Legendary Rule: Book Two

Legendary Rule #2

by Bruce Sentar

Back in the game, Ajax, Missy, and Sky make it to the human capital of Tyren, only to find themselves on trial for the dead merchants.

Putting them on trial, the King of Tyren has enough awareness to know that players are different than his townspeople. He tasks Ajax to forge a party and conquer a dungeon plaguing the catacombs.

But first, Ajax needs to fill out his party. He needs a great team if he’s going to become a professional gamer at the upcoming conference.

Meanwhile, Richard and his family’s ambitions are not idle, as they work to gain more power in the virtual world. And a mystery emerges as the royal castle bubbles with whispers of demons in the city.

As if that was not enough, Ajax struggles to understand his new found magic outside the game.

Join Ajax in Legendary Rule as he gathers his party and navigates his way through Tyren in Legendary Rule: Book Two.

Warning: This book contains explicit content, harem romance and violence. Content may not be suitable for those under 18.

Genres: Litrpg, Harem, Fantasy, Magic, Smut

412 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 19, 2020

About the author

Born and raised in the agricultural midwest, I moved every year after school even as far as Shanghai before settling down with my wife in Chicago.

I have always enjoyed Wuxia stories and became thrilled when I discovered harem stories spreading to western books. I've written down my day dreams for years as an idle hobby. Inspired by the harem genre I'm finally fleshing them out into full blown novels.

I'm excited to share my stories with you as I turn them into novels and series.

Connect with me on Facebook for updates on my latest books.
https://www.facebook.com/Bruce-Sentar...

Reviews

[Danae]

The story continues - big conspiracy in the background with demons and angels and rich people from the "reality".
Also magic seems to leak into reality.
The MC fills his group with a tank and a healer and even more girls join the group. Here is one of my main pet peeves with harem books. Instead of slowly adding characters there seems to be a point where lots of chars are added in a rush and while we don't really have time to connect to them the first characters dimish in the background.
The real world background story between the MC and one of the girls is still not solved and seems to wait for the next book.
Not bad but room for improvement. (The author has already shown lot improvement in his Cultivation book Mage Master.)

[Kiba Snowpaw]

Final Rating: 2.95/5.00

Starting score: 2.50
+0.30 for tactical battles that make party roles, failure, and adaptation matter.
+0.20 for inventive spell development with practical uses beyond dealing damage.
+0.25 for individual character goals and revealing viewpoints within the growing party.
+0.20 for explicit intimacy, domestic affection, and meaningful shared relationship boundaries.
+0.15 for delivering on the promise of earning a living through the game.
+0.20 for the connection between quests, lawful authority, and NPC survival.
+0.10 for giving the antagonists family pressures and competing political interests.
+0.15 for developing the connection between game abilities and real-world stakes.
+0.15 for resolving the immediate dungeon and criminal-status arc.
-0.20 for repetitive dungeon travel and repeated returns to the same summoning obstacle.
-0.20 for prolonging the central identity deception without its needed confrontation.
-0.15 for compressing important emotional repair after a damaging relationship conflict.
-0.25 for inadequate emotional aftermath to magical sexual coercion.
-0.15 for a late power increase that abruptly weakens established class limitations.
-0.10 for repeatedly using sexual harassment and threatened assault to generate conflict.
-0.20 for verified grammar errors and inconsistent character names.
Calculated final score: 2.50 + 1.70 - 1.25 = 2.95/5.00

This sequel gives me a pack worth caring about, then keeps making that pack dodge conversations it badly needs to have. The teamwork has more substance, the companions have lives beyond their attraction to Ajax, and the game delivers practical rewards promised in the first volume. Those improvements give this Ice Wolf a reason to care who comes through the next fight. But affection built around withheld truths remains affection standing on thin ice, and the handling of a later violation leaves a deeper crack. I find this a stronger audiobook in its party adventure and a frustrating one in its emotional follow-through. The explicit sex belongs to its appeal and continues beyond the opening. My ears pin back when a relationship crisis receives less attention than the bodies involved. In HowlStrom, keeping the pack together means facing what happened inside the den, too.

