Tyson Maples

A life spent honing his skills and serving his country hasn’t turned out exactly how Nathaniel Abrams planned, but it’s attracted the attention of the Tower. Ascending to its peak is meant to give anyone whatever they wish for, but all Nate cares about is finding some way to use the skills that seem so useless in civilian life. And if he can prevent a magical wish being given to some maniac (because the Tower seems to love welcoming maniacs through its doors), then that’ll be a bonus. Besides, Nate has an edge.

When the cultivators came to Earth, they destroyed our entire civilization in a matter of hours. Armies fell, cities burned, and that was before the moon turned red and filled our world with monsters. Now, over a decade later, what's left of humanity slaves under the heels of our Qi-infused masters. The luckiest of us might even become one of them, they say—if we serve the Dynasty well enough and harness the power of Qi. But I want none of that. I'm sick of serving, and I want nothing to do with their world. Instead, I want them to pay for what they did to mine.

An AI calling itself Schema has assimilated Earth into its System. As a consequence, everyone gained access to status screens, power-ups, and skills. This AI turned these concepts from fiction to fact. It's easy to become intoxicated with leveling up and becoming stronger. To some, it's too good to be true, like living out a dream. For Daniel, however, it's closer to a nightmare.

On Earth, Zeke Blackwood was a star athlete who devoted his every waking minute to baseball . . . before his tragic death and the devastation of the planet. Eons later, he was resurrected in a magical realm known as the Radiant Isles. There, Zeke survived two years of unrelenting combat through sheer grit and determination. Battling trolls in a labyrinth of caverns, he gained superhuman abilities with every victory, ultimately equipping him for a war between good and evil.