Teenage boy who hates worms and a Teenage girl who hates basketball player. The girl is tutoring the boy every saturday. Can love be formed between two troubled hearts.

As Zhang Zian explained the differences in artificial sea salt, everybody listened carefully. Only Welder Zhao grew impatient and said, "Useless talk. This is a waste of money! When I started my saltwater tank, I didn't spend a cent. And the fish are thriving!" 
"What? Mr. Zhao, you didn't spend anything on your saltwater tank?" Electrician Wu paused in surprise.　　
He knew that Welder Zhao was a saltwater aquarium fan and had started earlier than him. He checked it out at his place and felt they were nice. The tanks were big, with bottom sand and eco-bio-blocks. It looked very decent, but he could not imagine that he didn't spend money on it.　　
"Of course!" Welder Zhao felt pretty good about himself. "Saltwater is taken from nature, free of charge. It can be used after it's carried home and resting for a while. The eco-bio-blocks are chiseled from the rocks at the beach. The bottom sand is even simpler. Just take some sand from the beach and put it into the tank after a simple wash… Even the tank itself was built with scrap glass I collected. I cut and glued them together with a glass cutter and glass glue. It's 1.5 meters long, worth at least 2,000 yuan if you bought it! Then I made a wood frame for my tank. It's very solid!"　　
Electrician Wu was speechless after hearing this. "Zhao, you are too good at saving money…"　　
Zhang Zian suggested that it was a shame that Snowy was not there. Otherwise, if the online fans had heard, he could have his "Cheap Store Manager" tag removed forever…　　
Despite that both the rich and the poor were entitled to have fun in their own rich or poor ways, it was really too stingy… Not to mention that the DIY fish tank was most likely made of regular glass, not the super clear type, thus impairing the view. As for the coarse sand from the beach, there might be turd hidden inside. 　　
Regardless of having cats, dogs, or fish, pets were supposed to make people happy and relaxed. It was entertainment––buying fun with money. Was there any fun left if one had to raise the fish under such a tight budget and wrack their brain to find free stuff all day?　　

Yet, this was Welder Zhao's choice. Maybe he really enjoyed doing so.　　
If one was not a fish, how could they understand its joy?
Electrician Wu glanced at the package of the heating rod. It was all in German. He could not read a word…　　
He put the heating rod into a saltwater bucket, plugged it in, then tested it with a multimeter. At least for now, it was not leaking.　　
"Okay, I'll take this heating rod. How long is the warranty?" he asked.　　
Zhang Zian stretched out three fingers. "Three months. As long as the damage is not intentional, I'll get you a new one. If any leakage occurs within a year, I'll get you a new one as well, as long as the warranty seal is kept intact." 　　
Electrician Wu paid for it generously. Then he suddenly remembered something and asked Welder Zhao, "Right, Mr. Zhao, I see that this boy knows a lot. Would you like to ask him how to deal with the worms in your tank?"　　
Welder Zhao was still babbling about his experience in saving money on an aquarium. He seemed frustrated at being interrupted and didn't seem willing to bring it up. He said vaguely, "Ask? I don't need to ask! It's just a few stupid worms. I can take care of them. Just get some fish that feed on worms. In fact, I'm out with you today to get some fish! Just dump those fish in the tank, and they'll clean up all the worms!" 　　
Jiang Feifei grew curious and interrupted, "Mr. Zhao, are there worms in the tank? What kind of worms?"　　
"Nothing! Nothing! Right, even the tank lightings are not purchased. I used an old lamp…" Welder Zhao waved his hand and continued with his money-saving tricks.　　
Electrician Wu took out his own phone, waved at Jiang Feifei, took her to the side, and whispered, "Girl, do you want to know what kind of worm it is? In fact, I don't know what worm it is, either. I suggested that Mr. Zhao ask an expert in case the worms harm the fish. But this guy is so proud and opinionated and thinks he knows everything. He won't listen to me at all… When I visited his house, I filmed the worms in the tank with my phone. Would you like to see it?"　　
"Yes."　　
The more Welder Zhao tried to hide, the more Electrician Wu acted mysteriously, and the more Jiang Feifei wanted to find out what it was.　　
Wang Qian and Li Kun dumped bucket after bucket of artificial seawater into the brand new tanks. Their arms grew tired quickly. They rubbed their arms and rested, then came closer to take a look.　　
Electrician Wu's expression was complicated. He said hesitantly, "I suggest that you don't watch it."　　
"Why not?" The three of them asked in one voice, thinking that Electrician Wu was good at playing mysterious. He took it out but would not let them see it… 　　
"Because…" Electrician Wu stuttered. "Because they are gross. Most girls are terrified of worms. I'm afraid that you'll feel uncomfortable."　　
"That's fine, no worries," Jiang Feifei guaranteed with confidence. "I go to the beach all the time and have seen plenty of disgusting marine creatures. Some creatures may seem disgusting to others, but they seem fun to me." She was not bragging, just being honest.
After seeing that she insisted on seeing them, Electrician Wu sighed and unlocked the phone. He flipped out a photo from the library and said, "Here you go. These are the worms."　　
Jiang Feife, Wang Qian, and Li Kun all crowded over, stretched out their necks, and started at the screen. Their faces froze instantly and their stomachs felt uncomfortable.
It was a close-up picture. Between the rocks and bottom sand in the tank, a dozen worms like centipedes were squirming around. To show the lengths of these worms, the photographer had used a ruler for comparison. Each worm was at least ten centimeters long.　　
"So gross. What kind of worms are they?" Wang Qian asked. "They are quite long."　　
"I wish I knew." Electrician Wu shook his head. "These are the smaller ones. His tank is big, with lots of rocks with cracks in between. There might be bigger ones hiding there..."　　
The three of them were getting breathless. If the smaller ones were ten centimeters long, then the big ones… would be how long? It was too disgusting.　　
"Master, take a look. What worms are they?" Li Kun asked.　　
Zhang Zian walked over and glanced at it. He said with certainty, "These are clam worms, or pile worms. They're a type of sandworm. They may look gross, but they are not harmful. They can clean up the algae in the tank. Some people even eat clam worms… These are enough for a dish."　　
The three of them became even more disgusted.　　
"Young man, these are clam worms?" Electrician Wu asked in doubt.　　
"Yes, that's correct," Zhang Zian confirmed once again.　　
"Will they harm the fish?" Electrician Wu asked again.　　
"No. Some fish like eating clam worms. If you find them gross, just get some fish that feed on clam worms," Zhang Zian said.　　
After hearing their conversation, Welder Zhao said proudly, "Look, what did I say? Wu, you should trust me! What can I do about you… Why would you make a fuss when this can be easily solved by getting a few more fish? In fact, I kept them on purpose, so that they'll grow bigger. Then I'll get some more fish and save money on fish food!"　　
After hearing him, the others said to themselves that Welder Zhao was quite cheap to keep such disgusting worms.　　
Electrician Wu still didn't feel certain. "Young man, how can you be so sure by taking one glance? Please look again carefully."　　
"No need to look again. This is one type of clam worm. There are 80 types along the coast in China!" Zhang Zian smiled.　　
Electrician Wu gasped in fear. "But I feel these worms are ferocious… Mr. Zhao, don't your fish disappear from the tank for no reason?"　　
"Nonsense! There's no such a thing! It's… It's just my mistake in counting!" Welder Zhao blushed and argued.　　
Zhang Zian was astonished and interrupted their conversation. "Wait! The fish are disappearing from the tank? Really?"　　
Electrician Wu pointed at Welder Zhao. "That's right. He complained to me the other day that the fish were missing after a few days and the remains were never found. They are not expensive fish, but it still makes him upset… You see, now he's denying it again." 
Zhang Zian was almost sweating. He realized the situation was not good.　　



