《Ashes of Heaven》7- Unrealistic Goals
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"I can't believe this, oh God..."
A very distressed Xuhan was sprawled inside his newly acquired hut which had just undergone a thorough cleaning. It was rather cosy and warm inside, with only a small bed and a low table beside that took up half the space in one of the two rooms while the other room featured a few necessities and cooking utensils for a single person to live by themselves.
At this moment, however, that single occupant of the hut, namely Han Xuhan, didn't look very motivated to live on. He pulled on his hair and moaned in an anguished manner every now and then while reading a thick book he had found on the bedside table.
The cover of the book showed a very impressive title-
The glorious history of the world of cultivation
Han Xuhan was initially very excited after reading the title and realizing that he could get a free and easy introduction of this world so soon. This would be of great help to him if he wanted to avoid potential disasters in the future that usually befalls on small fries like himself.
But as he turned each pages of the book, his hands shivered and his eyelids twitched uncontrollably. The more he read, the worse his symptoms got. In the end, he threw the book aside and lay lifelssly on his bed while clutching his head.
"Finished, it's all finished. Everything makes sense now. No wonder the elders of the sect were so unfavourable towards reincarnators like me. How is this possible....
Half the historical figures known for incredible feats rivaling the celestials are known to be reincarnated beings who almost always acted oddly. Many of their achievements literally mirror the protagonists of xianxia novels on earth. Some of their biographies even feel like a rip off of famous webnovel in that genre...
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There is also the fact that many of these historical figures operated in a close knit group and rumoured to have shared secrets...
What's more alarming is that the amount of apocalyptic events and horrifying dangers that popped up every few years, all of which seem to be tailor made for the then historical figures...
Is this really an actual world and not a
reflection of all those xianxia novels from his past life in one big clusterfuck...
How can a world like this exist?
What mysteries hid behind this world?
So many protagonist level characters with secrets which definitely are related to their own cheats....
And there is me ...
Heavens, what have I done to deserve this!
Did any celestial maiden fall in love with my previous incarnation and the heavens became jealous...
Ahh, I must've been too outstanding in my previous life, sigh...is this the fate of the extraordinary, yet powerless folks?"
Wallowing in his misery and narcissism, Xuhan finally managed to convince himself that it was just him being too saintly and outstanding in his previous life that must have attracted the wrath of the heavens.
"Nevertheless, now I need to consider my options at hand. What is the biggest bargaining chip in a xianxia world that can allow me to live peacefully?
Cultivation, a really high level of cultivation!
Then how do I proceed to attain high cultivation without any cheat?
By working hard and relying on my overwhelming knowledge of the tropes of a standard xianxia world! Even though it sounds absolutely unrealistic, I'll find a way to survive, right? I'm not planting flags by speaking these things loudly, right?
Even if the heavens are jealous of my good looks and outstanding charisma, I shall flaunt my ability on their faces and rub some salt on their wounds. Since I'm too smart to simply defy and fight the heavens like an idiotic protagonist, I will simply live the best life possible! As they say, the best revenge is living well. In my previous life, I could only imagine and daydream about cultivation and all sorts of superpowers. But now I can actually become stronger and show off, hahaha..."
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Creepy, crazed laughter came from the small hut on the peak of the black sheep mountain as the dark night loomed ominously, black clouds in the sky churning heavily as if in response to the demonic laughter coming from the little hut.
That night, the biggest oddity of the world of cultivation was thus born on this insignificant mountain peak...
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- In Serial106 Chapters
Dungeon Core Chat Room.
