Dungeon of Chance: Even Odds: A Dungeon Core Novel (Serious Probabilities Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (interesting books to read TXT) 📕

their delve inside the new dungeon.  Or I should say, delves.  It had been revealed that the group that included Percy, the former sailor that had taken leadership of the last group to go yesterday, hadn’t even ventured into the second room. Instead, they had cleared the first room, left the dungeon, and then cleared it again – multiple times!  Not only had they not died, but they had also accumulated quite a few worthwhile items from their Drop Chests, including a Fighter Class Orb Tier 1.

They were the only ones who had actually received a Class Orb at all other than Jeska’s group, but it quickly became obvious that they all needed to acquire these Orbs as soon as possible.  Not only were the skills that came with a Class important to their survival, but it would also mean that they could venture deeper into the dungeon and defeat even harder monsters – like the Explosive Shambler.  Jeska didn’t vow undying revenge on the undead monster that had blown them (and most of the other groups) up, but she really wanted to become strong enough to take it down.  While she didn’t know for sure, she was convinced that the Drop Chest from a 2-Star monster would have even better items than one from a 1-Star; it was only logical, after all.

It was going to take some work to get to that point, however.  Which was why all of the groups were going to adopt Percy’s group’s technique and rapidly clear the first room in order to maximize their drops from Chests.  It was easy enough to kill the Rats and Ferns inside the room, especially since they knew what to expect, so there shouldn’t be too much danger.  The only thing they had to figure out was the way to do it, since only one group could be inside the dungeon at a time.  Percy’s group had free rein to do what they wanted yesterday because there was no one that wanted to get into the dungeon at that point – which wouldn’t happen if everyone was trying to get as many items as possible.

The first proposal that they just take turns – one after another – was almost immediately shot down, because it would require a lot of waiting around for the other groups to be done, which no one wanted to do.  To be fair to everyone, they instead adopted a new strategy that would maximize each group’s time, both to maintain their momentum and to reduce the waiting times.

Starting at 8am this morning, the first group of 5 Heroes would have 4 hours to do whatever they wanted in that timeframe.  After those 4 hours, they would leave and another group would have 4 hours to do their thing in the dungeon, and then after 4 hours another group would enter, and so on and so on.  Since there were 6 groups, each group would have an equal share of time each day to do what they wanted during every 24-hour period.

They had randomly determined the order before they all went to bed last night, and Jeska and her own group were again the first to tackle the dungeon.  What it basically meant was that they would be allocated 4 hours of intense monster killing, be done by noon, and have the rest of the day to do whatever they wanted.  Pretty sweet deal, if she said so herself.

It didn’t take long to arrive in front of the dungeon that morning, slightly before their allotted time.  Jeska had seen her brother that morning, of course, and he looked as bright and chipper as she felt, but the others weren’t looking so great.

“I hate this!” Rosara said suddenly, her face scrunching up with unshed tears.  “My father can barely stand to be around me!”

“I know exactly what you mean; my mother was actually frightened of me,” Kelty commiserated.  The former seamstress turned to Jeska and Arcen.  “Thank goodness you told us about the reason for that, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”

No, no it doesn’t.  Their own father hadn’t treated them too differently yet, but Jeska and Arcen could see it coming – and she hated it, too.  It was a major sacrifice for all of them to have to endure, but she knew that her father would always love them, no matter what happened in the future. Knowing that their familial love was eternal was the only thing that kept her from quitting right then and there.

“Well, we’re a little early, but…I don’t think it will matter too much.  Shall we do this?” Arcen asked.  There were some nods all around, though their affirmation was signaled more by their transformation into their Hero outfits.  “Outfits” was probably not the right word, since all but Rosara were still wearing their Tier 0 Tunics and Pants, but it worked well enough.  Rosara, as she had been yesterday, was again wearing the skin-tight blue one-piece she got as part of being a Support Class…and it still disturbed Jeska a little to look at her standing there with what looked like absolutely nothing on.  At least this time she didn’t undergo a wardrobe change first during her transformation, so Pascale was able to keep his mouth from hitting the floor.

Without wasting any more time, they moved up to the entrance and down the torchlit hallway, until they approached the first room.  Arcen stopped for some reason.

“Hey, bro, I thought we had already made a strategy for—” Jeska complained, ready to get started, gripping her wooden Training Weapon tightly in her hands.

“Something’s changed – look.”

Her brother moved out of the way by pressing himself up against the hallway wall to let the rest of them see, which was difficult with him taking up nearly two-thirds of the passageway.  Jeska immediately noticed what he was talking about, as the room looked a bit different