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

“That is precisely how I can tell,” Dwight answered, having read his mind again.  It was annoying how she could do that, because it didn’t seem like he had any privacy, but it also helped to speed up their discussions.  “No Hero would investigate a mysterious hole in a wall without fully equipping themselves first.”

Clay supposed that made sense.  The fact that these people seemed more curious – well, the man named “Arcen” did, at least – than ready for battling through a dungeon was more than obvious.  They also didn’t appear to have any idea what a dungeon might look like, making them practically as ignorant as Clay himself.

“I’m also beginning to think that this isn’t a good idea, Arcy,” said the woman practically hanging off of the man’s arm.  She also looked relatively curious, but Clay could tell that she was a little nervous…or excited?...from her rapid breathing, and by the way her voluptuous—

“See, bro – that’s the first good advice I’ve heard all day.”

“Leave off, Jeska.  I just want to go a little further inside and check it out.  If we see anything dangerous, I’ll hold it off while you two run, okay?”  Without waiting for a reply, Arcen kept on walking, essentially dragging the woman in the sheer fabric clothing along.

“This is stupid, Arcen; if you get yourself killed, I’m telling Father that it was all your fault,”  said the man’s sister – who Clay deduced was called Jeska – as she followed behind, which caused Arcen to pause momentarily.

It didn’t last long, though, as he kept on going down the short hallway and arrived at Clay’s first room.  “See, sis? Nothing to worry about.”  They all looked around at the relatively small room with torches burning on the walls, the curiosity of their situation breaking through even the sister’s caution and reluctance.  In fact, she approached one of the torches hanging on the wall sconces and even tried to lift it out of its ring-shaped holder, but was immediately rebuffed when it didn’t shift at all.

“Those torches are a part of your dungeon, so there is practically no way they can be removed or even picked up,” Dwight told Clay as a way of explanation.  “It would be like trying to lift this entire cliffside.”

Glad to hear that.  I wouldn’t want to have to spend more of my Chips on replacing these torches every time someone walks through.

“I think these things are permanently attached, though I can’t see how.  And—” Jeska said, peering at the torch a little closer— “I don’t think this is…real.”

“How so?  What do you mean?”

The sister looked around at the other torches in the room before turning back to the one she was nearest.  Before anyone could stop her, she stuck her hand inside of the flames burning on top of the torch.

“Jeska!  Are you crazy?!”  The man reached out and yanked her hand out of the fire, but his sister just laughed.

“No, I’m not crazy.  See?” Jeska held her hand up, and Clay could see that it was completely undamaged.

How?

“The torches you created don’t give off any heat, because as the woman said, they aren’t technically ‘real’.  The flames are illusion-based, giving off light – but that’s about it.”

Clay listened to Dwight’s explanation even as the woman was describing how she hadn’t felt any heat coming from the torch, and how the flames didn’t seem to consume any of the torch itself.  The others looked a bit shocked, before testing it out themselves by placing their hands inside the flames and taking them out unharmed.

Suddenly, Jeska turned to the others with a serious look on her face.  “I think this place might just be…a dungeon.”

There was an awkward silence as Clay wanted to start shouting, “Yes!  This is a dungeon!  Even if I don’t know exactly what that means!”, but he knew he wouldn’t be heard.  Instead, the silent moment was shattered by the other’s laughter.

“Oh, c’mon, sis.  That’s ridiculous.  Everyone knows there aren’t any dungeons on Sunfall Island; it’s the same reason there are no Heroes from here.”

No…dungeons?  Despite not seeing one in person, Clay knew of at least a dozen within 100 miles of Renton, if not more.  For there not to be any dungeons on an island made little sense to him, unless the island was so small that it wouldn’t even fit.  That didn’t seem to be the case here, though.

And for them to have no Heroes was even stranger.  Even in his hometown, a new Hero might be selected every couple of years, if not more frequently, but they still had Heroes that came from Renton.  They rarely ever visited, and the normal passage of Heroes through their town to other places around the land had waned in the last couple of years, but they still existed in quite large numbers elsewhere.  The response to the World Threat that had ultimately smooshed his old body was evidence enough of that.

Rosara, which Clay presumed was the name of the other woman, chimed in.  “Why would we need dungeons or Heroes?  It isn’t like those…what do they call them?  World Dangers?  Well, whatever they are, they don’t ever show up here.  Father says that’s the reason we rarely ever see Heroes here in the first place, though a few have stayed at our villa for a night or two before moving on.”

Wait.  No Heroes, dungeons, or World Threats?  This place sounds like paradise.

“It does, Clay.  But I have a feeling all of that might change soon.”

What?  Why?  The newly formed Dungeon Core couldn’t fathom how she could possibly know something like that.

“Because, Clay, where there are dungeons, such as yourself, Heroes will inevitably follow.”

So?  That doesn’t necessarily sound like a bad thing.

“While it is possible that your…abnormalities…are the root