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

Summoning Portal

Dungeon Interface

Sacrificial Altar

If he had a body, it would’ve reeled back in surprise as the strange screen popped up in his vision.  What is this?  What does it all mean?

“This should all be relatively familiar to you from your Hero Status—” Again, Dwight cut herself off before she continued.  The baby dragonling must have been automatically set up to teach a former Hero, and shifting her thinking to the new situation was something that took some effort.

“That’s right, this is all new to you,” she finally went on after a few moments.  “Okay.  So, the most important things on here are your Core Stage – which is similar to your current Tier if you were a Hero – and the number of Crystal Chips that you now have in your possession – which are used as a sort of currency.  Since you have this Transcribed Status open, I am able to view it as well; fortunately, despite your abnormal origins, everything looks as normal as it should.”

Clay expected her to continue, but she seemed to be having issues adapting to his former “non-Hero” status.  And…?

Dwight was visibly startled, flapping her wings a few times before she answered.  “I apologize.  I’m not being a very helpful guide or teacher, am I?”

That’s okay; this is an unusual development for both of us.  Just try to explain what all of these different things mean, alright?  For instance, what are these Crystal Chips?

The little dragonling settled back down, already looking a little more composed.  “Sure, I can do that.”  She paused for a moment before the lecturing tone came back.  “The Crystal Chips in your possession are used for a variety of purposes.  First and foremost, they are used to expand your dungeon by creating rooms, hallways, and environmental attributes.  Luckily, doing so only takes a few of your Crystal Chips to build a basic dungeon, so that you can use the rest of them on the second use for these Chips: Summoning monsters.”

What?!  That shocked him more than a bit, because that seemed highly unsafe.  The fact that he had just been squished by the dead body of a massively giant monster probably had something to do with his surprise and confusion.  Isn’t that a bad idea?  What if they try to kill me?  Or worse, what if they try to escape and attack a nearby town?

“Don’t worry about that,” Dwight scoffed.  “Your monsters cannot hurt you, and having them in your dungeon is all about defense; if they were to pass over the threshold of your dungeon entrance, they would dissipate into energy, only to be reabsorbed into your Dungeon Core.  Not that they would try to escape, anyway, because you control them utterly.”

That’s great news.  He had always wondered why there weren’t monsters roaming the land outside of dungeons, and now there was finally an explanation for it.  What do I do first?

“Well, first you’ll need to build out your dungeon so that you connect to the surface.  This should be fairly easy for you, especially if you remember back when you first became a Hero and—” Dwight was quicker this time to adapt to the situation.  “You don’t have any previous knowledge of what a dungeon looks like, do you?”

Nope, he replied, glad the little dragonling was slowly catching on.

“Well then, we are going to make a very basic 3-room dungeon so that you can connect to the surface.  Only by being “open” will you begin to accumulate additional Crystal Chips; as there is no benefit to being inaccessible, this will result in the best start for you.”

Wait.  Won’t being open make me vulnerable? 

“Technically, yes…but no, you’ll be fine.  As long as your Core Structure Health is at 20, your Dungeon Core is invulnerable.”  Another good thing to hear; he didn’t want to die so soon after being reborn into a dungeon-creating gem.

There was so much more that Clay needed to learn from Dwight, such as everything else on his Core Assessment and Transcribed Status, but he also didn’t want to get overloaded.  He had always been one to learn better by doing than by having someone tell him what to do, especially when fulfilling certain tasks in the store or manipulating numbers with bookkeeping; Clay figured this couldn’t be so different that he couldn’t learn on the job.  At least, I hope not.

What do I have to do?

“I will help you with this first part, because otherwise you might get lost on your way to the surface,” the baby dragonling stated.  “My information tells me that your Dungeon Core is located near the edge of a cliff that looks off into an ocean.  Which ocean it is I am not entirely sure, because I don’t know exactly where in the world we are located.”

Nowhere near Renton, I can tell you that; there weren’t any large bodies of water around for at least a few hundred miles.  A few small lakes and ponds, but no oceans.  I’m actually looking forward to sea-ing it…get it?  Sea it?

Just like the rest of his family, Dwight completely ignored his attempt at humor, but at least she didn’t ridicule his efforts like his sister usually did.  Probably prompted by her demon cat! 

“Anyway, the cliff face is located off in this direction,” she continued, turning her body until her face was pointing towards a particularly rocky wall.  “If you concentrate your vision where I am pointing and stretch your awareness in that direction, you should be able to temporarily see what I am talking about.  It isn’t permanent, however, as only by increasing your Core Stage and expanding your dungeon will you be able to see more of the world around you.”

Taking her directions and applying them, Clay attempted to look through the wall where she was pointing.  At first, all he saw was the