A Child Turned Into A Soldier - Chapter 15: One’s Own Self

An Apocalypse descends—as a lethal super-virus wipes out most of the human population. It took less than a day for the world to change forever—bringing mankind to its knees.It’s a time of misery and death for most, however, there are some who are lucky. Zane Graves, who came across a “Blood Crystal” is given an ability: [Dead Man Walking]—which grants him a special power, and so setting him off on his path to the top!

Born into a dirt poor mining family, Karl only had one chance to get ahead in life, the annual elite recruitment day. On their final day of middle school, every student in the Golden Dragon Nation was given an experimental injection to awaken their affinity with magic.

Those few who succeeded would become the Elite, the leaders and idols of the nation, blessed with incredible magical powers and respected by all. Those who did not would return to their normal lives of hard work and low wages, just doing the best they could.

But with the nation surrounded by enemies, both humans and monsters, how long would these peaceful days of magical idols last?

Follow the story of Karl as he awakens a unique power and strives to become the world's first Legendary Beast Master.

【Explosive New Book】 At Thunder Sound Hall, the Great Saint fell! With the Life and Death God Talisman, he reversed time and space; the Monkey King, unyielding, returned against the heavens! All gods and Buddhas lost their colors, my fate is determined by me, not by the heavens! In this life, I, Old Sun, will make all the gods and Buddhas remember this name— I am, the Great Sage Equalling Heaven, Sun Wu Kong

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.