Cultivation: But Not a Game - Chapter 16 - 7: Swordsmanship Advancement and Sword Control

The year was 2030 when dungeons descended and wreaked havoc across the world.Fortunately, along with the descent of the dungeons was the awakening of various people obtaining superpowers, allowing the world to barely defend against the worldwide threat.Five years later, Desther, a young man that only wants to watch anime and read online novels, awakened the SSS-Grade Talent, Ultimate Thief, allowing him to steal a target’s attribute in battle and making it his own.However, along with the overpowered talent, was an announcement he wished he never got.[You obtained the title, [Chosen One]][Clear the dungeon or Die!]

I started off as nothing, just a mass of consciousness that slowly evolved. Just your average overpowered existence hungry for a multiverse adventure.

I was some twenty-something woman dying of stage four cancer.I got obliterated by the “Truck-kun” you nerds are always joking about. Turns out it's a lot less funny when it's your guts splattered on the pavement. Crap.Next thing I know, I'm floating in the dark and this thing pops up in my face.[A choice is now available to you.][Option One: Fade.Cease to exist.][Option Two: Reforge.Begin anew.]You think you can just erase me? Hah. As if.Fueled by pure, uncut spite, I slammed the reforge button. Turns out the universe has a totally sick sense of humor, though.I woke up as a male elf. A seriously hot elf —a mage, of all things. Let's just say I was working with some… unfamiliar hardware downstairs.And Jonny? My best friend, my bro, my lifelong meat shield? The universe decided he'd look better as Yael—a stunningly beautiful elf chick with a charisma stat that was probably maxed out.For a while, we weren't just getting by. We were crushing it. It was awesome.Our new life was shattered by the arrival of Vex, an overpowered demigod who saw our world as a resource to be harvested. He was a cosmic-level threat.My pride, the same stupid pride that always gets me into trouble, wouldn't let me kneel. So I told him where he could stick it.Big mistake.The price for my big mouth was paid in her blood. Vex decided to make an example of her. He didn't just defeat her; he shattered her legs into pulp right in front of me.After that, she just… erased me. Walled me off. I went from being her best friend to a ghost she looks right through. Her hatred isn’t loud; it's a permanent debuff, and the silence is a thousand times worse than her screaming would have been.Broken by my failure and rage, the System offered me another choice.I accepted. The System laid out the cost in cold, hard code:The friendly blue “Overwhelming Pride” interface shattered, overwritten by a brutal, blood-red OS running one program: The 'Overlord Slayer'. My personality was stripped for parts. My charm and pride were forged into an 'Aura of Dread.' My guilt became a damage buff called 'Pain Eater.' My grief is now, literally, my mana pool.My quest is no longer about survival. It is brutally simple: Kill Vex. Absorb his power. Fix what I broke.But to become strong enough, I have to grind this new 'Slayer' class, and every level up feels like I'm deleting a piece of myself.The real question is, by the time I'm strong enough to squash him, will there be anything left of the person Yael knew?And even if I can fix her legs… what's she going to think of the monster who comes back?

The world was destroyed, the apocalypse descended, a new era began, and the right to survive as a Lord was granted to every person.Domains, Heroes, Troops, Treasures, Resources—all of the countless servers constructed by the myriad continents were opened up.Qin Muye looked at his panel, which was akin to cannon fodder, and his domain with its damaged suffix, and felt a strong urge to cry but no tears would come.No divine talent, no hidden hints, no overpowered Profession.“If that's the case, then I'll just have to adapt and live in a different way.”