The Star Dragon
Dragon Kings of the New World
Dante Doom
Contents
Dragon Kings of the New World
The Star Dragon
Blurb
Dante Doom
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
End of The Star Dragon
Thank you!
Sneak Peek
Dragon Kings of the New World
The Star Dragon
The Black Dragon
The Iron Dragons
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
RELAY PUBLISHING EDITION, SEPTEMBER 2017
Copyright © 2017 Relay Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved. Published in the United Kingdom by Relay Publishing. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
www.relaypub.com
Blurb
If 'The Star Dragon' gets below #250 in the Paid Kindle Store, book two (The Black Dragon) and book three (The Iron Dragons) will both be released early—on 29th September!
When the real world is threatened, it’s up to the players in a virtual one to save it.
Van Vanyushin doesn’t see the point in ever leaving the beautiful digital world of the game he loves—and for good reason. In the industrial wasteland he calls home, it is often the only way people can experience life’s simplest pleasures. But his allegiance to the game is tested when an ambitious CIA agent named Sang Ngo calls upon him to help as she goes undercover in the game to investigate Draco—the corporation responsible for creating the massively popular role-playing game Dragon Kings of the New World.
Sang is a gifted hacker who feels nothing but contempt for those who waste their lives in what she sees as a false reality…but when people start dying in the game, she must find out why. Van, a talented gamer, is her guide to navigate the world, level up their newbie characters fast and get into some of the most dangerous areas of the game. He dreams of becoming a pro gamer sponsored by Draco one day, but his partnership with Sang threatens to expose secrets from his past that could jeopardize those plans.
Now, they will have to put aside their differences to discover whatever—or whoever—is killing players, but the truth they find is darker than either of them imagined….
Dante Doom
Dante Doom didn’t touch a videogame or fantasy book until his 23rd year on Earth. He started working at an old-school arcade—hired primarily, he was told, because of his “badass ridiculous name”—and from then his education began. They started him on the classics, a strict diet of Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Dig Dug, Street Fighter, and Rampage. Freakish proficiency. Beginners luck, they said. He was given well-loved copies of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn, Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon Riders of Pern.
Devoured in days. Finally, he was invited up to the arcade owner’s private gaming room: Battletoads, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES), and Ghosts ‘n Goblins followed. Defeated, at last—maybe he wasn’t such a wunderkid, after all. But he didn’t give up. And that earned him a seat at the group’s D&D table. Many a happy day has passed since—he even beat TMNT’s Dam level and its health-draining pink seaweed.
Then a year ago, that same group introduced him to the new Fantasy-LitRPG genre—what Dante saw as the final stage in his education. Because, for him, it doesn’t get any better than LitRPG. The combination of an immersive fantasy world, gaming objectives and levelled progression makes for a fascinating storytelling experience. Inspired, he took two weeks holiday from the arcade, sat down and wrote the Dragon Kings of the New World series.
Find out what Dante is up to next at:
www.DanteDoom.com
www.facebook.com/DanteDoomBooks
Chapter One
Sivlander, slayer of thousands, warrior of the highest regard, trudged up the mountain. His arms were aching not from soreness, but from the jumpy energies that came right before a fight. His companions—an archer, a paladin, and an explorer—followed behind him, but not too closely. Around him, the snow was falling from the upper reaches of the mountain and he could feel each snowflake landing upon his face. Yet, the cold wind’s blowing was somewhat refreshing, considering the fights that they had overcome in order to reach this part of Vemor Mountain. There’d been many a Troll, fiend, and brute waiting for them along the broken and jagged crags of the terrain, but Sivlander was not a man to be easily stopped by his foes. No—he wielded his great sword comfortably, easily cleaving through the hordes of beasts on his way to the top of the mountain... but Sivlander wasn’t here for them. Rather, he was here for the greatest foe that the Vemor Mountains would ever know. He was here for Crieagg, the Chief Ogre of the Mountain.
Sivlander turned to face his companions. He could see their faces of fear, and he grinned. “Comrades, we are not here to grimace at fate; we are here to slay Crieagg and reap the greatest rewards there are!”
The archer shook his head at the comment. “But, sir, it’s—”
“But what? We aren’t strong enough? Bold enough?” Sivlander interrupted the archer. “We’ve got our weapons, our wits, and most of all, our experience! He’s just around the corner, friends. Raise your weapons and let’s do this!” With this, he abruptly swung away from the complaining archer. His companions for this part of the adventure weren’t particularly the best people that he had been able to find, even if they had seemed motivated enough by the potential coin and plunder, but the closer they’d gotten to Crieagg, he’d heard all the more whining and worrying from them. Still, he refused to be daunted by such talk.
Sounds of shouts suddenly greeted him from the distance. “We found him!” cried a voice, this followed by the loud balooooo of a hunting horn.
Sivlander turned to face his allies, “The scouts! We must move quickly!” And with this, he drew his great sword and began to run toward the sound of the hunting horn. The scouts weren’t supposed to have engaged—they’d only been supposed to scout ahead and find the Chief Ogre—but it would be just his luck if they were slaughtered so needlessly.
Sivlander and his party rushed up over the snow-covered land to find two men in leopard skin battling against a massive Ogre. The creature was nearly three times Sivlander’s size, and it was hideous, fleshy and bulbous. The yellow eyes of the massive beast glared at Sivlander as it roared out, “Feast upon the flesh of the mountain crawlers!” The scouts were quickly clubbed by the Ogre Chief’s huge wooden club and then the beast turned to rush toward Sivlander. Now, Sivlander could see that the Ogre Chief was Level 78, armed with a Club of Severe Crushing, and had a Health of nearly 1,000 hit points!