Empire Ascension: The Rise of the Fated One - Chapter 1: Echoes of Destiny

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

—— Dickens《A Tale of Two Cities》

I made myself a ghost back to life from death, with hatred in my bones and conspiracy brewed for years, sinking into the marsh, into the abyss. All I want is to bury the rotten roots, growing thistles and thorns which can kill like upas, to stab into the hypocritical civilization.

In the bottom of the muck……I found my lucida.

- Description from Novelupdates

Ten years after her parents’ divorce, the grandmother who raised Chu Tingwu passed away, leaving her to be shuttled back and forth between relatives.At this moment, an entity claiming to be a “Cub Rearing System” suddenly appeared, wanting to bind itself to her and cultivate her into an outstanding graduate of its program.Just as Chu Tingwu was about to refuse, she saw her personal attributes on the system interface—[Name: Chu Tingwu][Species: Cat]Chu Tingwu: Something’s not right here…Due to a bug, the system had identified her as a kitten.Her stats were those of a cat, but her appearance remained human.How should an exemplary human-cat be raised? Sleeping, causing mischief, eating until she became as round as a pig?However, the reality turned out to be quite different: extreme sports, expert bird-catcher, master mouse-hunter, catching invasive fish barehanded with dynamic vision, using camouflage and tracking skills to film documentaries of rare birds, nearly making the social news as a suspected retired special police officer.For the first lesson in cultivation, the system said gravely:“A cub cannot live alone. We need to find you a cat mother… I’ve already detected a suitable candidate nearby. Go to the target location quickly, little one, and let the cat mother adopt you.”Chu Tingwu looked up as an advertisement fluttered into her hand:[Sunshine Pet Hospital: Limited-time half-price pet neutering, one month of free food with every pet adoption]Chu Tingwu: Who exactly is adopting whom here?

A social worker father and his adult daughter crash land on a desert full of crystal plants and little else. The city walls of Ar'Kendrithyst rise in the distance, but as the pair hike closer they see those walls are more like mountains, and the mega-metropolis is long dead. Luckily, the adventuring city of Spur is alive and green and hospitable, and well outside of Ar’Kendrithyst’s shadow.Follow Erick Flatt as he tries to make a nice life with new friends in a new home with his daughter at his side, but this land is rarely as kind as its people, and Erick will need to change if he wants to live the life he wishes to live. What to expect:Slow burn storyline, worldbuilding, father-daughter relationship, Erick is the MC, Jane is the side character, slice of life, numbers in blue boxes but also high fantasy, trying to understand magic, creating new magic, living the easy life but forced into dealing with problems, problems becoming very large, massive changes, traumatizing content, and most of all: character growth.

“Welcome to Eclipse Online, the most lethal full-dive MMORPG on the planet, where there is only one life. Death is permanent, and each choice has a price the fragile world cannot afford. But for one of its players, the rules are about to be rewritten”.Following a fatal attack of the dungeon, he discovers a hidden room with a horrific inscription: he has been made the Eclipse Reaver, fated to tread the game world eternally.Each time he dies, he is resurrected, but at a horrific cost: shattered soul shards erase his memories, emotions, and abilities.As the game universe descends into chaos and its top players fall, he is forced to explore the dark conspiracy of Eclipse Online before he too is lost for good.With gory fights, shifting game mechanics, and a mystery thickening by the minute, never has the pressure been higher.Will he overcome the system, or lose himself in the void? Will he manage to retain his sanity, or be one of the many lost souls in the void?