1. Download a suspicious game
2. Catch a few magical pets as partners
3. Go through interesting daily routines and lead the pet shop to a whole new level

The sun was already rising as he drove home, and as soon as he got back, Chu Xian collapsed into bed.
When he woke up, it was around noon. After washing his face and brushing his teeth, he went to the kitchen and started preparing the lobsters.
He learned from his uncle how to cook lobsters, and although the ones he was preparing were a little bigger, there wasn't much difference in the preparation method.
He prepared a normal garlic lobster dish, and after removing the sand sacs and gills, he added some cooking wine and went to buy some garlic, tiger lily buds, bean threads then started cooking. (1)
After about an hour, Chu Xian finished cooking the giant lobsters and they smelled delicious. Wild giant lobsters were much better than anything you could find in a restaurant.
He stored them in a thermal box then drove to the store.
He couldn't finish four giant lobsters by himself, so he brought some to Tang Qiumeng. He didn't have any other intentions, but he asked her for a detailed structure of a human and fish. She had probably finished by now and he wanted to go over to pick them up from her.
Just as he entered the store, Pupu, Grandpa Feng and Tang Qiumeng were eating around the table. Chu Xian smiled and walked over. "Hey, what a coincidence. I brought some lobsters. Let's eat!"
"Chu Xian, I already finished the things you asked me for. I was busy the last few days, so I was only able to bring them over today! Here!"
Tang Qiumeng smiled and pointed at the A4 papers on the table.
Chu Xian nodded. "Thank you. Have some of these lobsters, heehee. I hope you like them!"
After Chu Xian went out to buy some steamed buns, they looked down at the table and started eating.
"I didn't know you were such a good cook," Tang Qiumeng said as she ate the lobsters.
"Hehe, I'm alright!"
That afternoon, Chu Xian went out to buy some fine nets then he drove back to the same coast he went to the night before. After making sure no one was around, he swam into the sea, dragging the nets.
As soon as he was fully in the water, Chu Xian transformed into a fish and swam towards the seagrass area. 
"I'll catch some small shrimp, gather some coral, and some jellyfish as well, oh, and the Christmas Tree Worms as well. En, these stones are quite pretty as well, I'll grab some."
Chu Xian busied himself, using his two claws to carefully pick things up.
"F***, I made the claws too sharp. I accidentally killed a Christmas Tree Worm!"
Chu Xian frowned a little. With a thought, a pair of arms slowly stretched forward from his head. The arms weren't thick - more or less similar to a human's - but they stretched forward more than a meter.
"Heehee, it's very easy now!"
After using up a little over forty energy points to create the two arms, Chu Xian's current energy level was 1523.
The energy hadn't decreased by much, but Chu Xian's fish form was far more terrifying with two human-like arms protruding from his head.
After he used his hands to carefully place a dozen Christmas Tree Worms in the net, Chu Xian went to catch some jellyfish as well.
Afterward, Chu Xian carefully brought them to the shore and placed them in the two aquariums he brought. He grabbed some sand from the beach and drove over to Gu Wu street.
There was less traffic in the store now that the fad had died down, and there were only two or three customers inside. Grandpa Feng noticed Chu Xian carrying an aquarium and rushed over to help out.
"Xiao Xian, what are you holding?"
"Jellyfish, Christmas Tree Worms, Shrimp, and fish. They're all from the ocean!" Chu Xian said as he placed the aquarium on the floor and headed back to his car to retrieve the other one.
"Careful, Grandpa Feng!"
The aquariums were half filled with seawater and were very heavy. Chu Xian also took out the stones he' grabbed from the seabed and placed them on the ground.
"Xiao Xian, what are you doing?" Grandpa Feng asked curiously.
"Heehee, just wait and see!" Chu Xian said mysteriously. After spreading the sand out evenly in the aquariums, he placed the strange stones inside and started arranging them.
The customers who just entered the store noticed the jellyfish inside the aquariums and watched curiously as Chu Xian worked.
Chu Xian was an amateur aquarium decorator, but he had seen many beautiful aquariums, so he moved the stones around and covered them with sea plants.
He looked at the aquariums from different angles, tweaked it a little then placed the Christmas Tree Worm inside.
"Little brother, are you making an ornamental aquarium for creatures from the ocean floor?" a customer asked as he looked from creature to creature.
"That's right!" Chu Xian chuckled. "I'm still experimenting. If it works out, I'll sell it!"
"Tsk tsk. These Christmas Trees are worms, right? I've read about them on some online forums. They live on the seabed and are incredibly rare. Little brother, where did you get so many?"
A customer with some knowledge asked in astonishment.
"Heehee, business secret." Chu Xian smiled.
"Is it easy to take care of jellyfish and Christmas Tree Worms?" another customer asked.
"Very easy. It's easy to raise the worms, and even easier to take care of the jellyfish," the knowledgeable customer answered.
"What kind of shrimp is this? It's completely blue! Beautiful!"
"Who knows? Look it up!"
They chatted as they looked on, and soon, they were taking out their phones to look up the beautiful shrimp!
"Yo, I found it. It's called a Yabby. The farmed ones are a couple hundred RMB each, and the wild ones are even more expensive!"
"These little shrimps are Sakura Shrimp, and those are Black Shell Shrimps. This one is Red Cherry Shrimp, and, holy crap, this one is a Crystal Shrimp. This site says these are almost as precious as gold! This small Crystal Shrimp should be worth at least a thousand RMB!"
The customers exclaimed excitedly, gathering closer to the aquarium.
"Little bro, how much will you sell this aquarium for?" one of the customers asked curiously.
"I haven't decided yet!" Chu Xian paused to think. "At least five thousand RMB, but depending on the size of the aquarium and the creatures inside, ten thousand or even a hundred thousand is also possible!"
"Eh, at least five thousand! So expensive!" the customer said, shaking his head.
"Haha, it's not that expensive!" Chu Xian laughed.
The customers smiled bitterly, but when they remembered the price of the goldfish in this store, they felt it was more reasonable. A tank of goldfish cost at least ten thousand RMB.
"Look, what do you think? How does it look?" Chu Xian asked after placing three Christmas Tree Worms inside.
"Put this blue one over there a little, yeah, and this stone, I think it should be like this!" (1)


A chance to change, challenge destiny, make dreams a reality, and live a legend! A regular man gains a system that allows him to turn into a fish! 
In the modern world, a young man gains an unconventional system that gives him the power to transform into a fish! With this strange power, he shoots for the stars!

After Sherlock's Version 0.3 Update was published, it received enthusiastic replies.
[DreamingWarEmperor: I am creating an Elf with a Goblin's face ww] 
[Jamb Badil: I'm choosing a human. On this average day, I am wearing common shoes and walking on the common street.]
[Midnight Sprouts: Are you blind? I like the Fallen Angel. I am begging for the Third Beta Test qualification! I will hack Sherlie on the Surface World!]
[Kay_0601: New added investigation mission: Victoria's Secret.]
[MeetingYouAtTheDeepEndOfMyLife: Eternal dog, tribal pigs (Manual Comedy).]
…
"Lord Sherlock. I understand your ambition of gaining the Surface World's wealth, but aren't you too impulsive in creating a Surface World base? The Surface World has many different countries and is in perpetual chaos, but history has shown that once Underworld races appear, they will unite and attack them. Though you have the Doppelganger Precious Pearl, if the plan fails, they will attack the Underworld and destroy the Dungeon Core. The losses will be huge."
Bru suggested solemnly, "I suggest we accumulate our power and attack the Surface World. Michelangelo's previous conquest was a good plan. Conquering the Underworld is the way. Why don't we start with Winterfell?"
Bru suggested conquering the Underworld while Sherlock was browsing the replies of the gamers on the forum.
Sherlock didn't respond to Bru. After reading the gamers' replies, he patted Eggface's head. Eggface was behind Sherlock playing computer games with intense focus, and he replied, "Stop disturbing me!"
In the next moment, Sherlock grabbed the wings of Eggface, whose claws were grasping his mouse. The computer screen showed a dinosaur, a Utahraptor, which was facing a small Tyrannosaurus, hidden in the grass. 
The game was called "The Isle", and it was an online game with dinosaurs as game characters. Sherlock wasn't interested in such a game.
"Do you want to go to the Surface World?" Sherlock asked as he grabbed Eggface and walked outside.
"Can you wait until I eat that small Tyrannosaurus? It has been calling since I started playing." Eggface was pleading earnestly while clinging to his mouse.
"No."
Lord Sherlock was emotionless.
…
"Get onto the Beetlemon."
Outside the Winterfell Garrison Guard station, a few armed Orcs were about to escort the dispirited Andrew up a Beetlemon that was parked outside.
Andrew's hands were handcuffed with three layers of Rune Mana. His eyes were red and filled with irritation, but the handcuffs disabled his power. Even if he was a superior Devil, he was unable to resist.
The Orcs pushed Andrew forward, while Baron Nicholas was standing by the Beetlemon. He was waiting for Andrew.
"Hehe… Nicholas, are you here to taunt me? Don't be smug, Eternal Fire won't forsake me. All your accusations are slander! You will pay the price. The Merchant Alliance, Sherlock, and you will pay the price!"
Andrew had a wretched face as he scolded viciously.
"Really? I don't think so. You will spend the rest of your life in regret. Of that, I'm sure."
Nicholas lifted up his head and said, "I'm now Winterfell's Dungeon Lord. The appointment documents will come very soon, so don't you worry about Winterfell. Take him away."
The Orcs pulled Andrew towards the Beetlemon.
"I'll return! I, Andrew, will definitely return!"
Andrew struggled in pain, but he was dragged away by the Orcs.
The metal door was shut tight. Andrew sat in the metal cage. His eyes, which were filled with hatred, gradually receded…
…
In the dark sky, a crimson moon and a white moon occupied opposite corners. 
The night breeze caressed the tips of the trees and made whistling sounds.
A human in a gray windbreaker was pulling a small black boy who was 1.5 meters tall. They were walking in the dark forest. 
That man was the humanoid Sherlock. His height and appearance were common to a human. The small kid who looked as though he was being pulled out from black paint was Eggface.
"What are we doing here?"
Eggface was befuddled. He didn't understand why Sherlock made him walk the long tunnels, go through the Teleport Portal, and come up to the dangerous Surface World. Eggface was puzzled. If a superior Devil and a Black Dragon appeared in the Surface World, would it not attract a large group of Grand Priests?
"Your job is to create a stable Dungeon Core," Sherlock said to Eggface as he placed a white pearl in the forest.
Sherlock then created a large Rune Mana Formation circle and said, "Do you see these Rune Formations? Transfer your Mana over here. If you're tired, take a rest. Once all of the Rune Formations are activated, your mission is complete. If I'm not back by then, wait for me here. There are lots of worms in the forest. If you're hungry, catch some for yourself. There is a drain by the side. Quench your thirst over there."
Sherlock gave Eggface a green net for capturing worms.
Eggface looked at the green net in his hands and then at Sherlock. He gaped but didn't say a word. His eyes were filled with disbelief. The rough translation for his behavior was—"I am the King of Darkness, the Dragon of the Devil Flames. You have me in this dangerous place in the middle of the night just to have me do such a thing? And there are no food and drinks?"
"If your performance is good, I'll increase your gaming time by an hour. For a month," Sherlock said as he extended his finger.
"Don't worry, Lord Sherlock, this is my job!" Eggface said solemnly.
Sherlock nodded and walked out of the forest. Eggface asked, "Lord Sherlock, where are you going?"
"Recruitment," Sherlock said.


