by Alex Knight
Once reunited with her parents, Zelda had returned to her work with Bernstein’s database. The whole of it had been released online and was available everywhere, but it wasn’t complete. With the Party in ruins, their data and records had been abandoned – and would likely have been forgotten – if not for Zelda. With the help of a special grant from the transitional government, she’d established the Fred Bernstein Foundation for Human Rights. With her at its head, they’d begun work to piece together the remains of the Party’s data; clearing the records of the wrongly accused, solving missing persons cases, and bringing closure to the families of those who’d been disappeared into Party black sites.
And then there was Thorne. Kaiden took a sip from his glass of iced tea as he called her to mind.
She’d been asked to run for elected office in the transitional government. It’d been an offer she’d declined. Declined in favor of taking a spot on a special investigative task force. The very same task force, as it happened, that’d been assigned the job of tracking down Party criminals in hiding. Under her leadership they’d already brought many to justice, among them one former Agent Werner and his boss, the disgraced Commander Slaen Moran.
And then there was Kaiden himself. The leader of the band that’d brought down the Party, people liked to call him. But he still disagreed on that point. What he was going to do next was, well, still unanswered. He’d never really had the freedom to choose before. But now, with a new government in place, and his bank account full for some time thanks to a transaction marked “sale of digital goods,” he wasn’t in any particular hurry to figure out what came next.
No, Kaiden wasn’t sure where the future would take him. Wasn’t sure what he wanted to do next. And for the time being, that was okay.
The only thing he was sure of was that twice a week he was going to log into Nova Online. Log in on a new account where he and three other players were very excited to play through the game. And maybe, this time, they’d take it a bit slower. Maybe they’d bypass overthrowing any tyrannical governments or uncovering databases of buried crimes.
This time, they’d play at their own speed and enjoy themselves.
Yeah, that sounded good, Kaiden thought. Inside a modest house somewhere on a nondescript street, he pulled a VR headset over his head and logged in. A smile stretched across his face as a line of text projected onto his vision.
Welcome to Nova Online.
It was followed thereafter by a less familiar line.
Kaiden Moore didn’t want much out of life, but this? Well, this was a good start.
Create new character?
Afterword
Hello, Alex Knight here.
If you’re reading this, then you’ve finished the Nova Online Trilogy! I hope you’ve enjoyed it. These three books have been the primary focus of my life for the last two years and I can’t overstate how grateful I am that you’ve read them!
Being an author is my highest aspiration in life and I still have to ask myself just about daily “is this real life?” Readers like you help make my dream a reality and I truly can’t thank you enough!
The trilogy is finished, but that doesn’t mean your adventures in the world of Nova Online have to be. I’ve written a short story, Survivors: Nova Online, which you can get for free when you sign up for my publisher’s mailing list. Included with the novelette is 60,000 more words of LitRPG stories from my awesome fellow authors at Portal Books. They’re all very talented folks who are creating some amazing stuff. You can find Survivors: Nova Online and the rest of the free story bundle here:
https://portal-books.com/sign-up
Plug in your email on the landing page and my publisher will get the bundle to you straight away!
As well, I have something of a favor to ask. Reviews make a huge difference to authors. More reviews mean more readers will discover my books, which gives me the support I need to dedicate more time to writing.
If you’ve enjoyed the Nova Online Trilogy it would mean the world to me if you would consider leaving a rating and a short review on Amazon or Goodreads. I love hearing from my readers and this is a direct way for you to send me feedback!
For those of you that want to discuss my books further, you can check out the Portal Books Facebook group:
www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGPortal/
Thank you again for taking a chance on my trilogy. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it!
Keep grinding,
Alex Knight
P.S. Look out for Hellbound (Saga Online #2), coming soon!
More LitRPG from Portal Books
Portal Books is a LitRPG publisher, and our team is passionate about the genre.
If you’d like to try out stories from the other fantastic Portal Books authors, you can sign up to our mailing list for 60,000 words of LitRPG stories. Whenever we add more, you’ll get the update, absolutely free.
https://portal-books.com/sign-up
Below are some of our titles, which you can read right now!
Occultist (Saga Online #1)
Welcome to the world of Saga Online, the newest fantasy VRMMORPG. Join Damien as he discovers the rare Occultist class and summons an army of demons to save his mother’s life.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and on Audio.
Bone Dungeon (Elemental Dungeon #1)
Reborn as a dark dungeon, Ryan was happy defeating adventurers with undead minions. Then a necromancer arrived, and un-life got a whole lot harder...
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and Audio.
Dungeons of Strata (Deepest Dungeon #1)
When Martin's guild joins the race to complete Strata Online, he finds an impossible task. A 100-floor dungeon, filled with an ever-shifting ecosystem of monsters.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and Audio.
God of Gnomes (God Core #1)
Reborn as a god, Corey must guide a village of bumbling gnomes as they build defences to defeat an invading army of kobolds.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and Audio.
Warden: Nova Online.
Imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit, Kaiden's only hope of early release is in serving as a Warden in the game-world of Nova Online.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and on Audio.
Mastermind (Titan Online #1) - A Superhero LitRPG
Karna was just like any other comic book fan. He dreamed of fighting alongside colorful heroes and taking down dastardly villains. In Titan Online, the most popular VR MMORPG going, he finally got the chance to live out his cape-donning fantasies.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and Audio.
Battle Spire: A Crafting LitRPG Book.
Battle Spire is a meeting of World of Warcraft and Die Hard, using crunchy LitRPG mechanics with a heavy focus on crafting. Readers can expect to find in depth item and spell descriptions, along with stat tables and profession recipes.
It’s available on Kindle Unlimited and Audio.
For more general discussions about the genre, these groups may be useful to you.
www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGsociety/
www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPG.books/
www.facebook.com/groups/LitRPGGroup/
Acknowledgments
This book and trilogy are the product of the hard work of a corps. of talented and hard-working individuals who each helped me through the long process of bringing it into existence.
In no particular order, thanks of the highest degree are owed to: Laura Hughes, editor extraordinaire, for her support and endless courage in correcting my grammatical errors; Graeme Penman for his support, ideas, and game theory consulting; Brook Aspden-Li for his excellent work in structural editing and for letting me blow up his phone with plot and mechanics questions at all hours of the day; Rocket League, for distracting me when I needed to be distracted (and just a few times when I didn’t); my wonderful wife Erin for dragging me – when necessary – through the inevitable rough
patches that come with writing; and to the awesome guys at Portal Books who not only published this book, but were always available to reminisce about classic MMOs or chit chat about the newest LitRPG releases.
I can hardly begin to state the extent of thanks that are owed to each of you – so I’ll continue to do it how I always have, via random, tangentially related gifs on Twitter. Be excellent to each other.
About the Author
Alex Knight is, at any given time, leading a zerg rush in StarCraft II, or crushing opponents in Rocket League.
In the real world he’s the author of the Nova Online trilogy and spends his days filling good books with bad jokes one sentence at a time. When he isn’t writing he’s likely clawing his way through champion rank in Rocket League or slinging burn spells in Magic: The Gathering.
Though he’s lived in many places around the world, he currently lives along the Gulf coast of Texas, in a bayou near Houston. You can find Alex online at:
Website: http://authoralexknight.com/
Twitter: @AlexKnightBooks
Facebook: Alex Anthony
Join the Group
To learn more about LitRPG, talk to authors including myself, and just have an awesome time, please join the LitRPG Group.
Copyright © Alex Anthony, 2020
Published by Portal Books, 2020
The right of Alex Anthony to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
www.portal-books.com
