Soul Guardian - Prologue

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.

The world had started doomsday, and I struggled for a year, before I died under an enchanted beast’s claw. Heaven has given me another chance, back a day before the end happen. Will I be able to change my fate, and that of my loved ones? Now, I will start my journey on becoming the strongest on the planet that the Gods have changed into a game world.

Luo Lin Yuan was born delicate, with a big temper, a hard character, and a good face.

Yu Han is straight, good-tempered, and soft, and only sleeps three hours a day.

Yu Han didn’t want Luo Lin Yuan near him.

But Luo Lin Yuan wanted to be around him.

This is an innocent, sweet campus story in which Little Princess Luo went to great lengths to make friends.

Abstinent, Poor Gong x Obsessed with Cleanliness Little Princess Shou.

- Description from Novelupdates

TRPG, or Tabletop Role-Playing Game, is characterized by immersive role-playing where players embody their characters. Within the rules, players can steer the story in various open-ended directions, leading to different outcomes.“Cthulhu Campaign” is a major category within TRPGs. In it, players, as ordinary individuals known as investigators, delve into mysterious events, face unknown mythological creatures, and confront unfathomable fears. A key piece of advice in this realm is that the less you know, the longer you survive.Liu Xing, driven by curiosity, wanted to join an online Cthulhu campaign but accidentally became part of a real Cthulhu role-playing game…