This is a slower-paced "experiment and dungeon building" web novel that tries to use the idea of peer-to-peer communication with Dungeon Cores instead of Dungeon to slave monster communication to break up the detailed dungeon building. Rank 1 description: (minimum met for system initialization...detailed description as follows) Each race was given a system by the gods to make up for their shortcomings and balance their place in this world. Humans: Abysmally bad at understanding and using magic unable to use more than the lowest of magic were given the "Skill System" magic in the form of premade skills with use, study, and mastery tied to experience. Elves: Intuitively understand magic and have long lives leading to vast knowledge and skill in their chosen fields. However, as a species, they have nearly zero sex drive and less than low fertility, so they were gifted the "World Tree System" with experience gained through the care of natural areas – gifting the chance of children to increase their numbers without dirty copulation. All “natural” or “wild” monsters are given an "Evolution system" designed around killing and consuming as many creatures as possible, slowly increasing strength and, at thresholds, allowing mutations to alter them multiple times. Dungeon cores are different. Unlike humans, they can see, manipulate and live off mana. Unlike Elves, they naturally crystallize after extended periods of time in high mana level areas. However, they cannot easily move or communicate and typically go insane without companionship. As a species other than the odd eccentric they are unimaginative. Brute forcing solutions without the drive to truly innovate. Thus they have been gifted with the "Dungeon Connection System" a magical version of the internet accessible by their peers that allows them to barter and sell: bait, traps, monsters, and knowledge, as well as entertain each other with “adventure streams” using exciting recorded battles and humorous reels of arrogant chumps biting off more than they can chew to often fatal effects. This is the casual story of a dungeon unluckily spawned far from potential adventurers forced to innovate beyond its peers to find its place in this world. Rank 2 Description: Justification. I've been on a dungeon core kick for months and while I love the genre – it's sparse with entries. Often the forced conflict gets repetitive and frantic solving of threats "power levels" the protagonist to god levels to progress the plot – taking away the nice steady progression fantasy I'm looking for. (Progression in this story is linked to how strong of monsters/traps/whatever he can create not his "level"...this is demonstrated by some of his newer monsters beating his older monsters not with discrete "this monster has 10 attack this one has 40") Additionally, the focus on 3rd parties with their drama takes away from the reason I’m reading dungeon core novels in the first place – I'm looking for magical crafting, experimentation and kingdom building – not defence from higher and higher levelled enemies looking to steal/destroy/control the MC. This novel is kind of just me writing the story I wish I could read. I like thinking about the experimentation that can be done in fantasy settings using 'mana' as an excuse to make up rules and try to keep them internally consistent. IE once I define how a rule works, I'm going to commit to keeping it – no breaking hard truths I've given when it's convenient, even if it backs me into a corner. Hopefully, that should make the story interesting to read even if it's SOL and less action-oriented. There will be problems to solve and a clear progression in strength (of created monsters and knowledge) however due to not wanting to force conflict for the sake of conflict the general theme will be closer to slice of life with few action sequences and no overarching goal so please keep that in mind when picking this up as the genre is not for everyone. Finally, I have a clear goal of what I want from this story (not an endless romp but a series of arcs and then a conclusion that's a couple of dozen medium-sized chapters long) I want to commit to finishing it or at least bringing it to a point of rest. I hate all the engaging stories that stop with a “hiatus” indefinitely so in the event I lose motivation I'll work to end this even if the ending becomes rushed/unsatisfying just to give a sense of closure. I’m planning on including several polls in terms of direction and taking feedback heavily into account if I get enough readers (but may choose to ignore it if it deviates too far from the direction I want to take this as in feedback like: “The MC needs a cartoonishly evil arch-enemy that wants to enslave him and force the mc to pump out magic items” or “the MC needs to make a body and learn teleportation then live with humans” will get shot down without consideration.)
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What is the Core, they asked me... It's the light that pushes the darkness away, a bastion of justice, a safe keeper of life. It grooms love and tolerance, embraces science, fights ignorance, sentences it to die a slow and tragic death. The Core... it's something that can't be destroyed for destroying it is to terminate the time and space itself. When the stuck-in-a-dark-age world of Zanria goes offline, the Core sends one of its experienced agents to find out what is going on and to try to reestablish a mysteriously severed connection. However, all his training and experience might come way short as the world sinks in war and chaos with different races and clans fighting for the Star of Bardan, the ward rumored to possess enough supernatural power to create and destroy entire worlds. *** I just changed the name of the series, from 'the Nexus' to 'the Core'. Somehow it just sounds more right to me. This is the first story, and it has a medieval fantasy setting. But, eventually, this is going to turn into Isekai series with elements of LitRPG. So, my future books might include worlds with advanced technologies that might be more in SciFi, including Steampunk, genre. The first book might start slow, but after a few chapters, it should all be properly set up, and by then you should get the feel of how it will all flow. Also, I plan to introduce different story threats that should spread out and criss-cross in the future. Hopefully, I will not complicate it too much, and that it will all read good. I am planning to continue to add chapters to the main storyline here, but I'm also starting a new story threat in the Core series called The Recordings of Raan. There is also a side story The Memoires of Eisen that's exclusive on Patreon for those who would like to support me.
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"hey, it's me again..."//now available for physical copies! https://www.amazon.com/101-voicemails-marley-bookout/dp/1387378368
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