Play 2 Wage: Linked

Three years ago, aliens made first contact, sort of. More accurately, they sent us a galactic internet connection and invited us to play the galaxy's biggest pay-to-win MMO, complete with irresistible and addictive rewards. Follow Nicholas Spenser, an ex-con turned professional rock breaker. After securing a contract to work for a lone Ambassador that settled on the digital version of his homeworld, he has somehow managed to carve out a living better than most in his struggling Faction. Until a fugitive AI starts whispering exploits in his ear and pushing him to rebel against the system the Coreworlds have created. Follow Nick into the ever expanding and spiraling safe zone of the Hub, to the dangerous Factions layer where civilizations from across the galaxy war and trade, all while he balances the real life stigma of being a Link worker. Meet alien races, from giant beetles cosplaying as beardy dwarves, to aloof and pointy eared Gelgin who despise the human given nickname “space elves”, or massive colonies of symbiotic creatures that one could easily mistake for a grove of trees and the animals and insects within. Find out how Nick goes from working stiff to humanity's only hope within the cutthroat game that the Coreworlds have unleashed upon the galaxy. What to expect: -Dual interconnected settings of real life as well as VRMMO -Slice of life and lots of world-building -Minimal stats, detailed items -Large cast of characters and different alien types -Occasional intense combat, more frequent high-stakes conversations -A mostly competent MC  -Descriptions, lots of descriptions -An AI companion with questionable morals -Single perspective -Slow burn with a fair amount of introspection -Eventual crafting and politics, hence the strategy tag -No sex scenes, an eventual slow-burn love interest is introduced -Each book will focus on a new alien culture -Book 1 has a lot of groundwork to lay down before things open up in book 2 -This is a rough draft that will be edited and updated once each volume is finished (Posting 2-3, 2000-4000 word chapters per week, Tuesday and Friday, and rarely Wednesday) (Royal Road is the only place this story is being posted so far)