© 2023 Charles Dean and Ramon Mejia

  Published by Single Player Books LLC

  All Rights Reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 - Prologue

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33 - Epilogue

  From the Authors

  Chapter 1 - Prologue

  “Hey, Billy,” Matthew greeted his coworker as he walked up to the security booth just outside the front gate of one of the largest and most opulent homes his company was contracted to protect.

  “Anything interesting happen on your shift?” Matthew asked as he reached the security booth with two bottles of water in hand and a bagged lunch, tossing a bottle to Billy.

  “The young miss didn’t even smile when she came back late last night from some business meeting. She even went through three training dummies despite the hour.”

  “Wow, three? That’s serious. Did she get scolded by her father or something?” Matthew asked with a chuckle.

  “That or she only got a ninety-nine instead of a hundred on some test,” Billy answered with a shrug while he gathered his things. Then he stopped and peered out the window of their guard station. “Uh, oh. This is gonna be a pain.”

  Matthew turned from the minifridge where he was storing his lunch and saw what Billy was pointing at. A red McLaren 720S was racing down the long driveway towards them. Matthew could recognize that car anywhere. It belonged to Yulian Serebryakov, one of the most annoying “young masters” that Matthew ever had to deal with.

  The car came to a screeching halt only inches away from the Zhou estate’s front gate. A muscular, dark-haired young man jumped out of the car without even bothering to park it or close the door behind him.

  “Open the gate!” the kid ordered without even bothering to look directly at Matthew or Billy. Yulian was no older than eighteen and dressed in a tacky designer tracksuit, wearing cologne Matthew could smell all the way in the gatehouse.

  “I hate this kid,” Billy muttered under his breath as Matthew did his best to control his facial expressions and not give the young man a reason to be angry at them.

  "I said open up the gates, you freaking morons! Just do your job already! I need to see Jennifer.”

  Billy stepped forward, his face stern. “I’m sorry, sir, but we can’t let you in without permission of the family.”

  Yulian snarled at Billy and snapped, “Do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is? I have the right to enter if I wish! Step aside or else!”

  Matthew felt a knot of anger form in his stomach but did his best to control it as he stepped up and placed himself between Billy and the young Russian kid before his partner said something to get them both fired. “I apologize, sir." Matthew did his best to smile. "However, you’ll need proper authorization from someone inside before we can allow entry."

  Yulian's face flushed with fury as he glared at Matthew. "How dare you talk back to me!" he shouted, his voice full of rage. He advanced towards them both and raised his hand threateningly. "I'm Jennifer Zhou's betrothed. I will have your jobs for this insolence."

  Billy glanced at Matthew, a knowing grin on his face. "I'm sorry. But Miss Zhou is engaged to someone else."

  Yulian's face turned bright red as he shouted, "What?! She thinks she can get away from me?! It seems like I’m going to have to teach her place—and kill whatever idiot thought he could touch what’s mine! Who is it?! Who dares?!"

  "The Gallows," Billy answered with a smile that he quickly suppressed.

  Matthew could only groan internally. Information about the engagement wasn’t supposed to be leaked to unconcerned parties.

  "Gallows? That dusty old has-been family still thinks they can take whatever they want? I'll show them who really controls this city,” Yulian said, pausing to spit on the ground next to him.

  Then the young man turned, leapt back into his vehicle, and quickly turned his car around. The car's tires squealed as it spun around and raced back down the driveway.

  “You really think it was wise to tell him who the fiancé was? You know that’s only going to get us in trouble!”

  Billy gave a weak, apologetic half-smile to Matthew. “With his connections, he was going to find out anyway. This just saves us the headache of having to listen to him threaten our lives for twenty minutes because we won’t tell him. Anyway, look at the bright side: unless Yulian can deal with that Gallows kid, the young miss will finally get to sleep at night without that bastard’s threats hanging over her head like a death sentence.”

  “True . . . True . . .” Matthew sighed. “That’s probably why she fought so hard to get the engagement with this Gallows kid to begin with.”

  “That, or it’s his charisma. I heard from a few of the other guards that he’s so charismatic his skin shines, the air glows around him, and a halo floats above his head. Not only that, but he’s incredibly rich and comes from a good family. Who wouldn’t want a life of enjoying all the finer things while getting to be with a charming and attractive spouse?”

  “Hey, man . . . I’m sure Stacy will call you back,” Matthew assured the young guard, knowing exactly what he was probably thinking about as he justified Miss Zhou’s decision.

  “Shut up.”

  “No, no, I’m serious. As soon as she’s done with the dungeon life, and the Abyssal Knights guild starts to ease up on their schedule, she’ll definitely come back to you.” Matthew couldn’t keep a straight face as he said it.

  “I hate you,” Billy replied while laughing too and shaking his head.