The opening dungeon problem gives the recruitment a proper reason to exist. Ajax, Missy, and Sky cannot simply keep doing damage until every obstacle politely falls over. Their first attempt exposes a party lacking the protection and healing needed for the job, while the king's punishment gives failure a consequence beyond missing experience. When a tank and healer join, familiar enemies become manageable because the team's structure has changed. Later encounters test that structure through positioning, movement, limited healing resources, and competing priorities. The corpse spider effectively turns an unpleasant environment into a tactical problem: the mess on the floor matters when somebody needs to move. Disagreement also becomes dangerous instead of remaining background bickering. The fights put the group's ability to listen to one another under pressure. That is the kind of pack behaviour I want a party-based LitRPG to make visible.

The tournament earns its place by letting competence belong to people other than Ajax. A confined arena is awkward for a ranged combatant with limited ways to maintain distance. Having magic does not put him above a fighter who understands her weapon. Adriana demonstrates why her approach deserves consideration, while Ingrid makes a convincing argument for conventional defence. Ajax's original concern about the tank role has practical sense behind it, and another viewpoint recognises this instead of making disagreement with his partners automatically his fault. His development includes accepting that somebody else may be the group's best prospect. He becomes more interesting when he coordinates strengths, accepts help, or recognises his own prickliness. An Alpha who cannot learn from another member of the pack is eventually going to lead everybody into a ravine.

The magic is at its best when Ajax treats a spell as something he can understand and reshape. Choosing a higher mana cost as an upgrade is satisfying because it gives him more material to work with. Experimentation then produces tools for different situations. I like the difference between imagining an effect and finding an approach that works. A magical solution to a lock grows out of the same thinking as a combat improvement, making the system useful outside its status screens. My problem arrives with the scale of a late enhancement. The ability behind it has preparation, but its physical bonuses are enormous compared with Ajax's existing attributes. Constraints that made his mage role interesting suddenly become easier to ignore. Giving up another use of the ability supplies a stated trade-off, yet the result still takes too much strain out of overcoming a stronger physical opponent.

The pacing needs firmer claws. Too much connective tissue involves another stretch of similar passages or another return to the summoning book and the same obstacle to using it. The characters repeatedly recognise that the catacombs are becoming tedious. That recognition does not make the material more interesting. "Yes, the hallway is boring. Give me a reason to follow you through the next one." I do not need constant combat; quieter character scenes often do more for the audiobook than another pack of ordinary enemies. I need those stretches to change something. Familiar MMO shorthand is not the main obstacle. The relevant roles and actions are understandable in context. The drag comes from revisiting an established situation without enough discovery. Compressing a later repeat of a boss encounter works well, and more confidence in moving past familiar ground would help the journey.

Daphne gives the party its strongest new emotional stake. Her history of severe burns and isolation explains why meeting people in this world matters so much. Healing has a personal significance that makes her enthusiasm for improving the skill understandable. There is weight behind her desire to keep going when the others want to stop. She also contributes ideas about recruitment and positioning, and asks questions that help the group understand a fight. Her uncertainty does not erase her usefulness. Quieter time with Ajax, including his support while she works on healing, gives their attraction something to grow around. That reaches beneath my fur more effectively than another description of her desirable avatar. I want her to gain confidence through friendship and competence as well as any change in appearance. Her need for belonging is meaningful before a healing spell promises to alter anything.

Adriana brings a different energy. She wants independence, has obligations outside the game, and sees a professional future as a chance to change her circumstances. Her confidence with a staff is backed by ability. Her protection of another woman while Ajax is elsewhere matters to me; care within this group can exist independently of its male centre. Sky becomes more interesting through the contrast between her teasing and her guardedness about being known. An ordinary outing means something different to somebody who struggles to enjoy anonymity. Domestic moments give her room to be tender without turning everything into a performance. Across these viewpoints, I get reasons for the women to seek connection and reasons to hesitate. Their insecurities differ, and their friendships have life of their own. That gives the den more substance than companions waiting for the next invitation.

