by JE Payne
The Sun is dying, and there's no saving this world. Engineering grad student Gavin Daniels volunteers for experimental brain emulation technology--humanity's last chance to gain centuries of research time while only days pass on Earth. But the untested cradle connects him to something ancient: a galaxy-spanning competition called the Ascendancy, where Earth's survival is the prize. The rules are brutal. Earth is unrecognized, unprotected, and legally open for conquest. Win, and the planet gains galactic protection. Every victory captures alien technology to fuel humanity's desperate evacuation. Lose, and everything is forfeit. In a genre built on solo heroes grinding for power, Gavin and Earth's champions choose a different path: reincarnating the souls of Earth's dead as spirit-born warriors, building armies instead of going it alone, forging alliances with alien species, and refusing to treat war as a game. But those overseeing the Ascendancy aren't safeguarding peace--they're filtering threats. Culling potential rivals before they can rise. THE FIRST CRADLE - A LITRPG ADVENTURE
