Could a “system apocalypse” or something similar ever really happen? Heat Death explores this premise, striving for the highest level of hardness on the Moh’s Hardness Scale for science fiction. If some premises or events don’t make sense at first, I’d encourage you to keep reading. No laws of physics are broken for the sake of the plot, and choices were made as conservatively as possible. If you’re interested in a story that incorporates a wide range of scientific concepts from diverse fields, then this is right for you. Heat Death is a work dealing with the virus-like spread of the "Game" to intelligent life in the universe. At a certain point in the technological advancement of a civilization, the reality for its inhabitants shifts in the span of a few Earth-days. An attack of unimaginably advanced engineering hijacks everything — not just their technology, but their biology, the very fabric of their consciousness. In the new reality, each member of the species is given a choice. Advance, or die trying. The plot centers around a college student, Alex, who ends up in an unlucky encounter soon after the Integration. Through fast thinking, perseverance, and a lot of pain, this unlucky encounter turns out to be an incredible boon that turns him into one of the forerunners of humanity. But maintaining such a lead is extremely difficult when competing against billions of people, and even then, humanity is far from his greatest threat. Other intelligent life forms are vying for power as well, and alliances must be forged both within humanity and with other species in order to survive. Yet it quickly becomes clear that there is a much deeper meaning to the Game than just surviving and getting more powerful. Upon breaking into the first Tier, Alex learns something that upends everything he thought he understood about the universe, even from before the Integration. The Game was designed to achieve a singular goal, and the stakes are almost impossible to conceive. But Alex has a hidden ace, something that could potentially give him the power to actually make a difference. So he must make a vital choice. Does he play the Game the way he is expected to play, reaping the rewards from his head start to make a bid for a millennia-long life in a position of power? Or does he risk everything — not just his own fate, but the fate of every surviving human — in an act of defiance, a desperate attempt to halt the viral spread of the Game's tyranny? But hmm... whatever he chooses... nothing is as it seems.  As you can see from the synopsis above, Heat Death is solidly within the genre of LitRPG, with elements of philosophical science fiction and mystery.  Also, just like with the laws of nature that govern the spread of the Game, the System itself is quite high on a hardness scale. Numbers are extremely important and arbitrariness is minimized. Yet there is still major room for creativity and revelation, and in fact that is absolutely central to the way the system works (you will see 😀).  This is my first work, so please don’t judge my writing too harshly 🙃 Release schedule: M W F