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

felt that kind of distrust.  I’m just glad that they seemed relatively fine when they left – except for the whole dead-behind-the-eyes look they had when they marched out my entrance without a word or other reaction.

“Yes and no.  Typically, the discovery of a dungeon is seen as something to celebrate, as it allows for unique challenges and an enhanced potential for helping Heroes get stronger.  Here, though – if those visitors can be believed – there aren’t any Heroes or dungeons, so I’m not sure exactly what the reaction will be.  What I can tell you with certainty, however, is that eventually Heroes will come when word gets out about the presence of your dungeon here.  Therefore, we need to prepare for that eventuality.”

From all that he knew about Heroes, Clay was fairly confident that Dwight was right about their inevitable arrival.  Which meant….  Ah, you mean monsters, correct?  He still wasn’t sure how he felt about having monsters of his own – from the whole being squashed by a giant one, obviously – but he knew it was his duty to help his fellow people.  Even if it wasn’t something he had chosen to do in the past.

“Correct.  Now that you have a dungeon, as relatively small as it is at this point, you need to start filling it with defenses.”  Clay took a little bit of offense at her comment about his stuff being “relatively small”.  He didn’t say anything, though, because he didn’t really have anything to compare it to.

Fine; how do I do this?

“First, open up your Transcribed Status—

Core Assessment and Transcribed Status

Core Name:

Clayburnside “The Denominator” Shuntwise

Core Stage:

1

Core Structure Health:

20/20

Crystal Chips:

30 (500 to next Core Stage)

Star Limit for Placement:

15

Available Monsters:

0/50

Available Traps:

0 (No Limit)

Available Dungeon Spells:

0 (No Limit)

Summoning Portal

Dungeon Interface

Sacrificial Altar

Clay opened it up, finding it as easy as he did the first time.  He was disappointed to see that he was still at only 30 Crystal Chips, but he knew that it had only been a little over an hour since he had opened.  His replenishment took 24 hours for a single Chip, so even if it had been longer he wasn’t sure if it would’ve made any difference.

“—and select the Summoning Portal option near the bottom.”

The Transcribed Status was floating in front of his vision and moved with him wherever he looked, which made it convenient; what wasn’t convenient, though, was the fact that he didn’t have any hands with which to “select” the Summoning Portal option Dwight mentioned.  After struggling to reach out and touch it somehow, he suddenly realized that all he needed to do was treat it like everything else and use his mind.  You could’ve told me that’s how to do it, he remarked at the baby dragonling after she saw him struggling without offering a single word of advice.

“I figured you’d get it; it’s not that different from your Hero interface—oh.”

Yeah, “oh”.  He didn’t say anything more to her, but instead took a look at what his efforts had produced.

Summoning Portal

Available Crystal Chips:

30 Chips

Common Spawn Egg

5 Chips

Bundle Pack #1 (Good Deal!)

10 Common Spawn Eggs; 1 Guaranteed 3-Star!

45 Chips

Mystical Spawn Egg

1000 Chips

Bundle Pack #2 (Great Deal!)

10 Mystical Spawn Eggs; 1 Guaranteed 6-Star!

9000 Chips

Epic Spawn Egg

10000 Chips

Bundle Pack #3 (Best Deal!)

10 Epic Spawn Eggs; 1 Guaranteed 9-Star!

90000 Chips

Convert Core Structure Health (CSH) to Chips?

10 Chips per CSH at Core Stage 1

Clay’s memories were transported back to his old life in the general store his family operated when he saw what appeared to be some sort of market for “Spawn Eggs”.  Every year in the spring, they would clearance out the majority of their small selection of winter clothes stock, both as a way to gain sales and to make space in their limited back room for other items.  Heavy, fur-lined coats, thick head coverings, and wool-filled boots were placed on an “End-of-season Deal!” rack near the front of the store, which always brought in extra customers who usually ended up buying something else.  They would do the same thing in the early autumn, getting rid of certain summer items that didn’t sell at all when there were a few inches of snow on the ground (such as sandals and sun hats).

While they didn’t usually sell those items more than 50% off their normal price, they didn’t lose any money on their sales.  At the least, they broke even; most of the time, though, they made a tiny little profit.  The point was, Clay was well aware of the different methods that stores used to sell their products, making their customers feel like they were getting a great deal; needless to say, he was a bit wary himself when he saw the same thing on the Summoning Portal menu.

Granted, he had to admit that it looked like a good deal; each of the different types of Spawn Eggs were sold in a Bundle Pack of 10 that was 10% off what it would normally cost if purchased individually, and they had a guarantee of receiving…something.  He wasn’t sure what it meant by 3-Star, 6-Star, or 9-Star, but something about that tickled his memory a little.

Before he dug into that, though, Clay needed to figure out what all of these Spawn Eggs meant.  Dwight?  Obviously, I can tell that some of these Spawn Eggs are more…uh…powerful? than the others, based on their price, but what is the difference?

The baby dragonling took on a lecturing tone again, as if reciting information.  “Common Spawn Eggs are more likely to provide 1 to 3-Star-rated monsters and traps; Mystical Spawn Eggs are more likely to provide 4 to 6-Star-rated monsters and traps; and Epic Spawn Eggs are more likely to