A LitRPG series by Cale Plamann.
The elves of the Tellask Empire have ruled a thousand stars for ages uncounted, but they are finally facing an existential threat. The Orakh, a fast-breeding warlike race, are pressing forward with distressing persistence. If the elves don't do something, the Empire might truly be in danger. They send in their human slaves as expendable shock troops, but the Orakh grind through them quickly. When a minor elven noble discovers a human world with no magic and a high population, he thinks he's found the motherlode. He prepares to conquer the planet, trusting that his magic will easily be able to handle non-magical arrows and swords. He even renames his voidship Viceroy's Pride in anticipation of his promotion.
One problem: Earth has guns. Lots of guns.
Months after the hilariously one-sided invasion attempt, Earth has had no success in reverse-engineering the strange technology of the aliens. At least not until Daniel Thrush, an electrical engineer and the last person still employed on the project as its budget has been repeatedly cut, has an epiphany. After too little sleep and too many energy drinks, he decides the aliens must have been using magic, and swallows some glowing crystals in hopes of gaining it himself.
Improbably, this works, but Dan is convinced by his friend Sam to let his military contract run out and come to the Thoth Foundation instead. There, Henry Ibis, eccentric billionaire, comes up with a plan to send him to another world to grow in power, then return to awaken the magic of Earth so that they can properly fight the Tellask Empire.
Now, Daniel is stuck as the most important person in a world that has never cared about him, surrounded by the powerful and the manipulative. His only choice is to gain power, quickly, but he doesn't know if he can manage it.
Also, Ibis keeps telling him he needs to get a girlfriend, which is just distracting.
The Viceroy's Pride series consists of three books:
- Into Twilight
- Invasion
- Fractured Earth
This novel provides examples of:
- Addictive Magic:
- Absorbing mana gives the mage a rush of power and euphoria; the bigger the mana, the longer the rush. And since the only known way to absorb mana is to kill something that has mana, this means it is absolutely possible to become literally addicted to killing people. Dan has to be physically held back from murdering people several times, and only learns how to control his addiction through meditation at the last second.
- When Dan starts training others in magic, the military Colonel is dismissive of the entire concept, saying that Dan clearly just has PTSD and is deflecting his own weaknesses onto some made-up problem to make himself feel better. He says that the military will have their own psychiatrists monitoring the situation, but his men will not be meditating or doing any other "New Age hippie bullshit." Dan is very worried that this is creating a bunch of ticking time bombs. When he meets up with the soldiers later, he finds that they're fine, because they've been meditating as he suggested. The military psychiatrists took one look at Dan's summary of mana addiction, agreed with his assessment, and immediately ordered weekly meditation sessions. Colonel Bowman raged and refused to meditate himself, but legally couldn't actually order his men not to meditate.
- The Ageless:
- The original purpose of the nanites that Dan is given to help him with magic was actually to make a bunch of rich conspirators immortal. Dan doesn't focus much on his supposed immortality, being more worried about being given untested super-advanced medical technology that apparently hasn't actually had a successful use yet. It does work on him, but from then on his life is so dangerous it's extremely unlikely he'll ever have a chance to truly enjoy his extended lifespan.
- The elves don't seem to be actually immortal, but considering that they are known to live tens of thousands of years, it's unclear if they can die of old age, or if it's just inevitable for something else to catch up with them.
- Ancient Conspiracy: Both Dan and Sam are shocked when Ibis casually admits he got the nanites from the Illuminati. Ibis dismisses them as a bunch of rich busybodies trying to be immortal and using their political ties to get more money. In the second book, they are the driving force behind Ibis trying to conquer the world.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Pretty much everyone except the Orakh.
- The Tellask are right that the Orakh need to be fought—many humans volunteer for their army. But using humans as expendable cannon fodder isn't the solution, and it's clear that the Tellask are more interested in making sure the humans don't become strong enough to threaten them than making sure they can actually fight the Orakh.
- The US military is right in that the Thoth Foundation is hoarding secrets, but considering that they flat-out dismiss the reports about magic and traveling to another world, Ibis can't be blamed for not trying to keep them in the loop.
- The Thoth Foundation is right that the world needs to be united, but having Ibis conquer it using elite troops enslaved by nanites is not the answer.
- Dirty Old Man: Right before Dan leaves for Twilight, Henry Ibis advises him to find some nubile, naive natives and seduce them. He literally and explicitly sees Dan as a Stock Light-Novel Hero. Dan is disgusted that this is what Ibis is worried about on a mission to save the Earth, when they were just discussing how Dan could be tortured or killed.
- Explosive Leash:
- The Tellask control their human troops through use of a timing rune; if it isn't refreshed by an elf every month, the soldier dies. This is why all the human captives of the Viceroy's Pride died before they could communicate anything to Earth.
