The Hunt has descended upon Earth, bestowing deadly powers upon ordinary individuals and pitting them against one another. In this treacherous game, players must vanquish their adversaries to claim their power. With each triumph, Hunters unearth unprecedented abilities that evolve in strange, unexpected ways.

Dhane kicked the bucket in spectacular fashion, every bone crushed, every organ popped against the full force of a 40-ton garbage truck speeding through a red light. The only part of him intact—whole—entirely unaffected by the grisly affair was his soul. Souls are durable things, you see, like kids: they bounce. And bounce he did, into the abyss between worlds, drifting until one excited soul watcher fished him out and found him a new home, a heaven for gamers and nerds and everything in between.

Dirk was America’s golden boy. Olympic golds, Wheaties box—the works. That was ten years ago. Turns out going to prison is terrible for sponsorships. Now, he’s alone, a felony on his record, and bitter at the world. Enter the Tower of Conflict. Just what a man needs to get out of a rut—the end of the world and a Tower to Climb. Aided by his talking goose animal companion, magical cape, and the Goddess of Fate herself, Dirk is primed to take this Tower by storm.

Kazro never asked for the quest. With nothing but a broken interface and dogged determination, he sets out to deliver a ceremonial scythe to a princess he’s never met. But when he glimpses her in the crowd, a jolt of familiarity strikes like thunder. Before he can uncover the truth, chaos erupts—the King of the Sundust Reaches storms the city, smacks Kazro aside, and abducts the royal family for a mass sacrifice.

Tala had to fight tooth and nail in the Magic Academy to forge a path to power that was her own. She knows it’s her duty to use that power to serve humanity, defending them against the creatures of the untamable wilds. However, she skipped a few steps in her education, like apprenticing to someone who actually knows what they’re doing. Now, Tala has to balance learning as fast as she can with paying off the veritable mountain of debt the Magic Academy dropped on her shoulders for the opportunity; not to mention staying alive.

Betrayed. Murdered. Reborn. One last chance, to make it right. Theo's adventure ended with his mentor's hands around his neck. The betrayal cost him his friends, allies, and everything he had built...but not his life. Though broken and powerless, Theo has one last chance to enter the Nine Worlds, wielding the knowledge and expertise of his first life. This time, he needs more than just power, he needs to unravel the deception that killed him once...and is coming for him again.

As humanity is taking its final breath, facing extinction from a myriad of monsters, the last three people on earth are creating a final chance for the hero to go back in time and stop the apocalypse. However, before the hero can enter the chronomancer portal to the past, she and the portal's creator are both killed, leaving only the weak assistant to carry on their dream of saving the world. Will Nick be able to right the wrongs done to him, and prepare the hero for the world to come?

Kay's life takes an unexpected turn when he is transported to a mysterious world brimming with unfamiliar skills, classes, and a system. As he struggles to comprehend his new reality, he discovers a unique class that’s never been seen before—a powerful new form of blood magic that allows him to shape and manipulate the life force coursing through his veins. But the powers that be view Kay as a threat to their authority and dominance and are more than happy to eliminate him to maintain the status quo.

Benny White had been having a rough couple of years, and the approaching apocalypse wasn’t exactly helping. Pulled from the point of death and thrust into a horde-mode-style survival game, Benny’s odds weren’t looking too great. To make matters worse, an eldritch god… entity… thing named ‘Dave’ tasked him with destroying the very System that now controls his fate. But hey, it's not all bad news. Benny’s experience as a lab tech grants him a rare Splicer Class that lets him repurpose the genetic material of slain enemies into augments for himself.

I used to be the greatest Earth Mage in my world. The head of the entire Order of Architects. But the older you get, the more you come to realize that at some point, you need to retire, so that you can have the chance to enjoy a peaceful life and to cede your place to the young, some of whom have already turned two thousand years old . . .So that's what I did. But I failed to account for one thing: during the course of my long life, I'd accumulated too many enemies, and they had decided to spoil my retirement. So they died along with me. And I hope their deaths were final. But mine was not!

Jack Rust was a disillusioned biologist with a PhD—almost. When an extraterrestrial AI calling itself the System invaded Earth and thrusts it into a world of aliens and violence, the least Jack hoped for was gaining access to magic.

The System is here! Most of the population of the planet were suddenly turned into zombies, while the rest acquired new abilities. Abilities that let them run from the zombies, save themselves, hide, and try to survive. But it only takes one bite that almost always means death. Our hero was standing in line when the apocalypse came. He was lucky at first to be caught in a crowd when the zombies tried to bite him on the leg. Really lucky, because those trials unlocked new abilities for him.

Noah was once a Mecha pilot leading the defense of Earth against the invading Parasites. Now he is just one lone man stranded on a strange planet, with nothing to do but endlessly fight and devour beasts to increase his strength in the hope of leaving that forsaken place. A new opportunity arose the day a spaceship crashed on the planet. Follow Noah as he escapes, enters the wider universe, and discovers the truth about what happened to Earth.

Thrust into a new world filled with monsters and magic, Will's life has become a war for survival. He has nothing more than a class called “soldier” and a strange leveling System he’s never seen before. When he stumbles across a dying stranger, a mysterious questline activates. Now Will must head to the front lines where humanity wages war against a ruthless Goblin Horde. There he will join the standing Kadian Army and forge his name from the fires of legend.

Hal Mason's still going to find surviving the System Apocalypse challenging. While bringing in his latest fugitive, Hal's payday is interrupted by the translucent blue boxes that herald Earth's introduction to the System - a galaxy spanning wave of structured mystical energy that destroys all electronics and bestows game-like abilities upon mankind. With society breaking down and mutating wildlife rampaging through the city of Pittsburgh, those who remain will sacrifice anything for a chance at earning their next Level.

