The Story of Blood and Roses - Chapter 205 Outtake: Insomnia 2

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.

APOCALYPSE.What is an apocalypse?Anything that stops or breaks the world's working flow, anything that throws human civilization into disarray, is an apocalypse.It can be a zombie attack or an EMP attack, where electrical appliances and other things stop working. Even a natural disaster at a catastrophic level will result in an apocalypse!This book is the story of one such unique apocalypse.A fantasy apocalypse where a game system descends on Earth, making humans the ones being played.Monsters roam on the earth's surface as humans hide, while gods watch from above.Some of those gods support, while others just enjoy.So, if you want such a book, then hop on your seats and put on your glasses (if you have any), as this is going to be a story of a very unique type of apocalypse (according to me).Join me in the journey of a boy named Alex as he navigates and survives through the apocalypse, along with an AI capable of copying anything.

“Only by enduring 2¹⁴ trials can one awaken the ancient power sleeping within the Key of the Star Prison, and become the most powerful being in the universe.”Timothy, the youngest Demon Lord in the history of his race, saw these words emerge after he touched the Key of the Star Prison, the most powerful artifact of the demon race, handed to him just before the old Demon Lord's death.According to the demon race's records, no Demon Lord had ever achieved this.However, over a span of a hundred thousand years, Timothy had easily passed 16,383 trials.Now, once again, he turned the Key of the Star Prison, and an unknown force mistakenly sent him to a brand new world, transforming him into an unknown and seemingly worthless demonic cultivator disciple.And the formidable opponent he was about to face in this world was the powerful Goddess Sylvia.When Goddess Sylvia received the challenge Timothy handed her, her cheeks flushed...“My dear Sylvia, I want you to know how deeply I love you. My heart belongs to you, now and forever.”

Ning Shu had dropped dead. But in a burst of good fortune she became a task-taker in charge of counterattacking for pitiful cannon fodder. Thus, Ning Shu, in one world after another, took all kinds of life roles, encountered all kinds of ‘you’re heartless, you’re ruthless, you’re making trouble for no reason’ people. She encountered all sorts of white lotus flowers, green tea b*tches, scheming b*tches, by the batch.