Painting of the Nine Immortals - Chapter 2: Inhibition and Apprenticeship

Above the firmament, a giant Kun, stretching thousands of meters long, flew over the city, ignoring the barrage of missiles.In Australia, an apocalyptic serpent, thousands of meters long, destroyed cities and devoured millions, leaving slowly after the detonation of several nuclear bombs.In this perilous world, Chen Chu, who unexpectedly acquired the avatar of a six-horned salamander, felt somewhat bewildered.What could a palm-sized salamander do? Record videos to gain traffic? Catch shrimps in a creek? Or... evolve into a colossal beast?A six-horned salamander, also known as the six-horned dragon, with the ability of infinite evolution, was gradually evolving into a mythical apocalyptic beast.Its body length extended to hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of meters...And with the characteristic of synchronized enhancement, Chen Chu's own body also grew stronger, with increasing power and speed, and even...

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.

~She is a waste daughter from the Su family that couldn’t cultivate. On the day before her wedding, the Third Prince breaks off their engagement in the street. Her own sister replaces her in the marriage to the Third Prince. She became the center of gossiping in the city. In her resentment, she hits herself on the Su Family’s gate, only to become the object of other people’s ghost marriage.

She, Su Zimo, open her eyes to find herself sleeping in a coffin. It’s not to surprising seeing as she put herself here (hit head on gate), but why is there another person lying beside her? And whats more they are wearing red wedding clothes. After taking all this in she almost faints.

~He, is a cursed person with an indescribable status. This curse that has been passed down in his family for centuries is now effecting him.

A mistaken ghost marriage, a battle in business, and a long period of painstaking love, made their fate intertwined.

- Description from Novelupdates

Mana finally arrived in our world after being delayed for unknown reasons, causing the evolution of everything that had life.

Humans, plants, and monsters all evolved, ushering the planet into a new era in which old laws no longer applied and the only law in the world was the rule of the jungle, where the strong preyed on the weak.

It was a question of whether we, the 'rulers' of the land, would be able to maintain our position and adapt to whatever came after our planet's awakening, and if we did, was that the end?