The Ascension Protocol Book 1 - NPC for Hire - S.C. Culligan

Written by S.C. Culligan
Read by Luke Daniels
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps

The SynthNet is a galaxy-sized simulation where every sector plays by its own rules. One moment you’re casting fireballs in high-fantasy ruins; the next, you’re hacking elevators in a neon megacity or fighting off raiders in a sun-scorched desertpunk outpost.

For Fen, a gruff NPC whose job is to hand out beginner quests and pretend it still matters, it’s just another day in the loop—until everything changes. A mission glitches. A player dies. Permanently.

Now the system blames him. Rogue AIs whisper through the dark code. Corporate enforcers hunt the only NPC who isn’t supposed to exist outside his script. With Auri, a sharp-witted AI who never knows when to quit, and Seraph, a fearless fighter with a smile that usually means trouble, Fen dives headfirst into a collapsing digital war that could erase everything.

The simulation is fracturing. Memories long buried are rebooting. And the overseers running the SynthNet are hiding something far worse than corrupted data.

He was built to serve the system.

If he wants to survive—or matter—he’ll have to break it.

Looking for a GameLit trilogy that blends sci-fi, cyberpunk, fantasy, and stat-driven adventure?

Dive into a sharp, funny take on AI, the Singularity, and the fractured future of simulated worlds. Log in—and welcome to the SynthNet.