MTL - Mr. Zhan’s Little Demon is All Grown up - Chapter 22 The threshold is as high as cloud nine.

I thought the world was vast, for me to wander, but now, it has only become a cage. For a life unhindered, I wield a single sword to pierce the ninth heavens. People find me displeasing, but there’s nothing they can do. That’s the kind of life I love!“Stop! I paved this path and I planted these trees. If you want to pass through…”“Brother, I come from the Dustfallen sect.”“What? The Dustfallen sect! Piss off!”This pitiful sect was so poor to the point where even bandits did not want to waste time on it. However, how could this sect, these nine measly people, be ordinary? What you see is only what they wish for you to see. What you can’t see is the truth!Mu Yu—a young human boy with the powers of elemental demons—accidentally joins the impoverished Dustfallen sect. The sect that even bandits did not want to waste time on was actually hid great talents, concealing a huge secret! You look down on my sect? Then that’s your ignorance!

Welcome to Arcadia! The world’s most plausible virtual reality game created by three major conglomerates, Ajin Electrons, Sillicoff Industries, and Argos Corporation. Join Jaeyeong, a legendary gamer who goes by the ID Dex, on a chaotic adventure as he hops in the capsule Dreamer to access the fantasy world of Arcadia! Are you ready?

Long ago a great calamity struck the earth, destroying much of it and merging what remained with pieces of other worlds.

With these worlds came Aether, a new form of energy that can allow one to transcend the bounds of normal mortality and human limitations.

In a world where humans absorb the essence of aether beasts to gain power, Aiden Hawke joins the class of humans known as arcanists, people who defeat aether beasts and absorb their essence into cores they forge within themselves, and who infuse themselves with the aether that permeates the world around them to increase the power of their body and mind.

However, unlike most, Aiden will find that he holds a unique gift and that his journey as an arcanist will not be so simple.

...[Inside an underground basement]“You are going to die for nothing, hahahaha,” the old man's voice thundered through the room, sending chills down my spine.Step.With a swift and ruthless motion, he lunged forward, his sword slicing through the air and slashing my throat, crimson droplets staining the darkness.“We'll see,” I whispered defiantly, my final words escaping as a mere breath against the impending darkness.Slowly, inexorably, my consciousness slipped away, and I descended into a deep, unfathomable slumber.“Huh!?” My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself seated in a bustling tavern, the air thick with laughter and the clinking of glasses.In front of me stood a captivating lady, her beauty juxtaposed with an angry furrow upon her brow, threatening to shatter the harmony of the jovial scene.“Don't follow me around!” Her words pierced the air like shards of ice, the intensity of her emotions palpable as she cast a resentful glare in my direction, before swiftly departing from the tavern....Am I trapped within the confines of a game? The fragments of my shattered common sense scattered before me, leaving me to question the very fabric of my reality.