In the aftermath of an unprecedented magical disaster, Edge wakes up in a monster-infested wilderness, standing on the bottom of the food chain. But he won’t be there for long. After finding a unique core known as Skill-Eater, Edge gains the power to steal the skills of monsters, men, and beasts, and a chance to battle his way up to the top.

The System warned them. The world panicked. Alex prepared. In college for a degree he didn’t care about, the promise of the System creating a world where magic and challenge awaited—even at the risk of death—was the best news Alex possibly could have imagined. Yeah, Alex was ready for a new life. He wasn’t, however, ready for his only friend to shove him through a portal into hell the moment the apocalypse started.

Freddy Stern, a twenty-one-year-old cashier, has lived a plain, albeit harsh life. Having been orphaned—twice—he's spent the last ten years working and staying out of trouble. His only aspiration is to save enough money to become an archhuman. His dream gets the jump on him when he barely survives a near-death encounter and finds himself in possession of 1% Lifesteal, a bizarre talent with numerous contradictions and just as many uses.

Su Fang arrives in a realm of cultivation unprepared—no skills, no knowledge, and no backing. Like everyone else in this new world, he is given a blessing from the Heavenly Dao to help him success, but Su Fang's blessing isn’t power over the elements or mastery of profound arts. No, it takes a brutal lesson to teach him that he’s been ‘blessed’ with repetition. Every time he dies, he returns to the moment of his arrival. The young cultivator uses each reset to grind skills, refine his inner essence, and empower his very soul, using only the memories of countless failures.

The 42nd Merging arrives, mass-transporting every human to a hostile new world with a System. Everyone must choose a Class, and Quest directives compel them to climb the leaderboards for categories like highest level… and most kills of other people. Jordan isn’t anyone special before the Merging, but the new start equalizes the playing field. He must exploit his versatile class to overcome powerful monsters and opportunistic strangers who kill people as a quick path to power.