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

people from their positions, all of a sudden, was enough to slow down some of the progress the city had made over the last few years to become as economically stable as possible.

Granted, it wasn’t anything that would have enough of an effect on the economy of the city and even the island as a whole, but that wasn’t really the issue with the situation.  The issues came from the influential families of those directly affected by the new Heroes, such as the owner of the largest shipping conglomerate on the island, Sunfall Transportation.  Bertun Hadrix, the owner of the shipping concern, protested wildly at the injustice; his only son born from his long-dead-yet-beloved wife had become a Hero, and he had no one to pass along the conglomerate to when he died.

Unfortunately, his protests were taken up and encouraged by a number of other families that didn’t want to or couldn’t afford to lose their family member to Hero-hood (or whatever you call it), and protests were brought right to the Mayor…who agreed with them.

Because his daughter, Rosara, had also been greeted with a Class Orb Tier 0 when she woke up.

It was no surprise to Jeska that the Mayor’s daughter hadn’t hesitated to become a Hero, just like everyone else in the city.  It also wasn’t much of a surprise that she got an Orb, especially based on the fact that she was there with us when we explored that empty dungeon.

In fact, the way word got around, Jeska seemed to be the only one who had hesitated and had “technically” refused to become a Hero; if it hadn’t been for Arcen busting in like he had with his own Orb, that probably would’ve been the result.  Of course, that didn’t automatically mean that there weren’t a dozen people or more who received the Orb and then denied it without telling anyone; but for some reason, she didn’t think that was the case.

“…and I say we tell them to forget that they were ever Heroes and we can continue our lives as it was!”

That was Bertun yelling in the meeting hall located in the Mayor’s villa, the shipping conglomerate owner’s son looking highly embarrassed by his father’s vehemence.  Jeska sat back in her seat and lounged a little, trying not to fall asleep…unlike her brother, who was softly snoring in the seat next to her.  All around the hall, the other new Heroes from the city were in various states of boredom or distress, though there were quite a few who looked extremely uncomfortable.  Very few of those from the lower echelons of society appeared to be happy to be there where there had been arguments thrown around for the last few hours, though it could also be because they felt out of place.  The 3 beggars, for example, looked like they thought someone was going to catch them and throw them out, as if they didn’t belong.

But they did belong, because they were Heroes, now. It didn’t matter who they were before.  At least, that was what all of the information that had poured into her mind that morning made it seem, though she was still trying to process all of that knowledge and her experience from the night before.

“That’s right!  There isn’t even a Hero Guild here on the island, so we would have to send them to the mainland to get the training they would undoubtedly need.  I will not lose my daughter to those mainlander brutes – I don’t know if I would ever see her again!”  That was one of the merchants, though she couldn’t see him or identify which one it was by the voice alone, and she didn’t feel like adjusting herself in her seat to see better.

“But there must be a reason we were called to become Heroes—” one of the sailors started to argue, which made Jeska perk up a little.  Did the other Heroes not receive that glimpse of a future threat like we did?  She and her brother had compared their experiences and found that they had both seen and felt essentially the same thing; a quick and whispered conversation with Rosara earlier in the day – before she was whisked away by the Mayor – revealed that the other woman had experienced something similar, if not exactly the same.

She hadn’t really considered that the experiences of the other Heroes might differ, but if that were the case…why were Jeska, Arcen, and Rosara different? Was it because they were in the actual dungeon earlier in the evening?  And what happened to them after Rosara touched the Dungeon Core?

There were just too many unanswered questions, but now that she knew that it was likely the others were ignorant of what she and her brother…and Rosara, I guess…saw, she needed to speak up and let everyone know about it – if they even believed her.  In the middle of Bertun arguing that there didn’t necessarily have to be a reason for the sudden appearance of all new Heroes, Jeska saw her chance.

Standing up from where she was sitting near the back of the new Heroes, she looked at her father, his messy medium-length blonde hair looking even more disheveled than usual, but it matched his wrinkled, dirty, and slept-in lightweight clothing.  He didn’t pay much attention to his looks. While it felt weird to even think it, because he was her father, she had to admit that he still looked good for a man in his 50s.  Even though he looked as though he had slept on the street the night before, everyone knew who he was and respected both his ingenious discoveries and his business savvy.  Therefore, when he saw Jeska stand up, he raised his hand so that the Mayor could see it, and then pointed straight at her.

“Thank you, Bertun; I completely agree with you, but it seems as