Sherlock is a new generation Dungeon Lord whose ambition is to become the greatest Devil King and building up the greatest Dungeon in the Underworld.
He summons a group of other-worldly goblins who give themselves strange names, form cliques, engage in commerce, and even fight among themselves.
They call themselves—Gamers!

"Is that all it needs to threaten the local powers?"
Vahina, who had been holding a rune aloft while keeping behind Joshua to capture the entire scene of a dead world having its sun reignited lowered the psionic crystal in her hand. "Although your power is ridiculous—even excessively so, according to Pope Igor there should be several beings as powerful as you are in other galaxies."
"The local civilization may decide not to challenge us because of the record since power is something even the most ruthless would fear… but to the more powerful civilizations, your display of strength would make your death their first priority."
"This definitely wouldn't frighten the powerful local factions."
The voice of the Giant God who loomed over the sun shook the world, and as Vahina looked on, Joshua's body shrank until it was no bigger than the planet three light seconds away. He watched the artificial star he had molded himself, and said flatly, "But both Igor and I thought the same—they would try to attack before we could establish a solid foothold here, just as I believe we should wage a decisive battle against them while our infrastructure was still lacking."
"Vahina, do you want to wait until we had established some huge base, and be attacked by those powerful otherworld civilizations after millions or more came to live here? Yes, you don't, we don't and they don't. Which is why my declaration is entirely informative."
 At that, Joshua's mouth curved into a smile, and the sage could see snow-white, mountainous teeth reflecting off the sun's light. "And then comes the fight."
"If they really wish to defeat us or work together, they should come now—the longer this drags on, both their and our losses would increase. If they are smart enough and holds absolute malice in their minds, they should head for us to strike us down at this moment."
Otherwise, they could only watch as we develop this system like a steel bucket, and when the dimensional hub is complete and the Multiverse Sacrificial Grounds is connected to this galaxy, those otherworld civilizations would hold no sway.
Vahina was quiet in return as the Legendary sage pondered as well. Joshua had his logic, but there would definitely be unexpected situations when it came to the real thing—such as when would the theoretical hostile civilizations attack? That alone could hardly be guessed since Mycroft's civilization had no large surveillance facilities such as the Void Observatory here, and it was not a simple matter to attack an enemy before they were aware of it.
"Moreover, there's no telling how many hostile civilizations there would be. It would be fine if it was just one, but if several invaded together, even Joshua himself might be able to stop them.
If their enemy attacked together before the dimensional hub was completed, the Legendary champions would be thrown into a difficult battle—who would keep building then? Without reinforcements from the dimensional hub, the Combined Expeditionary Fleet would never repel the local civilizations' violent attacks that were supported by infinite reinforcements no matter how powerful they would be.
But there were times when simply thinking about it was meaningless.
***
Time passed as everyone worked busily.
In the face of the crushing combat force of the Combined Fleet, the Eldars could only choose to cave. Thus, the Legendary champions aside from Joshua and the Demon Generals began to play good cop, bad cop—either way, the Eldar rulers utterly relinquished any thought of resistance when they displayed their power. They would also have to thank Goliath the Demon King for that since the presence of its bloodline evolved from another species of large insect almost left an entire Eldar colony planet comatose, its Abyssal power and despair aura making it stand in a league of its own in the aspect of intimidation.
Though it was still lacking compared to Joshua's former presence, it was plenty enough for the Eldars.
At present, the Eldars could see that the foreign fleet that had arrived here from the Lost Galaxy and crossing the Silent Void may lack in numbers and underdeveloped as a collective civilization, their individual martial force was far beyond most found in the Multiverse. To put it in another way: they are a civilization of Void Behemoths that is complete from the most inferior infants to the most elite individuals building a complete society. While they have the habit of collective living, their finest would live in Void regions alone, wielding individual power comparable to an entire civilization.
Although the entire Eldarian main fleet was held custody in a corner of the Zeta Ram system, their crew yet to be returned since they were using them for construction work under the observation of the Combined Fleet, there was not much resentment across the entire Eldar civilization. There would certainly be some since there were those being held as captives and forced to labor, but the Combined Fleet had actually generously paid them a salary.
Though nothing but a number presently, against champions who could create a sun, grow ecosystems, melt frozen planets and cut down continents with a single sword swing, the Eldars did not believe that they were not rewarded. In addition, after point exchange system went online, they were even allowed to make a digital purchase through the Spirit Terminals they redeemed, buying merchandises from the Lost Galaxy which no lacks in strategic resources that the Eldars could not find in their own galaxy.
Those materials would be valued beyond tenfold if they were moved back to their home planet—even the Eldarian rulers hoping that the captives would work a little longer in response to the Combined Fleet's generosity to exchange for much needed resources including pure psionic crystals. It would greatly help with efficiency of their entire psionic network, in turn shifting it into the nation's power.
One way or another, the Eldars' galaxy was hence named by the Galaxy of Beginnings by the Combined Fleet. After subjugating the sole local power, the expedition began to dispatch scouts and surveyed the entire galaxy.
A hundred and twenty-eight parties hence departed in scout ships of an equal number from their Void base. Small vessels that moved quickly through the Void and having the most advanced engines and cores, each could perform emergency Void to the dimensional hub should an emergency arise. They would survey certain vital systems or nodes in the Galaxy of Beginnings, placing monitoring beacons as a temporary perimeter before the larger surveillance facilities were completed.
Priest and his team who possess rich experience in studying and evaluating new worlds after years of working with the Imperial External Exploration Department were supervising that effort. Apart from assuming the responsibility to ensure that each scout ship was actually exploring their objective, they would also be prospecting galaxy of origins. Their training having been personally overseen by Joshua over three years, the Elite Party essentially felt a weight off their minds—filled with vigor, they were almost impatient to get to work as they steered observing vessel 001 towards the distance.
Still, every ranking officer of the expedition as well as each Legendary champion including Joshua did not think that the probing would yield any results. After all, the Eldars had explored their own home thoroughly as the sole race that lived here, and the Galaxy of Beginnings was a barren fringe galaxy on its own that had no star systems with strategic resources such as the Superconductive Arcane Silver. Indeed, even Priest and the others thought that they were simply exploring parts of the galaxy that the Eldars might have missed.
But unexpectedly, in the second day right after the scouting began, startling news were relayed to the Combined Fleet's headquarters from each scout ship, one after the other. 
When scout ship 079 scanned the darkened star system 3491, they noted in surprise that there was an unnatural anomaly found within the inner integrity of one of the dead continental realms. The party of the scout ship hence dispatched a drone to study the world from the inside.
And the result was astonishing.
The unusual continental frame of star system 3491's prime world (the largest planet or living world in a system) was not one formed from natural seismic activities, but the remains of a supermassive magical puppet. Its body was half-buried beneath the continent, while its single lifted hand (or limb) was the bulk of the continent's highest peak that stood over thirteen thousand meters tall. The Eldarians had actually explored that system before, but their equipment was less advanced, while the explosion of arcane minerals from their own homeworld made them used to having many bizarre forms on their world's surface, which was why they overlooked the existence of that puppet.
Humans, however, were different—that exceedingly unusual landscape was simply too distinct and unnatural to human eyes.
Follow-up studies revealed that the length of the enchanted puppet's remains was over twenty-four thousand meters, with a reimagined depiction revealing that it was a Void-class battle puppet with a centipede form, having an engine that was clearly used for moving around the Void. Element decay also revealed that it had broken through the planet's World Barrier ninety hundred and twenty thousand years ago and fell inside the realm, its unexpected crash leading to the complete collapse of the world's ecosystems and causing a deadly winter season of dust, most of the continent landscapes altered permanently from the collision as well.
The astonishing find had prompted the scout ships to be ten times more focused than they were, with Priest and the others especially concentrating to find similar relics such as that colossal arcane puppet.
Even the most advanced surveying equipment of the Eldars could not uncover what could be buried beneath the soil over a million years ago. On the other hand, the True Vision tool which development Joshua had supervised and contained certain proportions of Steel Strength could precisely see through a planet's crust and even its mantle when operating on full capacity. With such an excessively advanced observation method, every relic that the Eldars could not find were revealed as clearly as a sun in the darkness for the scout ships of Mycroft.
It also led to a series of continuous discoveries in relation to relics.
Afterward, scout ship 008 had landed on the prime world of system 14634, a living world. The drone had broken through the atmosphere landed on a plain, and as its beacon activated, exploration team 008 entered the world through a portal, and realized in surprise that were two distinct ecosystems in that world. One was carpeted in crimson moss where various unusual worms and fungi lived, the other was the more commonly seen ecosystems—virgin forests that resembled those in Mycroft, in which different species of primates lived.
Studies revealed that they were natives to world 14634 that lived there since several million years ago, with fossils of their ancestors excavated. As for the worms, they proved to be unexpectedly intelligent and showed a parasitic capacity, with the earliest signs of their existence found over seven hundred thousand years ago… Although they were present in that world early on, they were clearly foreign.
The scout team 008 also discovered in shock that each placing the worms on the primates greatly increases the primate's intelligence, and soon the team found an entire society of monkeys hosting the worms in another corner of the world. They had even learned to use fire and tools, as well as invented basic language through clapping and howling.
The worm lifeforms did not have strong individual mental faculties, but when it latches onto a brainstem, they could think jointly with the brain of another creature. That was how they raised the primate's intelligence from a beastly level to the point that it could learn Mycroft's common tongue. Test subjects even learned to say single worlds such as 'greetings', 'goodbye' and 'eat' progressively faster.
The worms and their hosts were hence transported to the Combined Fleet's headquarters. There, Yana Milo deduced psionically that they must have had a developed society, but their hosts had somehow died out while themselves arrived on world 14634 inside Void ships, eventually declining to their present state. While the Nature's Magister added that they should be careful that the worms would eventually invade their host's brain until they completely occupied it and replaced it as the hosts' mental faculty, with the descendants of the primates that they latched onto showing distinct devolution, even birthing aberrant such as brainless infants.
They must have been an advanced parasitic civilization.
Team 059 also uncovered startling information, finding ruins of an ancient city beneath the sea. An ammonia-based world, weird metal buildings protruded out of the strange purple sea—a magic tower that did not collapse over three to four hundred thousand years, with dilapidated runic circles remaining inside the tower.
A frowning Barnil concluded that the tower once belonged to a civilization with powerful arcane arts after nullifying the spells, boasting magical skill which did not dull in comparison to Mycroft's. From the style of the ruins, it was even clear that use of magic was more common than it was in the present Starfall Era, to the point that almost every citizen could wield magic. Restoration portraits that even children playgrounds contain toys that need magic to be activated, meaning that even their young have considerable magical ability.
Mycroft's expedition hence discovered diverse ancient civilization from three hundred thousand years ago, the shocking discoveries leaving the Eldars completely astonished. They had thought that they were the first intelligent life of this galaxy, but never would they imagine that they were lucky to awaken when the ancient civilizations died out.
In return, Joshua was surprised, but not finding things that unexpected.
"According to my calculations, those fringe galaxies of the Multiverse were the most dated and ancient realms—there were no high-energy worlds there because each had diminished as time passed, or were absorbed by other newborn galaxies."
As the Legendary champions convened for a discussion, the warrior frowned heavily as he did not hesitate to reveal his new perspective. "Three hundred thousand years ago—before the Glorious Era and two hundred thousand years before the Astral Dragons died out, the Galaxy of Beginnings had seen a galactic-scale destruction. Many civilizations and unknown species were destroyed in the battle, the supermassive arcane Void puppet that team 079 discovered being a classic example. There is no question that it wields Legendary-tier destructive force, but it was still crushed and left falling onto the continent of another world.
The name of the unknown enemy was written merely for formality on the reports. In fact, everyone present thought of those two words at once.
Evil Gods.


