I Cheated While Cultivating - Chapter 55 - Aristocratic Families, Imperial Court, and Sects

Three years ago Conquest was released, redefining virtual reality and gaming.

After successfully reaching the Core Formation Stage and forming his Golden Core, Bai Langtian was betrayed by his own Master. His core was ripped from his body, and he was thrown off a mountain cliff into a valley full of demonic beasts.Thankfully, he survived the fall, and met his senior sister, Shangguan Yue Ling.She too had been betrayed by the same Master and pushed into this valley ten years ago. Ever since, she had been surviving alone by eating the corrupted flesh of demonic beasts.Now, Yue Ling revealed to Langtian a new path of cultivation:Demonic Cultivation.To reclaim his strength and take revenge, he must consume the flesh and essence of ten thousand demonic beasts.

The Universe is collapsing, and the realms are merging. To ensure humanity's survival, the heavens blessed the race with [talents] but that is far from enough. Only the gatekeeper can return the balance and stop the collapse, but why does it have to me?If the heavens think they can dictate my fate, I will make them pay the ultimate price...This soul will not be controlled...This soul will not be manipulated...I will cover the heavens with one hand!

In the year 2090, technology has advanced to the point where Simulation Boxes, (Sim Box for short) are common place, allowing for the user to link up their brain's neural network to a full dive Simulation. While initially used for educational purposes, recently a large gaming company, Averon, released a fully fledged immersive MMORPG simulation where users can become anyone they desire, level up, choose their class, and become a hero or a villain. The name of this simulation is The Shattered World Online.

Eli Winters had no interest in playing it. His father, a jobless bum who spent his entire life playing games in the hope of becoming a famous player or streamer, was able to use the release of The Shattered World Online to gain wealth and fame, quickly becoming the number one player and a household name as the game took the world by storm. He immediately abandoned Eli and his mother in favor of being with someone from his guild, despite his mother having worked two jobs to support them and raise Eli by herself. Eli had nothing but spite for his father and the game.

When Eli's best friend convinces him to try out the game, his father's fame begins to interfere, culminating in him being singled out and shunned by his peers, and his father offering to pay for his university tuition in return for Eli hiding their relationship and quitting the game. Instead of complying with his father's wishes, Eli decides to prove to everyone how useless a guy his father is by challenging him that if Eli is able to surpass him in the game world he must delete his account and quit his streaming career. His father accepts the challenge believing his son to be useless at games - but Eli will soon show him just how ambitious a spiteful person can be.