Ruler of Heat: One Man, A Thousand Thirsts - Chapter 36: “The Vessel Awakens”

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.

“Master, the people from the Zhuang family have come to cancel the engagement.”

“My fiancé whose beauty was said to be capable of causing the downfall of a city, finally decided to throw me away?”

“I think so.”

“I want to see this legendary beauty, and confirm whether this bastard is as really great as people said to have no flaws in all 360 degree, a picturesque appearance however you see him; does he need me to help him open the corner of his eyes (Epicanthoplasty) or reshape his chin (Genioplasty)?”

“Actually, he didn’t come.”

“He didn’t? He didn’t even come to cancel the engagement? What a wicked b***h.”

“He definitely will get karma.”

- Description from Novelupdates

The end of the world is full of crises, but Su Chen says not to worry because he has the Red Alert System. That’s how confident he is. You say you have a lot of weapons? Sorry, I have more weapons than I can use here. Let me introduce you to the weather control device. You say the mutant beasts are very powerful? No problem, I have a way to deal with them…