Beta-Testing the Apocalypse

A LitRPG Adventure

By: JG Spaulding

Narrated by: Ryan H. Reid

A LitRPG Apocalypse Series about an IT worker who is given early access to a somewhat buggy System.

Battle through pocket dimensions full of monsters. Report bugs to the System. Survive.

Dex is just your average, everyday I.T. Professional. Eyes tired from working late, the strange glowing gem floating in the middle of his apartment didn’t exactly grab his attention. Until it opens into a portal and starts counting down to his death.

In a life-or-death situation, an autistic quality assurance engineer probably isn’t your first choice for a hero. But he has a certain set of skills that catches the attention of the Daemon System as it implements a secret beta-test on Earth.

The impact of the Essence Wavefront is imminent. With it, humanity will unlock access to fantastic power. To have any chance to survive against the countless invaders who will seek to take that Essence power from us, humans will need the structure of the System.

And who better to ensure the induction of 9-billion humans goes smoothly than Dex, the self-proclaimed God of Q.A.?

By reporting bugs while fighting for his life in pocket dimensions full of deathtraps and monsters, Dex will win rewards, earn Essence, and grow more powerful than he can imagine, all while slowly uncovering the truths of the upcoming horrific apocalypse.

Because work-life balance is important, right?

Experience this unique take on a LitRPG Apocalypse, featuring a weak-to-strong MC who gains early access to a somewhat buggy but non-sentient System.

©2025 Aethon Books (P)2025 Aethon Audio

Fun Despite Authors Blatant Social Commentary

I liked the book. It's always fun to see the main character try to hide aspects of the fantastical and then have other people slowly catch on to it. We had that here, with the MC traveling through portals to level up in preparation for the impending apocalypse. It was kind of of a monster killing slice of life where he would go through portals, come back and then chill in the real world with his friends. Book one only covered about a week of the 2 months of prep time afforded him. My only gripe about the book was the author using it to not so subtly pontificate about various social issues. Use social media to get up on your soapbox if you must. In a book, it only breaks immersion from an otherwise good story.

A 4 1/2 star fantasy read

Beta-Testing the Apocalypse: A LitRPG Adventure, my first read from author JG Spaulding. A unique, captivating, page-turning, well-written read, purportably the first book in a series. “I received an Audible copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review." The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. I look forward to reading more from this author, and in this series as they're published. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).

Interesting, Engaging and Unique

Loved the story and the voice acting was really enjoyable. I had been waiting for the storage option and it’s going in a direction I didn’t expect.

Interesting take

This is almost a sci-fi litrpg, it hints at being more mechanically based than magic. I enjoyed it but if your delicate sensibilities are offended by such horrible things as pronouns and LGBTQI perhaps it will make you clutch your pearls. I’ll be looking forward to book two.

Loved it!!!

Great start.
MC is great.
Side characters are great.
System is good.
Narration is great.

I'm looking forward to how this story develops, and will be looking out for the next installment.

To the reviews that will undoubtedly be posted about the author having side characters that are not heterosexual; gay people exist, get over it.

This was absodamnlutely AwesomeSauce!!!

What an AwesomeSauce beginning, to what's shaping up to be a dynamite series! And ye Gods I can hardly wait for the next book to land... Even though I've never read J.G. Spalding, I'm gonna be looking for his other works! This is Dex's story as he's one of the few selected to beta test the system that's about to be released onto our world. Being a game developer himself he has no issues sliding into the system, to do his best finding bugs, and leveling as quickly as he can. So just another Tuesday, 'cept for the possibility of dyin. You can imagine how strange his life became. Both in game and in real life too, as his new abilities work, even when he's having a quiet dinner with his friends.
So yeah grab a pizza and the audiobook because Ryan H Reid has a pedal-to-the-metal action-driven story to tell you!

Ohhhh and here's a handful of quotes that tickled me:

"Morning and I have never had a friendly relationship. Sort of a grudging respect and tolerance of each other."

"I was like a Honda sleeper with a V8 hiding under the hood."

"Besides, it was just in my nature as a gamer to grab every minor healing potion, every single copper piece, every damn cheese wheel, until the world is wiped clean and all NPCs are in their underwear."

"...it would be good to have some extra food around, especially a tasty gyro or six."

"It would be embarrassing for her to give me a light punch and have my hand fall off onto the hibachi."

Great story, great narrator.

This is just a really good book, it has good flow, it has interesting character growth, the author has an excellent sense of humor. I will by book two the second it comes out.

Also thenarrator is absolutely fantastic, and i am about to go see what else he has done.

He/they and anti police

Seems like this author is gen z or woke. Not my kind of book. Not a lot of depth to the story or characters. honestly he seems like a bit of a selfsih loser

The author’s politics issues

The political issues the author has continuously breaks immersion whenever they show up. If you are not left of linen, I would skip this book.