Venus Online_Book 1_LitRPG Sci-Fi Harem Read online

  VENUS ONLINE: Book 1

  A LitRPG Harem Adventure

  By Jeremy Zenith

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  From the Author

  Copyright © 2018 Jeremy Zenith

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  Prologue

  AS BYRON Jones lay in bed with a beautiful alien woman on each arm, he tried to regain his breath. Part of him told himself his exhaustion was all in his head because of the virtual world he found himself in. His real body wasn't tired or anything at all, but he couldn't feel that one anymore. Then again, his virtual cock still felt sticky and throbbing from the incredible sex he'd just been through so he was more than willing to accept the virtual experience instead.

  He turned his head to look down at the woman snuggled under his left arm. Her naked body lay on top of the blankets, showing the curves of a normal human with long legs, narrow hips, and full breasts. Yet a pattern of brown stripes covered her body like a tiger's stripes, a tail curled over her ass, and she had two pointed ears on the top of her head.

  He turned to look down at the woman on his left arm. Also naked, she looked a lot more like a human woman with a rounded butt and large boobs but with green skin. She even had a ponytail of tousled green hair.

  The green-haired woman looked up at him and her beautiful lips collapsed into a scowl. "I hope this isn't giving you the wrong idea, hotshot."

  He sighed. Things had changed since he had first entered the Venus Online game only a few hours ago, but not as much as he would have liked. His thoughts wandered back to his life before the game.

  Chapter 1

  24 HOURS earlier...

  Jordan Venn had been the captain of the starship Gibraltar until Lady Necralia and her forces came aboard. Those soldiers clad in black, wielding powerful laser rifles and a fanatical dedication to the Necralia Empire, had made short work of what little crew had remained of the Gibraltar after the devastating assault of the Necralia fleet. Now, Venn knelt on the floor of his bridge, surrounded by Necralia Death Troopers with their weapons pointed at his head while the bridge door swung down.

  A tall man in black armor walked through the clouds of swirling mist. The man's pale white skin and glowing white eyes gleamed as his smile showed rows of pointed white teeth.

  "Well, well, well," the man whispered in a voice that somehow echoed off the walls. "Here we are together again. You've been a very bad boy, Venn."

  Venn coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood before he could talk again. "General Deth, I swear, we weren't trying to run away. We just had to make a detour around a gravity well--"

  Deth swept his long coat to one side while reaching into his belt. "Oh, wait. I don't want you to waste this pathetic excuse on me. I'm sure Lady Necralia will want to hear this."

  Venn felt a cold chill run through him. "N-Necralia? She's here?"

  Deth sneered as he tapped buttons on a device in his hand. "Please. Do you really think her majesty would waste an ounce of fuel to set eyes on you?"

  He pushed one last button and a beam of light flashed out of the device, one that formed a holographic image of Lady Necralia.

  Venn cowered as the tall woman materialized in front of him. Her spiked armor barely covered her long legs and firm breasts as she loomed over him.

  Necralia's blood-red lips and pale face tightened into a snarl. "Venn, what have you done?"

  Venn swallowed and it tasted of blood. "My lady, I must give you my most humble apologies. W-We were on our way to make delivery wh-when we hit a gravity well and were forced to--"

  Necralia raised a hand with a finger tipped with a long nail.

  Deth took two steps forward while pulling a knife out of his belt. He jammed the knife into Venn's hand with a single sweep, pinning the man's hand to the deck.

  Venn shrieked in agony as Necralia shook her head with a loud sigh.

  "Captain Venn, spare me your lies. Our sensors detected when the freighter docked with your ship in the Quleda sector. We know your hold is empty and the cargo is gone."

  Venn grit his teeth. In that moment, he knew he was dead. It didn't matter anymore what he said so he decided to say what he really wanted to. "Cargo? Is that what you call slaves?"

  She smirked. "Of course. What else would I call them?"

  "Living beings who deserve their free--"

  Deth twisted the knife in Venn's hand until his voice collapsed into a scream.

  Necralia waved her hand. "Thank you, General Deth. I get so tired of these little speeches people try to give me. Now then, my cargo is missing but we have already tracked it to Caurus Prime. I have a squadron headed there to recover it. All you've done is forced me to give a ten percent discount to the Republic of Uado for the delay in shipping."

  Venn clenched his teeth harder until they ached. "No, what I've done is give them hope. And they will fight your squadron to the death which is better than the life you had planned for them. And it's only the beginning. The rebellion is growing every day, and I'm happy to die knowing I've caused you even a fraction of the misery you've imposed on the Galaxy."

  "Very noble." Necralia pointed a long nail at him. "Speaking of misery, that's what you'll be going through in a few minutes and I'm afraid it will last for much, much longer than a fraction. Goodbye, Captain Venn."