The harem is a substantial part of the story. There are detailed sexual scenes early, further explicit encounters later, and desire woven through everyday interactions. I enjoy relationships with physical intensity alongside emotional attachment. The affectionate routines, competitive flirting, and different levels of confidence help establish how this group lives together. The discussion of boundaries is especially valuable. Ajax asks what everyone is agreeing to, the women claim their own stake in the relationship, and additions require collective agreement. A veto actually holds, giving those rules weight. Ajax also tells Sky to ease off when Daphne is being pushed, and Daphne later has room to express desire herself. I care about that distinction. Wanting somebody inside the den does not give the rest of the pack ownership of her readiness. These moments make the relationship more convincing because attraction has to coexist with another person's choices.

That makes the central quarrel more aggravating. Missy's jealousy has understandable roots, and another woman recognises that her behaviour is becoming unreasonable. The friction damages the group's cooperation in a dangerous situation. Once a private argument hurts other people, I want the repair to address that responsibility. Instead, the reconciliation spends substantial attention on the physical encounter and compresses much of the discussion of insecurities into a brief report afterward. There is a conversation, and a later tactical discussion establishes a better plan. The missing weight is emotional accountability. What has she understood about how she treated him? What has he understood about allowing the conflict to drift? "You can want each other and still owe each other a proper answer." The work needed to make the same argument less likely to happen again deserves attention comparable to the intensity of their attraction.

The identity deception carried over from the first volume remains a separate problem. Ajax is in a relationship where others hold important knowledge about his own situation that he has not been allowed to share. Familiarity and evasions accumulate without producing the confrontation that would give this thread its emotional value. By this point, the question is how the truth changes trust. Delaying that through another volume leaves romantic declarations ahead of the honesty needed to support them. Sky's desire for privacy has a more sympathetic shape when she explains why anonymity matters to her. The wider deception asks me to accept a much more managed version of Ajax's choices. My Ice Wolf Clan instincts are stubborn about this: closeness gives somebody more reason to tell the truth, not less. I want to see what these relationships survive once everybody can understand them.

The most serious failure is the aftermath of a later encounter involving magical sexual coercion. Ajax's will is being overridden. His bodily response does not turn that into a freely chosen betrayal. His impaired thinking and attempts to resist make that distinction clear. Dark material can give an audiobook teeth when survival, protection, and recovering control are taken seriously. The danger creates that possibility, but the emotional reckoning is thin. His partners initially react with suspicion, and the narrative moves into explanations he needs to give, embarrassing appearances, new abilities, and another emergency. Before the volume ends, that reaction has not received the substantial correction or care it needs. My fur bristles at the gap. "Ask whether he is safe before you decide he has wronged you." Regaining the ability to fight does not answer what happened to his trust or sense of control. The story rushes past the person while making room for consequences useful to the plot.

Sexual menace also becomes an overused way of starting conflict. Public encounters turn into unwanted attention, grabbing, or threatened assault, and another endangered woman repeatedly gives someone a reason to demonstrate protection. Some scenes allow women to defend themselves or each other, a meaningful part of their characterisation. The repetition still narrows how the audiobook shows vulnerability and loyalty. I know why the pack needs to bare its fangs; I do not need the same kind of stranger reaching toward somebody every time that point needs proving. Professional pressure or incompatible goals could reveal other aspects of these people. The recurring threat becomes a shortcut, making the surrounding world feel arranged to keep producing the same emotional trigger.

The financial side is satisfying because the promise becomes a result. Ajax exchanges game currency for real money, and useful information becomes something he can sell. That connects his effort to rent, work, and supporting himself. With my experience of ordinary working life, I care about the difference between announcing that a game could become a job and showing how somebody earns through it. The arrangement with the information broker works because both sides want something and information has value while it remains scarce. Ajax also has to accept contributions from his partners. His pride around money can be irritating, but movement toward shared costs and mutual help is recognisable growth. These details make the professional ambition feel less like a vague prize waiting somewhere after enough monsters have been killed.

