The Code is Mightier than the Sword (A LitRPG Adventure)

Book 1 is now available on Amazon for $0.99 and free on Kindle Unlimited.  You can pick up a copy of Book 1 by following this link: The Code is Mightier than the Sword Book 2 is also Available: Catching Lightning in a Bottle Book 3 is also Available: Within the Realms of Possibility The CIA recruits Jason Hawthorne to play a new virtual reality MMORPG and collect a powerful magical crystal before criminals working in the game can get it. After he succeeds, his friends are kidnapped, and he is trapped in the game. The kidnappers want the crystal, but as he levels up, adds a powerful wolf and vampire to his party, and starts breaking the game, they want everything about him. He will face giants, demons, orcs, hookers, and international terrorists while trying to figure out this game he's never played before. Eventually, he will have to decide if the friends he has made in the game are just as valuable as the ones he has in real life. Book 2: Catching Lightning in a Bottle (Complete) The CIA is alerted that four regular players are kidnapped, tortured, and held for ransom. The clock is ticking before the torture gets severe enough that unplugging the players and potentially lobotomizing them may be the best option.  Jace is tasked with the rescue mission, but needs a bigger party before he can pull it off. Jace must find the best crafter and best archer in the game and break the rules even more than before to do it.  But will these new companions get along with the ones he already has?  Jace is used to his plans going off without a hitch, but when they start failing, and disaster ensues, will his dysfunctional group of powerful characters be able to put aside their differences long enough to help their leader pull off the impossible? Book 3.1: Cursing the Darkness (Completed short story) Esther and Gromphy go on a mission to put a powerful curse on a dress.  This requires that they mingle with some of the realm's darkest and most dangerous characters.  Esther meets an old friend from the past who threatens not only the completion of their mission but the comfortable life Jace has given her.  Once Esther learns where she came from and that there are others like her, she will be motivated to find out more, even at the risk of disrupting Jace's plans. Book 3.2: Blood Brothers (Completed short story) Sir Wallace Wilhelm has been given a chance to secure a powerful NPC that, up to this point, no one else in the game has gotten.  As with most modules in the Realm of Infamy, this one will force her to make morally questionable choices and ally with untrustworthy characters.  However, she will try to use the time she has spent with Jace to find an alternative path and "break" this module to get what she needs. Book 3.3: Hell Frozen Over (Completed short story) Gromphy has a secret project to make Jace even more powerful than he already is, but he needs a powerful ice mana core to do it.  Psycho, Draya, and Snowy head out on a secret mission to find one.  They need the help of another player, and the elven ranger isn't sure he can be trusted.  The module they need to pass is the realm's take on a Disney classic, so you can be sure it will be an R-rated, horror-filled slugfest.  In addition, Psycho is pretty sure Gandhi, the game's AI, is out to make the module as tricky as possible because the prize at the end is too powerful.