MTL - First Prince of Ming Dynasty - Chapter 764 The turmoil is rising

Deep below the earth's surface, a mystifying subterranean seascape lurks, an archipelago bathed in inky blackness where suspense and horror hold court. Here lie strange islands and even stranger monsters, far beyond the realms of human imagination. In this domain, mankind is far from dominant; instead, madness and death rule supreme.

Pleading for mercy from the unknown creatures of the deep only leads to a slow, tortured existence. The trapped survivors gradually distort, losing what made them human, both physically and mentally, to the gloom as they remain trapped in this eternal obscurity. Their only hope? A perilous expedition into uncharted sea territories.

Fueled by determination, Charles embark on this daunting voyage aboard his steamship, aiming to reclaim humanity's past glory. Together with his crew, they sought a way out of this hidden sea world, a path back to the sunlit world above, where humans once stood tall.

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I read a few comments from Chinese readers that compared this novel with Lord of Mysteries because of similar elements: Lovecraftian, western fantasy, first industrial revolution, and steampunk. However, I have yet to finish reading Lord of Mysteries to do any actual comparison, but I do think those who have enjoyed that novel would enjoy this as well. Also, the author of LotM, Cuttlefish That Loves Diving, also did a shout-out for this novel, so I guess he approves of it too?

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Growing up in poverty, Sunny never expected anything good from life. However, even he did not anticipate being chosen by the Nightmare Spell and becoming one of the Awakened - an elite group of people gifted with supernatural powers. Transported into a ruined magical world, he found himself facing against terrible monsters - and other Awakened - in a deadly battle of survival.
What's worse, the divine power he received happened to possess a small, but potentially fatal side effect...

In this world, a cataclysm has caused the appearance of monsters and other disasters, emerging from dimensional rifts and gradually pushing the world toward its destruction. To face it, some humans having awakened various magical powers are fighting against this apocalypse.

Dora, one of them, has a special “Avatar” class which gives her access to all the other classes, at the cost of great difficulty to level them up. Despite his enormous potential, he chose to appear incompetent to get his team kicked, just so he could live a lazy life with his family, but his habit of fighting and beating the woman's brother the strongest in the Kingdom reveals her talents and she decides to enroll her in the royal academy.

Reluctant at first, his mother gives him the motivation he needs to pursue this past, but little did they know what kind of monster they threw to the world. Dora is not a hero wishing for peace, but a monster getting addicted to the taste of power, wealth, and freedom.

With his strange condition of being not one but many people inside one body, each with a different personality, but the same thirst for more, “they” use a strange system giving them a new vision of the world around them.

Dora pursues an unknown goal until he meets someone who knows more about his true nature than himself and sets him on a path that will nourish his eternal first, to the cost of his humanity, but in a world collapsing, isn't a monster the greatest weapon?

With many personalities in one body, each having a different relationship with different people, a system taking them further and further away from their humanity, and an increasingly hostile world where humans kill each other while monsters slaughter them, could the situation be worse?

Well, it looks like Dora isn't the only one with a system.

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As the daughter chosen by the Heavens, she was already extraordinary from birth. However, with her talents concealed, she was treated like tr*sh and mercilessly betrayed. So, she decided to let her supreme capabilities shine!

From then on, her bloodline had been awoken. Everything was possible—refining antidotes and weapons through alchemy, taming the dragons and phoenixes, and even being the ultimate ruler of the world. Since then, millions of people admired her and she lived up to her name as the strongest concubine in the world!

Only that cold, evil and immensely domineering Ice Emperor, whom she had accidentally provoked, loved, protected and helped her everywhere…

“Oh dear, after he has treated me like that, how can I ever like someone else? This man is really cunning!”