Nevir Saedi

After an explosive attack by his former sect master Dea leaves many of Lars's companions dead and Yumi captured, Lars is forced to return to the sect only to find that some of his closest and most precious allies have also been taken hostage and imprisoned by the schemes of vicious, vengeful elders. As Lars scrambles to rescue them, he quickly learns that the sect is even more dangerous and corrupt than he remembered, with power struggles and violence lurking around every corner.

Getting strong enough to survive was only the start. What was once horrific is now becoming an addiction. When an elder cultivator powerful enough to destroy Lars with a gesture spirits him away to the Sect of the Spring Rain, he ends up as the subject of a twisted plot to uncover and exploit his secret cultivation technique. Can he navigate the treacherous power struggles of the sect within, or will he be killed off by the factions vying for power? What happens if his grisly methods are exposed?

"Kill. Kill them all." It's the first four words Lars usually wakes up to every morning, a voice telling him she's just giving him a "quest" that will help him "level". But even if he wanted to do it, he can't. They're cultivators: beings with ancestral bloodlines that have powers he could only dream of, while he is stuck as a puny human. Even if he could kill them, the people who bullied him, beat him, treated him like a punch-bag pariah for being a "tailless worthless human", he wouldn't. That is, until a vicious group of murderous psychopaths called a "sect" descend on his village.

So when Dr. Lisette Chen discovers her staff have uploaded their consciousnesses into the massive MMO, Viridian Gate Online, she reluctantly takes a chance and logs in. Her goal? Discover why her colleagues abandoned her when she needed them the most. In a blink, she finds herself in a fantastical world where her healing skills - both as a doctor and a Priestess of Gaia - are sorely needed.

Lee has barely established his foothold in the kingdom of Birnefeld, and yet enemy forces are already rushing to attack. Almost all of the other Heralds have been stamped out of existence by the anti-religious zealot King Ramen, and now that the ruthless rule of the empire has turned his sights toward the newly conquered realm, and started marching a massive army easily capable of crushing the entire kingdom beneath their feet straight toward Lee's doorstep. With no other choice, Lee has to turn to the nemesis who plagued his dreams, the Mistress of Shadows, for help.

Joe has started to draw attention to himself and his abilities. While some of the attention is good and allows for personal growth, most of it is from various organizations that feel threatened by the sudden upswing of power that Joe's guild - The Wanderers - is attaining. As the threat to Earth begins to reach its peak, all of humanity has a choice: flee to Eternium, or stay for an uncertain future. Some stay, some go, some don't make the choice quickly enough.

Every year, the empire administers the rite of passage into adulthood. That rite serves to identify those blessed by Aether to become magi. The new magi are shipped to the academy to learn the arts of magic. The academy is a dangerous place; the tournaments held twice each year can cripple or kill the students, and the clans of the empire will go to great lengths to recruit the students they want. Gregory had one dream: to become a magi like the legends of old. Though he was ridiculed by the residents of the village and his unsupportive father, he never wavered from his dream.

After visiting Nevada, California, and two apocalypse gates, Alvin was tired. With Gothy, and now Kuro, beside him, they faced necromancers, an undead army, and saved a queen from assassination. Alvin could only wonder what was going to be thrown at them next! First, however, a vacation was in order. Returning to Green River, seeing the first settlement he had helped build, and revisiting old friends was cathartic. Alvin knew that he would not be able to stay long, as something was bound to happen to push them back on the road again.

Jack is violently pulled into a game-like universe and dumped into a seaside town on the brink of destruction. When the people of Blackmoor Cove begin to ask about his combat role, Jack discovers his odd Hero Class and finds that parts of his game interface are riddled with exposed coding errors. He quickly learns that the only way the town can grow and push back the unknown substance threatening to consume it is if brave Heroes venture into an infinitely high, ever-changing tower, kill bizarre monsters for their equipment drops, and then deposit those items into a special chest.

The Kingdom of Thera is a crossroads to many worlds and realities. Here a secret war between the gods plays out via their proxy mortal champions. These player-champions use all the augmented-reality interfaces and game mechanics that role-playing and video gamers know and love. Join Hektor Saint-Savage, marine and martial artist extraordinaire; Morgana Nox, shape-shifting druid-thief and trickster; and the cantankerous dwarf Elmac Arguson as they punch, blast, stab, and slither their way through the second Hero of Thera novel.