  As Necralia's hologram vanished, two Death Troopers entered the bridge, hauling a tall metal column on wheels. The column had slender arms attached to it with spikes and blades running along their length.

  General Deth smiled. "Congratulations, captain. You'll be the first to try my new and improved Torment Tower."

  As the column was opened and Venn was hauled to his feet and shoved inside, the captain couldn't hold back the screams of terror that turned into howls of agony as the Torment Tower began its work.

  Chapter 2

  "DON'T GIVE UP," Byron's sister's voice said, "you're a nice guy. You'll find somebody."

  Byron winced against the cell phone by his ear. "Nice guys finish last."

  He hunched himself down lower as a cold wind blew through the subway station. A light rain pattered on the train tracks, making them glisten in the light cast from the station, but Byron stayed dry where he stood under the shade of the platform's roof.

  He glanced around the train station to see if anyone else could overhear his conversation. No one else gave him even the slightest glance. He paused to linger on a beautiful blond woman standing across from him. She wore a light blue dress that hugged wide hips. It was slightly damp from the rain, clinging to small but rounded breasts. She looked at her cell phone but glanced up when a train rumbled by. He caught her eye for a moment and gave her his most winning smile.

  She rolled her eyes as she looked down to glare at her phone again.

  He sighed. He could only imagine how he would look to her.

  Byron stood only fiv
e feet tall and weighed almost 300 pounds. That, plus the scar on his left cheek meant the blond's reaction was all too common. That's why he preferred living in the virtual world of video games.

  Byron had lived in New York all his life, raised mostly by his mother after the death of his father. When he was ten years old, a fire had ravaged their small apartment. Byron had gotten his scar from fighting through the flames to save his younger sister, Molly. His father hadn't survived the blaze. Scarred and fatherless at a young age, Byron had come to avoid people as much as possible, preferring a fantasy world of sci-fi TV, movies and videogames.

  He looked away as well and caught sight of an older man standing to his right wearing a faded Star Wars T-shirt and jeans. He leaned on a crutch with one hand while squinting at a book in the other. Even from this distance, Byron recognized the book as the third in the Dark HyperStar series by Edgar Michaels. The old man had good taste.

  Byron shook himself. "Look, it's true. Girls don't want nice guys."

  "No, that's not true. You forget you're talking to a member of the female gender here? Yes, women want guys who are aggressive, who take charge. That doesn't mean you should be a caveman and hit girls over the head with a club. But women do want a guy who will take the first step, ask them out, flirt with them. You gotta be that guy if you want women to be attracted to you. You're too passive."

  He sighed. The whole conversation with his sister had started when she asked him about Clarissa, the girl at the call center where Byron worked who he'd been aching over for months. He finally got the courage to ask her out and she said those dreaded words, "I think of you as just a friend." He felt like an idiot. Molly was right. He had gotten himself stuck in the friend zone too many times.

  "You also need to take risks," his sister continued. "You work in a boring call center. You never go anywhere or do anything except play video games. You should go out and have adventures in real life. Do exciting things. That'll make you more interesting to girls, and you'll enjoy your life more."

  Byron was still about to protest when laughter drew his attention to a group of teenagers who burst out of the stairwell onto the train platform. The gang hooted and shoved each other as they ran along the concrete. Byron never understand why guys need to pump each other up like that.

  One of them froze and pointed at the blonde. "Holy shit, check out that hot bitch."

  The gang all stopped their horseplay to look at the hot chick across the subway platform. They erupted in hooting, howling, and making jerking motions at their crotches. The woman kept her head down, pretending not to hear, even as her face flushed red.

  "Hey, leave her alone, fellas." Byron said the words before he could even think.

  The gang stopped and all shot him deadly glares.

  One gang member with a red bandana over long red hair snarled. "What you say, faggot?"

  Byron knew he was in trouble, but he didn't care. He couldn't stand by and watch any woman abused like that, even if she wouldn't give him the time of day. He tried to look tough but his voice cracked. "I said, leave her alone."

  The redheaded gang member broke into frenzied laughter. "Why don't you mind your own business, bitch?"

  "You heard him." Everyone looked over at the old man who scowled at the gang. "He said, leave the lady alone."

  One of the gang charged over to the old man. "Shut the fuck up, you old cripple, before we kick your fuckin' ass, too."

  Even though the old man leaned on a crutch, he still managed to draw himself up to glare back at the gang. "Even with a bad leg, I'm not afraid of you. Now back off."

  The redhead raised his hands up in mock surrender. "Oh, okay, well, since you said so, we'll leave her alone."

  He turned away and took a few steps.

  He whipped around and shoved the old man hard on the chest.

  The old man cried out as he tumbled off the platform.

  "No!" Ignoring the laughing gang, Byron ran over to the edge of the platform.

