summoning ritual, the universe sends her Leo Hayes,  a cheerful young man in catastrophically loud floral shorts. The crowd loses it. Lowest-grade Contract Spirit in history, they say. What nobody knows is that Leo carries the Menace System, a power that feeds on breaking rules, shattering expectations, and generally refusing to behave. The more absurd, the more impossible, the more wrong he is by every known standard,  the stronger he becomes. He slaps the original summoner clean out of the picture, casually evolves into the Divine-grade Contract Spirit World Heartthrob, and grins at a world full of rules he was apparently born to demolish.

After her father's betrayal destroys her family, Jeri Snider abandons her fortune and disappears, only to be saved by struggling entrepreneur Clayton Lynn. She helps him build his empire in secret, but once he rises to power, he turns on her, even cheating with her relative, July. When July exposes Jeri and sets her up to be assaulted, mysterious tycoon Craig Lawson intervenes. But why does he care? Jeri once left him without explanation, and now his sudden return feels… calculated. Is love the real motive? Or is this marriage just another trap? Jeri must outsmart them all—before she loses everything for good.

Tina rescued Zion, a mute slave in the fighting pits, under a mysterious identity while in Cloudon. She believed their love was a predestined redemption until Zion was exposed as the illegitimate son of the Stone family. Only then did she realize his approach had also been a transaction. Tina tried to cut ties, only to be dragged into the Stone family's internal strife. After seizing power, Zion drugged her to erase her memories of their past together and her former alter ego, sending her back to Jadeport to live as an ordinary woman. Now, he schemes to win her back with a whirlwind marriage, but as Tina's memories gradually return, the truth of their past begins to surface.

Luke Shaw walks out of prison framed by his own brother and stumbles into something inexplicable, an ancestral bronze mirror that connects him across nine centuries to Wendy Cole, a young woman surviving alone in the Ascon Era. They make a deal. Luke sends modern goods and business strategies through the mirror, helping Wendy clear her father's wrongful conviction and build a commercial empire from nothing. She sends back Ascon antiques, giving Luke the capital and leverage he needs to dismantle his brother's power piece by piece. Two people wronged by their own families, separated by a thousand years, building each other's revenge one transaction at a time.

After recovering, Heather planned to pretend to be blind and proposed to her boyfriend Darren, hoping to give him a surprise. However, Darren passionately kissed other girl right in front of her and even made a bet with his friends, asking someone else to take his place to keep her occupied while he enjoyed his freedom. Filled with grief and anger, Heather thought, "You're choosing a husband for me, is that it?" She threw herself into the arms of Alonzo, and demanded a kiss in front of him. Little did she know, Alonzo had long been deeply in love with her! In this game of power and dominance, who will come out on top? And who truly holds the upper hand?

Luke Shaw walks out of prison framed by his own brother and stumbles into something inexplicable, an ancestral bronze mirror that connects him across nine centuries to Wendy Cole, a young woman surviving alone in the Ascon Era. They make a deal. Luke sends modern goods and business strategies through the mirror, helping Wendy clear her father's wrongful conviction and build a commercial empire from nothing. She sends back Ascon antiques, giving Luke the capital and leverage he needs to dismantle his brother's power piece by piece. Two people wronged by their own families, separated by a thousand years, building each other's revenge one transaction at a time.

Vivian, the bankrupt heiress, walks in on her fiancé and her best friend plotting to pull her father's ventilator plug at their engagement party. While fleeing, she falls into the arms of her fiancé's uncle—Alistair, the "Tyrant of Wall Street." He offers to save her father in exchange for a binding marriage contract. Vivian fights back: she gets her fiancé drunk and ruins his reputation, and sends her best friend to prison. But she mistakenly believes Alistair is the one who killed her mother, and teams up with foreign investors to short his conglomerate. When the truth comes to light—he is the boy who saved her from a fire ten years ago, his back bearing burns that never healed—the two powerhouses join forces. She takes control of the financial empire in the open, while he secretly deploys phantom funds to counterattack. The scumbag fiancé goes bankrupt, the best friend descends into madness, and the mastermind behind it all is left without access to medical care. At the pinnacle of their victory, he kneels and fastens a necklace around her ankle: "I am willing to be your prisoner." She lifts his chin with a smile: "We have been each other's captives all along."

The night before our 17th wedding attempt, my mafia husband, Rafaeal Holloway, looks at me and promises an uninterrupted wedding. He solemnly swears. "Gianna, I promise you. I told Natalia that even if the sky falls, she'll deal with it alone." I am five months pregnant by then. After three years of dating and five months carrying his child, we've never managed to make it down the aisle because he's canceled the past 16 weddings. Every single time, it's for his sworn sister, Natalia Sullivan. The first time, she claims she has a fever. I spend the whole night at the hospital, still in my wedding dress, just to find out she has a mild cold. The second time, she claims her chest hurts. Rafael abandons me mid-wedding and rushes to her side, while she's out laughing over afternoon tea with friends. The third time, she cries for fear of thunder. He bolts mid-vows and leaves me alone in a hall full of staring guests. But everything's different now. Three days ago, a letter arrived from Northern Silenzio. My father, the Don of the Rossetti family, has finally summoned me home. If Rafael walks away for Natalia one more time, I'll leave for good.

Modern elite assassin Morgan Calud dies and transmigrates into a woman with the same name. After Morgan's father died in battle, her mother disguised her as a boy from birth so they could maintain their position in the Calud family. As Morgan grows up, she yearns to reclaim her female identity but fears that discovery would mean death for both her and her mother. Planning to escape with her mother before her secret is exposed, Morgan is unexpectedly noticed by Shane Burke—the Aetheria Dynasty's only duke with a different surname, a man of overwhelming power and ruthless temperament. He brings her back to his estate, and from then on, she must outwit him daily just to survive.

In a world where humans and dragons coexist, dragonkind—though capable of taking human form—are inherently violent and must rely on the magic of human women to suppress their frenzy. To secure power and compete for the throne, Dragon Lord candidates enter marriage pacts with women from powerful magical families. Anastasia, born into one such family and gifted with immense magic, once devoted her life to helping her husband Dmitri rise to the throne—only to be betrayed by him and her own sister, and die a tragic death in prison. On the brink of death, she casts a forbidden spell and is reborn on the eve of his proposal. This time, she refuses to be a pawn—she will rewrite her fate and take revenge on those who destroyed her.

When the apocalypse hits, the university campus turns into a zombie nightmare. Carson Langster, just an ordinary education major, gets betrayed by his ex-girlfriend Linda Larrow and his rich so-called friend George Tarren. Nearly dead, his roommates sacrifice themselves to save Carson—only to turn into a zombie.But Carson awakens the Dorm Manager System,giving him the power to control zombies and build bases. He turns the dorm building into his headquarters and brings his zombified roommates—Finn, John Nestle,Rowan, and the others—under his control. Carson builds a full apocalypse survival base with a cafeteria,livestock operation, and factories. His only goal:collect enough cores to upgrade the system and turn his buddies back into humans.

Walton, a demigod, has guarded the borders of the Kingdom of Eldor for sixty years, keeping demons at bay and ensuring peace across the realm. Yet in return, he is met with suspicion and ingratitude. Branded as a fraud who exaggerates his achievements to enjoy luxury at the kingdom’s expense, he is ultimately exiled from the very land he protected. The moment Walton leaves, the seal holding back the demonic forces collapses. The demons surge back, and Eldor plunges into chaos. Only then does the kingdom realize what they have lost. Across the world, nations finally witness the true power of a demigod—and begin desperately seeking his allegiance. As for Eldor… it is already too late. It will reap what it has sown.