MTL - The Twelve Zodiac Guardian Gods - Chapter 316 misunderstanding? (on)

“In a land far to the east, there exists a strange store that has rejected a three Michelin star rating multiple times.

The prices are expensive. A combo set of soup and egg fried rice costs 288 RMB. Oh, I forgot it also includes a side dish of pickles. Even so, very many people line up to wait.

That place does not accept reservations. It only lets in people who are waiting in line there. Countless people make special trips to line up there. Of course, there’s nowhere to park planes or cars.

Their service is so terrible, the customers have to serve their own dishes and grab their own bowls and chopsticks, and they even have to wipe down their own tables! God, the boss is simply crazy.”

—《 Michelin Gourmet Magazine》

- Description from Novelupdates

Elias had never been lucky — not once, not ever.Abandoned at birth, raised in suffering, and tormented by a life that never gave him a break, Elias trudged through existence like a ghost wearing human skin. By the age of thirty-two, even his heart gave out, quietly and without drama — just like everything else in his life. It simply… stopped.But death wasn’t the end.Instead, Elias found himself face-to-face with a stunning goddess — the Keeper of Fate. And for the first time, someone finally told him the truth: his entire life had been a mistake. A cosmic error. His Karma, meant for another, had been switched at birth, condemning him to a life of endless misfortune.To make amends, Fate offered him a second chance — a new life, with the luck he had been denied.With a single pull from the divine card deck, Elias drew the Legendary Extraction Talent — an ability that allows him to absorb powers, skills, and even laws of the world itself.From a broken man to a rising force, Elias will forge a new path.He will extract the power of heaven and earth.He will defy fate and ascend to the apex.And this time… luck is finally on his side.

They love gold, and they love silver. Even more so, they love gems that dazzle, like stars across the skies.
Firearms, jewelleries, and precious metals; A collector’s world will not be complete without antiques.
Storage auctions, old goods trade, re-estate sales and gold-digging. But the truth is, if one wants to make money, then the supreme way is through searching for the legendary treasures.
Holding the fort, there’s an ocelot, a wolf, and an Andes condor. At the side, there’s a loyal hound, an irascible ape, and an African honey badger. Who said that you can only rely on humans when treasure hunting?!

- Description from Novelupdates

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.