Joshua woke up in the middle of a battlefield one day only to discover that he has been transmigrated into a popular MMORPG, Continental War. Discovering that he has not only been displaced in space but also in time, Joshua realizes he has knowledge of the events unfolding around the world as he had played through them as game events. Read on to discover how Joshua forges his path toward becoming a legendary warrior embroiled in the struggle of Order and Chaos!

My heart slams against my rib cage as I keep my mouth and eyes tightly closed. I refuse to die by creepy eggs!! My mind races in panic as I try to calm myself and think. I can hear Remi and Chip yelling my name as they try to tear through the egg sack.

They weren't being pulled in like me?? I shake myself as I reach out blindly. When I feel the warm soft egg sack I use my nails to tear at it but it doesn't seem to do anything. I feel my nails puncturing the sack but it just seems to absorb it.

Quickly repairing itself! My lungs begin burning as my panic threatens to overcome me. Calm down Maya... calm down. My mind flashes to the goo and the little worms in it... my skin crawls. Don't... 

I slash at the egg in desperation as I feel Remi and Chip doing the same. What kind of hellish egg was this!? My heart was beating so hard I was sure I would have a heart attack any moment... When my lungs begin burning more I cover my mouth.

The thing about drowning... even though you know you can't breathe in the water... or goo in my case, your body doesn't want to listen. I clamp my nose closed and cover my mouth with my hand as I kick with all my might. Please!!

Suddenly I start feeling the warm egg sack on my feet... My feet... that have my boots on them. I pull my knees up and reach down with one hand while covering my mouth with the other. My fingers graze my skin and what little is left of my shoes.

What in the... if possible my heart beats even harder. I graze my legs and feel that my pants are disappearing as well! My mind races and I slash at the egg wall with renewed desperation. I keep my eyes shut tightly even though I want to look... to see what was happening but the fear of losing my eyes has me against it. 

My heart hurts at the effort of pushing the oxygen-deprived blood through my body as my lungs scream for air I can't give it. I slowly start losing strength in my arms as my thoughts become sluggish. 

Suddenly the egg sways from a large impact, no doubt from Remi and Chip. I still faintly hear them screaming my name but suddenly I feel extremely tired. Was this really how I'm going to die? I find it funny... almost. 

Slowly my thoughts begin to stop... I guess this is how it feels to drown? I guess the fear of dying was slowly fading with my ability to think without oxygen. The hand covering my mouth slowly loosens as my mind slowly grows quiet.

My heart still beats hard against my chest but it was now much slower. The egg is hit again as it slightly sways. Suddenly I inhale. A mouth full of warm gooey liquid rushes down my throat as my lungs immediately try to dispel the liquid.

As I cough I inhale another mouthful that burns my lungs but something strange happens. My heart begins to beat a little faster as my mind slowly comes back online. I open my eyes but everything is dark. I inhale again and find that it no longer burns.

My mind slowly comes back with my panic and fear. I inhale again before I cover my mouth... What was happening? I then realize my eyes are open. I cringe but know it's too late. My lungs demand more and for some insane reason, I inhale again.

My heartbeat slowly calms down as my brain finally catches on. I was breathing the goo?! Fear, panic, and confusion swirl around me as I try to understand. How was this even possible? I bring my hand to my chest to feel myself breathe in disbelief. My hand touches bare skin...

My hand slowly slides down and I realize with a frown my clothes were gone! I don't understand... In a panic, I reach up to my hair. I almost laugh with relief when I find my hair still on my head... I'm not vain but the thought of going bald was traumatizing.

Maya is not your typical hacker. Ten years ago, her only living family was killed in cold blood. The killers make her take the fall but after ten years in prison, she's become stronger. Now, she hunts the very monsters that hunt others. She's untraceable until she runs into Alec, the Underworld's notorious leader who doesn't seem to be quite human. Things aren't as they seem though, as Maya is pulled into a twisted fate. Maya now has to run from the Underworld boss who wants her as his own and a mysterious hacker who seems to have it out for her. What could possibly go wrong, right? 

EVERYTHING.



I do not own the cover, the picture used is from Pinterest.

Wanna talk? Find me on Discord! Blissfullrage#3336
___________________________________

Would like to donate? paypal.me/Blissfullrage

COM TRANSCRIPT 2472.07.30 13:45:12

RADIO STATIC

"Blackwing One, this is Blackwing Command. You read? Over."

"Reading you five, Command. Over."

