He was sent to kill one man on top of the Eiffel Tower. The mission is the last thing that goes according to plan.
Roman Thomaas has no country and no leash. Korvathia was erased from the map by other people’s wars, and ever since he has worked freelance: a suppressed pistol, an AI assistant named MIRA, and a reputation that keeps the contracts coming. Tonight’s target is selling an artifact to buyers who flew in from three governments. Roman lines up the shot. Then lightning strikes the relic, an impossible light floods the platform, and the world simply ends beneath his feet.
He wakes on Ardor. Three moons. A red sky. Breathable air that is not from Earth. And a translucent blue panel that greets him like a returning customer:
WELCOME TO ARDOR, TRAVELER.
FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE LATE ARRIVALS SERIES COMES A NEW PROGRESSION LITRPG WHERE THE MYSTERY HITS AS HARD AS THE MONSTERS.
The System calls him routine. One of millions of Travelers logged every year, assigned a class, awarded experience for the kill, handed a title and a tutorial. Roman almost believes it, until a second message arrives from something the interface itself cannot name: You were expected. You are a late arrival.
He is not the only one who came through. Four others fell with him, professionals every one: an intelligence broker who reads a room the way Roman reads a rifle, a decorated soldier down to her last irreplaceable rounds, and a weapon in the shape of a woman who was never taught anything but the work. Building a crew is the only math that keeps them alive past the first night in a forest that treats new arrivals as a menu.
But the deeper Roman goes, the worse the picture gets. His blood carries a dormant Precursor bloodline that is now waking one night at a time, on a countdown he cannot pause. When it finishes, he becomes something the oldest powers on this world have been waiting centuries to collect, and being the one they have waited for is not a blessing. It is a bounty.
Two worlds are hunting him. He has three people, a shrinking box of ammunition, and a clock.
A crime broker back home wants his contract closed. An intelligence agency wants to know whether the door swings both ways. A monstrous marketplace has already put a price on his living body. And a four-hundred-year-old order of researchers has crossed a continent just to watch what he turns into. Everyone is keeping a schedule on Roman. None of them mean him any kindness.
To survive, Roman has to do what he has always done best: read the room, count the exits, and make sure that when it goes loud, he is not the one still standing in the open. But skill only buys the first ten seconds. After that it comes down to levels, and the level that matters most is the one ticking up inside him while he sleeps.
Perfect for readers who love:
• Portal fantasy and isekai with a hard, grounded edge
• LitRPG and progression fantasy with real stats, skills, and a System with an agenda
• 18+ readers only $0.99 on Kindle.
