Social Outcast - Chapter 22

Struck down amid the battle, the Hero and Demon King meet their demise. As their souls linger on the edge of the afterlife, a mysterious force intervenes, merging their fragmented souls together with a new being. Rusty, the living armor, now affected by their memories and presence, embarks on his own quest. Will he seek revenge on those who betrayed the hero, or will he fulfill the desires of the fallen demon king? or instead, forge his own path?

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.

Noir, third son of a “beggar noble,” lost his job and was at a loss, but fortune struck just as he was contemplating becoming an adventurer.

As soon as Rong Yan entered the book, it was a bloodbath.Faced with a deathly hellish start.She ended up with Liu family's slacker gang.And the people coming to catch the cheaters were just a few minutes away.One step forward, an abyss; one step back, into the dragon's den.Rong Yan: Wow, this is thrilling!***Fortunately, she has a space with trillions of resources, otherwise, this house would be empty.She genuinely felt like she could die on the spot.But what's with the control group?Her man is a cannon-fodder unlucky chap?Her brother-in-law and sister-in-law's fate is extremely tragic?Is she that doomed original match where the more miserable she is, the better off the female protagonist?Well, go to hell!Kicking those bloodsucking relatives, punching those scoundrels...Qin Ye stops her: ”Wife, let me handle this.“Rong Yan: ...Can I still get a divorce?Qin Ye's cold laugh: ”Only widowhood, don't think about divorce.“