Dungeon of Chance: Even Odds: A Dungeon Core Novel (Serious Probabilities Book 1) Jonathan Brooks (book recommendations txt) 📖

same mission to save the world from the inevitable Threats that would arrive to destroy everyone and everything that they loved.

Their loss was heartbreaking.  It was only after the battle that many of those that had lost group members (which was all but Jeska’s group, unfortunately) had broken down and cried right there, even as the corpses of the monsters disappeared and left Drop Chests in their wake.  As for what was inside those Chests, they had all contained viable items that would be useful in the future, though none of them at the moment.  Both the Threat and the Creeping Fern had dropped multiple chests, in fact – 3 and 4, respectively.

There were a smattering of random Tier 3 and 5 weapons and armor from the weaker dungeon monsters that had died, which went to those in the fragmented groups.  It wasn’t as though Jeska and her group were opposed to acquiring them, but they had quietly agreed to let those that had lost the most take what they could to help get them back on their feet.  As for the Cat and Fern, their spoils were a little more difficult to allocate.

Drop Chests (Tornado Cat Champion)

Contents:

1X Support Class Orb Tier 7 (BOA)

1X Mage Class Orb Tier 8 (BOA)

1X Fighter Class Orb Tier 8 (BOA)

Drop Chests (Creeping Fern)

Contents:

1X Scout Class Orb Tier 9 (BOA)

1X Healer Class Orb Tier 8 (BOA)

1X Skillbook – Meteoric Devastation Tier 9

[Mage Classes] (BOA)

1X Mysterious Scroll (Unbound)

With an extremely high Tier Class Orb for each Class, as well as a Skillbook for a Tier 9 Skill (which she couldn’t even imagine using), it was determined that each group would get 1 – either an Orb or the Skillbook.  It was actually simple to choose who got what after that, mainly because of so many missing Heroes; sadly, Percy the Fighter was the only one that had survived from his entire group, so he ended up getting the Tier 8 Fighter Class Orb.  The others all had one or more Classes missing from their groups, so it was relatively easy to divvy out the other Class Orbs.  Jeska’s group – and specifically Jeska – ended up with the Skillbook.

Perhaps in about a decade or so I’ll be able to actually use it.

The last item was something that they didn’t know what to do with.  The “Mysterious Scroll” was Unbound to anyone, so they were able to pass it around – for all of the good it did.  When Jeska opened it up, all she saw was gibberish and unknown symbols written all over the rough parchment; she was sure it had a purpose, but for all of her and the other Heroes’ efforts, none of them could make heads or tails of it.  Even their father, who was the smartest person alive that any of them knew, had no idea what it was when they showed him.

“I have no idea what that is…now, please get away from me.”  At least his worsening disgust for them was polite.

Once all of the Drop Chests had been allocated, they had gone back to Chardelia; exhausted, depressed, and wanting to forget what had happened…only to find that there was an impromptu celebration going on in their honor.  The residents of the city were extremely thankful for their sacrifices and treated them to a day and a night of feasts, music, dancing, and (for those old enough) lots and lots of alcoholic drinks.  While some of the Heroes that survived imbibed in enough of the latter to temporarily forget their heart-breaking losses, Jeska and the others in her group weren’t in the mood to celebrate.

“I think they are only doing this because they feel obligated and to forget that they were almost destroyed today,” her brother said a short time after they arrived back at the city, only to find the entire city having a party.  Well, not the entire city; most notably absent were the families of all the Heroes, not just the ones that had perished – including their own father.  “Maybe they feel guilty for treating the whole situation as a joke, and this is their thought on how to make up for it?”

Jeska knew exactly what he was saying.  Ever since they had become Heroes, they had been a bit of a joke to the rest of the city, who – for the most part – didn’t believe that there was any Threat coming their way.  Now, though, there was no denying that they were in danger, and drinking their new knowledge away was perhaps the only sensible act they could think of to cope with the information.  She didn’t approve, but she understood it.

Added to that, the loss of so many of their fellow Heroes was disheartening – and really didn’t put her in the mood to celebrate.  In fact, she was a bit depressed, especially considering the message that had appeared in front of them all when the last of the monsters had been killed.

Congratulations!

 

You have defeated the Regional Threat! 

Estimated time until next Threat appearance: Unknown

 

Warning!  Threat Level will be significantly increased in comparison to this recent Regional Threat.

Not only had it been confirmation that they weren’t done with Threats – which Jeska had been fairly sure of before the message – but they didn’t know how long they had before that happened.  And if the Threat was even stronger than the Cat they just killed, then they were in some major trouble.  For some reason, the message also gave the impression that they couldn’t count on the dungeon helping them in the future, which she was actually glad about; if that Creeping Fern or some of the other monsters had survived, then it was quite possible they would’ve had to kill them after the Cat was dead.  Or likely die in the attempt,