There are some aspects is this story’s premise you need to ignore if you want to enjoy this book without going mad.
First, forget that Lucas is supposedly an insanely wealthy ex-CEO. The author doesn’t pull off that characterisation at all. He’s not mature, smart or devious enough – honestly, he reads more like a moody teen.
When overmatched, he tackles obstacles by trying to overpower them (without the aforementioned power). He’s constantly losing verbal spars despite his supposed real world experience and apparently useless Charisma stat. He reads more like a slightly dense protagonist than someone trying to be an amazing villain to revitalise a dying game (so mentally treating him like a kid just makes the story make more sense).
Second, don’t take it seriously. The dialogue is on par with some of the worst Telenovelas you can imagine. I think it’s played for comedic effect? I’m assuming the author is going for mustachio twirling parodies rather than real villains – real Saturday morning cartoon stuff – which just doesn’t play well at all.
The whole point of the story is to become a villain that’ll draw in lapsed players back into a dying world…Lucas just comes off as super lame… his entire schtick is literally ‘I’m gonna cuck all the dudes in this world and take all your wahmem!’
Finally, you need to imagine that the baddies in this book didn’t honestly spout out their entire super secret evil plan in a fully crowded street where everyone could hear them…
Just…. that’s not a joke… it actually happens…
I think I’m done with this book. I can’t enjoy it without lamenting over how great it could have been given some proper thought… and I just can’t turn my brain off that much…