  He looked down to see the old man sprawled on the tracks, gasping.

  That's when he heard the low rumble growing louder. A train.

  He looked up at the train tunnel where a light grew brighter. The rumble came along with a distant whine of the train's horn.

  The gang whooped as they went running up the stairs and out of sight, leaving Byron and the old man alone.

  "Hang on!" Byron threw his backpack onto the train platform and jumped down onto the tracks.

  His sneakers stumbled on the loose gravel between the wooden slats but he managed to right himself and lean down over the old man. "Can you stand up?"

  The old man gasped and shook his head. "Just-just leave me."

  "No, I won't leave you. Hang on."

  The train's horn blew again and it sounded even louder than he expected. Byron didn't look up. He didn't want to know how fast the train was going, even as he slipped his arm under the old man. The old man felt surprisingly light as Byron stood up, raising him up to his feet.

  It wasn't high enough. The old man struggled to reach up and hold the platform.

  A hot wind blew over him from the train rushing towards them. The roar of the train on the tracks and the howling horn made it impossible to hear as the old man called out something. Byron dared to look and saw the train's light growing even closer than he thought.

  Byron grit his teeth. He would die, but he wouldn't let this old man die with him.

  He bent down, took hold of the old man's legs and leaned back hard. His legs and arms cried out in pain as he hoisted the old man up and onto the platform.

  The train screeched with a noise that almost burst Byron's ears. He closed his eyes and waited for the impact, just hoping it wouldn't hurt too much when it came.

  *

  Byron didn't know what was more surprising when he opened his eyes, the fact that he looked up into the eyes of the old man smiling at him or the fact that he was alive to open his eyes at all.

  Byron opened his eyes and looked round himself. He lay on the train platform. The train, the gang, the blonde were all gone. The two of them were alone.

  The old man broke into a smile. "You're all right."

  "What happened?" Byron sat up, and winced at a stab of pain.

  "You saved me. The train stopped in time to avoid hitting you. That was a brave thing you did. Very brave." The old man put a hand on Byron's shoulder. "You deserve a better life."

  "What are-I don't know what--"

  "Never mind." The old man reached into a pocket of his pants and pulled out a small gray card. "I'd like to do you a favor. Go to the website on this card. Put in your address."

  Byron hesitated for a moment before he took the card. He thought it might be a business card or the old man was offering him a job. Instead, the card just said "Venus Online" followed by a web address that seemed to be a random combination of letters and numbers.

  Byron looked up at the old man who smiled back at him. "What's this for? What happens then?"

  "Then, like I said, you live a better life." The old man stood up and shook Byron's hand. "An honor to meet you. Hopefully I'll see you again."

  The old man wheeled around on his crutch and limped away, leaving Byron alone on the platform. When the old man had passed out of sight, Byron stared down at the card.

  "A better life," Byron whispered.

  Chapter 3

  BYRON SAT at his computer, staring at the address bar in Chrome with his mouse in one hand, and the old man's card in the other. "This is crazy."

  He knew better than to go to some strange website just because a card told him to. It could be a trick. At the same time, he didn't think the old man would do that to him. Maybe he was being too trusting but he didn't think someone would be saved from getting run over by a train and think, "Hey, I'd better give this guy a virus."

  Byron typed in the address and hit "enter."

  He expected to get a message saying that his computer had been hacked and to pay a million dollar
s in iTunes gift cards. Instead, a website did come up, but it was almost empty. The only thing on the page was a form and the words, "For Quick Delivery, Enter Your Address."

  "Quick delivery?" Byron whispered to himself.

  What did it mean by delivery? Was this website going to send him something?

  He knew that entering his home address on some random website just because an old man told him to was stupid. This could be some sort of hacker website. Or maybe it would tell a gang of thugs to break into his apartment and steal all his stuff.

  Byron glanced around the cramped apartment. The laptop he had propped up on a couple of milk crates was the most expensive thing he owned. No big loss. Besides, he was genuinely curious.

  He typed in his address and hit "enter."

  He expected the screen to light up with a face laughing or another website to come up with lots of cool free games or that he'd won a brand-new car or something. Instead, a new page loaded that just read, "Thank you."

  "That's it?" Byron leaned back in his chair. "What a rip-off."

  He sighed and got up from his desk to go to his gaming setup. Since he lived in a studio apartment, that just meant walking a few feet to where he had a TV, an XBox, and a Playstation 4 propped up on stacks of crates. He switched on his PS4 and began playing his favorite MMO, Battlefield: Deep Space.

  He usually played fantasy RPGs, but had really gotten into Deep Space. Set in a fictional galaxy, he had spent hours aboard his own personal spaceship, defending the Planetary Alliance against the evil Ivadera Empire. His current goal was to level up his Warrior enough to be able to get a level-14 heavy bomber.