MTL - Once We Come Across Love (Embrace Love) - Chapter 61

“Come not between the Dragon and his Wrath.” — William Shakespeare The year was 2140, and Earth was nothing but a distant memory. Humanity now drifted through the galaxies aboard colossal ARKs, massive skyships that served as the last bastions of civilization. Yet, these ARKs were more than just floating cities; they were humanity’s last containers, preserving what remained of their species. A century before Earth’s final collapse, humanity discovered a gateway to a realm known as Eternia — a fantastical world straight out of myth and legend. Reaching this realm required more than just advanced technology; it demanded a complete departure from the physical body and entry into a mysterious process known as the Dream Weave. In the present day, Cloud lived aboard ARK NO. 427, where he had been training from a young age to step into the Dream Weave. He was a standout among his peers, excelling in every tasks that came his way. Everything seemed to be on track for him — until the pivotal day of the Class Selection process.

This is a ‘rebirth’ story where Chen Rong, the heroine, finds her second chance at life after burning herself to death. Set in the Eastern Jin era when bureaucrats and their lofty yet equally hypocritical and oppressive ideas once ruled the empire, Chen Rong is made to use her past life’s experience to survive and hopefully find happiness this time around.

- Description from Novelupdates

Dragon 5th is a powerful lord with incredible martial arts, and yet is wasting away from a fatal disease. The only medicine which can cure his sickness lies in the clutches of his venemous ex-wife, Madam Lovesickness, and is guarded by 7 dangerous killers, fugitives of the martial world. To retrieve the antidote, Dragon 5th hires Liu Changjie, a skilled martial artist who loves drinking and women, but has a mysterious past. All is not what it seems in this wuxia heist story.

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.