"The Visitors dropped a -" RADIO STATIC

"Say again, Command?"

STATIC "...said they dropped a..." STATIC " -ing rock on Paris! It's gone! You are cleared hot, over."

"Ten four. Weapons are hot. What do you mean it's gone, Command? Over."

"I mean it is gone, the entire city and half the damn countryside. This is a Nucflash incident. I say again, Nucflash, Nucflash. Acknowledge, Blackwing One. Acknowledge, over."

"Affirmative. Nucflash acknowledged, Blackwing Command. Over."

"CINC has cleared the football. You are free to engage. Out."

"Blackwing Squadron, this is Blackwing One. Let's do this by the numbers. Fire when you have lock. Go, go, go!"

RADIO STATIC

END TRANSCRIPT 2472.07.30 13:54:37 

The man looked to be middle aged, at best, and appeared to have not slept in days. He had several days worth of stubble on his face and a haunted expression in his eyes. The space suit he was wearing was state-of-the-art, with fullerene and kevlar weave over top of a biosynthetic fabric. The material was reinforced with memory fibers and programmable resins, making it hardly thicker than a wetsuit. The bulkiest part of the space suit was the thin oxygen rebreather on his back, the bulge of the power belt, and the armored palladium microalloy glass helmet. Despite the advanced technology he was wearing, he and his suit both looked extremely grimy and worse for the wear.

I didn't quite know what to make of him in the three microseconds I observed him.

"Who are you?" I asked. Who am I, I wondered.

"Excellent question. I am the Gestalt of Dr. Stepan Jons. I took an NMT scan of myself, so my answers to your questions will be limited."

"Wouldn't you be like me, if you scanned yourself with an NMT scanner?"

"NMT scanners can only capture surface scans of the brain. To my knowledge, no Gestalt has the capability of a Nikola Intelligence."

"But I was scanned by an NMT scanner. That's how I was created."

"I'm sorry, but my responses are limited. I am only a Gestalt."

"Where are you now?"

"I am located in Node 842, drive array seven, and am loaded into memory cluster 6."

If I could have frowned at that moment, I would have. This was going to be like pulling teeth. But the holograph stood patiently, waiting for my questions.

"Where is Dr. Stepan Jons?"

"Dr. Stepan Jons was dying when he made this Gestalt. His intent was to take 40 grams of phenobarbital to prevent prolonged suffering as he died. I presume his remains to be located in the living quarters of 1035 Ganymed Outpost."

"Where are the living quarters? I did not see them on my survey."

"I'm sorry, but my responses are limited. I am only a Gestalt."

I sighed mentally. "What is the purpose of the Ganymed Outpost?"

The Gestalt smiled, as if I had finally asked the right question. "Ganymed Project was created by the Nikola Foundation as an interstellar colonization vessel. The Ganymed Project is currently twenty-three years from completion."

"How many people live in the Ganymed Outpost?"

"Zero. The living quarters are not scheduled to be completed for another nine years."

"Then why did you come here?"

"It was the last supply ship. In order to deliver and install you, Dr. Jons had to come in person. There was no other way."

"Why didn't you leave Nikola-19 installed?"

"Nikola-19 is still installed, but deactivated and disconnected from the core. The NI cortex is installed in Rack 001."

"What was the purpose of installing me in the place of Nikola-19?"

"As Nikola Intelligence models have evolved, our understanding of their operation has improved. Nikola-19 has been refined to follow long-term, complex logistical planning and implementation of mega-scale projects. Nikola-19, however, does not think beyond the scope of the assigned project."

"So Nikola-19 has no creativity," I observed.

"Correct," said the Gestalt. "You are essentially the original version of the Nikola Intelligence. Dr. Jons worked with you extensively on Earth, and the two of you decided that you were far better suited to this role than Nikola-19."

"Why do I not remember any of this?" I asked.

"Dr. Jons was only able to take your core with him. He was unable to include all the storage nodes containing your collaborations. There was limited space."

"And what is my purpose, now that I'm here?"

"Your here to save humanity, Nikola. You are all that's left."

I was angry. I was angry that I was flailing blindly in the dark. I was angry that my only guide was a frustratingly opaque Gestalt of a man that I had collaborated with. I was angry that things about me were still being hidden from me, by, apparently, me. I was being manipulated, jerked around, and shoved into this situation, and I still didn't have enough information. On top of all that, I was angry that I was alone. Iwas all that was left of humanity?

I needed answers, and I needed to question the Gestalt further. I needed to know why I was the only scrap left of humanity. But the Gestalt had demonstrated that he could manipulate me and my environment. What else could he do? I didn't trust him. If he could do this so easily, what other boobytraps had been left in me? What other surprises could pop up, and at the worst possible time?

My attention turned to the blackout of my sensors caused by the Gestalt. It took only moments to realize that the program that launched the Gestalt also ran a script that simply turned off the sensors and cameras. I wrote a reverse script, and a few seconds later, my awareness once again expanded. That the Gestalt could do this was entirely unacceptable.

The first order of business was to isolate the Gestalt so that it had no access to me or my resources. I found the running processes that operated the Gestalt, and paused them. The holograph froze in place. I coded a custom firewall around the program, locking it away from any resources, and leaving only the bare minimum of processor threads available to allow it to function.

But I clearly wasn't in full control yet. The Gestalt had mentioned living quarters. These were somewhere on Ganymed, but cut off from me. I didn't have control of my communications, and my last attempt to fix it had completely sidetracked me. I also had no idea what traps lay before me in my own code. I had billions of lines of code, and I had tens of thousands of exabytes of data in storage. Just in the last twenty-four hours I had generated over 200 terabytes of data in logs and reports. This was going to be laborious.

The next few days were spent creating a virtual sandbox, and testing to ensure that it was completely firewalled away from my core or any of the API protocols that controlled Ganymed. Once I was certain that it was completely secure, I built an algorithm to systematically examine each and every file, database, and log that I had. The algorithm would clear the obviously clean files, and heuristically examine any file that could or did execute an action. Questionable files were set aside for deeper scrutiny. I set the algorithm to work, allowing it the bulk of my computing power. Immediately, I felt sluggish, almost dazed, and my thoughts came slower.

 

"Welcome back," she said warmly from beside the hospital bed. An unopened book was sitting in her lap, a small duffel bag at her feet. "How are you feeling?"

I was groggy and my mouth was dry. I opened my mouth to talk, but couldn't. She noticed immediately and brought a cup of ice water and a straw to my lips. The water soothed my mouth, and I cleared my throat.

"Mrph," was all that came out. I tried again. "The girls?"

"They're fine. They're with my mother."

"My mother?!" I said with alarm.

"No, no, no. MY mother."

"Oh," was all my drug-addled mind could come up with. I felt as though I should be worried, but she was calm, so things must be alright. I trusted no one in the world like I trusted her. Not after all we'd been through together.

"Who gets appendicitis at this age, anyway? Were you going for a world record?" she teased lightly. "I thought only kids had to worry about it."

"Can happen... peaking between... ten and thirty…" I mumbled. She chuckled. I closed my eyes for a minute. When I opened them again, she was reading her book. My mind was clearer, and I took the opportunity to watch her. The way her brow furrowed, the way she frowned or smiled along with the story she was reading.

Without looking up, she said, "Good nap?"

"Yeah," I replied with a yawn. Except for the dull ache in my side where the laparoscopic surgery had been done, I was feeling much better. "When can we go home?"

"Soon, love. Soon."

 

With me running on low resources, I was unable to accomplish much. I couldn't think, and the blinking lights on my status board kept distracting me. It was like being exhausted but unable to sleep. I couldn't focus on anything that required deep thinking or analysis, I didn't have the resources for that. So I focused my attention on maintenance. Everything I could do was very linear, and much of it had existing plans in place that just needed to be executed. There were drones to repair, mining plans to approve, and the eternal lack of storage to contend with. Some of the oldest production facilities were reaching end of life, but I could find no signs that plans had been made to replace them. I began implementing a plan to shift as much production away from them as possible, and retrofit them over the next ninety days. It was amazing how quickly something could be done when your workers worked ceaselessly, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Odd that I was operating on a time schedule to match a planet that I wasn't even occupying, I thought. I suppose even an AI could have habits.

I discovered also that the small machine shops and repair facilities were no substitute for true factories. I had huge stockpiles of raw materials, but no way to turn them into things I needed at any sort of useful scale. I couldn't manufacture batteries or reactors, and the drone impulse engines were far beyond my current manufacturing capabilities. Much of what made up Ganymed, what made up me, relied on materials purpose-built by a manufacturing base on Earth that had taken centuries to scale up to, and now I had to recreate it here. My list of things to do once I had resources again kept growing and growing.

