End of the Magic Era - Chapter 1288: Unpersuaded

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.

Lynn traversed the multiverse and was reborn as a half-blood devil.Fortunately, he awakened a system that allowed him to...

-I could hurt them. I could kill them all, but not you. If it were up to me, you'd never see a drop of your own blood again.–***Destiny is an unpredictable force that no one can control.This is especially true for Tyler, a homeless omega who lives in shelters and works odd jobs to get by.When a rogue Alpha attempts to kill him, Tyler's life takes a turn for the worse.However, things get even more complicated when Sasha, an Alpha, and powerful figure in the mafia, takes an interest in him.Despite Tyler's reservations, he is forced into an arrangement with Sasha, and over time his initial distrust begins to fade.But their relationship is tested when the rogue Alpha reappears, revealing secrets that threaten to tear them apart.Caught in the middle, Tyler and Sasha must choose between confronting the demons of their past or risking everything they've built together.

Darkness is coming, and crisis is everywhere. In this long dark and desperate night, do you want to see a bonfire with warm words? We are that light.

We don’t want to be the little bully who guards one-third of an acre and eats canned food.

We don’t want to drive the harem on a great escape from east to west.

We don’t want to be a bunch of rats guarding rancid cheese in the gutter.

We don’t want to see the panic on your faces and the desperation in your screams.

So we stand up, fight for ourselves, fight for you, fight for humanity!

As long as we are here, the flames of war will never be extinguished.

We light a warm bonfire in the dark night, and watch the dawn with the brilliance of life.

We are the shield of the earth, the patron saint of mankind!

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