As he looked at life...

...surrounded by the trappings of success...

Austin wondered, is there anything else?

He made it to the top. As CEO of an asteroid mining company, Austin has accomplished everything he ever wanted in business. Now, he needs more. To get away he turns to a fantasy video game.

Is virtual reality the answer?

Should he pick, elf, gnome, caster, or swordsman?

He just wants peace and quiet, play as a dwarf, build a house, do some smithing and character building. His idea of the perfect fantasy game. Then he learns their secret.

Deceit hides in the shadows.

And the truth is all around.

Austin will need to level up.

If he gets caught, it means death. He’ll need help along the way. How can he convince anyone they’re slaves in a bigger game and stay under the radar? If Earth was a simulation and the game was real...

Who can he trust?

In a distant world five times the size of planet Earth, dungeons and their dungeon cores have become the top of the food chain.Millions of dungeons inhabit the planet, utilizing the various human kingdoms as a source of much-needed mana to facilitate their own growth; in turn, the humans delve into the dungeons and acquire their own power in the form of Essence, which allows them to develop and enhance themselves in a multitude of different ways. It is a symbiotic relationship that has lasted centuries and has brought about a measure of peace.Far in the northern wilds where no humans (and therefore – no dungeons) regularly frequent, a young man is left alone when his parents are murdered suddenly and unexpectedly. Now, without friends, family, or even supplies, he embarks on a journey to find out who targeted his parents – and who he needs to enact his revenge upon. Along the way, he discovers something about himself that his parents said was impossible from the moment he was born.Will he learn to control the new powers he has gained, or will his newly awakened dungeon core abilities consume him?