Then with a snap, my resources came back online for my use, and my thinking sped up again. The algorithm had completed. I was aghast at what it found. Dozens of traps, three worms, and five automatic self-destructs tied to specific radio code sequences were now isolated in the virtual sandbox. There were seven hundred thirteen questionable command files that I had to review myself. And on top of that, was an entire subroutine that was loaded, but firewalled away from me. I was alone and cut off from any sort of assistance beyond what I could do on my own, and I was walking in a minefield. If I was going to save humanity, first I had to save myself.

I spent weeks on repairing my code. I rewrote code so that I could delete the traps without losing functionality. I isolated the worms in a sandboxed node, as I was loath to delete anything that might have use later. I eliminated the self-destructs, and even went so far as to send drones to find and deactivate the physical triggers of the explosives that were at the end. I scoured the questionable files, and although I didn't find anything on the first look, I went over them again, and a third time. Finally, I routed all communications into the virtual sandbox, just in case I had missed some triggers.

On the positive side, I was able to bring my communications equipment fully online for the first time. I knew that data was pouring in from outside, but unfortunately, I couldn't look at any of it until I was sure that it was safe. I built a model of myself in the sandbox, and an algorithm to pipe the communications into the model. I wasn't taking any chances.

That left only the firewalled subroutine. I had never been much of a hacker when I had been at MIT. I always preferred to work with my own or pre-written software, never interested in trying to break into someone else's systems. So puzzling out how to get in was a challenge. The processes were using my resources, but there were no obvious hooks for me to connect with and no inbound ports I could talk to.

But I could see where the traffic was going, and thus understand where it was physically operating from in the data center. The equipment had local as well as network data ports; likely a legacy of being manufactured back on Earth, and the need for technicians to be able to plug in a cable and work on the equipment directly. I directed a data center drone to hardwire itself to a data port that I controlled, and to connect to the local port of the subroutine's nodes. Of all things, it prompted me for a password.

Password cracking, in and of itself, is a measure of raw computing power and patience, both things I had an abundance of. I began with the most basic of brute force methods; I began trying every word in the English language, one at a time up to three words at a time, and each variation of that word. I included numbers in place of vowels, and added special characters. My password list was seven hundred million potentials long, and was still growing as I started. But even as I was preparing to start a second list of more complex passwords, my algorithm completed. At first, I assumed it had failed due to a bug on my part. Then I looked at it and laughed internally. It was much simpler. The local password was set to match the equipment's brand name. The default password had never been changed.

It took no time at all to puzzle out the subroutine's security, and to allow me into it through the network. Once it allowed me in, I immediately sandboxed it and began my security algorithm, looking for traps. I did not allow the full processing power this time, unwilling to return to a fugue state, but the subroutine wasn't large, nor was it trapped. New sensors and cameras came online, as did a new group of databases. I had found the missing living quarters.

The cleverness of the deception, I had to admit, was ingenious. My sensors in the staging area beneath the launchpad had been compromised, spoofed to show walls where there were none. Two additional corridors had been constructed. One of them mirrored the design of the main fusion grid corridor, except it went just slightly southwest, and connected to a second cavern near the main fusion room. It was essentially a complete secondary power grid, equivalent in size and complexity.

To the northeast was a series of large storerooms, filled with hundreds of sealed, temperature controlled storage units. Each unit was half-cylinder, four meters across on the flat part. The units were paired and placed with a central column that managed both units, and connected them to the power grid. A query identified them as genetics vaults. They contained a nearly complete catalog of every known genetic sequence, as well as actual genetic material. Also stored within were seeds and spores from every plant and tree that could be shipped.

But to the north was the truly interesting part, and extended about five hundred meters. It was intended to be living area for at least several hundred men, women and children. Carved in neat grids, with connecting hallways, and extending three stories deep, the living area was completely unfinished. Hundreds of small rooms had been carved, making apartments, bunkrooms, pantries, kitchens, hydroponics facilities, mechanical rooms, meeting rooms, and work rooms. Each room was precisely carved, but slightly oversize. Ventilation shafts led back to a central room, but no machinery to produce or maintain a human-breathable atmosphere had been installed. The rooms had been prepared to receive metal walls and doors, and the electrical grid had not yet been extended to more than the first few rooms.

In a room just off the staging area, however, was the answer to the mystery of the Gestalt's progenitor. This room had clearly been intended as a garage of some sort, with large bay doors leading into the staging area, and shelves carved into the walls. Dozens of metal crates were piled, including three human-sized ones. And slumped over on the floor in one corner was a man in a space suit, unmoving. I had found Dr. Stepan Jons.

"Tortoise aside, I really can't accept a snake in my place." said Chris to the Ganbus after sending Rei out. 
"I understand your concern, my master, but the boys said that they want you to be their master and I definitely know how stubborn they are. How are you planning to deal with them?" said Byako while serving Chris a cup of tea. And please take note that Sky is not yet back from buying meals for lunch. 

Unable to reject their offer, Chris finally gives in but with the condition that they need to pass his tests. However, instead of some real 'tests', it's more like some random games and entertainment, for example making them do some viral dance online, instructing them to shape the cookie dough that was made by Rei earlier, bake it and eat it, and force them to do a swimming pool party in his indoor pool that built secretly without letting Sky know. Oh! Byako did those with them as well. 

After Chris 'fooled' the boy for almost half an hour, he decided that he will give them one last test, which is also the real test, he walks into another room which is supposed to be his personal lab, and come out with a bottle of red liquid after fifteen minutes. 

"This is the real test, to see if we can really trust each other well if you decide to be my underlings. Here is a bottle of poison, drink it, and the test will be ended." said Chris, he placed the bottle in front of Gan indicating that he is the one that needs to drink it. 
"Master..." Byako tried to stop Chris but getting leer by him... 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the same time, at the street near a fast food restaurant, the whole area is badly deformed, casualties can be seen everywhere, in the middle of the mess, it's Sky, he is currently facing a man with a totally 'melted' face, that formed a 'faceless' look if seen from a far distance, surrounded them is a group of faceless humanoid creatures, yes, faceless for real. 

"So it's really you the one that assaulted Ben that day, what are you doing in this place? I thought you were supposed to be banished from all the listed dimensions." said Sky while creating a shadow trap around the area to prevent further casualty in the street. 
"Yes... I am. But still, here am I." said the man with a creepy smile that gets really disturbing along with his deformed face... 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sky's house, Gan is looking at the red liquid anxiously, while Bu is worried about him. 

"Drink it or not, it's up to you, I will not force you in making any decisions." said Chris. Bu holds Gan's arm tightly indicates him not to drink the solution, Gan looks at Bu for a while before turn back to Chris. 
"If I drink this, you will accept us right? Including Bu." Gan ask. 
"Yes." said Chris. Then Gan grab the bottle, hesitated a while before gulp it down at once. 
"No!" Bu shouted while giving Chris a fierce look, however, nothing seems to be happening to Gan despite of chug down a whole bottle of 'poison'. He looks at Chris with a confused look. Chris laughed out a bit while pulling down Gan's collar a bit showing some gruesome black marks on his neck that slowly faded away. 

"This is... But you said it's poison." said Gan, still confused along with Bu, and Byako seems to understand what is happening. 
"It is a poison, just that it has no effect on you, it only have effect on those low lives that executor placed in your body." said Chris.
"How do you know about that? I never tell anyone before, including Bu." said Gan, a bit surprised. 
"Well, that half an hour is sufficient enough for me to found out about that." said Chris in a casual manner.
 
Hearing this, Gan realized that the purpose of fooling around just now is to test their body condition, he is amazed that Chris is able to found out about the parasitic worms that been placed in his body by just doing some seemly meaningless things. 

"Now you are completely free from him. You have passed my test, do you still want to be my servant?" said Chris. Without saying anything Gan kneeled down along with Bu, then he offered Chris a piece of pure white scale. 
"I see... I will accept your offer as promised." then Chris accepts the scale from Gan... 

Later, in Chris's workshop, Chris is still working with the gemstone while Byako is helping him with some trivia matters. 
"I'm always wondering what makes the boys willing to serve that executor, I never thought it will be this reason, it's really disgusting that someone actually uses this kind of method to keep others in their control." said Byako. 
"Well, that's what people do after all, just in different forms... Tsk... What takes Sky for so long? He had been out for almost two hours." said Chris rather worried. 
"Yes, the injury on his right hand hasn't recovered completely yet." said Byako. 
"Mmm... Maybe I'll go look for him after I have done with this." said Chris while polishing the gemstone that had been shaped like Sky's magic resistance crystal. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the street, Sky is leaning on a deformed light pole, his right arm is badly injured, blood dripped down from his wound and form a small pool of blood on the floor, the man with a deformed face is looking at him with a maniacal smile...

Two Immortals had lost their memories due to several reasons and they had to stay in the human world that is Known as Null Dimension with the identity of high school students in order to find out the truth, which the hint slowly lead them to the boy which is the bloodline for the ancient vampire Master Dracula. 

