The Code is Mightier than the Sword by David A. Pontier

The CIA recruits Jason Hawthorne to play a new virtual reality MMORPG and recover a powerful magical crystal before criminals within the game can seize it. After he succeeds, his friends are kidnapped, leaving him trapped in the game.

The kidnappers want the crystal, but as he levels up and adds a powerful wolf and a vampire to his party, his increasing mastery of the game makes them want everything about him. He will confront giants, demons, orcs, hookers, and international terrorists all while trying to navigate a game he has never played before.

Ultimately, he will need to decide if the friends he’s made in the game are as important as those he has in real life.