ASIN moved to this edition Grant Legate had a good life. Eventually, Murphy’s Law kicked him in the teeth. Just once was enough to set him back for almost three years. He lost his fiancée, was fired from his prior job, and is only now stable enough to stand on his own two feet. Meanwhile the rest of the world moved on, growing enamored of a virtual reality game that allowed its players to completely submerge in a fantasy land. This alternate world has helped many others see to the core of who they are. By giving them an outlet to be the hero, play the villain, explore a new world and innovate its setting. Grant Legate will get a chance to play, and see who he really is when push comes to shove. Learning rules for a new world isn’t easy, especially when nothing is as straightforward as it seems. The machine has a plan, and Grant’s just one of the many cogs turning the wheels.

ASIN moved to this edition Grant Legate comes out of his time as William Carver with more questions than answers. Still, character creation awaits. After that lies a virtual world where he can learn new skills, make new friends and perhaps beat up a monster or two. Anything to assist with his need to be distracted from an unstable past. There will be no more trials or living as another man. He’s the master of his fate, he’s the captain of his soul. Only the Voices want to keep working with Grant and they expand on their prior offer. Their reasons are many, a messenger to move people about the world, eyes and ears at sensitive locations. They offer rewards in exchange for completion of their tasks and all he need do is accept. Forces in the virtual world aren’t the only ones showing an interest in Grant’s recent activities. People outside the box start to ask how his experience went, with none of them knowing of Grant’s status as an Ultimate Edition user. Wheels turn as the AIs running Continue Online poke and prod Grant towards another performance. This time, the consequences end up being more personal than he could have expected. What exactly is their plan, and what does it mean to the rest of humanity?

ASIN moved to this edition Grant defeated Requiem and overcame the trials placed in front of him. Now the slowly recovering man expects to be reunited with a virtual version of his fiancée; the Voices allowed her to reconstruct inside Continue Online. In there is Grant’s gateway to a fantasy land where he can escape reality. Only his twin sister doesn’t see eye-to-eye on the recent events. She believes those events might be a sign of Grant backsliding into depression and possibly suicide, or delusion at best. Because of mistakes in his past, Grant is powerless to prevent his sister from halting his next step inside of Continue Online. The Voices have a plan, and if Grant can’t move forward in one virtual reality game, he might find a solution inside another, at least until Grant can overcome Liz’s worries and get back to the fantasy world. He signs up for a brief space adventure universe that mirrors Continue Online in more ways than one. Dusk worms his way across realities to join in the escapades, along with a copy of Hal Pal, who finds its own answers by playing among the stars.

ASIN moved to this edition The need for Advance Online has ended and Grant returns to Continue Online’s fantasy world. Once there, he realizes that events echoed strangely across the two virtual reality games, resulting in the resurrection of King Nero and Grant’s wife, albeit with consequences. King Nero resumes the throne and seeks to punish Grant for killing his sister-in-law. Grant is sentenced to join a prison chain gang assigned to work in the worst dungeons around, and to fight against other inmates to ensure his character’s survival. While in reality, Miz Riley worries about the recreation of deceased human personalities and clear meddling of the AI Voices. She too moves toward a decision, one that will put everyone Grant loves and cares about in danger. Grant’s brief reunion with Xin is quickly jeopardized; he desperately tries to stay alive in the virtual world to try to gain enough strength to help those dear to him withstand the upcoming trials as the entire system gradually crashes.

ASIN moved to this edition Since stepping through the gateway to Continue, Grant has been many things: a dying hero, a malevolent imp, a robotic space explorer, and felon seeking redemption. Now he’s added a new role to the list—married man to a virtual woman. In his mind, nothing could be more perfect, but his newlywedded bliss is in jeopardy. Trillium pulled the trigger on a digital Armageddon and the games have changed. Virtual people are being hunted down then deleted forever. Players’ characters are removed if they die three times. The AIs have a plan to fight back and protect their citizens by storing as much data as possible into a haven, including Xin’s. To help secure the survival of his friends and wife, Grant will seek the secrets to salvation left behind from the game’s first heroes and programming team. Along the way, Grant reunites with old companions, sets aside past grudges, and pulls out every trick he’s ever been taught to help him in the race against digital death. Failure means Grant will lose Xin a second time, but success may cost him even more.