Army veteran and author Brock Deskins steps into the LitRPG ring and comes out swinging

PORTLAND, Ore. - April 3, 2019 - PRLog -- Fantasy indie author Brock Deskins, best known for his epic fantasy series The Sorcerer's Path, has taken a leap into a new genre, albeit a small leap. More of a hop one might say, but one that required a good deal more work and skill than he had anticipated. The genre is called LitRPG or gamelit. LitRPG is short for Literary Role Playing Game.

If you've ever played Dungeons and Dragons or immersed yourself in computer games like Skyrim, you are probably familiar with role-playing games (RPGs.) LitRPG takes elements from those games like character sheets, stats, and quests and puts them in a written story.

Sounds weird, right? Not really. If you're a fan of RPGs, it makes perfect sense and even adds a new level of detail to an otherwise standard fantasy adventure. How the character progresses and the myriad choices they make can be quite thrilling. Even if you're not a big RPG fan but like fantasy or sci-fi, it is definitely worth checking out, and Brock's new book Chaos Unchained is a great place to start. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q88Y1J5

Brock is following in the mighty big footsteps of LitRPG authors like Aleron Kong, Travis Bagwell, and Harmon Cooper. While those amazing authors cast a big shadow, Brock is hoping to shine a bit of light himself with Chaos Unchained: The Mad Smith, a Quantum Mortalis LitRPG Adventure.

The story begins with Edison Pushard, the world's greatest game programmer and the only person capable of writing code for the first hybrid DNA-based topological quantum computer. He created a fully immersive virtual world players are able to experience in a way that makes it almost indistinguishable from real life. Conflict arises immediately in the story when he and the mega-corporation he works for, Quantum Technologies, has a clash of "artistic differences."

Unable to abide by the corporation's changes to his world, Edison attempts to inject a virus that will override the changes and make his world work his way. When his usurpation fails, he finds himself cast out, his job and his world placed in the hands of his subordinate coder Michael Cho. However, Edison will not go quietly into that good night, and he is far from defeated.

Having anticipated this very potentiality, Edison's backup plan goes into effect, but it too is only partially successful. Instead of infecting every NPC (non-player character) and player with a debuff, a sort of virus, that makes them all mortal and the NPCs self-aware, he manages to infect only a single NPC named Jandar Barati.

Jandar is a simple blacksmith's apprentice in a sleepy little town named Whitbell. His only remarkable feature is that he is a minor quest NPC. Every day, Jandar's wife and son are kidnapped by bandits, and Jandar begs players to rescue them. Using what is called micro-instances, a sort of unlimited parallel worlds theory, this happens dozens or even hundreds of times every day at the same time. Of course, Jandar is totally unaware this is happening and that his entire existence is nothing but a loop that repeats the same day over and over again.

At least, that's what is supposed to happen, but Edison's mortality bug changes all that. Jandar becomes aware of his limited existence and recalls every horror inflicted upon him and his family throughout the multitude of quest instances. Infuriated and nearly driven mad by the players' actions, Edison's hand in creating such a recurring nightmare, and the world's quantum A.I. who acts as the world's creator and god, Jandar sets out to rectify what he sees as the problem. His solution: destroy the A.I. Matrice and bring the lie that is his and every NPCs' existence crashing down.

Edison's former employer becomes aware of his sabotage and attempts to rectify the issue, but they quickly discover that the problem is far more serious than they first thought. Not only is Jandar spreading the digital disease as he battles his way through the land, Matrice, the world's A.I., supports Edison's view of the world and refuses to allow the corporation to do anything she sees as violating the integrity of the game. Matrice's self-awareness was viewed as a godsend when Edison created her as it allowed continuous oversight and an invincible security system, something crucial when you have the consciousness of hundreds of thousands, soon to be millions, of people in your care.

Since the debuff Jandar spreads is contagious, the game's admins try to contain the epidemic by closing borders and slaughtering anyone who contracts the disease outside of Truale, the kingdom that is ground zero. Inside Jandar's programming lies the key to reversing the virus Edison created, but they have to catch the blacksmith the old-fashioned way since Matrice has removed Jandar's NPC tag and made him something resembling a player.

All of this creates a thrilling, nonstop action RPG that will enthrall readers and listeners for hours. With at least three separate stories planned for the world, each several books in a series, Quantum Mortalis is set to be one of the greatest virtual fantasy worlds every created. Give it a try. You'll be glad you did.

Chaos Unchained is available on Amazon Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, Print, and soon to be released as an audiobook.

Learn more about Brock Deskins and his work by visiting his website at https://www.brockdeskins.com