My name is James, but my mom’s the only person that can call me that. To everyone else, I’m JD — a struggling artist, working my fingers to the bone for my shot with one of the big comic book companies.

Oh, and I work nights, managing a dive called Judson’s Bar and Grill. I know: the dream life. Things were boring, disappointing, even. Until one fateful night when everything changed.

What happened first? An odd woman showed up in a booth while I was trying to close up for the night – rude, but on its own, not so weird. She was dressed in a kimono and had a sword in her lap; that part was a little strange.

What happened next? It turns out she’s a mistress at a magical academy, and she has been looking for me...(please pick up on my sarcasm here). Except then she proved it, and with just a few violent swings of her very real sword, she ensured that I didn’t have a job anymore. So, I more or less had to follow her into a scary, glowing portal.

Where did it take me? A surreal place called Zenith Academy, and a life I’d only ever dreamt of; a place I’ll learn how to cultivate mana and wield magic-like powers. And that is just the beginning. The tower imbues cultivators with visual prompts and game-like stats, making my new life feel like something straight out of a choose your own adventure novel. But it’s not all for nothing.

Evidently, they’ve been fighting a war for thousands of years, and I’ve just been drafted.