“Well that was fun,” Rick said as he watched the surviving Challengers go through their hard-won loot. Before they could pilfer any useful items from their comrades, Rick absorbed the fallen bodies along with all of their stuff. It startled the survivors for a moment, but they had all seen what had happened to James in the previous broadcast and quickly recovered.

The best part for Rick was that the CP from just these last three Challengers was a lot more than he had gained from earlier battles. Each level brought more points and he was pretty sure that since the Ceaseless Wolves were a low level, they gained him more CP than if Billy were to kill them.

He figured he’d probably need a couple of more Challengers to perish in his dungeon before he could get a showrunner from the Dungeon Shop, but at least he could look at what he was saving up for. Hopefully, he would reach Level 8 soon too. Opening up the Dungeon Shop, he filtered Level 7 and below Showrunners.

Apparently, the showrunners weren’t minions at all. They were more like Dungeon Attendants and he could hire them from the Shop, or probably just hire one here. He almost closed the Shop then and there. Earth had to have some of the best broadcasters in the multiverse. Between sports and news, the people of Earth had certainly perfected the art. There was even a college nearby that had a large focus on film and broadcasting.

Before hiring anyone from the Shop, he promised to have Jimmy put the word out that they were looking for not only an announcer but someone who could handle all of the details of selling their little dungeon broadcast across the multiverse. Rick had to laugh at that. It sounded simple, but he wouldn’t envy anyone who took up the post. How nerve-wracking he shuddered mentally.

Still, he looked through the Dungeon Shop to see what options were out there. Maybe humans didn’t have the best reputation in the multiverse?

Selecting an applicant at random, Rick found a Level 6 Centaur Showrunner and had to admit the resume was impressive for the job.

* Graduated in the top 10% at the Dungeon Showrunning Institute of Valoramon

* Interned at the Level 97 Chaos Dungeon ‘Palorack’s Pandemonium’ in the Palorack System.

* Extensive knowledge of System Demographics to sell subscriptions at competitive pricing

* Broadcast abilities include ‘Pathokinesis’ which can enhance the viewer’s emotions

* Extensive dungeon layout knowledge to inform the dungeon of what would captivate viewers most based on System-wide analytics

The list went on and had Rick second-guessing himself. He doubted that anyone on Earth had similar skills, and certainly didn’t have similar credentials. How was there someone out there with all of this knowledge at such a low level? They did cost a whopping 1200 CP, which was more than the lizardfolk cost combined and they were both Level 6 when he bought them.

Delving in deeper, he also noticed the “contract” that would be required upon hiring them from the Dungeon Shop.

Contract: Showrunner is bound to the Dungeon for Five (5) Years after a 90-Day grace period. During the 90-Day grace period, either party can void the contract with no adverse effects. After 90 days, if neither party has voided the contract, the Showrunner will be bound and receive a 20% commission on all subscriptions sold.

It was a pretty short and sweet contract. One that Rick didn’t have any objections to. Plus, if he hired one from the Shop, not only would he have all of the benefits that came with more experienced beings of the multiverse, he would have help immediately. Perhaps the Centaur could take on an intern or a subordinate employee. Rick did want the people of Earth to succeed, so this could prove to be a great opportunity for them.

Tabling the matter for now, Rick went back to viewing the Challengers. They were celebrating the fact that they had each gained 250 Credits until Pablo reminded them of their deal.

“I’m waiting on that 80%, guys. Transfer those Credits before you forget,” Pablo said. The two groaned but their eyes glazed over as they transferred 200 Credits each.

“Thanks. Now what else did we get?”

The dia de muertos dolls tossed a couple of pieces of random junk to the floor, including a ripped condom.

“I’m glad I wasn’t the one that opened that bag,” one of the Challengers said.

“No shit,” Pablo agreed.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Outside of that, they were quite lucky. One of the sacks contained the wand that Rick had absorbed from James. Another contained an acoustic guitar. Rick briefly wondered how much an instrument from Earth might go for on the System Shop. Perhaps guitars were multiversal and not uncommon.

But, the prize of the Ceaseless wolves was a block of gold. It only had a 4% chance to drop and the three men looked at it more preciously than a newborn child.

