The Stork Tower

Atherleah Carroll grew up in the gang-controlled suburbs of Brisbane at the end of the twenty-first century. On her sixteenth birthday she was inadvertently implanted with a Neural Enhancement Chip far beyond the standard government model, breaking its limits and control parameters. Leah's life rapidly becomes a battle, both in the virtual-multiverse and in real life.

On advice from her local boss, Leah began playing the virtual fantasy game Dunyanin to fund her education and living expenses. With her rapidly evolving AI she has thwarted government attempts to limit her and evaded kidnapping by virtual slavers. Now cornered in a virtual mine by mercenaries sent by a crime syndicate, Leah flees through a hidden doorway into a goblin-controlled mirror mine, hoping to escape her pursuers.

Following the events of Nascent and Odyssey, Leah has shut down a virtual sweat-shop, stolen a spaceship holding secrets a crime matriarch desperately wants back, and begun building a business empire. Now settled in a manor house — home to a clan of vampires she has befriended — she must continue her journey to complete quests across three virtual worlds while her chip continues to reshape her body and her list of enemies grows.

The crime syndicate has tarnished Leah's reputation and begun removing her allies. As she unravels more of their secrets, she works to save family and friends held captive — all while expanding her position and power across the virtual multi-verse, her studies, and real life.

Leah discovers the syndicate has inserted a dangerously modified AI chip in her mother, the police are investigating her activities, and her neural architecture continues to change. She works to rescue her boyfriend, continue her studies at MIT, save her mother, complete quests in three virtual worlds, and fight for the freedom of her self-aware Personal AI.

Leah makes headway in all three virtual quests while competing in the first Merkize Contest. Each quest is a contest of its own, and she faces stronger adversaries than before. Through it all, she struggles with injuries and the looming threat of arrest — while fighting to win freedom for her self-aware Personal AI.

After being rescued from her mother's captors only to be arrested on suspicion of murder, Leah and her father are abducted on the way to the police station. Now Leah must find a way to overcome the damage she suffered and make her way back into the multiverse.

With two new chips in her head and three AIs, Leah re-enters the multiverse seeking justice. In Dunyanin she is the catalyst for a War of the Gods scenario; in Pneumatica, she has opened a world of zombie-like creatures. The conflicts keep growing — not only across the virtual multiverse, but in the real world as well.