A_literal_Sunfish

It’s 2100, and Vincent Carter – Ying – is a twenty-year-old virgin with a penchant for profanity, he has but three guiding principles:

“In a world where honour and valour seem like unaffordable luxuries, cowardice remains the pragmatist’s ultimate virtue. Spinelessness isn’t shameful, it’s simply self-preservative romance.”

“Doubt is unironically the cheapest superpower a person can have, after all if it’s human, it’s probably plotting something. And if it’s plotting something, it’s probably hiding something. And if it’s hiding something… well, you get the idea. So question everything, one sceptical step at a time.”

And lastly,

“Muscle heads – because who needs brains when you can just flex your way through life? Couldn’t be me, I’ll tell you that much.”

Armed with nothing but these… questionable (?) values, as well as experiences shaped by a hellish life in the slums, Ying dives headfirst into the latest VR sensation – Cultivation Climax, a world brimming with great magic, ancient mysteries, and blood-curdling conspiracies just waiting to be unravelled.

 However, because Ying’s life is just that kind of special, he is greeted with a rather ‘lovely’ surprise upon opening his eyes to the new world…

Ding!

[Your misfortune is truly astounding!]

[You have awakened the absolute WORST talent for Cultivation!]

‘…’

“…W-what?!”

Yes, what indeed.



https://www.royalroad.com/profile/633482/fictions. I'm the author.

The Forsaken-Grade Cultivator

Ying took brisk, but cautious steps away from the library's building, as staff and guards were already rushing to the underground bunker, in an attempt to scope out the aftermath of the incident, and although he was by now almost completely healed of his wounds, courtesy of the system, he still preferred to avoid any further conflict for tonight.

'If I had to wager a guess, it'd be that I can't log out until I leave these premises... How does that even work? If I remember correctly, the system said something about the Heavenly Dao… and it isn't like I received a quest or anything, did I? Sigh, this game is as confusing as it is enjoyable...'

Ying pinched his nose as he made his way further and further away from the residential areas, using the buildings' shadows to hide away from the frantic guards.

'I…. I actually... won, didn't I?'

Death Bargain