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

you say anything?!” she whisper-shouted at their father, angry and close to tears by that point.  If he’s correct, all he feels is revulsion when he gets near us!  Why?  Why is this necessary?

“Why do you think, Jes?  Use that smart brain of yours that I know is in that head.”

Of course.  Their father was always a champion for the greater good, even when it cost him money or support from certain people.  Even then, it usually worked out for the best, which was why he had been such a successful entrepreneur over the years.  He knew that if he told us before we went in there, we probably wouldn’t go; family is everything to us, and it would be like losing him, like we had lost our mother all those years ago.  It wasn’t fair; it wasn’t just him losing his children, but they were losing their father.

“I can see that you both understand.  Don’t worry; I can handle it for now. But as time goes on – even if you don’t perish inside again – it will get stronger.”  He looked down at the ground and mumbled, “I’m sorry.”

As much as she wanted to blame him, it wasn’t his fault.  In fact, he had done the only sensible thing in not telling them, even if she hated it.

“Why?”

He knew exactly what Arcen was asking.  “I think it is some sort of built-in protection to ensure that Heroes are…free, I guess?  That they don’t have anything tying them down, no reason for them not to venture out all over the mainland, delving through dungeons and fighting World Threats – all for the sake of the duty to save everyone, not just their family.”

“But that doesn’t make sense.  Wouldn’t wanting to protect your family help that sense of duty?” her brother asked.

“Well, tell me this.  If there were two of these Threats attacking this island at the same time – one here and one at Bellington on the opposite side of the island – and you were in Bellington, what would you do?”

“I would rush back here immediately, to save you and…oh.”  She was pretty sure she understood now, but Arcen was apparently clueless – so, she explained it to him.  “But if we left Bellington unguarded and rushed back here, then the other city could be destroyed; and if everyone did that, we could have Heroes from all over rushing away from the Threats nearest them to save their own hometown.  From what I know, on the mainland Heroes are from all over, so that would mean splitting up groups, abandoning their protection of certain areas…it would be chaos.”

If she were being honest, it probably wouldn’t affect them too much there on the island, because you could travel from one side to the other in an hour if you were really determined. She figured that this “effect” of their Resurrection couldn’t be turned off for their special cases.  As cruel as it seemed to her and the other Heroes…it was also necessary.  And she hated it.

Worse than that, they couldn’t tell the other new Heroes about this family revulsion, either.  The same thing that their father had worried about with her and her brother might happen with them, and they would lose their newest protection against World Threats.

All around, this sucked.  My world really did change once I became a Hero, didn’t it?  Nothing is ever going to be the same.

With a shake of her head at the regret in her heart, yet with resolution in her mind, she nodded towards the group of anxious-looking Heroes waiting for information about the dungeon.  At least we can make it a little easier for them to survive in there.  And she thought that they could probably tell them about the resurrection part of the Health Bands, so that they didn’t freak out if someone managed to get themselves killed.

Ah well, might as well delay the inevitable as long as possible….

Chapter 20

Clay had no words.  He supposed that it was his fault for not asking; but then again, it was one of those things where he didn’t know what he didn’t know.  Former Heroes would’ve known that any Heroes going through their dungeon after they became a Dungeon Core would come back to life if they died; seeing such a thing himself was mind-blowing.  Yes, sure, he had somehow been reincarnated into a small red gem and could create monsters just by buying Spawn Eggs, could hollow out dirt and stone with ease, and then could decorate what he had hollowed out basically however he wanted to – but seeing someone come back to life – specifically because of items he bestowed upon them – was wild.

Which was why he had no words.  He didn’t know what to say, what to think, or what to do.  So all he did was listen.  What the big man said about eventually making themselves immune to the fear of death made Dwight’s first words to him finally make sense.

“…I’m sure you’ve felt much worse dying inside of a dungeon…”

In fact, that should’ve probably tipped him off to the fact that the Heroes could resurrect if they died, as well as the baby dragonling’s callousness towards them being killed. Clay could only assume that the suddenness of his transition into a Dungeon Core and the information overload had made him miss those obvious clues.  Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.  This just changes a lot for me, though.

When the group of Heroes left, he extended and stretched out his awareness so that he could hear what they were saying to what appeared to be family. He still wasn’t all that good at expanding the reach of his sensory capacities, but luckily the 4 Heroes had stopped within range of his extension. Therefore, he could hear the exchange