Childhood Friend of the Zenith - Chapter 742: From the Beginning (3)

I am currently re-writing the first chapters of this story. They are quite rough and bounce around a lot and I can do better. At some point, I will replace these with the better chapters.Sometime in 2024 Aethon Books will publish the first volume of this story on Amazon, KU, and audible. This will mean the story will be stubbed. I will notify people far in advance of that.In the dystopian world of the future, life is rough when you live at the bottom. Jobs are non-existent. Far too many people live in poverty, crammed into huge buildings called Habitats. With no jobs in the real world, many people can only find work online in VR worlds as servants to the very rich. And it's getting worse. The old internet is unusable and hacked to pieces. The new system needs AI to run things, but all but one of them were destroyed. The last sentient AI is ordered to create a new game world so the rich can have a playground, and the corporations that rule the world can have a new global market place. Everyone wants a piece of the new game. The guilds are competing to be the first to find the dungeons and kill the biggest monster. The corporations are claiming land and putting in their online market places. Ozzy and his friends just want a paycheck.Four friends sign five year contracts as virtual serfs in a small village, and can't go adventuring at all to gain money. They don't have many choices. They can work as a blacksmith, barmaid and shepherd for all those years....or they can cheat and find ways to take advantage of the system and carve out a section of the game world for themselves, and earn a fortune in the real world.When they give you a mop and not a sword, you have to find the loopholes and change the rules.

WPC June 2024 Winner----------------------------What would you do, if you could transmigrate to the anime you designed?Upon transmigrate to the anime world, Owen found himself standing at the edge of the arena.A tall, coldly beautiful figure held a staff, arrogantly surveying the crowd!At this moment, the system sounded![Ding, please choose:1. Challenge on stage to receive a god-tier reward2. Abandon the challenge and lose 50% HP!]Challenge![Ding, congratulations to the Host for obtaining a god-tier reward][God-tier Talent: Order of Merlin, Host's leveling speed increased tenfold!][God-tier Skill: Mana Void, Host's surroundings become a no-magic zone!][God-tier Weapon: Godslayer Staff, the strongest weapon! Can transform into any shape!]Nice, let me show you the power of a transmigrator!At this moment, the system's voice sounded again:[Ding, please choose:1. Host marries the strongest female antagonist and conquers the world together2. Abandon the challenge and lose 100% HP!]Excuse me???Is there even a choice here???

Tang Yu transmigrates into a modern urban novel as a wealthy second-generation villain. Each time he survives a segment of the plot, he earns a reward!He decides to lay low and survive until the very end! He starts by calling off an engagement to avoid getting killed by the Dragon King!However, everyone around him seems to be plotting against him, insisting on pulling him into conflict.Su Muyue: “You want to break off the engagement? No, you don't.”Father-in-law: “Who does Ye Chen think he is? My son-in-law can only be Tang Yu.”Bodyguard Captain: “Young Master Tang has been incredibly kind to me, I will kill the Dragon King for him.”No matter how much Tang Yu tries to stay out of the plot, someone always shows up to drag him back into the fray.To ensure his safety, Tang Yu has no choice but to defeat the Dragon King.

In the shadowed halls of the Nether Blossom Sect and the treacherous expanse of the cultivation world, mastery is a dance of power, lust, and betrayal.True enlightenment lies not in forcing the path, but in weaving ambition with desire until the cultivator becomes one with their schemes.Only when the line blurs between ally and enemy, pleasure and pain, does one glimpse the ruthless truth of the dao.Lin Fengyang, a spark in a realm of predators, forges his ascent through cunning and will.His enemies plot in whispers, their blades hidden in smiles, but he’ll carve his legend across sects, empires, and heavens, one step, one scheme, one conquest at a time.In this cultivation world, trust is a lie, and every touch is a gambit. He is the schemer of shadows, the breaker of chains, and the bane of those who underestimate him.Read now to witness a tale of dark cultivation, where ambition burns brighter than any flame.