Ghost in the Game (Dream State Saga) (Volume 3)

Ghost in the Game (Dream State Saga) (Volume 3)

"The only thing I didn't love about this series was that I didn't write it!" —G. R. Cooper, author of the Omegaverse Series "Fans of LitRPG and video games need to be reading Christopher Keene." —Paul Mannering, President of SpecFicNZ, author of Engines of Empathy “Dream State has great usage of hyperrealism and surrealism that draws you deeply into the story. With excellent grammar and smooth dialogue, it's hard to put the book down!” —Dakota Krout, author of The Divine Dungeon series Noah has made a deal with the devil. In return for access to Wona’s inner circle, he must guard their Dream State game. It could be worse; after all, the Dream Engine saved his life, even if it ended so many others’. But his new alliance didn’t come without a cost: it turned many of his friends against him. Luckily, the company has assigned him a new team: Catastrophe. However, leading Catastrophe takes a dangerous turn. At the grand opening of a new game zone, a vicious attack puts even the Wona President on edge. As Noah digs deeper, he discovers hacking beyond anything he’s ever imagined. In order to protect his virtual refuge, Noah must repair his broken friendships and work with Wona’s own lackeys. If Noah can't stop the hacker, more than the Dream State is at risk. Dark secrets lurk behind this mystery—secrets that go back to the creation of the Dream Engine itself. "Fans of LitRPG and video games need to be reading Christopher Keene." — Paul Mannering, President of SpecFicNZ, author of Engines of Empathy "The only thing I didn't love about this series was that I didn't write it!" — G. R. Cooper, author of the Omegaverse Series “ Dream State has great usage of hyperrealism and surrealism that draws you deeply into the story. With excellent grammar and smooth dialogue, it's hard to put the book down!” —Dakota Krout, author of The Divine Dungeon series " The Dream State Saga series is a roller coaster ride of emotions. But that is a good thing. The author took a popular idea and put his twist on it. If you are into LitRPG like I am, you will thoroughly love this book." —Gabriel L. Rathweg, author of I Am Gamer While studying for his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand native Christopher Keene took the school’s creative writing course in the hopes of someday seeing his own books on the shelves of his favorite bookstores. He is now the published author of The Dream State Saga , as well as his new epic fantasy War of Kings and Monsters and the Super Dungeon novelization The Midnight Queen . In his spare time, he writes a blog to share his love of the fantasy and science fiction genres in novels, films, comics, games, and anime (fantasyandanime.wordpress.com). Chapter 1 The Last Condition Hand over hand, I climbed the ladder in the stale darkness. If I never had to do this dungeon again it would be too soon. Struggling with the weight of the hatch, I pushed up at the old wood and light suddenly invaded my eyes. It wasn’t so different to the first time I had entered the Dream State tutorial over two months ago. I gasped as the dusty air from inside Apollo’s Lookout became the fresh air of the sky. Of course, being in a Dream Game, the air hadn’t really changed; even something as trivial as the wind was an illusion here. Climbing up onto the surface just below the Dream State’s blazing sun, I sighed in relief. There didn’t appear to be anymore Chaos Engine monster-generators up here. If there were no more monsters I had to face, it meant I had finally completed Wona’s final condition for working with them. I was officially the leader of Catastrophe. I walked out onto the rooftop and looked around. The gap in the railing I had created after being hit by FranktheTank’s cannonball was no longer there, probably refreshed when the game designers had gone over it after my first attempt to beat this place. I spun to the black plinth where the sword, my Wakizashi encoded with the video of the beta testers’ drug overdoses, was supposed to be. It hadn’t been there since my failed first attempt to complete this cursed dungeon. During that attempt, I had stabbed the Wakizashi into the plinth to load the videos into the game and was then blasted over it by Frank’s cannon. Why she had done it and why the Wakizashi was missing seemed to be connected. Siena had obviously shared with her what Brock had told all of my friends: that I had betrayed them. I’d explained exactly what I had to do to become Catastrophe’s leader and yet she had acted to stop me. She must have it. If this was true, and Wona was still willing to give me a second chance, it meant that they hadn’t picked up everything that had happened on their feed. If Wona found out that someone not employed by them had an item encoded with those incriminating videos, all of this would be for nothing. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a dark cloud suddenly appear behind me. Sneaky. The last