Tyren's institutions are another improvement. Rulers live inside the same system that generates quests, and breaking its rules can expose them to consequences they cannot order away. A guard's concern about becoming a target for adventurers makes sense when those adventurers are numerous and do not stay dead. Apparently fussy procedure has a survival function. The inhabitants have learned about players, and their behaviour reflects that knowledge. People wearing the same authority differ: some obstruct, some exploit, and some try to keep their colleagues and city alive. That variation gives the place more life than a procession of officials waiting for Ajax to prove them wrong. The law belongs to a wider struggle over how the city works. I find that more engaging than another quest-giver handing over an objective and disappearing.

Richard benefits from pressures beyond his fixation on the women. His family position and hunger for recognition explain why he wants visible triumph and rejects more patient advice. I can understand how he reaches a stupid decision without finding him sympathetic. Corporate interest in the game also gives his wealth a purpose larger than obstructing Ajax out of spite. People around him have their own loyalties, so confidence in controlling them does not automatically make it true. The king gains humanity when political calculation collides with personal attachment. These are broad character strokes, and Richard remains exhausting in his entitlement, but the opposing side contains tensions that move the plot without waiting for the protagonist. That makes the danger more credible. Ajax has wandered into conflicts that already have people feeding them.

The connection between the game and ordinary life develops beyond the first volume's promise. Changes in bodies and abilities matter to several characters, while Reinhart's work introduces unease outside Ajax's adventures. The larger mystery begins connecting seemingly separate concerns, giving the game more weight without explaining every clue immediately. The ending also provides enough local resolution to complete a stage of the journey. The dungeon and criminal-status problem do not simply stop mid-sentence while the next cover waves at me. Bigger threats remain, and the long-promised convention is still ahead, but what the group can do next has changed. That earns some confidence in continuing. I want those expanding stakes to make the unresolved personal truths harder to avoid, because a larger world should put more pressure on the characters' choices.

The prose needs a firmer editing pass. "Ajax and Sky has been a bright light" gives a plural subject the wrong verb form. More seriously, Captain Anton becomes Adrian within the same exchange, and a scene with Reinhart briefly calls him Richard before continuing to identify him as Reinhart. These are wording and naming mistakes, separate from any judgment of vocal performance. They matter in a story using avatars, concealed identities, different viewpoints, and a growing cast. I should be considering why somebody withholds a name, rather than working around an accidental change in which name the narrative uses. The distinction between a deliberate mystery and a careless label needs to stay clean. Context revealing the intended person does not remove the need to fix the sentence.

At 2.95/5.00, this gives me more reasons to care about the group than the first volume did, alongside serious reasons to distrust how its emotional consequences are handled. The strongest moments let one character's ability, fear, or choice change what happens to everyone else. That is when I feel a pack forming. Honesty and recovery need the same force when these people have placed so much of themselves in one another's paws. The tactical adventure has earned my interest in the wider world. I want the warmth inside this den to become dependable enough that its hardest truths can come home.

[Pablo García]

Did the author really double space the written text of his second volume? Darn, so it is kind of small at 200+ pages or 400+ pages double spaced...and who in the history of ebooks places two blank pages after each chapter? This is a first for this author.
The two girls Melissa and Sarah are a thing in real life and it seems that they have a "thing for the main character", Ajax. Ajax is a brand name of a toilet and bathroom cleaner in Latin America, so every time I read his name, well, I think of a toilet...In Greek legend, Ajax was the son of Telamon, king of Salamis.
The author does not create the retinue-harem conditions well. Main character Ajax, is not that intelligent, not that knowledgeable, not charming or charismatic at all, is not powerful, nor is he wealthy, inventive, creative, or have leadership qualities, good under pressure, or have supernatural abilities. Ajax does not have any martial arts training, no cultivation in Qi, Ki, mana, etc. and yet, the author as if by a miracle, gives those capacities in real life to the main character. Impossible! Especially with a Virtual Reality cabin worth 5-6 thousand bucks. Cars to be electric nowadays cost over 30 thousand and this Legendary Rule virtual reality game that costs nothing to play, actually gives the players super powers? Delusional author, yes!
Both girl characters are supposed to broadcast their play and yet, the author never mentions them creating podcasts, uploading their game play videos, etc. It's as if this copy of a story is not even as good at remembering all of the things that need to be described and written.
All of the sex scenes in a virtual reality game seem unneeded. If they really wanted to get it on, they should just meet in real life. Ahh but the game is so real, that it feels better than real life??? No one ever is going to say this...players change their physical looks in games, so the only improvement could be the props, species changes, etc. that games could provide versus having them in real life.
The game is really not that interesting or entertaining. At one, two, three-four missions, quests per volume, this fantasy-isekai VRMMORPG game-like novel series is going to take forever, but it's not really going anywhere. The webnovel/light novel series The King's Avatar, is the best example of professional gaming, that I have read/seen. Then series like the Great Thief, Taming Master, the World Online, are better VRMMORPG portrayals than any of the ones that western authors have written. Some authors brag about being the creators of LitRPG, but they are still in diapers compared to what Asian authors have been doing now for over thirty years. Even the actual gaming cafés, the professional gamers and quality of the VRMMORPG's that are produced are on a higher level that the rest. There is no substitute for victory, merit and practice. There are no miracles in real life.
So this gaming novel series is missing more vital things than the things it bring and offers. The double space, writing just in the middle of the page (like if it were a poem) is shameful and embarrassing to read.