  Chapter 2

  “You know, when I said you could rent my lab, I thought you were going to be making potions, poisons, or something crazy like an antidote for that poison affecting you,” Topaz complained as she perched on a stool at the end of the lab table. Nick had come to rely on the thin, blonde-haired alchemist, but this was the first time he’d asked to use her setup.

  “I know,” Nick said as he finished vacuum-sealing another freshly deboned chicken breast into a bag filled with ground paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, rosemary, thyme, and a little bit of butter for the sous vide. Normally, he’d use sesame oil or something else with a richer and more varied flavoring, but he had to be careful to consider the age of the people that were going to eat it. “But this is the only kitchen big enough to cook for so many people.”

  “Do I need to remind you that this is not a kitchen? It’s an alchemy lab.” Topaz sighed even as she walked over to where Nick was working and started to apply a light layer of olive oil, sea salt, and black pepper to brussel sprouts for baking, taking a sheet of already finished bell peppers out of the oven and laying them to the side so he could pair the vegetables with rice later.

  “Thanks for that.” Nick grinned. He knew Topaz might grumble about things, but she wasn’t the type to just sit around and watch people work. It was half of the reason he had picked her lab as the starting point for the whole process: he knew she’d help him out if he cooked and would make the work easier on him.

  “Holy crud, Nick, what is this?!” Topaz asked as she bit into a bell pepper.

  “Oh, just some olive oil, salt, and pepper, same as the brussel sprouts you just made,” Nick replied as he tried to figure out what the reaction was for.

  “No, not that, you little brat.” Topaz smacked Nick’s arm. “The buff! The boost! What the heck?! How did I just get a +.5% to agility and agility growth from biting into a bell pepper?! What did you do?!”

  “Oh, that? That’s the Nutritionist buff. That buff will keep getting bigger until you’ve eaten your fill of food, but then if you keep on munching, it’ll start shrinking to punish you for overeating,” Nick explained. “It was my level 15 milestone reward for being a trainer.”

  “Woah, so you basically need to just quit your job as a dungeon diver and open up a restaurant for the adventurers instead, right?” Topaz’s eyes glowed green with greed. “I mean, just imagine how much money we

could make selling food that buffs the eater? I bet some guilds would pay thousands of dollars for stat bumps like these before they fight a boss. Some lucky chef classes already make a fortune being exclusive, high-end meal preppers for their guilds.”

  “Easy there,” Nick chortled. “I already cook for my guild, and I already have a lot of money. There’s no reason to lose focus on my goals for just a little more cash.”

  “Oh, right,” Topaz said as she started filling the meal prep containers that Nick had brought with a small portion of rice and lettuce while Nick was mixing spinach, basil, olive oil, garlic, and some deseeded serrano peppers in a blender to make a dressing for the lettuce. “I forgot how rich you are now, but you sure you couldn’t give it a go? You might have the money, but I don’t,” she pouted.

  “With your talents, we’ll find something for you in no time,” Nick offered. “I’m not going to let my friend suffer a bartender's life forever.”

  “Right, now that you’ve collected on those thirty-eight properties, you probably have plenty to spare to help me start up a restaurant for you,” Topaz replied, beaming. “You don’t have to do the whole dish to make sure the food gets that buff, do you? I mean, if you don’t, then for the right starting salary, I could put on a nice apron, and you could make all the sexist jokes about how I belong in the kitchen, free of charge.”

  “Thirty-seven,” Nick corrected her, glossing over her business plan as he didn’t want to deal with it right away.

  “What?” Topaz blinked.

  “Only thirty-seven properties were destroyed by a dungeon outbreak. One was somehow blown up, so I only got the insurance claim on thirty-seven properties,” Nick explained.

  “Oh my god, are you really complaining that it’s only thirty-seven and not thirty-eight?” She shook her head in exasperation as she bent over and grabbed the meal prep containers.

  Nick didn’t know how to tell her that he wasn’t lucky; he was the terrorist.

  “Why are you making that face? It’s not like you blew it up!” Topaz laughed as she helped finish boxing the meals in the airtight glass containers and started loading the finished ones into a specially made cooler for transportation.

  “Uhhhh . . .” Nick had nothing.

  “Dear God, Nick, did you do it?” Topaz looked like she was about to grill him.

  “What? Huh? What are you talking about? I’m just trying to figure out how many kids are at the orphanage and how many meals I have left to make,” Nick said as he made obvious gestures with his hands to count the lunch boxes.

  “Can you remind me again why you’re making meals for kids at an orphanage? And why have you set aside a dozen already that you’ve labeled ‘Maria’?” Topaz asked. “I’ve started coming to that gym of yours a few days a week, so how come you don’t make me food? Or that girl Seo-ah? Heck, you could start making meals for that new fiancée of yours. What was her name?”