Pablo looked at the other two men in his group as they exchanged a glance and knew that he needed to act. Just as they reached for their guns, Pablo’s dia de muertos dolls leaped as one and began stabbing the men over and over.

Running in a serpentine toward the door, Pablo hoped to avoid any gunfire. But, the gunfire never came. Slowing to a stop, he turned and saw his dolls standing on top of the two bodies. Their skeletal smiles peered back at him — blood dripping from their tiny knives.

The toymaster’s heart sank. The entire world had just witnessed him murder two people that came in with him. There was no way that he could go back out. But he couldn’t continue forward, could he? Would Lazaro accept what had just happened and protect him? He hoped so, that would be his only chance.

The thoughts raced through Pablo’s brain. The world wasn’t as it once was. There was nobody to throw him in jail anymore. Nobody could judge him unless they were as strong as he. Of course, mob justice could still be had.

He looked at the view count, it had fallen off a little bit after the battle and he expected that after the murder of the two men, it would plummet further. Instead, the number crept higher and higher.

Pablo let out a sigh and went to retrieve the gold brick as Rick absorbed the two men he killed. “Guess I’ll get the fuck out of here and face the music.”

Rick absorbed one of the dia de muertos dolls and knew that it was crafted by Pablo’s hand. Seeing that most of the man’s dolls had been destroyed during the battle, he decided to throw the Toymaster another bone and produced five of them. Not that the young man needed more of a reward, but Rick thought he was entertaining and wanted him back in the dungeon sooner rather than later. He had sensed his comrades' movements and knew that Pablo didn’t have a choice, so he didn’t exactly think poorly of the Toymaster for defending himself the way he did.

The Toymaster stopped and stared at the new dolls in front of him. Exact replicas of the ones he had made.

“This place is fucking weird, but - thanks?” he said, up to the ceiling.

Rick chuckled. Anyone who couldn’t directly communicate with him talked to him like he was some kind of deity by looking up towards the sky. Technically, he was the god of his domain, but he didn’t feel like one.

Pablo packed up his backpack and turned to leave, taking a deep sigh as what was on the other side of the door may be more terrifying than staying in the dungeon. The leaderboard updated with Pablo’s name reaching 2nd place.

Rick had heard the members of Spell & Sword commentating throughout the battle. They were very impressed with the Toymaster and astonished that the other four men even entered in the first place.

“Those things might have wiped us out too if they hadn’t run off the first time,” Alex had said, talking about the Ceaseless Wolves.

“Yes, it appears that they cannot die until they’re all mortally wounded. Once that little bomb went off, the rest of them died at the same time, even outside of the blast radius,” Grady said.

“Yeah, we absolutely need a skill or an item that can hit them all at once. Or, make sure we take away their mobility one by one until we can kill them all,” Sarah said.

Diane’s eyes had been glazed over and snapped back to reality. She was holding a thin metal rod. “Way ahead of you guys. Found some cheap stunning wands at the shop. Basically just a stun gun or cattle prod, but it’s supposed to put anything within 5 levels of us out of commission for about 20 seconds.”

“Good thinking. I’m tapped out of Credits right now though,” Alex said. He had spent all of his Credits on the group including gear, healing potions, and rations. The last of his Credits had gone toward staying the night in the Auxiliary Room.

“We’ll need to get in there again before tonight then,” Grady said.

“Should we go try to poach that Pablo guy from the Cartel? He might be in trouble if any of those two he killed were important,” Diane suggested.

“And make an enemy of the Cartel?” Alex said incredulously. “I’ll go talk to them. If we suggest that he can join our group to grow stronger, they might agree to it.”

“You’re both fucking nuts,” Sarah said. “He literally just killed two of his teammates without any hesitation. I don’t want that in our group.”

Diane pinched the bridge of her nose, “Sarah, anyone could see what was about to happen. He acted swiftly and according to the situation. That is absolutely something I want in our group.”

Sarah bit her lip in thought, “That’s true. He still creeps me out though,”

Alex shrugged. “Let me go out there and talk to him, or at least assess the situation.”

“That’s fair,” Sarah conceded.

The door to the Auxiliary Room opened, interrupting their discussion as two new people entered.

Rick’s entire Core burned with surprise. “Mom? Dad?”