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

to get bit by the Cave Spider, while another was impacted from behind by one of the Jumping Spiders – right into the arms of the undead monstrosity.  The group didn’t live long after that, and were incinerated in a now-familiar explosion.

The last group…didn’t even attempt to tackle the second room after looking at it, instead leaving after the first room.  What they did do was re-enter the dungeon (though they found they had to wait about 5 minutes before it was ready for them again), attacking and clearing the first room again; then they did it again and again, quickly clearing the first room over and over at least 6 times in less than an hour.

“That, my Core friend, is what this is all about,” the baby dragonling said with something that sounded a bit like pride.

What are you talking about?

“Grinding, obviously,” she said, then paused.  “One day I’ll remember…” she mumbled before continuing in a normal voice, “When Heroes find that they can’t pass a certain point in the dungeon, they fall back and continuously defeat what they can complete, which will eventually give them what they need to progress.”

Clay thought about that for a moment, recounting what the last group acquired from the first room with their repetitious clearing of it.  Approximately two-thirds of everything they got were Trash Items, but of the 30 Drop Chests they opened, they did happen to acquire 4 different pieces of Tier 1 armor for different Classes, a pair of Tier 1 Iron Daggers for a Scout, a Tier 1 Pinewood Staff for a Mage, a Skillbook that taught a Healer spell, a Minor Health Potion, and – at the very end – a Fighter Class Orb Tier 1.

And all of that in about an hour, without dying even once.  To get better equipment and Tier 2 Class Orbs, they would have to start tackling harder monsters for a much better chance of acquiring them, so this wouldn’t last forever…but it was a good way to get them started.

After their sixth visit to his dungeon, the group finally left for the day, off to the city in which the others had already departed.  Clay was surprised to see that the sun was getting close to setting; he hadn’t been aware of the passing of time while consumed with watching the goings-on of his dungeon.  Now, though, his fascination with watching the Heroes struggle and fail (or persevere, like the last group) was at an end for the day – and it was time he did some restructuring of his rooms.

Chapter 22

Whoa!  How did I get so many Chips? 

It was a silly question.  Dwight didn’t even deign to answer it, instead looking at his core with an “Are you serious?” question in her face.  It was amazing that he could even identify that type of expression on a baby Dragonling’s face at all, but it was almost like it was being conveyed to him through some sort of mental link.  Come to think of it, it probably is.

Clay looked at his Transcribed Status and saw that he had acquired a lot of Crystal Chips from the deaths of so many Heroes in his dungeon.  With a total of 22 deaths at 25 Crystal Chips apiece (plus a Tier 1 death at 50 Chips), he had acquired 575 Chips; added to what he had before, he now had 564 Chips!

Core Assessment and Transcribed Status

Core Name:

Clayburnside “The Denominator” Shuntwise

Core Stage:

1

Core Structure Health:

5/20

Crystal Chips:

589 (500 to next Core Stage)

Star Limit for Placement:

15

Available Monsters:

37/50

Available Traps:

2 (No Limit)

Available Dungeon Spells:

0 (No Limit)

Summoning Portal

Dungeon Interface

Sacrificial Altar

“There is something that you should do before you spend any of your Chips, but whether or not it would be wise is something you need to consider very hard.”

He was already thinking of how many Spawn Eggs he was going to buy, but Dwight’s words halted those in mid-thought.  What are you talking about? Clay asked, but he thought he already knew.  It required 500 Crystal Chips to advance to the next Core Stage, but he wasn’t exactly sure how to do that – or why it wouldn’t be wise.

“Exactly, your Core Stage,” she responded to his thoughts.  “The only way to really develop yourself is to increase your Core Stage, which will help you place more monsters and traps, build and actually stock more rooms, and increase your Daily Accumulation.  The problem with this is that there are some risks involved.”

Risks?  What type of risks?

“Well, normally, I wouldn’t be too concerned with them, but since your Core Structure Health is so low, you could make your problem worse,” Dwight explained.  “You see, when you increase your Core Stage, there are even odds that you will lose some Core Structure Health in the process.”

What?!  That’s…not good.

“Yes, though fortunately for you, you can’t lose more than you currently have.  Depending on probabilities[9], it could send you all the way down to 1 CSH, which will make you vulnerable to a single strike by a Tier 1 weapon…possibly even one of those Tier 0 wooden weapons I’ve seen used by these Heroes – though I’m not sure anyone has attempted that.”

So, the way he was understanding it, he could wait until he was nearly restored as far as Core Structure Health and then increase his Core Stage, minimizing the risk.  Or, he could gamble on the even odds that he wouldn’t lose any more CSH and be fine right now.  Doing what she had recommended, he thought hard about the choice, spending nearly an hour going over the pros and cons in his head about waiting and taking a gamble.

What finally decided it for him, however, wasn’t thoughts about the risks to his Core, but the benefits to the Heroes delving through