Drone Rising
Kyle Johnson
Humanity has moved far beyond the cradle of Earth into the stars. In the Collective, energy is limitless, death has been vanquished through respawn, and the omnipresent Overnet tracks every person's strength, power, and accomplishments. Benning Kidd begins as a Drone, the lowest class of humanity, existing without memory or purpose. After an accident makes her the first Drone in history to become a Citizen, she chooses a path of battle and glory, rising from starship officer through corsair, captain, marauder, and commander toward admiral while bounty hunters, the Fleet, the Nobility, and the all-powerful System itself hunt her for her hard-earned levels and accomplishments.
Progression: Hard sci-fi LitRPG with explicit quantified advancement: the omnipresent Overnet tracks each Citizen's strength, power, and accomplishments; Benning earns hard levels, classes, skills, and talents volume by volume (Book 3 centers on the Fleet trying to steal her hard-earned levels). Naval-style rank ladder mirrors her power growth (Ensign to Captain to Marauder to Commander to Admiral), with respawn mechanics, personal AI guidance, gladiatorial arenas, ship command, and System-granted abilities drained or earned through conflict.
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