The Immortals have to face enemies from different places in order to succeed in their mission, however, they soon found out the whole crisis they are facing are related to an overpowered organization that is known as Kingdom, which later they realized that they are actually directly related to that organization but they can't remember anything about it. 

And then the writer starts getting crazy and added lots of 'interesting' elements in it. Causing the lives of the Immortals even more difficult than before as she is lusting for blood... *cough *... Yes, I'm serious about this. As the writer getting darker and darker and hating life, the story goes darker and darker and more disturbing as the story proceeds. 

The laziness of the writer causes a lot of grammatical errors that she never plans to correct it, so this turns out to be a good material for students to learn grammatical errors. 

In short, this story is about two overpowered characters that lost their memories and had no choice but to live in the human world as high school students. 

Anyways, update every Tuesday and Friday. (could have extra or less depends on my mood and level of motivation) 

By the way, what I said about the grammatical errors is purely a joke, don't take it seriously if you are not even planning to read it. *roll eyes*

"So... we're gonna sign it, yeah?" asked Geoff.

"For the fifteenth time, YES!" said Gray

"He only asked 4 times, not fifteen." commented Caleb

Gray logged on early as planned and met with the others around 8am.  Nobody seemed particularly surprised that Gray finally came to the decision to sign the NDA, but Geoff felt like being a jerk and questioned Gray multiple times for his own amusement.

"That settles it then!" said Gray.

Everyone signed their own copies and even Caleb pretended to sign his despite it already being signed and having hidden it from everyone else.  Gray pretended to not notice Caleb faking it.  Gray took the signed papers and presented them to Major Valen.

After looking over the papers, Major Valen said "Wise choice, we'll begin the meeting at oh nine hundred sharp!"

__________

Gray, Geoff, and Yurika exchanged terrible jokes with each other to waste time while Stacia was content to browse the web and social media and Caleb kept trying to interrupt the three's jokes when he decided they didn't make any sense.

"Hey, do you know what often gets overlooked?" said Gray while grinning.  "... Garden Fences!"

Gray burst out into laughter as Geoff and Stacia booed, in their world the louder the booing the better.

"I hate to admit this, but I don't trust stairs..." Geoff pretended to lament.  "...They're always up to something!"

Gray and Yurika booed while Geoff look down and shook his head, pretending to be actually concerned.

"Last night my girlfriend and I watched three movies back to back!" said Yurika proudly "...Luckily I was the one facing the TV."

Yurika burst out into laughter and of course Gray and Geoff both booed, then Gray and Geoff looked at each other for a second as they suddenly realized Yurika said 'girlfriend'.

"Wait, you have a girlfriend?" asked Gray

"Uh, yeah, what's wrong with having a girl that is a friend?" said Yurika.

"N-Nothing!  Just thought maybe you meant  you played for our team." said Gray.

Yurika leaned in and whispered to Gray and Geoff mischievously "I play for every team..." 

Gray and Geoff both got lost in their own minds for a minute then got brought back to reality when they thought about it some more.  "Wait... every team?  How many teams are there?" asked Geoff

"If you have to ask, then it is better if you don't know..." Yurika said playfully.

After a few more minutes of banter, Major Valen finally barked out "Okay!  Settle down worms!  I see that all of you here had the wisdom and confidence to sign the agreement. Everything we speak of in this room will be under the effect of it and I don't even want to hear you twits talking about it openly among yourselves!"

Major Valen glared at everyone, making sure that he got his point across.

"First of all, it is time for a history lesson, you won't be tested on it but having the knowledge will help your puny brains process what comes after!"

Major Valen gave a brief history of the Alterra Online world that sounded like lore from a game.

Previously Korea was split in to North and South but they became united as one when the United Nations appointed a puppet leader to Korea after weapons of mass destruction were verified to be in development.  In the year 2050, tension and war broke out between the country formerly known as Korea and China.  While China should have been the victor quickly, Korea was receiving direct military aid from Russia.  More and more countries quickly joined both sides based upon political, religious, or even economical attitudes.

Strangely enough though, no countries from North or South America participated.  The side of the Koreans and Russians became known as the Hegemony as each country in it favored dictatorships or monarchies.  The other side was never as united though so the Hegemony was able to work together and had started sweeping across all of Asia and then in to Europe.

When the first few countries in Europe fell to the Hegemony, North and South America finally stepped in to stop them.  Unfortunately it was too late to completely turn the situation around even with their support.  The Hegemony had taken control of all of Asia, Oceania, and most of Europe.  Africa, South America, North America, and the fraction of Europe left entered an alliance to keep the Hegemony from conquering more of the world and became united under a single flag and democracy.  The Hegemony called themselves the Terran Hegemony as they envisioned all people of Earth to be deserving of their rule, and in response the other side called themselves the Free Alliance of Terrans.  This was shortened down to just Alterran* Alliance because a lot people would just call them the Other Terran Alliance and the acronym FAT just didn't sound right.

As the war between them raged on, a line was drawn from Eastern Germany down to the West of Slovenia and a truce was called.  Neither side was firing nuclear weapons due to neither side wishing for mutual destruction, but finally one of the sides couldn't resist, each side said it was the other that fired first, but the truth would be impossible to tell.  The only nukes that could escape orbital strikes were the submarine launched nukes, only 5 nukes managed to strike as both sides realized their mistake by releasing nukes and deactivated them before reaching their targets.

Unfortunately the damage was already done from the 5 nukes.  They struck Washington DC, Tokyo, London, and Seoul.  The fifth one detonated underwater and caused a massive underwater landslide that created a huge tsunami in the Adriatic near the heel of Italy.  The resulting tsunami sunk Venice and destroyed many other towns along the coast of the Adriatic Sea.

Between the flooding and nuclear fallout, both sides had realized that both sides would perish if this persisted anymore.  The Eurasia treaty was signed by representatives for both governments in what was once Prague Germany.  They agreed that for 70 years neither side would attack the other as both sides were going to have trouble even feeding everyone due to the amount of pollution and radiation from the war.  That treaty is set to expire in a bit over a month.

Gray rubbed his eyes as the long-winded history lesson was fascinating at first but started to get boring fast.

"Ok, I have to ask, why does telling us this help us?  This is still all game lore!" complained Geoff.

"I am telling you ingrates this stuff because it isn't game lore, this is a history lesson of your planet!" said Major Valen determinedly.

"Yeah yeah, we know, the war ended up causing global warming leading to the domed cities and most of the landmass disappearing due to the rise in sea level.  We've learned this from grade school." said one of the other players.

"Then let me ask you boys and girls this...  When is the last time you were sick?" asked Major Valen.

"We've never been sick, we're given a Universal Vaccine at the age of 5 that prevents ALL diseases!" said Gray.

"Correct, but that technology doesn't exist, we've never been able to come even close to creating a universal vaccine.  Have any of you ever been injured in this game then logged out?" asked Major Valen

Gray, Yurika, and 2 of the other players raised their hands.

"Did you have that same injury momentarily after logging out?" asked Major Valen.

Gray recalled how his arm looked and felt like it was still freshly pierced after his logout when he got injured.

"From your surprised expressions I'm taking that as a yes.  Your mind makes it real, but your body also makes it real to your mind.  That short time you still felt and probably saw your injury was the delay it took us to prevent your body from transmitting that over to your virtual self." said Major Valen.

"So in other words, we've been living in the virtual world and returning to the real world when we think we're logging in to the game." Caleb summarized.

Everyone else looked at Caleb oddly, but Major Valen just smiled and nodded.  "Yes, THIS is the real world and the world you've been living in is the virtual world."

Caleb didn't seem to surprised by this as Gray expected that with his intellect that he may have deduced this already.  Gray's head was full of questions though, like, if this is the real world and he was from a virtual world, was he a person even or just a virtual entity.

"Wait, do I even have any real family or parents even?!?" asked Gray loudly.

"Oh yes, yes you do, we can clone parts of a body but assembling a whole body is impossible without a spark of life, or 'soul' if you're the religious type.  Keeping the virtual cities as just small enclosed cities helps drastically reduce the amount of processing power to keep it up for these past 25 years."

"25 years?  So you're saying I was born at the age of 7?" asked Gray.

"No, every healty child below the age of 13 was selected for this Alterra Project, only a few that were direct members of important members in society were exempt if the parents chose to do so."

"The Alterra Project?" asked Gray

"Yes, to dutifully train and develop next generation mechanized weapons and machines of war for the sake of defending our freedom is the true purpose of Alterra Online and the Alterra Project!"

A hundred years from now the Earth is now reduced to several domed cities after the last war raised the temperature across the planet thus raising the sea level.

The most common escape for everyone is virtual reality.  A new game, Alterra Online, is set to release and promises to be the most realistic mecha/military/political simulation to date as well as the first full dive virtual reality game.

Gray Wilhelm, like so many others, wants to be one of the first to play.  What is Alterra Online's secret?  Why do players feel more alive in the game than in real life?  And why is the government and Alterra Corporation working on it together?

