Pretending to Cultivate in Kindergarten - Chapter 17: Do You Really Believe Me?

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.

Teela married King Heavenly because she loved him, but life in the Heavenly household was anything but euphoric. Lettie, her hard-as-nails mother-in-law, treats her like an unpaid servant. The family treats her like an outsider. King treats her like a shadow, transparent and forgettable.When Lettie presses Teela to prove her value to the family or get out, Teela has a decision to make. But she’s not leaving without a fight.King Heavenly rules Heavenly Industries with an iron fist, but he leaves his home life to his mother to manage, and that includes the management of his boring little wife. Teela has never complained. She’s never done anything interesting, for that matter. She’s just one more responsibility in a long line of responsibilities that King shoulders on a daily basis, and that is exactly how he treats her — as a responsibility that he’s delegated to his mother.Suddenly Teela steps out of the shadows and into a fight with him and his whole family, and King is baffled by the ruthless actions of his now daring wife. He’d always heard that vengeance is a dish best served cold, but Teela is coming in hot!

At 22 years of age, Shen Qian Ling won his first Best Male Lead award.

Afterwards just as he, holding the award, was moved to tears, a piece of the ceiling fell down loudly, and accurately hit his head without mistake.

And afterwards he just…..traveled through time!

Qin Shao Yu: If Ling-er is willing, Zhui Ying sect can have the wedding anytime.

Shen Qian Ling: To be honest, I am extremely reluctant about this.

- Description from Novelupdates

Man summoned to another dimension- Check!Reincarnated as an elf- Check!A dwarf with a plan to go to the Mo- Wait, wut!?Simon Steelrun dreams of going to the Moon, to fulfill his mother's last wishes. Though he has the will and drive, he does not have the...necessary capabilities to go there. Though he tries his best to get there, he all but fails. Just as he was about to give up, a stranger came from a faraway land.A land called Earth...Joining him on this journey is a reincarnated elf, a warrior orc with a mysterious past, and a host of myriad other beings, as they tackle various challenges to create a rocket ship to take them to the Moon.Yet their journey is all but smooth...Hampered by a technologically backward world, a human-centric empire, monstrosities of inhuman proportions, and Goddesses with unknown agendas, they must navigate through these difficulties to reach their destination. Further wrenches are thrown in when the planet's dark history starts catching up to them, forcing them to take action on behalf of others.Secrets that should have been hidden...Join us in the adventures of a dwarf with a dream, as he navigates his way through his journey to reach his destination, all the while being dragged into adventures which changes the course of the world.“All I want to do is go to the Moooonnnnn!”