[Rohan Juierie]

One of the worst litrpg I've read

I've read better litrpg stories written by amateurs on free websites than this story. MC is a total douche - in gaming, in relationships, in game politics. He is so ordinary that you wonder why is an MC. Professional gamers follow this noob who is a one trick pony and hasn't applied his brain to explore his character, has to be spoonfed ideas by his electrician roommate to advance his skillset.
He is always distracted by his women from figuring out someone is out to get him which has been so obvious since he resolutely swore to to something about it at the end of book 1. I wish I could ask the author to his face if he really takes us for fools.

[Bert Babb]

really good well written with curve balls at the end

Stayed up till 4am reading this story. Engaging characters, not just the MC but the supporting characters are more realistic because of their flaws and hangups, even Richard, that scum sucker. Would like to see more world building, especially the connection that allows crossover of skills and powers onto earth. Then there is the foreshadowing of the “project” Alex’s roommate is working on. Finally gotta love that angels can be more troubling than demons and demons are terrible news. Makes me wonder what surprises Shadow Fiends have in store for us? They are described as “fiends” after all.

[Travis]

Help me read more books

Nothing much to say here, except that the story is ok, and it would get along just fine without the harem elements. But, once again, despite that, I'm interested in reading the next book, only because it's finally getting to the point where the first book was driving things. I'm really curious what happens when they all show up at the gaming con, that should provide plenty of entertainment.
And, as always, it's good to see the bad guy get taken down a peg, that's always fun to see. No doubt he'll be back, but for now at least, he got a little of what's due. Looking forward to the next book.

[Aadam Abdul-Alim]

More adventure

Great push for next book. Ajax and team are growing in their levels. Not much in the women’s department as the team is still forming. Will Missy tell Ajax before the convention, will Daphne self heal? Will Hazel be able to “see” their world? What is his roommate building? Seeing several read comes up in draft will there be a push for a fight in the real world? Were angels and demons locked away for a reason? Hopefully we will find out the answers to these questions. Can’t wait for the author to update us on the next book.

[Alan K]

An engrossing read, but issues

I found this book hard to put down, the author seems to have properly settled into the story and managed to create a rather interesting tale. I did find one scene objectionable as an NPC succubus using a human against their conscious will is not something I wanted to read about even if it was mostly skipped. For this it looses a star, hopefully it will not occur again. It seems a blending of VR and reality is starting, it doesn’t help that I read the Dao series first as the last books epilogue has a spoiler.

[Alan]

Ajax must continue to grow his new class but a corporate player has different plans .

Ajax continues to progress his new class that has not been invented yet . With two new players Sky an Missy Q Ajax forms an party of 3 to help each other level their own new classes as well . But a corporate player decides to interfere with their plans as he tries to kidnapping Missy Q which in real life is not outside the game . The real Missy Q is Sky in the game . Both Missy Q an Sky an alias are both friends outside the game . recommend reading excellent series .