  Nick froze. “Jennifer Zhou? Wait, how did you know about that? Grandfather only just arranged that.”

  Topaz shrugged. “Maybe because I’ve seen her name pop up on your cell phone more than once, tagged as ‘New Fiancée’? Any reason you’re dodging her calls and not reading her texts?”

  Because despite the wealth and resources that come with a match like Jennifer, there are too many strings attached, Nick thought, recalling his conversation with his grandfather. The old man mocking him was one thing—he had thick skin—but he wasn’t about to cut ties with his best friends, Seo-ah, Topaz, Maria, or Allen like his grandfather was demanding.

  “Look, don’t get distracted and dodge the rest of my question. Why are you using an alchemy lab that cost me more than my home to prep food?”

  “Well, I’m making these for Maria because she’s behind where she needs to be,” Nick replied, honestly venting a little of his frustration with the female heroine he was trying to prepare to save the future. “She should be a lot stronger by now, yet I’m just not seeing the growth in her that I want to. I don’t understand it either. She has the right class, potential, aptitude, and trainers. I even talked Arnold into helping train her one on one when Elizabeth isn’t there. She should be a lot more powerful by now.”

  “Uh-huh. You know she’s already stronger than I am, right?”

  “Yeah, but you’re an alchemist, not a hero,” Nick said. “Whether you or I have 10 strength or a 100, we can still do our support roles just fine. No one is going to care if their trainer can lift more than they can or if their alchemist can out-squat them. Everyone will care if the frontline fighter can’t hold a large enough weapon to kill a bunker-busting monster.”

  “A what?” Topaz tilted her head at the mention of a monster class that wouldn’t exist for another decade. The bunker-buster monster was, after all, a monster title that only came about once humanity had started more aggressively using reinforced concrete bunkers, and the heavier, larger monsters started pouring through the broken gates to destroy them.

  “A big monster. Sorry, bad illustration,” Nick replied. “And as for the orphanage, when I couldn’t save Ellen Whitlock on my first trip into a dungeon, I promised myself I would do this for her.”

  “But you didn’t know Ellen.”

  Nick shrugged. “Maybe not, but I do know I made the promise, so I need to fulfill it. Not to mention, I have the money now to afford to feed them, so why not?”

  “Because you could just use that money to have someone else do it for you?”

  “Look, you’re the one that volunteered to be here. Stop trying to make excuses to get out of this and go load those in the car. Will just pulled up to take us out there,” Nick answered and shooed her away.

  “Fine, fine, but you owe me dinner for this!” Topaz grumbled as she lifted one of the coolers and started walking it out to the hired car while Nick continued to work.

  “Why does everyone keep asking me to buy them dinner?” Nick just sighed, not knowing what to think of Topaz’s weird demand. First Seo-ah had started demanding dinners as payment for favors. Now Topaz had too. He was starting to believe that he would need to start eating two to three dinners a night just to pay off the dinner debts he was building up.

  “Actually . . . a second dinner might not be so bad,” he thought aloud as he went back to prepping meals.

  When the last meal was finished and loaded into the car, Nick hopped into the backseat.

  “Morning, Mr. Gallows,” Will greeted him. “Are there any other stops you want to make today?”

  Nick could see him glance at Topaz in the rearview mirror with a raised eyebrow. Nick had to suppress a smile at the driver’s subtle innuendo. “No, Will. Thanks. It should just be the New Vision Home for Orphans. Then back to Ms. Wilson’s place to check up on the pharmaceutical stuff.”

  With a small shake of his head, Will said, “Ms. Wilson? That teacher of yours? The one with the big—”

  “Yes, that’s the one,” Nick cut Will off before he got him in trouble with Topaz.

  “Sounds great to me, boss,” Will replied, his eyes moving to Topaz again.

  “You know you don’t have to call me that,” Nick replied, not liking the status separation between him and others. It felt far too much like the way the servants would treat his grandfather.

  Will just chuckled at Nick. “Whatever you say, boss.”

  After loading everything up, the two were driven to the countryside just outside of the city. Even though Nick knew he could be using the time to enter more information into his online dungeon guides, he found himself staring out the window like he was back in his last life, riding a public bus, as he let his thoughts wander aimlessly. The rolling wheat and cornfields of the countryside were a sight to take in, and given he had been busy every minute of every hour of the day since he’d regressed in time, he felt like he needed that quiet moment to decompress.

  “Are we there yet?” Topaz finally broke the silence from the back seat.

  “We’ll be there in about seven and a half mi—”

  Suddenly, a car plowed into them from behind, pushing them forward before the impact of a second collision sent the car spinning out of control. The tires screeched, and the glass shattered as Will’s sedan flipped multiple times before coming to an abrupt stop with Nick still inside, suspended upside down as his seat belt locked him in his seat.