System Strain Book 2: Worlds End

After the tutorial ends, the real game begins. The seventy-eight-day timer hits zero, and billions of survivors are "Integrated" back into an Earth that has physically expanded and mutated into a high-level wilderness. This "Great Thaw" triggers a global kinetic catastrophe as planes, trains, and cars resume their frozen momentum into a landscape that has shifted beneath them. Liam emerges from the Void as a Level 30 Arcane Sword-King, only to find the world he knew fractured; the neighborhood has grown miles apart, one-fourth of the adult population is missing, and his sister, Sarah, has ascended to a Level 27 High-Saint after surviving the brutal "Hard Mode" frontlines. The story follows Liam as he navigates this lethal new social hierarchy, where "Veterans" and "Anomalies" rule over the traumatized masses. Haunted by the fate of Sam, Arthur, and David, Liam sets out across the expanded territories to find his old teammates while contending with other "Primary Ascendants" like Steven, who are already carving out empires. In a world where children must reconcile with parents who have become scarred warriors, Liam must decide if he is a protector of the old world’s remnants or the vanguard of a terrifying new civilization