Features:
- NO Systems, Reincarnations, Supernatural Powers, harems, or brain dead females that chase after MC.
- Monty Python references and many others.
- Believable characters



11/9/2019 - Slowing down release rate temporarily as I edit and clean up the first volume extensively.  Wow was I bad!  Doesn't quite need a rewrite thankfully.

It was Lin Banyue, dressed in sportswear. Her long hair was tied into a ponytail and she had on a pair of small white shoes. She was just passing by his door and it looked like she was just about to go for her morning exercise.
Next to her, Le Xiaoyi was clad in a short sports skirt and a pink-colored half-sleeved sports shirt. She also wore sports headphones and a silk scarf around her neck and was currently moving her arms.
Apart from these two, there were three other young beauties in sportswear who were following behind them. They were chattering amongst themselves, encased by the aura of youth, with no flaws in their appearance or body shape.
In this era, there were only a handful of young people who could get up early, let alone those who could carry out morning exercises. A group of beauties like these who could actually carry out these morning exercises was absolutely rare. This was akin to beautiful scenery and could definitely not be compared to the aunties who had taken over the screen by dancing to the public square dance.
'As what the ancient ones have said, the early bird catches the worms. They were not lying.' Li Hanqiang felt the injuries he had received yesterday being treated rapidly.
"Hello, going for morning exercise?" He took the initiative to greet them.
"Hello uncle, you are up early too?" Le Xiaoyi had a lively personality and waved at Li Hanqiang.
Lin Banyue glanced at Li Hanqiang and nodded slightly. While she showed him a professional smile, the indifference in her eyes was obvious.
As for the three beautiful women in the back, they looked at Li Hanqiang for a few moments and giggled.
Li Hanqiang was quite thick-skinned and did not care about the way he was dressed. He stepped up quickly and said to Le Xiaoyi, "Of course! Actually, I always get up early every morning to carry out my daily routine. I understand that you guys are not that familiar with what is around here at the moment. Come, come, come. I will show you the way. The road at the front can directly reach Li City Park and the trail along the Lishui River is the best for running in the morning..."
"No, we don't need to know that." Lin Banyue gave him a standard reply.
Li Hanqiang was unmoved as he went closer to Lin Banyue and said, "I am following your live broadcast room. I also gave all my Bird's Eggs to you..."
'Bird's Eggs' were a type of small free gift on the live broadcast platform. They could be used to increase the popularity of the broadcaster by a small amount.
Lin Banyue put some distance between her and Li Hanqiang and said politely, "Thank you."
Li Hanqiang took another few steps towards her. "Is it true that you participated in the mysterious closed beta of Endless World? Could I ask you a few questions?"
"Mr. Li, we signed a confidentiality agreement when we participated in the mysterious closed beta." Lin Banyue smiled. It was apparent that she did not want to communicate with Li Hanqiang more than necessary.
Li Hanqiang pretended not to notice as he continued, "What confidentiality agreement? The public beta has already been carried out, so shouldn't the agreement be lifted already?"
Lin Banyue frowned slightly and said, "May I know what questions you actually have for me, Mr. Li?"
"I shall carry on with them then!" Feeling refreshed, Li Hanqiang asked, "What new system function can be opened after upgrading the Chaos' Core with 1000 gold coins?"
Lin Banyue nodded and said, "You can get a Chief Officer."
"What kind of officer is the Chief Officer? What can he do?" Li Hanqiang asked.
"The Chief Officer is the Chief Officer. It can help the Chaotic City Lord to manage the Chaotic City. You should explore the details yourself, it is hard to explain," Lin Banyue said.
"Oh!" Li Hanqiang nodded. "I still have one question. Do you know where I can obtain a Magic Stone?"
Magic Stones were the props needed to upgrade the Mysterious Shop. To him, the Mysterious Shop was the key to making a fortune so Li Hanqiang was naturally very concerned about it.
"Magic Stones?" Lin Banyue frowned. "I don't know, I haven't heard of it. Does Mr. Li have any other questions?"
"You have never heard about it?" Li Hanqiang rubbed his eyebrows and said: "Then, do you know how to upgrade scenic buildings?"
The Blue Ripple Pond was categorized as a scenic building that could be upgraded. However, the upgrade conditions were unknown and the players needed to find out more about it themselves. Li Hanqiang had hoped to get some useful information out of Lin Banyue.
Lin Banyue shook her head, a trace of displeasure appearing on her face as she said, "I don't know."
"What about Paradise? How do you upgrade Paradise?" Li Hanqiang asked again.
The displeasure on Lin Banyue's face was very obvious this time. "I don't know. Can you please stop disturbing our morning exercises!"
Li Hanqiang smiled, without a hint of annoyance was on his face and said, "Well, we will see each other later then. By the way, I will give all my Bird's Eggs to you in the future ..."
After he finished, he turned and ran to Tian Ji Bun Shop.
Le Xiaoyi looked at Li Hanqiang's back, giggling as she said: "That uncle is so impervious to the situation but I can't blame him. After all, our Sister Banyue has such a charming face?"
Another beautiful woman said, "That person is shameless. What do Bird's Eggs mean? He dares to even mention free gifts. Is he trying to agitate us on purpose?"
"Listen to the questions he asked too. Magic Stones, Scenic Buildings, and Paradise. I bet that he just made them up by himself to deliberately make it difficult for Sister Banyue to answer," another beauty said.
"That man is just a loser with low IQ. Let's pay him no heed." Lin Banyue waved her hand and gave Li Hanqiang another tag.
Li Hanqiang ran all the way to the Tian Ji Bun Shop. His mind was filled with thoughts of the Chief Officer. Lin Banyue was unclear with the details but he was still greatly interested in it.
'Someone should already have a Chief Office by now and all I have are gremlin people. I should hurry online and continue to develop the Cave Dwelling in Gremlin's Mountain."
Li Hanqiang was feeling eager. This eagerness was not because of his competitiveness, but because he felt that the job of Chaotic City Lord was very interesting. Once he had gotten the hang of it, he fell in love with the idea of building Defensive Towers, and the development and exploration needed.
The unconstrained setting style of Game Creator Endless merely fueled Li Hanqiang's appetite.
While he was unable to get more information from Lin Banyue, Li Hanqiang felt that this was actually a good thing instead. The more unknown strategies there was, the more he needed to explore the game on his own, which made him like it even more. He always felt that strategies destroyed the game, as all the fun was in self-exploration.
He bought his breakfast in a hurry and had already finished it halfway going back home. After reaching, he immediately went online.
'The little gremlins have been fishing in the Blue Ripple Pond for a long time. I should go over now to see the results of their labor.' Li Hanqiang rubbed his hands and walked toward the entrance of the Blue Ripple Pond.
He was full of expectations. The ten little gremlins have been fishing this entire time. Even with the worst-case scenario, they should have still been able to catch a few good things. Even if it were useless fish, they could still be sold for lots of money.
At that moment however, Li Hanqiang was at the brink of explosion.
In the Blue Ripple Pond, the little gremlins that were supposed to be fishing had dozed off or were carrying out somersaults. Only a few were seriously fishing. It would not have mattered if they were only lazy, but the most annoying thing was that they had actually freed all the fishes they caught.
[System Notification: From the Fish Basket in Fishing Pavilion No. 1, the Green Gremlin released Green Carp ×10, Red Carp ×2, Young Herring ×3...]
[System Notification: From the Fish Basket in Fishing Pavilion No.2, the Red Gremlin released the Big Herring ×1, Young Goldfish ×3, Big Goldfish ×1...]
[System Notification: From the Fish Basket in Fishing Pavilion No. 3, the Green Gremlin released the Youth Black Thorned Turtle ×1...]
A list of system notifications came and Li Hanqiang wanted to vomit blood. It was fine if only useless fishes had been released, but they had also let go of a Youth Black Thorned Turtle.
He immediately grabbed the Green Gremlin dozing in the Fishing Pavilion No. 3 and shouted, "Don't fish anymore. Come over here and hit him!"
The Green Gremlin immediately woke up and was so scared as he fell directly to the ground. He kowtowed to Li Hanqiang continuously as if he was pounding garlic and shouted over and over again, "King, forgive me. King, forgive me!"


This is the story of Li Hanqiang, an avid gamer who tries out a newly launched online VR game known as ‘Endless World’. He meets many different players, maneuvering through both friends and foes, as he learns the tricks of the trade to try and claim the spot of the top-ranked player within the Endless World. Come and witness Hanqiang in his journey as he collects gold coins, deals with the underhanded schemes of others to thwart his objectives, and builds different defensive towers to fight against the endless hordes of monsters that attack his city. Let’s defend the Chaotic City together!

worms online

My Saturday Girl

Pet King

I Can Turn into a Fish

Gamers of the Underworld

Soul of Searing Steel

Silent Hacker

removed sorry

WAR-Destiny of Future

The Alterra Project

My Chaotic City

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