MTL - General Above I am Below - Chapter 54

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.

Life is unpredictable. Her husband loved her stepsister, deposed her as Empress and even forced her son to death. In that Cold Palace, she was forced to drink poisonous wine. So in the next lifetime, she made a promise to never do good deeds and help others, to never step into the palace and to never become the Empress!

Like most candidates, Zlatan's dream was a simple one. To pass the hunter's test, join a guild, hunt monsters and reach the A-class.Eventually, as he dreamed of, he achieved it hundreds of years later. Having sacrificed more than he could take in, using the most unthinkable and brutal measures, he became an S-class Hunter instead.Obtaining the Copper Flame back then after the Aura Awakening Ritual, that was his greatest flaw. Taking a span of 80 years to reach a D-class. Still, Zlatan Elmore became the most powerful hunter to exist.Falling on the battlefield against a Two-horned Dragon, he suddenly awoke as his 30 year old self. Given another chance at life, he didn't only have his memories but he's also given a Blank Scroll. This mysterious scroll doesn't only speak, its omniscient!

“I suddenly discovered that this world is dangerous today.” Bai Zhi looked grave as he typed out a line of text on his computer.

“When I went out today, I came across some poor guy getting bitten by another person. Luckily, a few brave guys rushed out to bring the criminal to justice, but when the person who was bitten struggled to stand up, he was immediately beaten to the ground by one of those who had supposedly saved him—and then, they called the police! I’ve watched more than enough modern movies to know what happened. The zombie was taken out before the virus could spread.”

“Last time, you told us about a few guys saving humanity from an alien invasion… This time, it’s a zombie outbreak?”

There was an exasperated response from the chat box.

“So how was that dangerous?”

“There are also several girls who are fighting tooth and nail for a piece of me! It’s totally Hell in here, don’t you think it’s dangerous!?”

“???”