- Turns out the nanites have "discipline," "incapacitate," and "terminate" commands built in. Either wireless or verbal commands can be used to torture or kill anyone who has them. Turning off these functions is easy if you have admin access, which of course no one does until Sam gives it to Dan.
- Fallen States of America: Ibis basically conquers the entire world in book 2... only to promptly commit suicide on live television when he swallows a mana crystal in a vain attempt to gain magic. His Illuminati backers try to take over in his stead. In book 3, Dan manages to put things back together relatively quickly by running his mercenary company and backing a Reasonable Authority Figure mayor.
- Karma Houdini: Discussed. The oligarchs who caused the collapse of the world order eventually realize which way the wind is blowing and sue for amnesty. General Finch is on board, but everyone else points out that if they let these assholes get away with indirectly killing thousands (at a minimum), then they'll be right back where they started and no one will have any faith in justice. In the end, they are allowed to self-exile and keep a million dollars, but none of their actual power.
- LitRPG: Invoked. The System was designed to make using magic easier... and Henry Ibis insisted on using an RPG system because he likes the genre. Everyone else points out how insane this is, but he's the boss and has all the money, so he wins. It does work out in the end, but Dan was pretty nervous about being the first test subject of experimental medical technology when non-experimental technology would have worked fine.
- Magic by Any Other Name: Averted; as Dan is setting up his experiment to prove that the alien "technology" is actually magic, he notes that some people might insist on calling it "dimensional energy" or something like that. But he's a nerd who's had too little sleep and too many energy drinks, so he's in no mood to split hairs. In later books this backfires a bit, as it turns out that the world governments were extremely uncomfortable with calling it "magic" and so either tried to ignore or downplay it everywhere they could. It's pretty low on the list of things that go wrong in the end, but it might have helped if Dan had given them a fake scientific-sounding word to use instead.
- Moral Myopia: The elves, naturally. They live for millennia and see humans, at best, as funny little animals that can be useful. One declares eternal vengeance on Dan for multiple crimes that basically boil down to "you made me look bad by not instantly dying."
- Muggles Do It Better: Magic has many, many advantages, so most cultures give up technology somewhere in the neighborhood of the Iron Age. The initial invasion of Earth, including an elite corps of elves who have been slaughtering humans for centuries each, is curb-stomped by standard infantry guns and one tank. Humanity then goes on to invent ways to use magic that take months to learn rather than centuries, allowing them to catch up with the elves who have had a space-faring empire for longer than Earth's recorded history.
- The Paranoiac: Both the military and Henry Ibis become convinced that the other side is going to take over entirely and sabotage the war effort. This leads to both sides trying to take over entirely and sabotaging the war effort.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: With a dash of Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!; in book 2, Henry Ibis basically kidnaps a bunch of minor celebrities for his new army. When everyone points out that he can't do that, no matter what he snuck into their contracts, he notes that he talked to the judges who would enforce the contracts before he pulled this stunt. They all agreed to back his play.
- Self-Serving Memory: Dan fights a man in the arena, taking him down in two quick moves. Later, the man insists that Dan won on a technicality because the judge intervened. While the man didn't have his enchanted gear and is much more of a threat with it, that doesn't change the fact that Dan won because he knocked the man unconscious.Dan: Are we remembering the same fight?
- Stock Light-Novel Hero: Referenced. Henry Ibis thinks that Dan is literally a light novel hero, and tries to convince him to find a harem on the new world.Henry Ibis: My boy, you can't let this opportunity pass you by. You have dark hair, a weak personality, and you're heading to a new world. I bet you'll have a buffet of women dragging you to a beach or a hot spring within a week of your arrival.
- Translator Microbes:
- One of the standard runes across the Tellask Empire—and one of the few types of mind magic used on a regular basis—is a translator spell. Dan wears a helmet with the rune while on Twilight. When he loses it, the locals just offer to sell him a new one.
- The nanites let Dan learn a new language over the course of a few days. They also come pre-loaded with most major Earth languages, which he appreciates when he happens to find himself breaking bread with some French soldiers.
- The Wonka: Deconstructed. Henry Ibis is basically a big kid who made his billions through stories and games. So when he wants to make sure the new magic acts like his stories and games, no one can actually stop him. In particular, he subjects Dan to an unnecessary and dangerous medical procedure using experimental technology just because he wants the story to be a LitRPG.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Played with; Henry Ibis literally and explicitly thinks he's in a story, and though he bounces around on exactly who he sees in what role, it's clear that this story is not the cookie-cutter isekai Unwanted Harem story he thinks it is. The twist is that he's rich and powerful enough that he can force things to confirm to his ideal story, at least to an extent. Ultimately, he doesn't notice that he's turning into the villain of the story—and not even the final villain, as he accidentally kills himself just as he's basically conquered the world.
- You Are a Credit to Your Race: The biggest compliment that Dan ever gets from an elf is "we'll turn you into a breeding stud so your strong genes can create an army of humans that will actually be useful to the war effort."