[GrumpyOldMan]

I've enjoyed this series. The MC is a little clueless at times, and some of his ladies are a little bit devious, but they have fun with it. The story has been told mostly in-game, with a few snippets happening out of game. But real life issues are influencing how they are playing the game, and it's making things both good and bad.

There's some nice tension between the characters, with realistic responses to situations, instead of the normal "I'm in the harem and everything is easy mode for the MC to handle the ladies!" that some harem stories devolve into.

[kyle conley]

Holy mackerel it's getting good

The story is starting to get really good. Many of my complaints from the last book have improved. My only complaint left standing is that all the characters throw themselves at the mc without any real time passing or much interaction. It feels a bit disjointed but better than book 1. Regardless of my complaints the story is fantastic and the characters are pretty good.

[Zayn Bakir]

I was on the edge of each page with excitement!

You have really brought a wonderful universe alive I hope you make this series last long outside of 3 books because I feel like even after Ajax gets enough power to beat Richard then he will have to fight the Waltz family like Richards brother so please keep giving us more adventures with Ajax and the gang as long as possible!

[stewart n white]

Review of this book

Normally I do not write a review as I am not go with doing so but I will try if it this book be sure I read the first one girl that this lol was as good as
T




Normally I. Do not write a review however I like this book very much an would recommend it to others hope continue to read your Books

[Mark Halvorson]

Hooked me

I am a fan of stand alone books always have been . These Legendary Rule books have changed my mind. The story's are really entertaining and throw the sex in and it all turns outstanding. I clipped a star because of some editing that was not that bad but do not know how to give just a half star. All said and done one fine read.

[Paul Hefka]

So good.

I really loved reading this book. The author took a familiar theme and made it his own. There is a perfect mix of humor and action. The story and characters were interesting and engaging. I hope this series will prove to be a long one. I look forward to seeing what happens next. This is absolutely worth reading.

[Sean]

Plot twist actually surprised me

A well done the game is a real world not a vr simulation. The ending was great and the series actually seems to be getting better as i go which is a rarity

[Steve]

This is getting both better and more interesting as it goes on. I like the development of links to both worlds, but any more than that would be too spoilerish so I'll leave things at "I'll definitely read the next one".

[JB25]

Good book

A good 2nd book which has the team expanding and getting closer together. There doesn't seem to be any real penalty for dieing which takes much of the suspense out of the battles. Looking forward to next book.

[Douglas Rogers]

Excellent

The author has created a world that I haven’t seen any where else in all the other books that I have read. I think it is a great concept mixing the gamer world with the actual world. It has become one of my new favorites.

[Martin]

Another good one

Bruce Sentar has done it again, mixing exciting action and adventure, funny banter and real world references with smoldering hot sexy times, going to start book 3 right away

[Rob]

Story seems interesting and progress is satisfying but the intimate and relationship dynamics seem to be on a high-school level. Overall feels like it's written by someone who has very vanilla relationships.

[Douglas Mackay]

Good book

The story was exciting and well put together. I enjoyed it a lot and can not wait for the next one.

[John Ford]

Good

A good entry into the book series, I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book released.

[Chris]

This second book in the series has a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses as the first, though I was still left wondering a lot about the mc and what all of the other characters seem to know that we don't learn about. All in all though a fun and light hearted litrpg within an intriguing world

[James Riley]

A lot of fun

If you liked the first one, you'll love this one. I pretty much inhaled both this one and the first one in an afternoon. Highly recommended.

[Jacob Weiss]

Some typos but the plot is interesting

Sooooooo goood! the plot has all well I will want you to see it’s more then gaming and mature fun.

[Ryan Cross]

Great book

Worth leaving a review! Fun read. I hope the plot can keep going for a while before. But I also don’t want the plot to go stale.

[Pete]

The plot thickens

This one is much more polished than the first book. We learn there's much going on than a simple new game. Looking forward to the finale.

[Zack Turner]

Excellent

Fantastic read! I absolutely loved it! I can not wait for the next one to be release! Such great characters in this book!

[Craig Pendleton]

Great read

I'm really enjoying this read. So many harem authors don't give us enough story and just want to write about the sex. Bruce is giving us the right balance.