
I have one for you and I was exactly what you described when I started that one. Turning ლ(´ڡ`ლ) so God damn good I legit binged like 700 chapters of the novel I was reading all day for a whole week it's so good you just can't put it down.
I think this one has kind of a better manhwa but the story of turning is just ... oof... and it's sloooooow burn but when it burns, you burn with it (/TДT)/
It doesn't have a similar plot per se but there's reincarnation and powers and magic and strong characters

I clearly have forgotten about this because of how busy I was with running as student council president and debate club vice president LOL but I had two different theories but I'll focus on my first theory that I got as my first impression of Maltier.
He mentioned in one chapter that he's mirroring Shane and knows he's derived himself from his original personality and the first "backstory" of Maltier that we get from Shane's dream which gave me the impression that he might've been someone who was a bit on the calculating side (the scenes where he thinks of the refugees as pawns) and would find ways to reach his goal with even the leverage of using others in the process.
I actually DID consider your wonderful theory that Maltier might've been a player previously which was similar to my initial theory but it was more like he had a prophecy like dream (similar to herbrine's prophecies). Maltier, given he has the power of light, might've been given the "prophecy" of how the end of the world might look like and what might be his goal thus making Maltier formulate his plan on reaching the end as well as his specific goal/"ending".
But because he used others in the process as a leverage to gain his final goal of the end, he was deemed as a bastard and was hated by most heroes as shown by how the heroes reacted once they learned that the "bastard" (maltier) was awakened and his betrayal was what marked him as not a hero, but a bastard who betrayed just to get to his goal.
Now that theory, for me, made sense with my initial first impression but looking back it didn't explain why almost everyone(the heroes) seemed to not know Maltier. So my second theory was that Maltier was reborn again through the eras, and initially DID want to reach the end however he failed through two eras and only in the Twilight era did he succeed. But by then, he already had a fixed goal he wanted and therefore did the betraying stuff. And his betrayal was just too cruel that it was decided that Maltier's name will be buried deep along the history books and will be labeled as not a hero, but definitely a backstabbing bastard.
I don't know if my theory makes sense since I have a hard time relaying my theories in English LOL and I really want to read the novel no joke but I want to find the perfect time to read it all in one go so I've been holding off and waiting patiently on the uploads of the manhwa !

I LOVE TURNING !!!!!! AAUUURGHRHRH !!!! I binged 300 of the chapters the moment I saw the manhwa and I LOVE the slow burn even though it was a tad bit frustrating because it really did put the slow in slow burn!!!
I would LOVE to binge read the novel again some time when I have the time off my duties ! Thank you !!!

YES I'd read the novel again and again and again !!!! Like reading the novel doubles the production of oxygen in me and the pace devastatingly made it all the more exciting of a ride to read it !!!!
Huehue thanks for noticing ....... Played genshin the moment the leaks came out about only Kazuha's name ,,,,,, until now even though I don't play genshin much, I love love LOVE kazuha forever and ever ! He's just that number one character that I'll remember and love fondly to the point I was low-key wishing upon A star for A kazuha fr

Heh.... Hi.... I've been so busy with life and forgot until the update......... LMAO using mangago comment section as a communication site is too unconventional not gonna lie,,
My friend too started genshin because of aether LOL but I started when it was Kazuha and grinded through every events to make him my first strongest, flexible, and only DPS anemo boy and until now I have albums and albums of just him
And his backstory was MWAH heat wrenching and beautiful I love him so so much
Yapping alert:
Every time I look at my "novels that I haven't read yet but am a few or more chapters in the manga/manhwa adaptation" list and see choose your heroes carefully it makes me want to erase my memory of reading this and go back to being a whimsical little gremlin hopping about and read the novel like it's my religion
And I love the story so much that I kid you not ,,, 5 chapters in and I already had a concrete theory about Maltier's background and personality and it was further solidified in the later chapters ! Which means I used my brain cells and possibly hair follicles so now I'm balding and happy and twirling my hair and wiggling my toes while kicking the air and cracking theories left and right and rereading the entire chapters like a madman at least 20 times in a single day until a new update !!!!