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

the afternoon, constantly looking out to the nearby city to see if anyone was coming.  He thought that the 3 people who’d been there the evening before might make an appearance, if only to show others what they had found, but there was…nothing.

It was only when it was a few hours away from sunset that he finally saw a group of people heading toward his dungeon entrance.  A very large group of people.

Chapter 14

The discussion, freak-outs, and arguments went on for some time, but Jeska could tell that most people had already accepted that what had been discussed was the truth.  Or at least as close to the truth as they were going to believe, which was the best that she and the other Heroes could hope for.  Ultimately, though, it really didn’t matter what most of the population of Chardelia or even the rest of the island thought, because she was already committed to doing her part as a Hero, whether she originally wanted to or not.

But having the Mayor and the influential people of the city on their side, supporting rather than hindering them, would help immensely.

“I think what helped us is the revelation that there is a dungeon nearby, as scary as that sounds to most people,” she told her brother as they all started to break up into groups, where those who wanted to discuss things further could congregate without having to involve everybody.

“How so?”

Sometimes he could be extremely smart and intuitive; at other times, like right now, he could be deliberately dense.  “Because it means that we—as in, Heroes—don’t need to leave the island.  I’m sure that most of the objectors at the beginning only objected because they didn’t want to lose their family members to the mainland, never to see them again.  Now that we’re staying here, they’ll try to keep their claws on them, but we’ll see how well that works out for them,” she finished, grinning secretly as she saw many frustrated faces.

It wasn’t as though she was happy for their misfortune, because having one’s plans for life go awry was never something to be cheerful about; it was because in many (or even all) of those who been chosen to become Heroes, Jeska could sense a kindred spirit.  From what she could observe, every single one of them wanted more out of life than what was planned out for them.  Even in Bertun’s son and those who lived the life of veritable luxury as part of wealthy merchant families, she could sense that all of them wanted something more.

Just like Jeska wanted something more, some purpose to her life.  Sure, given her family’s wealth, to which she and her brother had contributed to over the years by fishing, helping to create more of his special fishing nets, and other odd jobs, she technically didn’t have to work.  At least for as long as she lived, and perhaps for as long as her children – and even her children’s children – lived, they would be able to live comfortably, if not lavishly.  Of course, that would be boring, and Jeska (and Arcen, even if he didn’t want to admit it) had never really had a specific purpose, nor calling that she thought would satisfy her.  Becoming a Hero, however, was something she had never envisioned possible.  Yet, now that the responsibility had been thrust upon her, she couldn’t imagine anything else.

And she hadn’t even done anything yet.

That was all about to change, however.  Along with the Mayor and another few dozen interested parties, even her own father was planning on checking out this “dungeon” they had found, to determine the validity of their claims.  She didn’t blame them, because it was strange for something to just “appear” out of nowhere; unlike their rise to “Herohood”, a dungeon was a lot bigger than a little glowing Orb of light.

“Are you two ready to go?”

She looked up from where she was talking with her brother, joined by the awkward silence of all of the other new Heroes, who had been grouped together like outcasts for some reason, to see her father talking to her.  He looked excited, like he usually did when it came to investigating or learning something new, and he was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation.

“Yep!  Now, when we were there last night, there wasn’t much inside of it, but I suspect that was because it is brand-new.  We may have to keep checking back to see if it is up and running and then…well, I’m not actually sure,” she admitted, loud enough for most of the other Heroes crowded around to hear.  She didn’t really care if she showed her ignorance, because none of them really knew what they were doing.  There was a lot of information dumped into their minds when they absorbed the Class Orb Tier 0, but much of it was locked away, for some reason or other.

“That’s fine, my dear.  I have some thoughts on the subject; I have spoken to dozens of Heroes over the years, after all,” he replied assuredly.  One might think he was bragging, but her father was just stating a fact.

So, they all left the Hall in the Mayor’s villa as one big group of nearly 60 people – with approximately half of them the new Heroes – a few hours before sunset, heading out to the southeastern part of the town nearest the cliffs.  It didn’t take long for those to see the hole in the face of the cliff, now that they knew what they were searching for, though Jeska had to admit that it was a bit difficult to see it from their positioning near the city.  It blended in quite well with the jagged cliffs, but since she knew to look for it, she was able to pinpoint it within a couple of seconds.

Once