The Hunt has descended upon Earth, bestowing deadly powers upon ordinary individuals and pitting them against one another. In this treacherous game, players must vanquish their adversaries to claim their power. With each triumph, Hunters unearth unprecedented abilities that evolve in strange, unexpected ways.

Dhane kicked the bucket in spectacular fashion, every bone crushed, every organ popped against the full force of a 40-ton garbage truck speeding through a red light. The only part of him intact—whole—entirely unaffected by the grisly affair was his soul. Souls are durable things, you see, like kids: they bounce. And bounce he did, into the abyss between worlds, drifting until one excited soul watcher fished him out and found him a new home, a heaven for gamers and nerds and everything in between.

Dirk was America’s golden boy. Olympic golds, Wheaties box—the works. That was ten years ago. Turns out going to prison is terrible for sponsorships. Now, he’s alone, a felony on his record, and bitter at the world. Enter the Tower of Conflict. Just what a man needs to get out of a rut—the end of the world and a Tower to Climb. Aided by his talking goose animal companion, magical cape, and the Goddess of Fate herself, Dirk is primed to take this Tower by storm.

Anika DuPont just knows she's bound for stardom. As Magical Girl Understudy, she's already a big deal in her hometown, and now that she's eighteen, she's heading to Tokyexico University, where the real action is. Every superhero on Earth is jockeying for better roles in a global reality show created for the amusement of alien children, and Annie's trying to keep her secret identity hidden while she makes her way out of dead-end Little League roles.

Betrayed. Murdered. Reborn. One last chance, to make it right. Theo's adventure ended with his mentor's hands around his neck. The betrayal cost him his friends, allies, and everything he had built...but not his life. Though broken and powerless, Theo has one last chance to enter the Nine Worlds, wielding the knowledge and expertise of his first life. This time, he needs more than just power, he needs to unravel the deception that killed him once...and is coming for him again.

Cast into a brutal military camp by his once loving master, Mateo feels like the last six wonderful years of his life have been a lie. With the mysteries surrounding him growing, Mateo knows that his only option is to become one of the supernaturally powerful Duelists and grow in power until he can take his fate into his own hands. That plan is thwarted from the beginning when he gets stuck with the lowest-ranked Root Card against his will, ensuring that his growth as a Duelist will always be excruciatingly slow.

Jack Rust was a disillusioned biologist with a PhD—almost. When an extraterrestrial AI calling itself the System invaded Earth and thrusts it into a world of aliens and violence, the least Jack hoped for was gaining access to magic.

Avo was born a weapon, a slave to his instincts and his masters. He and his brothers were made to burn New Vultun to ashes. Everything changes when Avo gains immortality and becomes heir to an impossible legacy. He must ascend the megacity of New Vultun. He must challenge the very tyrants that usurped the gods. He must finally free the world from chains.

Sen never dreamed of ascension. Such were the aspirations of the rich young nobles, not orphans like him, scraping together a meager living on the streets of Orchard’s Reach. However, when destiny takes an unexpected turn, Sen finds himself thrust into the role of a cultivator’s disciple. Chosen over the nobles who once looked down on him, he is adopted into a makeshift family of three ancient cultivators, each with a lifetime of knowledge and insights. These old monsters will teach Sen everything they can, from the art of the jian and spear to the mysteries of arcane alchemy.

Madeleine L’Engle once said, “When we lose our myths we lose our place in the universe.” The Mythic Dream gathers together 18 stories that reclaim the myths that shaped our collective past, and use them to explore our present and future. From Hades and Persephone to Kali, from Loki to Inanna, this anthology explores retellings of myths across cultures and civilizations.

The usual result of a human taking a runaway semitruck head-on is a very sudden, very fast track to the pearly gates. But for one newly noncorporeal man, there's another option: become a dungeon. Feeling sorry for the desperate angel assigned to him, the man relents. Heck, if it doesn't work out, he can always chat with Saint Peter about it later. Next thing you know, he's a dungeon. Admittedly, a small run-down, somewhat unimpressive dungeon (more of a house, actually), but you gotta start somewhere, right?

When it comes to action and adventure, every hero needs a good sidekick. Holmes has Watson, Batman has Robin, and Daniel has . . . Orrin. More like brothers than friends, they always have each other's backs. And as Daniel is the big, strong, handsome type, Orrin is more than happy to remain in his shadow at school, at parties, pretty much everywhere. Then things take a turn for the truly weird when a terrible accident catapults the pair into a world totally unlike their own, in which the rules of a role-playing game hold sway.

Despite descending from a long line of powerful sorcerers, Vi Solaris lacked all magic. That is, until the day she manifested a powerful sorcery unlike any other. Now, a sorcerer from a distant land tells her she must leave her home to claim her true power as champion of the goddess. That the mysterious plague ripping through her empire is the first warning an ancient evil threatens to rise anew. And that she is the only one who can put a stop to it.

When Alice Verianna went to sleep, she was just another teen from the Denver suburbs. She definitely didn't expect to be transported to a magical alternate dimension, inhabited by monsters and presided over by a mysterious System. Here, people resemble RPG characters and everyone has access to their own status screens. Grappling with the mechanics of the elusive System isn't the only challenge Alice faces. It seems an underground organization known as the Society of Starry Eyes has taken a particular interest in other dimensions.

Rob didn't think of himself as anyone special, but when a pitch-black portal tried to wrap his best friend in chains, he stepped up without thinking and found himself ensnared instead. His moment of heroism results in being torn away from everyone he knew and loved, kidnapped by an unknown force that leaves him with a note in his pocket stating: "Good luck." After being thrown into the wilderness of Elatra, a hostile fantasy world ruled by levels, stats, progression, and bizarre video game logic, he finds himself entirely out of his depth.